Starting Over

3.Finding Happiness

"Happiness is contagious,

It spreads like the flu,

Someone smiled at me today,

And I started smiling too"

~*~

The next morning Blake got out of the bed to freshen up. He picked a bouquet of fresh red and pink flowers and drove to the cemetery. After a few moments of silence, and several moments of re-living the memories, he got up and drove the university.

There, he sat down in silence. Chlara was already there , staring at the girls who were giggling and blushing behind Blake.

"They do this everyday. What's with them?," he inquired, frowning.

Chlara smiled at him, sadly. "They know you're single now. You have been popular ever since you entered the university," she said.

Blake sighed and shook his head in disbelief.  "For some people , looks was all that mattered" he thought. "And for others it was my heart. But she's gone... Gone. "
They didn't know. Blake's heart was now just a hollow dead brush, not that bright red flower that had bloomed in Lucy's presence. He wasn't that happy Blake anymore, who lived each moment as it came, laughed uncontrollably and  loved unconditionally.

  He was now just a broken petal of that flower. Sad, decayed and dark.

During lunch, Eros and Kristine ate with him, exchanging a few words. But just as the bell rang, and Blake was about to leave, he was stopped.

"You aren't going back to class, Blake," Eros apprised him.

"What? But why?," Blake asked, confused.

"Because we're going somewhere," he informed.

"No, I can't bunk my class-"

"Oh, shut up now," Kristine said, dragging him outside.

~*~

Blake looked out of the window of the car.

"Just where are we going?," he asked, for the millionth time.

"Asking again and again won't be of any help," Eros said.

"Yeah," Kristine agreed. "Just wait".

"Why can't you just tell me? It's not like I'll escape. I don't have a choice anyway,"Blake said.

"God, you're stubborn. We're going for a picnic. By the stream," Kristine said.

"Why are we going there all of a sudden? Is everyone just out of their mind? Why can't you understand ? I don't want to go anywhere! I want to stay here. I want to stay here because I want to stay near her. Why don't you understand goddamit?!"

"Stop it Blake. Please stop ," Kristine pleaded, crying. "We need to... Need to get over it. We need to find happiness. Why can't you understand ?"

"Because he's a potato," Eros blurted.
Kristine looked at him. This isn't funny.
Blake stared.

A smirk crept across Eros' face.

"What's so funny?", Kristine asked.

"Nothing"
"Stop joking all the time"
"You just talked about finding happiness "
"Potatoes don't bring me happiness"
"Ironic"
Kristine forced a smile. "Yeah, because I'm in love with a potato"
"I'm sorry?"
"Pity you didn't understand"
"Potato"
"What did you say?"
"I'm sure your heard"
"Not that I wanted to"

And admist their silly and irrevocably stupid jokes and banter, Blake's muffled giggles made their day.

~*~