Almost A Love story

Almost A Love Story chapter 28(reap what you sow)

Toby's P.O.V

Without looking back, I let my feet take me to our garden not far from our house. It was the one place that I always escape to, when I needed to breathe. I walked over and took a seat at our gazebo that was at the side amongst my mother's plants. Our place was on top of a hill and from my seat, it had a clear view of the town down below, twinkling in its city lights.

I inhaled the fresh air of the night breeze and indulged in the serenity, the music from our house muffled from the distance. I gulped down the cans of beer that I stole from the kitchen as the heated scenes from earlier, replayed in my head.  I felt my phone vibrate from my pocket so I quickly swiped it out and opened it, the time showing that it was already 11.53pm. I read my notification next.

From: Zach

Where the hell are you?! Respond to my calls or texts, you dumbass! Mom and Dad called, they'll be home early from their business trip. We have to shut down the party soon.

I shook my head, turned off my phone and took another sip from my second can of beer. I didn't want this party anyway. He insisted to throw this for the 'orientation party' or for my farewell get-together whatever--when we both know that it was just an excuse and he only did this just so he could pick up some girls. He started it, might as well end it right?

But why is she here? I gazed above at the night sky, its stars glowing back right at me. I promised that I will stay away from her as long as her safety has been compromised but why are you making this hard for me? Coincidence or not, this stupid party had been such a pain in the ass. I wanted to leave this all behind as smoothly as possible. But the way I saw her face again, it's like everything in me ignited.

And it also took everything in me to keep myself together and turn my back on her the second time.

I glanced at the small garden, mom had built when we were young. It was a huge plantation back then but since my mom got busy with her work, it was now just a small garden. I remembered how simple times was before. Now, the entirety of it all is just, chaotic. I closed my eyes and felt as though it was only yesterday when my brother and I were playing catch at our backyard before it was this garden.

Zach is three years older than me and he had longer legs so I couldn't catch up to him. I tripped over a rock and fell pretty hard on the ground, resulting to me scraping my knee. I remembered crying so hard from the pain. Zach backed away, panicked as he didn't know what to do and so my mother got up from harvesting from her garden a few feet away and tended to me.

She wiped my tears, "Shhh... you're okay." I was still crying but when she kissed the spot where she had put my bandaid on and gave me a hug,  I was immediately ten times better. She then walked me over to her crops and asked me to help her around to distract me from my wound. At the entrance, she had built an arc with flowers and it was beautiful!

As a kid, I was amazed at how much hard work she put into it. There were rows and rows of plants that were a healthy green, some with flowers, some with fruits. We would water it every day and I could see its progress. That was why I was always eager to help her even under the scorching sun. She told me she wanted to use fresh ingredients for her kitchen so we had basil leaves, strawberries, corn, you name it!

While she was planting some seeds, my mom handed me a small basket and instructed me to pick some tomatoes. When I have reached the tomato crops, I saw a bunch of little green tomatoes. I have not seen them before besides the red ones, I usually see. Curious, I picked one by one, not realising I have filled my entire basket. I then called for her once I was done, excited to share my amazing discovery.