For several hours, unaware of how quickly time was passing, she had been lying in the tall grass and gazing at the sky. White clouds drifted slowly across the blue, occasionally obscuring the sun. She could hear the rustle of trees in the nearby forest, the cheerful chirping of birds, and crickets chirping somewhere in the grass, whose long blades played with the gentle breeze. The proximity of nature was what she so desperately missed in her hometown. Only during vacation could she afford the luxury of blissful laziness in the bosom of nature. She closed her eyes, enjoying the peace of the August afternoon.
Suddenly, the silence was broken by footsteps on the gravel path, just a few meters from where she lay. Distracted from her thoughts, she sat up and looked down the path. An involuntary smile spread across her lips when she saw him standing casually, hands in his pockets, looking in her direction. She waved, he replied, and slowly began walking toward her. She noticed he was wearing Walkman headphones—the one thing he never parted with. She knew he'd only turn off the music when she sat down next to her. They'd only just met, but they already knew most of each other's habits. It wasn't hard for them to become friends.
Indeed, she wasn't wrong: he sat down in the grass, took out his headphones, and looked into her eyes.
"You're a loner. You've been sitting here thinking for about three hours," he said, smiling faintly.
She looked up at the sky again. The sun, just peeking out from behind one of the white clouds, lit up her eyes—he could see all the colors, usually hidden deep in the depths of her pupils.
"You're following me." It was more of a statement than a question, but there wasn't even a hint of anger in it.
"Maybe..." he replied with amusement, "I've just been walking around the neighborhood for a few hours... I saw you earlier, but I thought you wanted some time alone."
She smiled and lay back down, eyes closed.
"You know me too well...
" "Is that bad?"
She didn't answer, as he expected. He lay down next to her, his hands tucked under his head and a blade of grass in his mouth. Neither of them wanted to break the silence, because neither of them was bothered by it.
When she opened her eyes, he was still lying there, staring at the sky, just as she had been, with only one difference: he was wearing his Walkman headphones again.
"What are you listening to?" She was sure he could hear her, even with the volume turned up to maximum.
Without a word, he handed her one of the headphones.
"Apocalyptica," she smiled at the familiar melody, and he nodded approvingly.
"Have you had enough of the sounds of nature?" he joked, watching the wind play through her hair.
"Not again! I just thought I'd ask you every now and then what a lover of walks and SPYING like you listens to," she retorted with a laugh, deftly masking the confusion caused by his slightly too warm gaze.
"You're insufferable," he laughed back, reaching out to smooth back a stray lock of her curls, which were billowing in the wind. She wouldn't let him. She stood up, brushed the grass and dirt from her jeans, then turned and walked wordlessly toward the gravel path.
He watched her depart silently—he knew her far better than she thought, and knew there was no point in stopping her.
Once on the path, she turned and waved goodbye. The wind ruffled her long hair again, and even from a few meters away, she could see how bright her eyes were.
***
Startled suddenly from sleep, she sat up in bed, gasping for air. Another nightmare... She buried her face in her hands for a moment, trying to calm herself. When her heart finally began to slow, she turned on the bedside lamp, picked up the yellow-covered notebook with the pen attached to it from the table next to the bed, and began to write...
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