Bloom

61. a traditional sunflower

Zephaniah

"Are you going to buy something for your parents?" Haven asked me, the both of us strolling through the busy shopping streets of Amsterdam. I had pulled my beanie further over my ears, slightly numbing all of the loud noises. I didn't want to wear my headphones- I was with Haven.

She was talking quite a lot, but her chattiness made me focus on her voice more instead of all the noises surrounding us. I had slept long and well- I could handle more stimulus today, which was a good thing.

I did need some breaks, though, but Haven would simply take me to some small, abandoned streets where only one or two tourists would walk through. We'd sit on stairs that belonged to houses, and I would try to recharge for as far as that was possible.

"For my parents?" I blinked my eyes, shoving my hands in the pockets of my jeans as I simply followed her to wherever she was going.

"Yeah! Like a souvenir or something? Jude wanted me to give him something, Jonah told me it was fine if I didn't. I think it's rather nice, though. It would be something that would remind me of this trip all the time." Haven rambled, standing still as we were in front of a souvenir shop.

"What do we have to buy?" I answered, a little unsure. Uncle Samuel had given me small souvenirs whenever he went on holidays with aunt Ruth, so had mama when she went away with Nana and aunt Waliyha and Safaa. I think Dad had bought me a new leash for Cooper when he went to Ireland with Grandpa David and uncle Samuel.

Perhaps, it was a normality to buy someone something whenever you went to a different country.

"You don't have to." Haven shrugged, her eyes meeting mine.

"I don't?" I wondered, feeling confused.

Haven smiled a little, her rosy cheeks rounding up lightly. "No. Did your parents ever give you souvenirs when they went away? Mine did sometimes, not always. It's not like it's a necessity or anything, just a nice gesture. And usually the people you're giving it to will like it because it's something from another country. Do I make sense?"

I hummed a little, staring inside the shop that was packed, many people reaching for the weed related stuff. Hoodies, caps and more with weed printed onto it, I meant.

"Do you want to go inside?" Haven wondered, her eyes falling onto my face, but I didn't look into them. "We don't have to, if it's too busy or.."

"Can I- can I hold your beret, maybe?" I gulped, looking anywhere but her, until I felt the familiar, soft fabric being stuffed into my hands. I sighed in relief, started fiddling and brushing my fingers over the dark red beret, feeling more at ease. "Thank you." I said quietly, glancing at her.

"Don't worry about it, Zeph." Haven smiled at me, her fingertips lingering on the sleeve of my jacket. "We'll take a quick look around."

Entering the small souvenir shop, I blinked my eyes a little faster, people brushing against me as they walked past or wanted to leave the shop. I flinched away a few times, focused on the weird, bright lights, the smell and the structure of different material that Haven pressed into my hands, instead of focusing on the souvenirs itself.

I was a little overwhelmed, souvenir shops were always so extremely busy and most of the stuff you could buy there were stupid, unnecessary garbage.

"Zeph, look!" Meeting Haven's eyes, my eyes fell down to Haven's hands, where she was pointing to her shoes. She wore the well known yellow farmer clogs. For some reasons, I started laughing, covering my mouth with my hand.

"You look funny." I mumbled out, fishing my phone out of my pocket to take a photo of her. "When you go out like- like that people were going to wish they were the blind man in Amsterdam." I laughed, still, trying to bite my upper lip to hide it.