flower girl // hiatus

{seven}

flora had blushed too many times to count by the time it grew dark out.

"so do you want to stay for the fireworks?" jack asked. flora saw the hope in his eyes, and it made her heart flutter.

"of course," she replied, beaming at the boy whom she loved so dearly, despite the fact that they'd barely ever spoken beforehand. she just knew. that's just how it works sometimes; you simply know.

"great! i think there might be a blanket in sally - i mean, um, my car - that i can grab for us," he said, stumbling over his words awkwardly.

"you call your car sally?" flora asked with an amused grin. jack ran a hand through his hair.

"um, well, my family is kind of weird when it comes to cars and basically... yeah, i call my car sally." he curled his lips up in discomfort and probably embarrassment. flora giggled. suddenly, she wondered if he thought she was making fun of him.

"that's adorable, how your family names their cars. i absolutely love that," she clarified easily, and jack beamed right back at her, slinging his arm around her.

"let's go get that blanket," he mumbled. the two headed back to the car - oh, sorry, sally - and sure enough, there was a blanket tucked into the corner of its itty-bitty trunk. jack grabbed it and handed it to flora. it was a soft blanket with fringed edges and a red, plaid pattern on it. it smelled vaguely like him, which was strange because it had been sitting in his family's car for god knows how long, but it made her heart skip a beat nevertheless. they made their way back to the field, where people had started to lay down blankets, set up lawn chairs, and break open coolers.

"where do you want to sit?" she asked him, looking around the football field. jack pointed to a bouncy house with an open roof. for some reason, the school still hadn't deflated them, and so a few children were still jumping around in the biggest one. luckily, the one without a roof was completely empty.

this bouncy castle wasn't quite as big as the other ones, but it still made for a great place to watch the fireworks. it was blue, with dense netting for walls and those big cones on the edges like there are on castles. the entrance had two flaps that made it impossible to see inside of the bouncy castle, and since the netting on the walls was so dense, it was hard to see who was inside of it. that way, kyle and his girl of the week wouldn't annoy them.

"after you," jack said, moving his arm away and motioning for flora to enter before him, that way that cheesy guys in romance novels do. flora giggled and climbed into the bouncy castle, with jack following closely behind her.

the stars shined down on their little town, and in that moment, flora had that thought that she was so tiny in such a large universe, but she didn't mind, because being with jack made her content for her life to be just the way it was.

she laid the blanket down on the floor of the bouncy castle and then sat down on the blanket. the spring night had grown cold, and she pulled her sweater back up, which had fallen down to her elbows.

"cold?" jack asked, sitting down next to her on the blanket.

"little bit," she responded, rubbing her arms in hopes of warming herself up. jack made a face like he was thinking, and then spoke.

"hey, get up real quick." flora did so, moving herself off of the blanket. jack grabbed the blanket and motioned for flora to move back to where she was sitting before. she did, and then he placed the warm blanket on her chilly shoulders. she smiled at him.

"thanks," she said, her voice small. it was obvious that she was absolutely infatuated with him, and vice versa. he grinned and sat back down next to her. she rested her head on his shoulder and he wrapped an arm around her shoulders.