THESE HIDDEN WINGS

[27.1] THE ORANGES

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"Oh honey, Lucas is much bigger than that."

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I STARED AT the clouds, loving the feel of the gentle breeze whisking across my skin as it passed by, the light poking of the grass, just enough to almost tickle, the sun not too bright to stop my direct view of the sky.

Cloudy days, with a kiss of warmth, were just the best days ever.

"And that's all he said?" Claire huffed from beside me. I turned my head slightly to my friend, a small smile appearing on my face as I nodded. Of course, I couldn't tell her everything that Mr. Ogustus had said to me, but I did tell her he had encouraged me to be more out there, or more open to some extent.

Bravery was probably the word that suited best to what he was trying to say, as he did mention I was scared, but the B-word was not a word I wanted to utter to Claire, not after what happened to me last night when I tried it out. I shut out the images, I didn't want anything to destroy this beautiful scene in front of me.

She turned away from my line of view, her eyes peering up at the sky as she focused on the clouds I had been watching only a second ago. Squinting for a moment, her eyebrows furrowed as if she was in deep thought before slightly turning to me.

"I think deep down we're all scared," she grunted, eyes staring right into mine. It was one of the few times Claire held eye contact for so long. Sighing she then looked back up at the sky, "If only life was as easy as being a cloud."

I chuckled at this senseless statement and she smiled along with me. I was lucky about one thing that was for sure, Claire. She was one of the best people I had the privilege of meeting, unlike Daya, she was patient and understanding and that is what I appreciated most among her best features. I knew she had been through a lot but she always tried to stay positive, which was hard to do, I knew that better than anyone.

After a slight pause, she suddenly spoke, her tone low and flirty, "So Luca is an all-powerful Gigan," she grinned, glancing my way, and a chuckle grazed on her lips.

I knew she was only teasing me but the involuntary smile that suddenly hijacked my face was impossible to wipe off, only being able to roll my eyes, to pull off the 'I don't know what you're talking about look'. I took the noted book that was beside me, jotting a few words down,

'LUCAS," I double-underlined, before explaining why, 'he didn't want us to call him Luca."

She looked over the words, sitting up beside me, carelessly rubbing the leaves, dust, and grass from her dark straight hair with one hand, eyes still focused on the words I had handed her. She looked back at me with a puzzled look plastered on her face.

"When did he say that?" she asked.

I gave her an unconvinced look, unable to believe she hadn't gotten what I picked up from his body language. Granted I didn't think just anybody would, but Clair was like me. She studied people and tried to figure them out. Maybe she was too obvious when doing it whilst I preferred the more subtle approach but either way, my point was, she would have been smart enough to pick it up.

I held out my hand to retrieve my notebook from her and she handed it over to me, watching as I wrote, 'in the library.'

She glanced over what I had written, then back up at me still not getting it. I sighed sitting up straight, pushing the stray lock of hair from my face, taking in a breath of sweet fresh air before writing down my thesis,