Flower Girl

06| Jasmine

THE WORLD was a massive place, and Nate was willing to do whatever he could to experience it. But what was the point in seeing the world if you couldn't share it with someone else?

What was the point in jumping on a plane and flying to Europe, or sailing on a point through exotic islands, or climbing into a car and road tripping cross-country if you were the only person seeing and experiencing it? What if your exciting jealousy-invoking selfies were exactly that: pictures of yourself by yourself?

For months Nate had been feeling like he needed to get out; that everything was too overwhelming, and, after he graduated Nate was leaving. There was nothing in his home town for him- no future. He didn't know where he was going but it was going to be far away from here. He wanted to live, to feel alive because he had just been surviving- going through the motions- and he wanted more.

Although, he wanted someone to experience all of this with even more.

He just had to find them; and he was pretty sure he had.

Bella was... She was good for him; she was funny and she appreciated his crappy humour, she was smart and kind. She wasn't perfect- she had a short fuse and sometimes she said things she shouldn't and that was okay. She was flawed and she could be difficult but those were some of the things that made her so beautiful.

Their coffee 'date' had gone well and plans had been made for another meeting soon so Nate was in pretty high spirits. However the same couldn't be said for the girl next door. He could hear Calla and her parent's yelling from his bedroom on an almost daily basis and he couldn't begin to imagine what it was about or how hard it must be on her.

It was on one such afternoon that the yelling reached deafening heights and Nate heard the front door slam and Calla leave the house, probably heading for the beach. Nate knew he shouldn't follow her when she got like this but he did anyway, because he knew sometimes people wanted to be alone, but that was when they needed company the most.

She was pacing down the shoreline when Nate reached her; kicking at the swash and wet sand it left behind, muttering to herself the words becoming clearer as he got closer: "Ridiculous... being a bloody idiot... can't ask that of me..."

"Slow down there, wouldn't want you to burst a blood vessel," Nate tried for humour and received a glare in return;

"Well if you're going to be a smartass, you can go and piss off with the rest of them," she replied, with a dismissive wave of her hand, before continuing down the beach. Nate stood, dumbfounded for a good thirty seconds, before jogging to catch up, running slightly in front of Calla and turning around to face her:

"Hey, I come in peace," holding his hands in the universally known hand gesture from Star Trek, a lopsided grin adorning his face. Nate worried for Calla; probably more than he should, considering how well she took his attempts, but he cared- too much, others might say- to leave her like this.

Calla abruptly stopped and rolled her eyes and gave her own small smile, "Dork, but I don't want to hear it." She made shooing gestures with her hands, intentions clear.
However, Nate was not one to give up, nor was he one to pick up on the warning signals telling him to back off. So he pushed on;

"Speaking of hearing things," drawing out the last word, waiting for an answer, no matter how unlikely it would be to get one as they continued their walk down the beach.

"Subtle subject change right there, Nate. I'm sure your smooth moves have girls flocking," Nate opened his mouth indignant, a retort on the tip of his tongue before Calla continued, completely ignoring his outrage, "Plus I came here because I wanted to be alone not make conversation."