Lavender

Charles was on his way to the graveyard. Exactly 4 years ago one of his best friends was involved in a car accident. And well, since he was going to a graveyard the rest of the story should be obvious. He didn't know what to think about today. Charles tried to avoid thinking at days like that. He doesn't want to cry again. Not now, on the street where everybody could see him. He blinked a few times to prevent himself from crying. And he partly managed to do it; only a single tear left his eyes and dropped onto the sidewalk.
When he turned his head away from a car driving by he saw a really nice garden, full of beautiful flowers. Right behind the fence stood a few lavender plants. Charles stopped and inhaled the scent. Lavender has been Jules' favorite kind of flower. And there was a lot of Lavender behind the fence, and a bit more in a flowerpot next to the front door. He thought about it for a second. He couldn't do this, could he? These weren't his flowers. In fact taking them would make him a thief. But ... These were his best friends' favorite flowers, and the owner of the house had many more... So if he took only three or four twigs no one would notice, right? Charles looked around a few times before he stuck his right hand through the fence and pulled on one of the plants. He truly felt bad for it, but now he had five lavender twigs in his hand and moved his hand out of the fence.

At this moment the door flew open and a young man appeared. He was wearing dirty jeans and a red and black checkered lumberjack shirt. On top of it all sat a straw hat.
"Hey you!", the man shouted, "what are you doing there?"
"I'm sorry. I know it's wrong to take them. Even considering that was wrong. I feel truly sorry", Charles apologized. The man came closer to him. He was about his size, and had a slight stubble. The man saw the pity on the Monegasque's face and seemed to calm down a bit.
"Here", Charles said and held out his arm with the lavender to the other man, "you can keep it"
"I appreciate the gesture, but you ripped that lavender out already. I can't plant these twigs back to the other bushes. You can keep it, but only if you do me a little favor", said the other man. Charles was able to see his light blue eyes sparkle, and a little smile got caught on the other man's lips.
"Really?", Charles' face lit up too. If he was able to keep the lavender, and put it on Jules' grave today he'd be really thankful. No matter what the 'favor' he had to do was, he'd do it.

"Let me come with you", the other man suggested, "I want to see if your girlfriend is really worth it"
Wait, what girlfriend? Oh no! This can't be true. What did he do to deserve this mess? Well, he was about to steal the other guys flowers, and that was bad enough for fate, Charles supposed. The grip he had around the lavender twigs tightened, and his hand began to sweat slightly. The other man looked a bit impatient already, so Charles decided to start walking to the graveyard again. If he kept walking at this speed he'll have around 7 minutes to explain the situation to the other man. 7 minutes aren't much, especially when he didn't know how to start explaining.
"I'm Pierre by the way", the other man said and held out his hand for Charles to shake. "Ah, sorry. There's still dirt on them. I just finished planting the lavender" Charles wasn't able to sort this comment. It sounded a bit teasing, just like Pierre wanted to remind him of being a flower thief. But he didn't seem to be serious, did he?
Charles didn't know what to do, so he just said: "I'm Charles. Nice to meet you"
"I'm sorry for coming with you to your date in this outfit. Normally I'd wear something fancier for a date, that's just my gardening outfit", Pierre explained.
"Well, thank god this isn't your date then", Charles said, and he was sure he sounded a little bit annoyed. But how the heck was he supposed to explain that he was walking to a graveyard, not a date? 'Hey, maybe there was a misunderstanding, we're not going to a date, I'll go to a graveyard because on this day 4 years ago my best friend had a car accident and died 9 months later'? No way ... If he wanted to tell Pierre - well, he somehow had to, but still ...

Argh, he should stop thinking so much. He had about 5 minutes to tell Pierre now. 5 minutes until he'd be in trouble.
"Uhm, Pierre? I think I have to tell you something", Charles asked and looked at the blonde guy. Pierre nodded, and Charles started to talk again. "So, uhm... I don't know how to start. We aren't going to see a girl, actually. We'll go and see a guy"
"Oh", Pierre was silenced for a second, "that's no problem tho. I just hope he doesn't gets jealous" Pierre laughed, and Charles tried his best to hide the pain he felt in his chest. The more Pierre talked, the more he remembered Jules.
"Did I say something wrong?", Pierre asked when he didn't get an answer, "Hey, I'm sorry ... I don't even know why I'm doing this. But I felt like this was funny. If this is too much for you, tell me. I'll leave you alone then"

Charles didn't know what to do. Or what to say. Pierre didn't have to be sorry. It wasn't his fault that he had a bad day. In fact, Pierre made his day a little bit better. Now he had company. For the first time in the 3 years Jules was dead. He still wasn't completely over it. He was just a teenager when it happened. He had a deep friendship with Jules. They grew up together, and Jules made him the person he is today. Without Jules he would've been nothing.
Tears started to fill his eyes, but he was too embarrassed to admit it. He turned away from Pierre and wiped away the tears that made it out of his body.

And now they were there. The entry of the graveyard. Pierre was standing by his side when he stopped. Charles didn't know what to do, or what to say. So he stayed silent, and stood still.
"Are you waiting for him? Is he late?", asked Pierre. Charles shook his head: "No... I mean ... This is a truly messed up situation"
"What's wrong?", asked Pierre and put his hands on Charles' shoulders, "do you want to tell me?"
"Well, uhm, I won't have a date today. I never planned to have one. I just wanted to visit my best friend", Charles looked at the floor and tried to ignore Pierre's glaze. But he didn't manage to do it. He ended up looking up at the slightly taller man. It's just a few millimeters, but they seemed to be an eternity. Charles felt small, and worthless. He totally wasted Pierre's time.

But suddenly Charles felt arms around his torso, it was Pierre, who just decided to give him a hug. He was able to feel Pierre's heartbeat through the thin fabric of his shirt, and it helped him to calm down. When he inhaled deeply Charles smelled dirt, and a little bit of lavender.

It remembered him of Jules. When they came back from hanging out at the lavender fields, full of dust, with a few of the purple twigs stuck in their thick hair.

"Shall I come with you? Or do you want to go on your own?", asked Pierre. He whispered the words directly into Charles ear, which caused the hair on his neck to stand up.

He nodded, and inhaled the scent in Pierre's shirt once again before he let go of him. Charles didn't understand why he hugged Pierre, after knowing him for not even fifteen minutes. Maybe because he remembered him of Jules, or maybe he just was desperate for company today. No matter what the reason was, he trusted Pierre.

Charles grabbed Pierre by the sleeve of his flannel, and slowly led him through the rows of gravestones. He stopped in front of a simple granite one and sat down on the green grass next to it.

On the grave stone it said:

Jules Bianchi

3.8.1989-17.7.2015

You never liked silence, so we hope you rest in laughter

Pierre had just counted the years on the stone; "What happened to him? If you want to tell"

"Car crash. Serious head injuries. Nine months of artificial coma before he left", Charles summed up the situation. Tears were filling his eyes once again, but this time he didn't bother with trying to hide them. Pierre wrapped his hands around Charles' shoulders and held him when he started sobbing. Pierre didn't say anything, just tried to comfort Charles silently.

Through all the tears Charles managed to say a few words between the sobs: "Hey Jules. Look, today I brought a friend with me"