within the meadow √ h.s.

t w o

harry expected delilah to react to a stranger approaching her in the middle of nowhere. but instead she suffocated herself with words. in fact, he was wondering how the two ended up in the same bed of sleeping flowers when there were miles stretching on. he debated if he should move on down the meadow and leave the girl with her head in the book, but he didn't want to be alone. so, he did move on down the meadow, but only a few trees down.

and delilah didn't mind that a stranger found an attraction in something that she held close to her heart, because the meadow wasn't technically hers, and it wasn't his. it would soon be theirs. but she also just really enjoyed the knowledge being gained, and the stranger was not a priority.

so harry grabbed a pencil and opened his sketchbook while delilah became lost in the pages of useless information to her. and while harry was supposed to find inspiration from the meadow of flower buds not yet blossomed, he found inspiration in the girl wearing more layers than she could count with her head stuck in a book covering her entire face.

and the sketch was beautiful because something about it captured the true spirit of the quiet girl, and maybe it was just because she had a book in her hands, or maybe it was the way that it hid her face blocking her view from the landscape of beauty in front of her. she sat in a field of flowers, that weren't in bloom but still beautiful, and instead of enjoying the scenery and smell of nature, she enjoyed a small font and the smell of used books.

she didn't even feel his eyes on her as he glanced at her every few seconds to add to his sketch. she was so entranced and uninterested in her surroundings that she managed to finish the book.

and when she closed the book and reached for her water bottle, she felt the pair of eyes peering at her from a few trees down because she was no longer in another world. she was within the meadow, and so was he. she caught his glances every few seconds before he would scribble more down on the paper, and she was confused.

delilah was never confused because she always knew so much. harry finally realized that she was staring at him with bewilderment and gave an embarrassed smile. and instead of harry getting lost in his inspiration and delilah getting lost in her knowledge, they stared at each other with looks of wonderment.

the sun began to set, just like the burning desire to stay in the same spot as the temperature dropped. delilah gathered her few belongings after breaking eye contact with harry who had stopped all attempts at finishing a piece.

as he watched delilah walk through the meadow, he too realized the temperature was dropping with the sun and he was alone, which is not something he enjoyed. so, with his arms full, he trailed behind delilah through the meadow and to his car.

so, they both drove their separate ways with intentions of returning to the meadow the next day for different reasons. harry wanted to continue his search for inspiration at a newly discovered sanctuary while delilah did it everyday around the same time because it was less lonely than home.

but soon, delilah and harry would return to the meadow everyday for the sole purpose of seeing each other, but they would never admit that.

when harry walked in to the large house, percy was the one to greet him, and when delilah struggled to unlock her door having to jiggle the key for a minute, she was greeted with silence.

see, they ended up having quite a number of things in common, but they were rarely talked about and were disregarded. harry stared at his unfinished drawing of the girl with soft brown eyes and a hard stare.

contradictory.

that night when the wind blew through the meadow with a hunger for emotions, there were none because the only words exchanged that elicited any emotions were the ones on the pages of delilah's book that fed her information she would never use.