Bloom

28. jumping questions

Haven

It'd been three weeks since we had heard about the trip to Amsterdam and I had finally awoken out of my over- excited days. Jude had shaken my shoulders about a thousand times, Jonah had simply smiled at me each time I brought up the well- known topic.

Jude would talk about plants on purpose, Jonah wrapping his hand around Jude's lips to listen to the same old Amsterdam story from me, throwing facts and Dutch words around. Mum and dad were happy for me too, perhaps even happier about the fact that the trip had been paid by tuition already.

Smiling by myself, I entered Zephaniah's cosy neighborhood. He had, much to my surprise, asked me himself if I wanted to study with him again at his house, as the library was still not done, and of course I had agreed to that.

He'd been very shy, clearly nervous to ask me as he was fiddling with his fingers, chewing on his bottom lip. His eyes had only met mine for a brief moment, but it was enough for me. I was more than happy that he had asked me, as I had the impression he didn't want us to study at his house anymore before, due to the week we had skipped.

Ringing the doorbell, his father opened the door not much later, letting me inside right away. "Haven, hello." He said softly, watching me as I took off my shoes and coat. "How have you been?"

"Very well, thank you!" I answered, a smile making its way upon my face. He had nice parents, the atmosphere in the house was comfortable, warm, welcoming. "Zephaniah had asked me himself to study, so," I chuckled carefully, actually not understanding myself what I meant to say with it.

"He did?" His dad answered curiously, his eyes lingering on me. I wondered why, he didn't ask further when I nodded my head. "Interesting, anyway, you can find him outside in the backyard, Haven."

"Oh, sure! Should I bring my study stuff outside?" I blurted out without thinking, not understanding myself again, because, why would his father decide that for me?

Though, I could tell he was hesitating, his eyes going from the window, back to me. "Maybe you can see what he's doing first. He's very hyper at the moment. Perhaps, he's jumping on the trampoline."

"Zephaniah hyper?" I blurted out, the disbelief was clearly audible in my voice, it made me blush because it was still his father I was talking to, after all.

He chuckled, much to my relief, and focused his attention back on me. "Oh, yeah. I know, he's usually very calm and reserved, but he has moments where he suddenly gets a lot of energy, no idea how or where. He's had it when he was little too. He'd sing his heart out, happily skip and jump beside us while holding my wife's or my hand, dancing with Cooper."

His eyes stood warm as he stared at one of the photo's that hung on the wall. Glancing at it, I noticed how Zephaniah, who wouldn't be older than nine years, was smiling with his teeth showing, his mother and father each kissing a cheek, them chubbed up slightly because of their lips pressed against them. His hands were neatly in his lap, his eyes not staring straight into the camera.

The photo warmed my heart, the love his parents had for him practically radiating off that photo.

"Sometimes he was so hyper, excitedly blurting out dog facts with stammers and stutters, hands flapping, squealing and jumping, that we decided to buy him a trampoline so he'd get at least some of the energy out of him." His father chuckled, shaking his head. "It did help, but, sometimes he jumps himself into exhaustion."

"Therefore, I'm not quite sure if studying will work today," he smiled sheepishly, as if he was afraid I would mind.

"That's totally okay," I smiled back at him, feeling excited to see what Zephaniah was up to. "If we could have a nice conversation, that'd be enough for me."