Caroline Farrow

“Oh Carrie… don’t ever visit Texas durin’ this time of year.” He chuckled and guided her away from the target, tucking the bow under his free arm. “How ‘bout ya come in and have some sweet tea? No animals were harmed in the makin’ of it.”

“Well now I don’t want too”! She huffed out still a bit grumpy about everything, but she followed where Trusty  moved anyways. “Well.. that sounds a lot better than this! And animal free.” She laughed softly. “Thank you..” 

Corny automatically stopped beside the girl, but once she noticed the spray bottle she took a step back. She smiled a little weakly, slowly getting over the surprise. Her mind had already moved through her options, thinking if the powers of earth could somehow help her block the spray, now she laughed at herself. “Oh, uh, sure! I can take it, and the little extra exercise can be invigorating.” She clicked her tongue a little sarcastically. “Sad how jumpy we’ve gotten, what with us getting used to expecting the worst sometimes, huh?”

“I am so sorry..” Caroline busted out watching the way the girl had reacted to her. “My father just always told me to be prepared since I’m wondering around on my own a lot of the time. I promise I’m not going to hurt you - I’m.. well tiny. The bottle is the scariest part a bout all .. this.” She stated holding out the pepper spray with little flames on it. Nodding she shrugged a bit. “Yeah.. I should probably work on the whole buddy system.” 

Tito grinned, the warmth in his heart spreading to the rest of his body and twinkling in his eyes. He chuckled softly, trying to control the huge smile that had inevitably covered his face the second he’d seen her, and placed a soft hand around one of her arms as she stumbled. “I didn’t think I was a Greek god or anything, but damn, I hoped I wasn’t ugly enough to scare you.” He joked. “Yeah, sure. Is there punch? I love punch.” He rambled a little nervously. “My mom uses to make the best ponche and chocolate caliente every holiday back home.” 

Caroline couldn’t help but blush as she heard him. “What? No! Stop, if anything you’re probably the most attractive person on the beach.” She said honestly. Looking anywhere but at him as the words came out effortlessly. It wasn’t like she was lying either. Looking down at this hand that was around her her arm she smiled softly to herself. “Yeah! I mean there is the type of punch that makes you really happy you came, and then regular kind too.. if you’re not a drinker. I have regular. I don’t need any other reason to fall on my face or something.” She rambled out before tilted her head as she stated to lead the way. “What are those?” 

“Oh well im grateful for your kind words thank you -uh… n-nice lady?” Victor said awkwardly and then smiled softly “Oh ! you sketch ? would it be rude of me to ask if i can see what you´ve drawn? I-im a big fan of art myself” Victor said shyly .

“You can call me Caroline! Though, I promise I try my hardest to be a nice lady and everything like that.” she grinned as she get settled in her seat, pulling out some colored pencils. “No! Not at all, most of mine are just animals ... plants and stuff. Just things I do while I’m out on a hike. I’ll color them and then pain them!” she stated, rather proud of her artistic abilities. Opening her book she showed him a picture she had sketched up of a couple bunnies in a field. 

He sat on a bench in the empty park , it was cloudy . He loved cloudy weather. He was writing on his notebook something and he seemed very intrigued “Maybe i should just erase it all” He said out loud . He shyly looked up “Oh hey. didn’t see you there” He said in a soft voice.

“What ! No! Don’t! I think it’s really great. Or I’m sure I would if I knew what you were writing.” She added with an encouraging smile. “Did you want some company? I was just gonna sketch - I’ll be as quite as a mouse if you need me to be.”

Tito was nervous, there was no getting around it. He didn’t get nervous too often. Stressed? Every day. Annoyed? Frequently. Even anxious, when work was too itense. But not nervous, unless Caroline was involved. And luckily for him, today she was. He walked up to the girl as his eyes scanned the rest of the small crowd of young people surrounding the beach bonfire, happy he’d asked to meet her here of all places when they’d spoken about hanging out. The spot seemed nice and relaxed. “Hi.” She definitely couldn’t have heard that, it was almost a whisper. “Hi, Carrie!” This time it was a little too loud, but he tried to keep his blush under control while he reached her.

@caroline-farroww·

Caroline knew she was early , but she was afraid of running late. What if someone else took his attention while he was waiting for her? Or what if she fell and had to run home and change. Holding a rue solo cup in her hand she was watching the fire and checking her phone every five seconds. Probably not the best sight to see when he showed up. At his voice she jumped , stumbling in the sand a bit. At least she’s learned to stumble towards him. Laughing she looked up. “Hey Tito. You scared me! Then again I’m always kinda jumpy.” She rambled with a small smile up at him. “Did you .. wanna drink? I was about to get a refill.” She felt lame and sighed trying to calm her nerves.

Vitani let her head hit the desk.  “Thanks I guess” she mumbled.  “I mostly just sketch for my design class.”

“I sketch for my classes too! Kinda... I mean it’s not for the class, but it’s environment related sort of thing. “ She laughed a bit stumbling over her feet as she  brushed back a wild hair. “Well do you have any big birthday plans?” 

“If the next words out of your mouth are happy birthday I’m throwing my sketch book at you.”

“You sketch too?” Caroline perked up with a bright smile. “What do you normally sketch? Oh! Pine cones, sorry - happy birthday!”

Dimitri watched on as she stepped on almost nothing and then fell over. He raised his eyebrows a bit, but he didn’t move forward to help her until he realized that’s what someone else would’ve done. Holding his hand out to her, he tilted his head, chuckling a bit. “You sure you can make it home in one piece without a shoelace?”

Caroline sighed heavily as she let her head fall slightly. At least she didn’t hit the ground. “Hm?” Perking up at the offer to help she took his hand and stood, brushing off her cloths as if she’d really made a mess. “Yes and no. I mean .. I can make it home , I just might stumble a bit more than normal. Totally manageable though... maybe.”

He had to stop himself from rolling his eyes at her reaction, but he bent down to find the loosest spot on the laces. “I didn’t say I was cutting the shoes, it’s just the laces. You can always replace them.” Once the laces were cut, Dimitri stood back up, giving her a questioning look about whether that was better, though he stayed silent.

“But laces keep the shoe together ! And trust me I need those to be tied , like triple knot.” She stated with a smile. Caroline felt the tension loosen and she pulled her foot out. “Than-“ Caroline stepped down on a loose piece , falling back. The clutz caught herself on a bike and sat in the seat with a large grin towards him. “Thannnnnks. Just .. checking out the seat here.”

He raised an eyebrow and looked down at the wheel. “I mean,” Dimitri said as he breathed out deeply. “You can sit here all day and untangle it, or you can just cut it free.” Pulling a pocket knife from his pocket, he held it up while it was still folded. “Your choice.”

Caroline gasped a bit looking at the small pocket knife and just nodded softly. “I mean .. these are my favorite converse .. their even hand painted!” She started forgetting she was stuck as she tried to pull her foot out to show him. “Oh! Pine cones nope. Um... alright , yes you can cut it.” She let out closing her eyes tightly.

“Mhhmm, yeah. There probably are.” Tito agreed before smiling once more. “But none of them are you, you’re the cutest one.” He tried not to choke on his own rush of nerves and something else after listening to her, turning to stare at the glistening sea for a moment. “I’m glad too.” His eyes moved back to her, catching hers as he smiled again. His fingers moved to better grasp hers while the grip tightened. “You can, I have faith in you, Carrie. Just a couple more meters!”

Caroline nodded along with the idea, eyes wondering around the many faces that were passing by him before she heard his words. A bright blush coming over her cheeks as she ducked her head down. “That’s a pretty bold statement there, Tito. And it’s turning me into a cherry.” She grumbled a little with a small, playful huff. Caroline was trying to keep her mind on walking, and not falling, but the way he was holding her hand back at her attention too much and she most certainly did stumble a bit. Stopping in front of the stand she tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. “I only made it thanks to your faith in me.” She teased with a bright grin.