Sunflowers (Jerry Baynard x Reader/OC)

5- Ladybug

Jerry's POV.

I had never been this angry before. I would always describe myself as a calm problem solver. But I had never turned to violence for anything. Today was the first time that ever happened.

When I saw those boys attacking Vivian, I couldn't hold back. Fire burned withing me and I let it out in kicks and punches. My parents raised me well. They always taught me to be a gentleman. To work hard for the things I want and especially to never EVER use violence. But today things changed.

I right outside the Cuthbert's house as I harvested the grains on the crop field. Cutting the  stalks and throwing them in a wheelbarrow behind me. However when I turned to throw the grains into the wheelbarrow, I accidebtally threw it at Vivian, who I didn't even notice had made her way here from the house.

Before the stalks dropped to the ground, she caught them with a fast reflex and threw them into the wheelbarrow behind her.

At first I was about to scold her for her sudden appearance and blocking my shot for the wheelbarrow, but when I looked at her properly, I stopped everything I was doing.

She wore a dress. One of Anne's dresses. Her clothes were torn up after getting attacked by the boys, so she had to get clothes from Anne. I'd never seen her wearing a dress before. It's not that I liked the dress better than her normal attire, but it was just so much more different than the usual look, that I couldn't help but let a smile pop up on my face.

"Are you making fun of me?" She accused, offended.

"Of course I am." My smile grew wider.

She looked down at the dress that stopped a few inches below her knees. The dress was a dark, forest green with puffy sleeves, and it was layered with a white pinafore dress.

"I don't like it." She frowned, flinging the dress from side to side like a toddler. It made a chuckle rumble up my throat. Maybe it was something about her misery that brought joy into my life. But I felt the need to brighten her face.

I turned away from her and continued on cutting the stalks down the field as Vivian drove the wheelbarrow. "It looks good." I finally said. The creaking of the rusty wheelbarrow halted, signalling that Vivian had stopped walking. I turned to her and something shone on her face? Shock? Surprise?

"What?" She asked, making sure that she heard me correctly.

"I said you look good." A hint of red crawled up her neck and her eyes slightly widened. In shyness, she turned away from me, hiding her red face from my gaze. But when she turned away, I caught the sight of something else. Her hair flowed in waves down her back. For the past two weeks, she hid her hair in a bun under an old newsboy hat. It almost hurt how different she looked. "You should let your hair down more often."

"Am I hearing things or are you giving me compliments, Jerry Baynard?" She whipped her head around, eyeing me up.

"Don't get used to it. I'm only being nice because you almost got killed today." I smirked. She better not get used to this.

"Wow. That's so nice of you." She said sarcastically. "I wonder how you would get anything done around here if I actually got killed."

"No changes. Go on with my work like always. It's not like you do much anyway." I pointed at the way she leaned against the wheelbarrow, unbothered and making conversation.

She immediately stood up from her spot against the wagon. "You know what? You are so... ugh! You are just... you are..." She ended her sentence by walking away in frustration.

A laugh escaped my mouth. "You know, it's very entertaining seeing you all hot and bothered like that!" I shouted after her as I just watched her walk away. The hair swinging after her, the fists she had around the fabric of the dress, her small steps, just everything about her made me feel... some certain way. I don't know what it was. But two weeks ago, I loathed her with every muscle in my body. Slowly, she has started to loosen me up. I don't know what to think about it. I have been hurt by people before for being too nice, too attached, too committed. I am scared of the same things happening again. I might try to hide it, but under my armour is a big pile just for the broken pieces of my heart. Hurt by someone I trusted.

But for some unknown reason, even though I claimed to despise this girl, I made my way after her, like she was calling to me. And I couldn't stop myself. I made my way into the barn. There I found her piling up hay. "Oh, you're back. What a shame." She said as she jumped down from a haystack.

"Yeah, it's a shame I have to look at your face all day long every single day." I walked over to a table, facing away from Vivian and removed my leather gloves, throwing them on the wooden table.

"Don't move, Jerry." She whispered from behind me as I heard her soft steps getting closer to me. She looked up at me with big doe eyes as if she had something to say. For some reason, my body stiffened as she came closer. Her steps never stopped as she came so close to me, her front was inches from my back and before I knew it, her fingers were in my hair.

"What are you doing?" I said as heat crippled into my cheeks. I tried to turn and look back at her, but she quickly turned me back away from her

"Just don't move." As her fingers danced with the locks of my dark hair, I couldn't help but to lean closer to her touch. The way her hands felt on me, it made me flutter. But soon after, her hand moved away. "Look." She said as she pointed down at her hand. I turned and stared down at it. "You had a ladybug in your hair." She said in a low voice as she stared down at the bug in her hand. It was like I paused the moment and printed it into my mind. The way her gentle hands held the ladybug and the smile that formed on her face. This girl was doing something to me. And I needed it to stop before it made me go crazy. Or worse... before it made me fall for her.