"That'll be forty seven dollars," The cashier said, looking to Felix. He smiled politely before handing her a fifty dollar bill. He waited patiently as she gathered his change, handing it to him with a receipt.

"Here's your change," she said, grabbing his bouquet and handing it to him. "Have a nice day!"

"You too," Felix said, holding the bouquet tightly in one hand and his change in the other. He marched from the store, taking a deep breath as the warm spring air hit him.

Over the course of the week, it had grown warmer each day. Every day Felix left work, he would begin to overheat from the amount of layers he'd started the day with. The weather forecast was announcing that the temperatures wouldn't be dropping any time soon, meaning summer was fast approaching. Though Felix was glad his house would be warming up, he dreaded the overbearing heat that would come with it

Felix hopped into his car, gently setting the bouquet in his passenger seat. As he clicked his seatbelt and started his car, his brain finally caught onto where he was headed. Anxiety and dread began to flood his body, accompanied closely by sorrow. He shoved them down, trying to ignore the rising emotions as he put his car in reverse.

The longer the drive went on, the higher everything ramped. He knew it was silly to be feeling that way. It'd been four years since it happened, and he'd visited the site nearly every month since then, but every time brought back the raw emotions. It took everything Felix had to keep the worst of the experience tampered down.

By the time the metal gate came into view, Felix had grown nauseous, his stomach threatening to release everything in an attempt to keep him away. He ignored the sensation, parking the car in the first empty spot he found. He'd never puked before, and he doubted he would start now.

Next his legs tried to stop him. They felt like lead as he stepped out of the car, bouquet in hand. His limbs pushed through what felt like molasses as he walked past the gates and through the rows upon rows of granite graves. Felix glanced around at them, as if looking for the one he was headed for, but he knew which one was his destination. He could never forget which one he needed to visit.

He spotted it up ahead. A small, red granite grave, indistinguishable from the rest. A small bundle of wrinkled, decayed flowers lay on the grave, long dead from Felix's last visit. Felix stopped by the headstone, staring down at the carved writing.

"Hey Laurel," Felix said, mustering a sad smile. "It's been a little bit, hasn't it?"

Felix waited in silence, as if the grave would speak back. A small gust of wind blew, shaking a few petals off the dead flowers. Felix stooped down, grabbing the old flowers and replacing them with the new, vibrant Snapdragons. He remained squatting, reading the writing that he had read hundreds upon thousands of times. He coughed, clearing his throat. It was becoming thick, making it hard to swallow or talk.

"Life's been pretty crazy these past few weeks. Everything's been changing fast."

The grave remained silent. Felix let out a shaky sigh, letting his gaze travel away. He could feel his eyes beginning to sting. He blinked away the pain as best he could.

"You know Shane Becker?" Felix chuckled. "I wouldn't imagine you do, but who knows, maybe you were secretly into social media."

Felix knew that wasn't true. The entire time Felix was growing up, he saw Laurel touch a phone only a handful of times. She had no problem getting Felix a phone when he hit highschool, but she herself never seemed interested in technology.

"I'm too old to understand any of this 'emoji' stuff," she had said once with a chuckle. "And if I can't understand emojis, then I'm sure the rest would make me look ancient."

He smiled. Laurel had never once been shy about her age, happily announcing it to everyone around her. She wasn't afraid to admit her ineptness with technology, either. He almost wondered what she'd say if she heard about Shane.

"He's a very nice guy," Felix said. "He has a lot of followers across several platforms; that basically means that a lot of people saw his stuff and liked it."

Felix could almost hear her chuckling at his explanation. He'd learned to translate internet terms for her, and she always found it amusing.

"It's like speaking a whole new language," she commented after Felix had told her about an internet 'sensation.' "I know you're saying something, but never what it means."

"He actually invited me to a few of his videos. I've been playing violin for them, and so far a lot of people have seen it."

Though Laurel was interacting with Felix in his mind, the grave remained silent. He let out a long sigh, sitting down to stretch out his knees.

"The last video we did, I had to play Summer a bunch of times for him so he could film from different angles," Felix smiled. "Remember how messy it was to teach me how to play that?"

Felix remembered very vividly. It'd been a few years into his lessons, when Felix was about twelve years old. Laurel was trying very patiently to show him how to hold his bow in the most efficient manner, while Felix kept getting frustrated, eventually dropping his arms in defeat.

"This piece is impossible!" Felix scowled. "I hate it!"

Laurel sighed, smiling wearily. "Fee, you only hate it because you don't understand it. I think that once you learn it, it'll be your favorite piece."

"I'm never going to like this piece. Ever!" Felix argued.

Now, it really was Felix's favorite piece. Complex and dazzling, yet familiar and comfortable. It amazed people while only straining Felix slightly.

"The video has gotten a lot of views so far, and it's only been about three days since it was uploaded. I mean, it was filmed nearly a week ago, but Shane had to edit it all together."

Felix wondered how long it took Shane to edit the clips together. If Felix remembered correctly, he had played Summer almost fourteen times, meaning there were fourteen different angles, some of them moving. Felix had specifically played the third movement, which was only about three minutes long, give or take. That meant Shane had fifty two minutes of film to work with. But if he had to go through every second of all fourteen to find which angle he liked at any given time, then it had to have taken him all day to edit. Not to mention, he had added visual effects, meaning after all of that, he had taken time to add in even more than necessary. Now, if he had gotten the visual effects from-

"Shit, I forgot my meds again," Felix glanced nervously at Laurel's gravestone. "Sorry, I didn't mean to swear."

Though the grave remained silent, Felix could hear Laurel gently chastising him for swearing.

"It's a slippery slope," she would say. "One minute you're saying crap, the next you're swearing like a sailor. Which, unless you want to be a sailor, is probably not something you should be aiming for."

"I don't want to be a sailor," he said, as he always did. "But it feels good to swear every now and then."

Another gust of wind swept through the graveyard, the slightly cool air cutting through Felix's sweatshirt. Goosebumps rose along Felix's skin. He rubbed the sides of his arms, quickly heating back up in the sun's light.

"Were you ever famous, Laurel?" Felix asked randomly. "I know you were a very good singer, but were you famous for it?"

There was no response. Though Felix knew he wouldn't get any, he was hoping he'd get some sign; some sort of answer. He'd always loved hearing Laurel singing, because even as she grew older and less able, her voice remained untouched. She would sing as he played violin, her voice as clear and steady as a stream of water. She claimed she'd developed it in her old age, that when she was young, her voice had been nothing special. But Felix had once got a glimpse of medals she had stored in the attic, and he knew that she had used her voice all her life.

"I think I'm becoming famous. All those people have seen the videos, and Shane has said that he's being told to have more videos with him," Felix explained. "I'm really excited, because now I can play for all these people and have them enjoy what I do, but on the other hand, I'm worried about what will happen."

The grave did not speak back to him, nor did the Laurel that existed in his head. They were either listening to him, encouraging him to keep talking, or they were at a loss for what they should respond with. In either case, Felix continued voicing the thoughts that had been floating around his head since he and Shane filmed under the bridge.

"What if I become famous, and people realize that I'm not good at playing the violin? What if they get bored of me? What if I start doing bad?" Felix ranted. "If all or any of those things happen, will everything crumble around me? Will I have stepped out of a shell, only to be crushed for trying? Is it even worth-"

Felix was cut off by a loud buzzing. Felix flinched, startled, as if a hand was about to break through the ground and grab at him. Once he realized it was his phone, he sighed, pulling it from his pocket. Shane's icon was on the screen. Felix's heart pumped a little faster as he answered.

"Hey Shane."

"Hey Felix! How are you doing?"

Felix glanced at Laurel's grave, smiling wearily. "Decent. You?"

"Good as ever," there was a long, silent pause that made Felix begin to think Shane had disconnected. Just as he went to hang up, Shane spoke again. "What're you doing right now?"

"Just finishing up a visit. What about you?"

"Calling you."

Felix rolled his eyes. "Actually, you already called me, and I answered."

Shane chuckled quietly. "There's no way you just 'actually'-ed me."

"I did, and I'd do it again," Felix said with a smirk.

"I don't doubt you would," there was another pause, slightly smaller than the previous one. "You said you were wrapping up with a friend?"

"That is indeed what I'm doing."

"How much longer do you think that'll take?"

"Not too long," Felix raised an eyebrow. "Why?"

"Well, I have a bunch of free time this afternoon, so I was wondering if you'd be up for another video?"

Even though he'd been asked this question a couple times before, it had yet to lose its effect on Felix. His mouth went dry, and his heart rate sped up. Felix giddily smiled at Laurel's grave, as if to say, See?

"Sounds good to me. I can meet you in thirty minutes, if that works."

"Yeah, that works for me," another pause, but this time, Shane did not speak again. Felix could hear him faintly breathing, but Shane didn't say anything.

"Shane?" Felix asked. Shane cleared his throat, followed by a rustling sound as he presumably moved around.

"Sorry, got lost in thought," he laughed nervously. "So, I do have a few friends over, cause I just finished filming something else."

"Okay...?"

"They're part of my filming crew, they make it easier for some stuff, especially when I'm in it."

"I would imagine."

"As much as I trust them, I don't want to leave them at my house alone, and I doubt they'd agree to go anywhere right now."

Felix furrowed his eyebrows, his brain not following the fact line-up. "Sounds reasonable..."

"So, if you'd be okay with it, the filming could happen at my house? It'd just be outside next to the pool."

A circuit in Felix's brain fried itself. He sat in stunned silence, staring at Laurel's grave. He could imagine her, laughing her head off as she watched Felix with amusement. His mouth opened and closed like a fish out of water.

"Felix?"

Felix shook his head to snap out of it, swallowing thickly. "Cool. I mean, that would be all good."

Shane chuckled. "Okay, I'll text you my address. See you in thirty?"

"See you then."

"Bye, Felix."

Shane hung up. Felix's arm slowly dropped to his side, his face still contorted with shock. He sat in stunned silence for a few minutes, unmoving, ignoring the wind as it blew around him. Even his head was silent, not a single thought boarding the unmedicated trains. Slowly, as the train stations filled up again and he began to think once more, Felix blinked at the grave. He stood up, the dead flowers forgotten in his hand. Everything that had been in Felix's brain before had been wiped clean away, replaced with thoughts of Shane. Everything except Laurel, who's laughter was still bright in Felix's mind.

"Well Laurel," Felix said, slowly laughing in disbelief. "I might be getting famous."