Sunlight hit the water with a blinding light. Crystalizing it, creating little diamonds within its flow. My feet bounded along the edge, entranced by its beauty and how it whispered into my soul. With my arms above my head, I twirled along the creek's edge, bounding and leaping I flicked my wrists. Channeled energy flowed into the creek, and bubbles emerged.
The water began floating upwards in little sphears and made their way above me, flicking my hand when enough of them floated into place. The droplets all crashed down onto my body, soaking my dress. I couldn't control the fit of giggles that escaped my mouth.
Wiggling my hips, I leapt onto the low hanging branch of a nearby tree, and commanded a stream of water to follow in my path. I twirled my arms in a circle above my head and the stream danced around my body, glittering with light, misting my face.
This feeling was what I wanted in life. To be one with the elements, to nurture nature in its purest form. To live a carefree life, bounce from cave to cave, and live out my days enjoying my own company.
Most nymphs love to settle down at some point, when all of that freedom starts to bore them, and they need some excitement in their lives. Love gives them that excitement. I abstained from that part of nymph culture. Their eyes haven't been opened to that pain, or they have, and they choose to ignore it.
I was skittering through the trees with my little stream of water when I heard a few twigs crunch from greenhouse. I lost my focus and the water I controlled crashed around me. My footing slipped. I only had seconds to react. I flung my hand out, summoning a web of vines to catch my leg before my head hit the ground.
I whipped my head in various directions, trying to find the source of the sound, however, I was spinning in circles. It became more difficult to focus the faster the vines spun. As disorienting as it was, the only injuries sustained were a few scratches from the branches I hit falling down.
As the twirling vines slowed down I found myself confronted with the cause of my predicament. I crossed my arms over my chest and glared at the pair of boots I was faced with.
"What the fuck?" I whispered for the second time in twenty four hours.
"Sorry, little nymph, I didn't know you were in the trees, again." Of course it would be Coop. Why wouldn't it be him? The fates loved to mess with uncomfortable things in people's lives, Coop was definitely not a comfortable thing in my life right now. After two near death experiences in less than two days, my comfort level depleted.
I pushed at his leg to get him to back up so that I could get myself down. He had other plans though, because he grabbed my arms, lifted me so I was upright, and placed them around his neck.
"What the fuck.." three times... not like I was counting. I spat out the expletive before he grabbed the vines and tugged at them.
They broke apart and I squealed. I would have fallen if my arms weren't around him, but I didn't care. I could have done it myself by retracting the vines...I summoned with my powers.
I peeled myself away from his warm body, and brushed myself off. I heard his low chuckle, and snapped my eyes up to his.
"I could have done that myself, thank you." A mischievous glint appeared in his eyes, and his lips turned up in amusement.
"You're very welcome." My frown only deepened at his sarcastic words. I pushed past him and continued toward the creek.
"What are you doing here anyway?" I muttered as I picked up a small rock and examined it a little too thoroughly. A beige rock, smooth, for the most part, with a few dark speckles in it.
"I wanted to take a bit of a hike. The weather's just so nice, little nymph, I don't think that's a crime now, is it?" I found the humor in his voice annoying at that point and I dropped the rock as I turned to face him once again.
"No, but you knew I didn't want anyone following me." I pointed out, clenching and unclenching my fists. The frustration built up fairly quickly, and my fingers twitched, desperate to trap him in his own set of vines.
"Okay, so maybe I wanted to accompany you. It wasn't my intention to scare you out of a tree. You're an odd one, Oaks." I shuddered at the nickname. Memories began to flood from the damn in my head, taunting me.
"Please, just Oakley." I muttered. "Look, I don't know if you think this is a game or something, but please, I just want to get through graduation and go back to the forest." I blurted out, shocked at my bluntness, but it needed to be said.
I appeased my family by coming to this school, but after graduation I was going to go back to the forest. For good. Hurt flashed in his eyes, but he masked it instantly.
"I just want to be your friend, is that such a crime, little nymph? I'm not playing any games with you, I swear." He held his hand out palm facing me in mock swear. I chuckled a little bit, but stopped when he placed his hand on the back of his neck.
"I don't understand, four years we've been here, not a single conversation. Shit. Not even five words until yesterday. What made you even want to be friends with me?" I was curious, I'll admit that. I wanted to understand, it truly didn't make any sense to me.
He had gorgeous girls on his arms, hot friends, and honestly the perfect setting to do his job. I didn't understand what more he could have wanted.
"Well last night, when you were able to see my arrow, actually. That was when I decided. No one is supposed to see a cupid's arrow, let alone see the Son of Eros' arrow." He spoke, lowering his voice just a tad.
It's true, that's one of the things that you learn in weapons intro first year. Magical weapons specific to the gods' agenda were hardly visible to anyone outside that realm.
"That, and your reaction. It gave an astonishing first impression. Actually kind of cute, if I'm being honest."He let out a cocky chuckle, and my frown deepened.
There he was, back to his confident, overbearing self. When I scoffed, he immediately backtracked.
"In a friendly way, of course." I could feel his confidence in himself shift at my reaction, and his nervous chuckle made the corner of my lips turn up.
"I appreciate your interest in friendship, Cooper, truly. I do, but I don't want to get your hopes up. It's not that I don't want to be your friend, but your life kinda revolves around love. The one thing I seek to avoid at all costs. It would just be a bit risky for me to be your friend. I wish you the best in life though, honestly." The words tumbled out of my mouth, and to make it more awkward, I gave him a pat on the shoulder and sprinted back towards the main campus.