Where the hell was she?
Picking up the pace, AJ looked around the luxuriant green meadows that were surrounding him and repressed a shudder.
All this nature was scaring him all right. There were too many trees, too many damn flowers and bees about. He didn’t like being in the countryside one bit. Oh no, mister. He positively hated it.
And if it wouldn’t have been for her persistence and the way she had looked up at him with those damn blue eyes of hers, he would never have found himself in that situation.
That is, walking alone, searching for his woman…without one cigarette on him.
Again.
He knew she had taken them from his jeans pocket. He knew it and yet, he couldn’t even think of yelling at her about it.
Because he was pretty sure that if he did, she would only turn her angry gaze towards him and inform him that she had just been tidying up. That the pack had always been there if he had actually thought and looked for it at the right place.
It could be the desk or the bedside table. Or even his jacket.
But it was invariably stored somewhere.
Just never where he had left it.
They both knew she did that only because she didn’t want him to smoke as much as he did. Certainly not when they were staying together and she had to endure hour upon hour of a smoked-filled room.
And so, as he walked on the gravely path, he sighed and pushed his hands into his back pockets. Giving up on smoking once again this afternoon.
He found her ten minutes later. Or rather, he very nearly stumbled over her.
Watching his feet while thinking how mad he’d be if he accidentally stepped over something he shouldn’t, he didn’t at first see the pool of red in the otherwise green pasture.
But luckily, he did quickly enough and managed not to walk right over her. Frowning as he took in her posture, he looked down at her closed eyes and said “What are you doing?”
She jumped slightly, coming to sudden realization that someone was there. That AJ was there. “Just enjoying”
Biting on his lower lip, he looked around them, at the cows munching slowly in the nearby meadow. At the daisies that had finally taken over, making this pasture a white and green canvass. At the woman lying at his feet, her hands stretched out over her head like she was trying to reach for the sun.
She was lying there in the grass, surrounded by flowers. All peaceful and yet, he knew that she was aware of everything around her. That she was listening to his slow breaths, to the sound of the bees and the birds and…Sighing, he sat down next to her. “Enjoying what?” He asked softly, running his fingertips over her forearm.
She opened her eyes then and looked up at him. Smiling softly, she relaxed and replied “Here. The sun, the nature, the grass. It’s so…quiet”
He nodded, giving her a gesture of understanding…but yet, he didn’t. He didn’t really understand why she had wanted to come here with him. It was all green and there were no McDonalds to eat in. No fans, no noise, nothing. It was all too…silent. Wrapping his arms over his knees, he sat there and let her enjoy the silence. Not understanding why but at least realizing that she needed it.
And because he loved her, he gave her that gift.
Sitting silently beside her, not even touching her, he let his mind drift.
A few minutes later, or maybe a few hours, he felt her move and his gaze refocused. “What are you doing?” She asked in a low voice. A low voice that was tinged with amusement.
That’s when he looked down at his hands and a gasp left his mouth. A daisy chain.
There was a daisy chain in his hands.
He had made a daisy chain.
Oh God. Wincing, he opened his hands and let it fall to the ground between his feet.
“No! Don’t” She moved up to her knees and reached for the chain, lying crookedly but yet not broken. Holding it up to eye level, she fingered it gently then turned her gaze back to him. “It’s beautiful”
He shook his head slowly. “No. You’re beautiful. This is just a…a chain or something” And he would have found his cigarettes pack, he wouldn’t have done this at all. He needed something to occupy his hands. At all times. He needed his cigarettes, damn it! Look what happened when he didn’t have them with him!
She smiled and bent down towards him, her lips brushing his in a tender gesture. “It’s beautiful” She repeated, a small smile playing on her mouth.
“I didn’t mean to do this, you know” He said, trying to reassure himself. He was a man. Men didn’t do that shit.
“I know” She answered quietly but her eyes still sparkled.
They sparkled and he was suddenly drawn by them. It wasn’t the first time that happened and he bet it wouldn’t be the last. But she was looking up at him with her vibrant eyes, the corners of her lips twitching and he knew he was lost.
Weak. He was weak. But he resigned himself and admitted that being in love had made him that way.
He was in love. And when that happened, well, you became someone else.
Someone that forgot about his cigarettes and the sunglasses that fell into his lap when he bent down towards her and took the daisy chain from her hands.
Someone that smiled while putting the chain on her hair, loving her answering giggle and the way she clasped her hands around his.
Someone who just forgot about everything else but the way she felt underneath him or the way his mouth felt just perfect on hers.
Someone named AJ McLean, who no longer hated the countryside and sometimes could be found dreaming about small girls with long blonde hair, giggling and dancing with daisy chains on their heads.