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| woollen scarves and autumn leaves |

'So what's the second one going to be?'

'You're choosing this one,' Rue replied as they lazily wandered through the town. She looked around at the displays in the windows of the shops. Often, they'd see someone from their year in University.

She didn't realise when he stopped.

'What?' She asked.

He simply grinned and pointed at the display inside.

She retraced her steps and walked to the front of the glass window, hands in her coat. It was a boutique. And the mannequins at the display wore hand-embroidered woollen scarves around their necks. One even had a print of little woodland creatures.

'Scarves?'

'Mum always made me one of those before winter came around. I always got the ones with animals made on them.'

She raised an eyebrow.

'I was the younger sibling.'

'I think my mum would end up getting tangled in wool if she tried to make one of those,' Rue added laughing at the thought. He smiled faintly.

'Okay, lets go in then.'

They walked inside to be greeted by a nice old lady. She must've been the owner, because there was no one in there apart from her. It took a while to get a good photograph of the scarves.

Initially, when they asked the lady for permission to take photos, she looked confused. But she agreed, nevertheless. Then began the excruciating pain of arranging the scarves in ways to make them look "aesthetic" as Rue called it.

Personally, Avery liked natural arrangements. But for the day, he went along with Rue's "aesthetics". It was a joint project, after all.

After an hour of running around with scarves, they were finally happy with their shots. Clearing everything up, they said thank you to the lady and left.

'I'm so tired,' she said stretching her arms over her head as they entered the campus. 'I really need a nice warm bath and some food.'

'Rue?'

'Hmm?' She turned around to look at him when he pushed her into a pile of leaves.

'Wha...'

She barely had time to register what was going on, as she fell into the pile with a soft thump, leaves flying everywhere in a tornado of orange and brown. She heard the click of a camera. And just as soon as it had started, it was all over.

The leaves settled down onto the ground.

Her temper flared up into the sky.

'WHAT ON EARTH WAS THAT FOR?'

'Look! I've got the...'

'I'M DONE!'

She dusted off the leaves from her legs and began to walk away, fury emanating from her cheeks, when she felt a hand on her forearm.

'What do you...' She began but was cut off by Avery thrusting the camera in her hands. She looked at the screen. A perfect picture of a girl sitting amongst a storm of autumn leaves. Her voice trailed away.

'Haven't you ever dived into a pile of leaves?'

He asked, in a soft yet strong voice.

She looked up at his face, which was definitely breaking her barrier of personal space. He gave her that lopsided smile and picked off a leaf from the top of her head.

'See you tomorrow in class, stranger.'

He added, walking away with his camera and a part of her heart, leaving her confused and perplexed.

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