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VIOLA SCURRIES PAST THE few blocks it takes her to reach the flower-covered Berrylane Park, a slight breeze whisking around her figure as she wraps her cotton cardigan tighter around her petite frame. She focuses on the sway of the trees and the buzzing of the evening traffic, walking past the many people that loiter the main streets on a spring night. The sun was slowly starting to set, the small amount of light blanketing the ground below in a comfortable warmth as the night slowly seeps through to replace the day. Viola ties and reties her long chestnut locks four times, the way it sits atop her head never satisfying her regardless of how many times she tries to convince herself that it is just hair.
She waits at the cross light until the oncoming cars come to a complete stop and the green walking man lights up the sign. Viola skips quickly across the pedestrian walkway and back onto the curb, reaching the railing that divides Berrylane Park and the main road. She hooks her legs over the metal barrier and walks off onto the bike track that runs through the bushes.
A buzz from the back pocket of her jean shorts causes Viola's heart to skip a beat or two and she quickly pulls her phone out, checking the time and reading the awaiting message on her lock screen.
i'm at the swings [6:47pm]
Viola never quite thought that those four simple words could cause her heart to beat erratically and for a clammy feeling to cling to the smooth skin of her palms. She takes a memorised route towards the playground, a trip that takes her a little less than a minute. Viola focuses on the crunch of the leaves under her canvas shoes to slow down her breath, a useless tactic since her breath all but halts in the back of her throat at the sight of a boy sitting on the swings rocking back and forth lazily with his head hung low.
She quickens her pace and halts at the vacant swing next to his. "Hi."
Ben whips his head up, a sad expression playing on his features. Viola tries so hard to even attempt to tell what he's thinking, but with the plethora of emotions swimming behind his eyes, she realises she can't understand him at all. He motions to the swing next to his and Viola takes her place there, using the balls and heels of her feet to rock herself forward and back, forward and back.
"So, I think I may have overreacted a little bit." Ben's voice is softer than Viola had expected, the single sentence void of any notion of hurt or betrayal. "I saw a situation with no context and I assumed."
Viola chews in the inside of her cheek, "we really were just talking. But I think that maybe you should know what we were talking about." Ben looks towards Viola with dark eyes, a look of sadness in the ocean blue as though he was preparing to hear the worst. "Eddie...confessed some things to me and whilst I don't reciprocate any of those feelings, you didn't deserve to have them said behind your back."
"Viola, I'm not upset. I thought I was and I forced myself to believe scenarios that I had simply made up without actually knowing any truth behind it." Ben stands up from the swing and bends down in front of her, grabbing onto her thighs for balance. "If anything, it's made me realise it's not only me who sees you in that way and I'm okay with letting other people admire you."
"What do you mean?" She quirks, tilting her head slightly.
"When Eddie said you're worth something to him too, it shouldn't have mattered to me. Honestly, it should matter to you, because you should realise that the people around you find you worth every damn planet in the universe." Ben stands to his feet and pulls Viola with her, her mouth parted in disbelief and a soft rose colour staining her cheeks.
"And," he continues. "if you're falling in love with me, just as much as I am with you, people telling you you're worth the world, is something I'd never stop you from believing in. 'Cause you are, Viola Lancaster, you are worthy of every world, every sea and every universe. I'll be damned if someone takes that away from you."
Viola leans forward and without as much as a sound, captures Ben's lips with her own, indulging in a kiss like it was their very last. The movement of their mouths against one another's spoke every word that Viola couldn't quite seem to get out, the synchronisation of their lips a simple dance to the song of every feeling and action of their love. This is what she needed, the simple reassurance of affection that whatever had been done, is simply not enough to defeat a connection so new.
Viola smiles, pulling back. "You make me feel worthy of every damn thing, too."
