Stand By Me

Paint with all the colours of the wind

Liron was sitting in the impromptu flower garden he had constructed in the living room during my absence, hands and face covered in a paint that matched his blue eyes, and staring intently at the white wall where a splatter of blue was slowly creeping its way to the floor.

He barely hummed to acknowledge my presence, and didn't avert his gaze from the wall. He seemed almost childlike, scowling at the dripping paint as if it had insulted his heritage and he was trying to come up with a good retort.

I couldn't help but smile, seeing my best friend at the beginning of another one of his passion projects. The flowers and the blue paint gave no indication of what he might be planning, but even if it did, any assumption would probably have been wrong.

I slung the guitar off my back and gently laid it on the couch. I carefully navigated the sea of petals towards him, and crouched down next to him. I just had to tease him.

"Have things gotten so boring without me that you've resorted to literally watching paint dry?"

He gently shoved me and mumbled, "Shuddup, I'm thinking."

I scoffed, and sat down, moving a vase of lilies to the side. Liron didn't say a word, and kept his focus. There was a blue smear on his cheek that matched a smear on his hand, where he was idly twirling a pencil in his fingers. "Ya got something right there," I said, and poked his cheek.

He narrowed his eyes shifted them towards me slowly. "I will stab you," he said coldly. It was a challenge. As much as I wanted to tease him, I knew it was a promise he would deliver on, so I bit my comments back.

He held his stony gaze, waiting for me to make the stupid remark I so badly wanted to. I shifted uncomfortably, then looked around at the flood of flowers around us.

"What's going on here?" I had to ask, motioning to the room with one hand. Liron held his stare for another second, then sniffed and looked around the room too.

"Well, it's a bit difficult to explain, but it can be summarised as 'I didn't do any deliveries today and also I tripped.' " He nodded towards the corner where a large pool of blue seemed to have spread across the floor. "Mopping didn't help much and, in fact, only seemed to aggrieve the situation even more."

I lifted a card from an arrangement of roses, and flipped it open. After a quick read, I raised an eyebrow at Liron. "So, you're telling me that you, in addition to the floor and the walls, ruined Stacy's date with Tom tonight?" I waved the card at him, and he just rolled his eyes, turning back to the wall.

"Tom's been sending everybody flowers. He's a player, honestly. I think I'm doing Stacy a favour. I should let her know one day when she's married to Not-Tom so that she can personally thank me for this very moment."

I could feel the grin in his voice. He was fighting very hard to keep it back. "You're gonna pitch up at some stranger's wedding and say, Hi, I used to deliver flowers and I single-handedly saved your love life by failing to deliver, you can thank me now. Sure, I see that working out well."

Liron chuckled, and in his horrible English accent said, "Indeed, dear Maddock. You must understand the wiles of women and how to woo them. Most certainly my charming personality and great service to her will leave her forever grateful to be rid of Tom."

I nodded solemnly. "Of course, wise one. I must learn from your example and go ruin as many relationships as I possibly can."

Liron barked out a laugh and playfully shoved my shoulder. "Get outta here!" I merely flashed him a grin. After a moment, he sighed and turned back to the wall. "I think I can fix this, though. I have an idea."

"That's good and all, but what about that," I said, pointing to the large stain on the hardwood floor.

Liron shrugged. "I always did say we need to get carpets."

"You've never said that in your life."

"I said it now."

I considered the mess, and, ultimately, I thought it was beyond salvation. "Carpet it is, then."

Liron nodded again, then shooed me away. "Git. I can't focus with you existing in my general proximity. Your idiocy overcomes me. Shoo, shoo!"

I huffed, but obeyed. I carefully extracted myself from the undelivered flora, picked up my guitar from the couch and made my way to my room. I glanced back at Liron just before I closed the door, and he was already drawing patterns on the wall with the pencil.

He was an odd one, sure, but I couldn't imagine how dull life would be without him. Perhaps I'd have to resort to watching paint dry.

***

AN: So. This is a thing now. I... I don't like it. We'll fix it in the rewrite (ha, as if).