Bloom

26. silent excitement

Haven

"What on earth are you wearing, Haven?" Tara pulled a face as her eyes lingered on my outfit, a slight frown visible on her forehead.

Glancing at the short sleeved, wide legged jumpsuit I was wearing, I held up my shoulders, finding her dark brown eyes. "Uh, a jumpsuit?" I removed a tiny fluff that flew and got stuck to the buttons of the decent v-neck.

"Wide legged and ankle- length. Only you would wear this," Tara chuckled, tugging at the linen belt that belonged to the jumpsuit, which I had tied around my waist. "Very, very.. you."

Norah looked up from where she was sitting, a soft smile appearing on her face. "Very Haven, indeed. It looks good on you, especially the yellow colour! I wish I could wear yellow, but it makes me look pale." She groaned, softly touching the fabric of my clothing.

"Oh, goodness." Tara rolled her eyes, them suddenly lingering on my jumpsuit again. "Let me guess, Zephaniah told you he likes yellow, and you just want to impress him."

"What?" I frowned, not understanding what she was talking about. Glancing at the white with ocher yellow vertical stripes, my eyes found hers again after that. "What do you mean? He never told me that."

Tara's eyes widened, "He didn't? Oh, how things have changed." She chuckled, shaking her head. "When he was little he had trouble talking to strange people, still has, by the way. His parents told him he could tell anything he wanted, as example, his favourite colour. He'd never said otherwise after that because he takes things literal. 'Hi, what's your name? Zephaniah, yellow', he'd whisper."

I thought that was pure, but I kept my mouth shut. "He hasn't told me that, and I spent quite some time with him."

"You did? What the heck, why?" Tara questioned, Norah curiously listening to our conversation.

Sighing, I sat down on the grass, the early morning sun already giving away much warmth that was expected today. Class would start in some time, so we still had space to enjoy ourselves in this very likable spring weather. "I helped him with his homework, at his house because the library was closed, of course, so Hannah had suggested to go to his house. His dad was home too, he resembles him like a lot, by the way, and-"

"Okay, Haven, it's barely nine am." Tara groaned, pressing her hand to my mouth. "You were at his house? His structure must've been all messed up. Let me guess, he was upset."

Other than the incidents with the gumballs and the drinking, I didn't think he was upset. But, how could I be sure about that? He talked, but he didn't say much. "Actually, he was just fine. Bit quiet, but when isn't he?"

"Fair point," Tara laughed, plucking a few blades of grass and randomly throwing them at me.

Norah sighed, her eyes lingering a specific direction. "Kinda jealous, Haven. He's handsome, got a great sense of fashion too."

I fixed my gaze upon what she was looking at, noticing Zephaniah standing near the steps that would lead you towards the main entrance of the building. He was clearly waiting for the busiest crowd to get inside first, his eyes constantly checking his phone, numbing headphones on his head.

"He's checking the time," Tara mumbled as she lied down on the grass, staring at the sky. "Anxious person, I told you."

His slim and rather tall legs moved as he took a step to the left with his left foot, then back to his previous place with his right foot. The sight made me feel rather warm, but also wonder how he was doing at this very moment. I hadn't talked to him in a while. Due to the library being closed, we hadn't done the homework thing last week.