Chapter Eight

On their way out of the ceramics shop, Luna suggested to Hazel that they should stop by the local bakery before going to the store and heading back. They way, they could get something for a picnic and take a walk out into the woods for a late lunch.

Hazel's heart flipped at the idea, it would almost be like they were going on a date. 

The prospect was so incredibly tantalising and appealing and Hazel found her heart rate accelerating as she thought out the scenario in her head. She wondered how Luna would react if she really did ask her out on a proper date. Would she say yes? Would she reject the idea? There was definitely some kind of vibe going on between them, Hazel was sure of it, she just didn't exactly know whether to act on her gut feelings just yet or if it would be too soon.

They hadn't know each other for long, after all, just a couple of days.  Hazel hoped that when she did pluck up the courage to ask, the answer would be yes. She was curious to know whether or not the feelings were mutual, whether or not Luna felt the same sort of pull that Hazel did. 

They picked up some bread and some assorted pastries from the bakery before getting what Hazel needed from the local corner shop. It was good to know that she would be able to get everything she wanted from those two places. The corner shop had plenty of the snacks that she enjoyed despite being situated in such a small and isolated town. 

"I'm so relieved that they have the things that I like! I was a little worried that I wouldn't be able to get some of these brands here." Hazel said to Luna as they started on their way back towards Hazel's house.

"I think there was a good amount of demand from the people here that it was worthwhile for them to stock that kind of stuff. Granted, most of the people here would choose local produce over big brands, but there's just some things you can't duplicate." Luna chuckled, walking in step with Hazel down the path.

"Well that's definitely good for me! I don't know how I'd survive without this brand of soda!" Hazel joked.

"Even so, you have to try the local clotted cream fudge next time we go to the bakery! There are some things that will always be better when they're homemade." Luna said.

"Alright, agreed! I'll buy some next time I need to go into town for shopping. For today though, I am completely satisfied with my little haul." Hazel replied, lifting the bags she had looped around her wrists.

Luna and Hazel laughed, joking around and talking as they walked the rest of the way to the house. Talking to Luna was so amazingly easy. Hazel felt like she never wanted to stop talking to her. She couldn't imagine how a phone call would go between them, she would never want to hang up.

As soon as they were inside, Hazel re-filled Floss' water bowl and brought the dog inside from where she had been napping on the porch, soaking in the warmth of the sun as the butterflies flitted around and the bees buzzed from flower to flower. It hit Hazel again just how beautiful the place she lived was.

It was still in the early days of her move and sometimes Hazel really felt like she was living in a dream. Perhaps it was because the place resembled her actual dreams so closely. She had even seen her wolf, which she never thought she would have the chance to meet.

She re-entered the kitchen to see Luna already putting some of the food shopping away into the fridge. Hazel quickly approached to help out, feeling bad that she had just stood by the porch for a while before returning.

"You didn't need to do that." Hazel said, still filled with gratitude.

"Oh, that's okay! I wanted to! It's no use leaving this stuff out in the open to get warm." Luna insisted.

"Thank you, I really appreciate it. When we're done, we should make that lunch and go out to the woods. I don't want to waste too much time indoors on a day like this." Hazel replied, putting her new plates and bowls away into the cupboards.

"It's no trouble at all." Luna looked back, smiling. "I'm excited to get out into the forest today. It's been a couple of days since my last excursion because I've been busy with the horses. You should come and meet them one day if you want, the stables offer riding lessons too." she explained.

"That does sound like fun. I'm not sure that I'd be any good with horses though. Maybe I can still come by and help out one day?" Hazel asked.

"Of course! We could always use an extra pair of hands mucking out the stables." Luna laughed and Hazel tried not to look too put off by the idea of shovelling manure.

"We'll see. For now I'm happy to just eat some freshly baked bread and take a leisurely stroll." Hazel said.

"Here here." Luna agreed.

It didn't take long for them to have everything packed away in its rightful place, aside from the ingredients they would be needing for lunch. 

Hazel got out a few slices of the bread she had bought from the bakery and put together some sandwiches for the two of them. It was a light brown seeded loaf that was unbelievably soft and springy, still warm from being so freshly out of the oven that morning. Hazel's mouth watered as the sweet scent of all the baked goods wafted around her nose. 

Meanwhile, Luna sorted out the pastries they would take with them. They had gotten some apple turnovers and a couple of custard Danish pockets. They both looked and smelled delicious and it took a lot of self restraint to not eat them all before the sandwiches had even finished being made.

Once they were done, they packed up their lunch into a tupperware, put the rest of the ingredients away, grabbed a throw to sit on and made their way outside. Hazel had Floss on her lead, a spare bottle of water and a little bag of treats in her backpack ready for when they found a nice place to sit.

They took a relaxed walk across the forest floor. They were following a small path that lead off from the main trail to where Luna had told her that there was a small lake and a nice little clearing where they could set up their picnic. 

The sun beat down through the branches, glowing through the green leaves of the trees that surrounded them on all sides. Hazel looked up for a moment as they walked, taking in the area. She could still feel the warmth of the summer on her skin, a cool breeze whispering through the trees every now and then comfortingly. She could hear the rustling leaves and the sounds of the birds as they sang and flitted about in the branches above their heads. She breathed in and smelled the scent of the earth and the bark.

This was her home.

She realised that she had never felt this free and comfortable in her environment and in her own skin. It would have seemed surreal if she hadn't felt so grounded and purposeful. Everything in that moment was exactly what it should have been. Her whole life was finally coming together, all the events and longing of her past converging into the present.

She was in the forest, where her dreams and her soul had always pulled her, Floss was able to run around so much more freely, Hazel could live her life the way she had always wanted to, she had friends now and to top it all off, she had the most beautiful girl she'd ever laid eyes on walking by her side, showing her all of the friendship and kindness that she had missed out on until then.

"You're glowing, Hazel." Luna said, bringing Hazel out of her thoughts.

"Glowing?" Hazel asked, tilting her head slightly.

"You look so happy and peaceful at the moment. It's a good look on you." Luna smiled, cheeks tinting a light pink as she looked at Hazel.

"T-thank you." Hazel stuttered a bit, taken aback at the compliment and flushing happily. "I am happy, so so happy here. I've really never felt this way before and... it's nice to just take it all in, you know? To bask in it when I can."

"It's so nice to have you here. I know I haven't known you long, but it feels like we've known each other for a long time. I feel so curious about you, Hazel. I want to know everything about you." Luna said as they continued towards the lake.

"I... I feel the same way. You're so easy to talk to and I'd really like to know more about you too. I haven't really had friends before, it was always too difficult with my old lifestyle. Nothing was genuine, there was always some hidden reason behind every interaction. It's relieving, to not have to worry about that here." Hazel admitted.

"Well, you definitely never have to worry about that around me or Alex. We want to be friends with you because of who you are as a person, not for anything else. I like you so far, you're nice and bright and you fit so perfectly into this place, like the final piece in a puzzle that brings the whole picture into clarity." Luna said, stepping out into the clearing.

Hazel was about to reply when instead, her breath was taken away. The clearing was beautiful, and oh so familiar to her. It was full of wildflowers and the lake sat at the far end, just beyond another thin like of trees. It was the same clearing from all of her dreams and it bewildered her. How could a place from her dreams, somewhere that she had only ever seen in her head, somewhere she had never visited before in real life, be here? How could it just be there, the exact same as it had always been when she saw it in her sleep?

There was something so fascinating and confusing about all of it, so inexplicable and confounding. It didn't make any sense and yet... perhaps it would come to make all the sense in the world. 

"This place.." Hazel said, stunned.

"What about it?" Luna asked, an unreadable look on her face, almost like she was anticipating something.

"I know this place." Hazel replied, breathlessly. "I've... been here before."

"That can't be... not many people that live here have been down to this clearing. How could you have been here before?" Luna asked, sounding like she might know something that she wasn't letting on. 

Hazel didn't know how to feel about that. She didn't like that she wasn't being told everything, didn't like that there was something Luna seemed to know about all of this that she wasn't letting on. She wanted to trust Luna, but she didn't like that there was something being withheld from her.

She decided, after a moment of deliberation, that she would face this by being honest, by saying everything that was on her mind without restraint. She would be open and truthful. There was no point in playing any of her cards close to her chest. What would that really lead to in the end? More questions and uncertainty, and Hazel wasn't up for it.

"I've never been here in person, but I have seen this place many times in my dreams. I didn't think that it could be a real place and if it was, I certainly didn't think that I would ever be able to visit it in person." Hazel explained.

"In your dreams?" Luna prompted, looking all the more intrigued, almost excited.

"Yeah. I've been having these dreams for years now, where I would be in this clearing, dancing through the flowers and near the end, I would always be humming or singing this tune. I don't know where the tune came from... maybe I just made it up. But, in these dreams, I'm never alone." Hazel elaborated, eyes looking over their surroundings, affectionately passing over the trees and the tall grass before coming to land back on Luna, who seemed to be rather stunned. 

"There's... someone with you in the dreams?" Luna asked hesitantly. 

"Yeah, a wolf. A wolf with green eyes." Hazel answered, leaving them both to linger in the silence that followed.

It felt as though she had revealed something when she had said that, felt like she had said something that may have been monumental, a revelation. Luna had this look on her face like she didn't quite know how to respond, didn't have the words to form a response. 

Her cheeks were still pink with blush and eyes sparkled in the sunlight. There was something in Hazel that told her that despite the charged atmosphere, telling Luna the truth was the right decision. She felt her heart warm and she knew that she would be feeling differently if she had made the wrong choice.

"Shall we set up the picnic?" Hazel said, smiling, trying to ease the atmosphere. 

"Yes! Yeah, of course. I'm quite hungry actually, now I think about it." Luna replied, walking over to beside the lake.

"I'll put down the throw." Hazel said and pulled it out of her bag.

Hazel gave the plaid throw a shake and placed it down on the ground, crouching down to straighten up its corners before sitting down. Despite the presence of the leaves and small twigs, sitting on the throw was actually quite comfortable. Luna sat down next to her and she let Floss off of her lead, allowing her to play around by the edge of the lake, where the water lapped against the earth. 

There were patches of tall grass and reeds dotted around the borders of the lake and a few ducks swam around on its surface. The warmth of the season had also brought out some dragonflies. Hazel spotted quite a few of them hovering over the water, most of them either red or blue in colouration.

Everything about this place was so pretty and picturesque. 

Hazel turned her attention back to Luna, who had fully settled down and was looking out at the lake, just like Hazel had been. She was awfully pretty from the side and Hazel found herself staring again. It lasted a few moments before Luna suddenly turned and caught her. Hazel blushed and averted her gaze, suddenly finding the edge of the throw particularly fascinating. 

"Shall we get out the sandwiches, then?" Luna asked, and when Hazel looked up at her again, she was smiling so warmly that Hazel thought she felt her heart skip a beat.

"Yeah, I'm definitely feeling the hunger for a good lunch now." Hazel laughed lightly and took the tupperware out of her bag, placing them onto the middle of the throw and popping the lids off.

The sat together, quietly eating for a while, enjoying the crunching of the lettuce in the sandwiches as they bit down into the soft bread. Hazel would definitely be frequenting that bakery now that she lived there. Their bread was so delicious, and if their pastries were anywhere near as good, he knew she wouldn't be able to keep herself away.

 As they ate, Hazel looked out over the lake again, thinking briefly about what it would be like to go for a dip in its cool waters. She wondered, too, what it would be like to swim with Luna. She could imagine the ethereal girl looking just like a mermaid as her golden hair moved through the water around her. 

They would have to go back to the lake together before the end of summer. It would be a shame not to go for a swim before the weather started to get colder again by the approach of autumn. Hazel thought about the possibilities of the other things she could do with her summer. She wanted to spend more time with Luna and Alex, get to know them better and build up a good friendship between the three of them.

It was so pleasant, letting herself muse about friendships and maybe even a spark of romance. She had never before had the opportunity, nor the privilege to do so. It had seemed like some far off thing that she would never have, but living in Fernwood had given her the chance to sit back and allow herself to daydream about her life and her future to her heart's content. 

"Next week." Luna said, after being lost in thought for a while.

"Next week, what?" Hazel asked.

"Next week you should come to the stables and help out. I'll definitely be needing the extra pair of hands because the owners will be too busy. They usually help, but they have things to do next week that can't be put off." Luna explained.

"Okay, that sounds like a lot of fun! I can meet the horses and maybe we can get a drink after we're finished for the day?" Hazel suggested.

"Yeah, I would really like that and I would really appreciate your help." Luna thanked, looking at Hazel fondly.

"If you keep looking at me like that, I'll never stop blushing." Hazel said, daring to flirt a little.

"All the more reason to look at you like this then." Luna replied, to her surprise. "You're awfully cute when you blush."

Hazel couldn't hold back the bashful giggle that caught in her throat at the compliment. She really hadn't expected Luna to flirt back with her, she had thought that she would brush it off or laugh or something. Hazel felt her cheeks get warm again and Luna started to giggle beside her. It was a melodious sound and Hazel felt herself joining in.

She felt so amazingly comfortable around Luna, like they had already known each other for years. She had felt that before, but it was stronger now. Her heart beamed and the necklace she wore felt warm against her chest, like it was being happy with her. It was so nice, so good and peaceful and right. 

Hazel couldn't wait to have more of it, of everything in this new place. Alex, Luna, the beautiful little town and the happiness that it brought. She could get used to that.