Francy's p.o.v

Remi and I parked our bikes in front of the old lady's house. It was a cute little home,with a green garden and lots of pink roses covering the green. We followed the road trail then the front door when we heard yelling from the back.

"Here..girls I'm here."

The lady waved at us from the back of the house.

Turning around Remi and I walked towards the back of the garden. We were welcomed with big trees and lots of lemons peeking through the bushy green leaves.

The plantation was a small little garden with lemon trees, all spread out in leveled distance.

The lady handed us sun hats and two cute baskets.

Suddenly I noticed someone else coming out of the house carrying an empty basket.

"Oh Sole, come and meet the girls I called to help us out." The old lady beckoned the girl to come closer.

The girl's golden locks were swayed back by the breeze and her eyes glistened in the sun. She was tall like a model, her posture straight and confident and she walked slowly as if she came out of a painting. The dress she wore fell so perfectly over her small curves, like it was made for her.

I could recognize her right away. It was the same woman we saw the day before. The one who Tim had a crush on.

There was something so distant and tepid in her look, but it wasn't unfriendly. She just felt surreal.

Her face had strong defined features. Her nose was long and narrow, her lips had a defined shape and her eyes were upturned and a deep brown color had long dark eyelashes over them despite her blonde hair. On her unsmiling face, there wasn't a wrinkle in sight, not a spot or a blemish.

She looked like a doll. Flawless.

Her cheekbones showed on her face even when she wasn't smiling.

"Hello." She gave us a polite nod and I snapped back into reality.

"Hi." I smiled.

"Hey." Remi gave her a grin.  She seemed unfazed and was quick to make friends. "Tell us what you need us to do and we'll help out."

The girl pointed at the trees. "Just pick a tree. If you can't reach the taller ones, just move onto the next tree."

She was calm and the note in her voice was warm but with slight disinterest that we were there.

The old lady tapped by back. "Sole helps me out with lemon picking but today you girls can do my part. No you start and I'll go make you girls a lemonade."

"Of course" Remi said happily.

We grabbed a ladder and our baskets and started the work. The old lady went back inside in the shade.

We were lemon picking in silence and Remi and I kept glancing at each other trying to figure out if we should start a conversation or not.

Sole seemed nice but also very distant and frankly a bit aloof. We didn't want to bother her, but starting a conversation and just talking between us seemed rude.

But talking to her was... ah.. how do I explain it...

The indifference on her face was constantly there. She seemed like she didn't care about anything. And not in a mean or angry way, but like she had no interest in everything.

I couldn't imagine her scowling or yelling or doing anything really. She seemed unmoved.

Yet...the more I kept staring at her underneath her disinterested face and quiet nature she seemed really lonely.

Remi kept glancing at me making faces to say something.

"Um Sole.." I fixed my sun hair trying to gather courage. "How old are you?"

She turned her attention towards me. "I'm 21."

I nodded and turned towards Remi. She encouraged me to say something again.

"Do you go to university...?"

"No." She answered with a calm tone while picking the lemons.

"Oh.Umm..I see. And do you do anything.." I circled around. Come on woman. Give me something to work with.

"I do." She dropped a lemon in the basket and looked at me. "I paint."

"Really?" I asked excitedly.

Finally! Something I can relate too. "What's your preferred painting style?

She finally smiled. Her mouth turned in a relaxed curve and I could see a glint in her eyes. "It depends on my mood. I mostly paint with acrylic but sometimes I like using watercolors."

"That's amazing," I said.

"Yes, I'd love to see some of your paintings," Remi added.

"I'd love to show you." She picked another lemon. "Do you paint too?"

"Only walls." Remi joked around.

"We don't paint but we love creating things. It's the reason why we came here." I said picking another lemon and putting it in the basket.

"You're not from here?" Sole asked.

"No." Remi said. "Do we blend in that well after a week?"

"I don't know that many people in this town." She answered bit formally.

The old lady came out of the house bringing cold lemonade and cookies.

"Come here girls. Have some refreshments."

We climbed off the ladders and joined the old lady in the shade. She poured us each a glass.

 I licked my lips. Sour but tasty.

The lady went to wash some of the lemons we picked.

"So what exactly do you do here?" Sole asked.

"We signed up for a project competition," I answered.

"And our project is a total house makeover," Remi said. "As well as recording our whole process of doing so."

"We're trying to live aesthetically too." I said.

After a second of silence, Sole nodded her head. " That sounds really interesting. You're cool."

Remi and I gave each other a look. For some reason hearing that we're cool from Sole was enough to make us smitten.

***

Later on when we were heading home Remi and I couldn't stop talking about Sole.

"She gives out a different first impression, but I think she's nice," I said.

"She gave me so many tips about sketching even though I told her it is only a hobby." Remi sighed. "I mean okay she had a different vibe but I don't think she's a mean person or anything."

I nodded. "People everywhere tend to judge people based on what they see. But I like to make my own judgments about people." I smiled thinking that maybe some people just needed a little nudge in order to communicate better, rather than pinning them down as weird or unsociable.

"Exactly." Remi agreed. "Now let's hurry home and eat. I'm starving."

There you go my besties ❤  I hope you enjoyed that. How do we feel about Sole? There are so many new characters I know.

I will be back with another update in a few days.