- SPRING -

Wave after wave crashed against the shore like fragile glass. First, they rose high, intimidating the broad but small grains of sand that lay beneath it in fear. As they reached their curved form, they finally directed themselves at the sand, descending with great force.

Imagine how scared the sand must've been, all for nothing when the crystal waves of blue shatter into a defeated foam of white. When the broken water pulls back, it reveals the sand that is still there to be seen, standing strong.

The sun exposes it's sweet warmth through the dainty rays of light, exceeding a pleasant temperature that doesn't give it the reputation of its natural sweltering heat. The kind that forms beads of sweat across people's upper lips and tan lines over their swim wear.

It wasn't anything like that. No pale half naked men or women tanning in the sun or swimming in the warm waters. This was England. On a dispiriting Monday like this, there was barely anyone.

Maybe this was my favourite season. Where I could be at peace, alone. Just me, the cocky waves, the innocent sand and my burning cigarette. It was easier this way. Easier to breathe, to be myself. When I'm alone with no judging eyes or hushed whispers.

Alone was always the better option. I didn't care if it people thought it was because I was a coward. I'd take always take the easier option any given day.

Lifting the stick of death to my lips again, I suck in longer than before and close my eyes as I feel the fumes burn through my lungs. The grey cloud that blows from my mouth vanishes within seconds, stolen by the sea's gust of wind.

Yeah, this was my favourite season.

But I didn't know what the other reason of why I liked spring so much. I didn't know that this was the season where she would waltz right into my life as if she meant nothing but was about to mean everything to me.

Staring straight ahead, I don't dare let my eyes glance at my phone that endlessly makes noise with its notifications. I already know it's my aunt sending me a long line of angry texts that weren't going to end anytime soon.

Shit, she's going to be mad. I thought it would take at least a little while longer before the school would tell her I didn't come in today.

Sighing, I return the cigarette to my lips again, wanting to the fire to just disintegrate my entire self by now.

And that's when I heard it. It was the first noise I heard on that beach that wasn't from the waves, it was the first time I heard her voice.

"He's adorable!"

My ears twitch, already annoyed at someone interrupting the peace before seeing who it was. Turning my head, my eyes follow the direction of the voice, fixating it upon the only other two people that are here on this god forsaken beach.

It's odd when I very first laid my eyes on her. When I shifted my stare, the glaring eyes from my resting bitch face melted immediately into an awestruck stare. Damn, was I baffled by her beauty.

She was quite tall, her figure just about towering the old lady she was talking to. As tall as she was, she had an incredibly small figure. A faded yellow summer dress hugging her tiny waist and emphasizing her hips.

All I could see was the side of her body and my eyes were already enchanted. Her hair cascaded past her hips, delicate waves curving the locks of an elegant strawberry blonde.

I hadn't seen her face yet, only hearing her squeal as she jumped up and down.

"Shut the fuck up, dumb bitch." I mutter to myself, taking whiff after whiff of the cigarette as my lungs started to grow more and more impatient with my disgusting habit. As annoyed as I was, I kept staring, trying my best to send daggers towards the noisy girl.

It only agitated me more when I saw what she was so happy about.

In the arms of the old woman, she held a small bony animal who's fur was covered in the colours of grey and white. It's wide black eyes seemed to staring straight into my soul, mentally ripping me apart with its claws.

It's a cat. A fucking cat

I rolled my eyes, losing interest as I returned my stare back to the sea. "Who the fuck likes cats?"

As much as I thought I was done with her, my ears perked yet again when I heard her talk. Her foreign accent was more clear than before.

"What's his name?"

I looked at her sideways, trying not to make it too obvious that I was staring. Her accent...she's not from around here. I couldn't pinpoint from where though.

They had started to walk in my direction, drawing nearer to me as they talked and I mentally groaned. But all the groaning stopped when the wind finally blew the long hair out of her face and revealed her angelic features.

You see, if I had died right there and then and my lungs gave out where all the oxygen left my body or maybe my heart just decided to finally stop beating. When the people would have found me and taken me the doctor, he or she probably would have blamed it on the cigarettes.

Although that wouldn't be the reason at all. I would've just died, being the only one who knew that seeing her face for the first time was the real reason my body decided to go heaven.

Or hell I guess, I don't really know how that shit works.

But her face. Gawd.

I usually don't care about looks. Pretty boys and pretty girls exist all the time, but they never drew in my attention because all of their beauty just looked so overrated to me and there was so many more things to give shits about other than someone's appearance.

And I didn't know whether this was the case when I saw her face. But goddamn. She was beautiful.

More beautiful than the loud sea that I had been staring at for the past two fucking hours. More beautiful than the placid blue sky. Fuck it, I ain't going to list everything to compare her beauty to.

She was the most beautiful thing I had ever laid my eyes upon.

But even back then, I guess it meant nothing to me. Which is why I guess, even after I saw her full face, I still looked away and let my depressing thoughts consume me once more.

My cigarette eventually finished and burned out. I kept my head down as I pulled out another and struggled to light it up with the increasing wind that stubbornly kept blowing the lighters helpless flame away. "Fuck, fuck, fuckity fuck. Fuck you."

As I was too busy continuosly groaning my favourite word in frustration, I didn't notice the presence of the angel peacefully floating her way over to me with her broad, pastel white wings.

"Need help?"

A black and ancient looking lighter was placed in front of the cigarette I held in my mouth, a strong and fiery flame alive, just waiting to offer it's service.

With a heavy frown on my face, I looked up, almost fainting in my position as it took me a while to register how close she was standing to me. It wasn't only that, it was that small smile she displayed on her reddish pink lips as well. Like....fuck me.

She continued to hold it in front me and I quickly snapped myself out of the trance, realising how much of an idiot I must have looked like. Without saying anything, I leaned forward and let the flame light up my cigarette, sucking in the smoke.

While I blew it out, I told her in a low voice. "Thanks."

She nodded and her smile widened but she still didn't show her teeth and it struck me clueless why I was thinking about what her teeth looked like. I don't know what I was expecting her to do, maybe just for her to leave me with constant voices inside my head again.

But no, she didn't. And don't ask me why, I had only just met this girl but something about her was already telling me she was different. It was probably the smile, the genuine smile that didn't seem to be judging me at all. Because that's what I was used to whenever people first met me.

First, it was the odd stare that would travel up and down my fully black outfit with no sign of happy colours. Then it was the uncertain question of asking me if I was okay after seeing the permanent scowl on my face. And then if they hadn't already been too weirded out by my gloomy presence and decided to make their escape, they would just continue to stare at me and mentally question who the fuck wears lipstick that dark.

But she did none of these things. Instead, she just placed herself next to me on the concrete and turned her smiling face to the sea.

Okay then.

My curious eyes didn't return to the sea, dropping down the exquisite lighter she held in her hands instead.

Oh wait, maybe she's waiting for me to offer her a cigarette. People may look at me and think I'm a bitch just by my appearance but that didn't mean I actually was one. I mean, I had manners.

I concluded to myself, not convinced she was simply sitting next to me for the benefit of my company. Whipping out the box, I stared at the last cigarette before sighing and offering it to her. "Want the last one?"

She turned to look at my unsure face and then the lonesome cigarette. To my surprise, she shook her head. "Oh, no. That's okay. I don't smoke."

Ah, well that makes all the fucking sense then. I thought sarcastically in my head.

"Oh." I say dumbly, my hand falling limp as I drag my hand away.

She smiles politely. "But thank you."

"Yeah, don't worry about it." I tell her, letting my head lower as I finally figure out her accent. Australian. The angel came from Australia.

Before I can stop myself, I let the curiosity make its way to my mouth. "Why do you have a lighter then?"

She doesn't look at me when I ask her, her eyes trained on the lighter she fiddles with between her fingers so carefully. "It was my dad's." She replies softly, her expression and voice changing.

Was.

The single word sticks out to me and I think I've already figured what she's going to say next.

"He died of lung cancer."

Well, shit.

The cigarette freezes in between my two fingers, inches from my mouth as I'm about to take another whiff. She seems to notice how tense I've become and laughs when she sees my reaction.

"Please don't be uncomfortable, I don't care if you smoke." She grins, shrugging her shoulders. "It's your decision, I won't judge."

Damn. "Uh, thanks." I say uneasily, hesitantly letting the cigarette touch my lips again.

I didn't know what was more beautiful, her wide smile, her laugh or the fact that she so effortlessly couldn't give two shits about how I was living my life.

She doesn't make any sign that she's leaving so I decide to just accept the fact that she wants to actually sit next to me. God knows what made her want to do that.

Everything turns quiet again and nothing is to be heard except for the chaotic waves and the persistent wind that kindly keeps the hair out of our faces. It sends a ripple through my thin shirt and I thank the leather jacket that protects my arms from the goosebumps. I glance at her, the back of my mind faintly worrying about whether she's cold or not.

But before I can say anything, she's speaking again. "I understand why you were staring at the sea now."

My eyes stop trailing across her bare arms in concern and rise to the gentle look on her face as she gazes foreward. "It's admirable. The way it teaches it's hidden lesson."

The way she's talking has me hooked. No one fucking talks like that, only the pathetic princesses in a Disney movie. But hell, maybe she is a princess after all.

"What lesson?" I ask, unable to take my eyes off her.

The small smile returns to her graceful lips. "The sand. It must be so scared whenever it sees those massive waves charging at them, thinking it's going to be the end of them all."

I look out, studying the waves she's talking about.

"But when the waves finally do crash into them. They turn into nothing. All the fear and panic was for nothing. The sand really did underestimate how strong they are."

She turns to me and I meet her gaze, staring too long for someone I've just met. But I can't help it, her wide but curved eyes showcasing the big dark brown orbs that stare into my hazel ones. "It reminds me of people. The hurt ones. How they always overestimate how much control their pain has over them, how weak they think they are that they should just give in to their emotions."

"When really it was nothing at all and they really are a lot stronger than they think."

And that's when the first crazy thought popped into my head. Something I've never thought before as I found myself staring at her alluring lips that spoke the undeniably beautiful words.

Words I hadn't noticed were already starting to heal me.

Damn it, I want to kiss her.