The seed of truce

Louis hated getting her hands dirty.

It was a strange repulsion, having grown up in a farm and all.

Back in the day, she rode a gorgeous black mare named Magic Comet over miles of green field, then laid on the mud with the pigs and ate freshly smashed blueberry jam. She spent hours stargazing with her father, who taught her everything he knew about the universe. You can always find your way back home with the sky, he'd say.

Louis loved it so much she even begged her parents to let her drop out of school to live on the farm. Afterwards, she'd overhear them whisper-fighting about whose fault it was that their little girl wanted to live with the cattle. Louis never understood why it was such a big deal, the city had nothing worth staying for.

But things changed. Now, she couldn’t stand having the dirt reach her hands.

“Stop pouting, the sooner we get this done, the sooner we’ll get out of here and never have to speak again,” Rose wiped the sweat off her flushed, freckled cheeks. Louis ignored her. It had proven to be an effective way to simultaneously annoy and shut her up.

As expected, Rose rolled her eyes and kept digging.

They were infamous for their rivalry. They weren’t gorgeous cheerleaders that got into boy-fights or anything, their school was way too small for those kinds of drama. There was just something extremely punchable about Rose’s face, and Louis wasn’t known for her self-control.

Or maybe they fought because Rose was the only one who took the bait. Her displeasure was satiating.

Just as expected, Rose only lasted a minute of silence before turning around to keep digging.

“You know what your problem is?” She sneered. Louis held back a smile. She could always count on Rose to give her an excuse to fight. “You have such a big princess complex that you expect everyone else to do your chores. That’s how we got in this mess in the first place!With your lack of discipline and half-assed test answers.” She dropped the shovel for dramatic effect, crossing her arms over her white uniform shirt “So unless you want me to call the principal and tell her you haven’t helped with the gardening, I suggest you get to work.”

That’s not how Louis recalled it, but of course Rose wouldn’t understand any point of view but her own. Maybe Louis had more important things to do than a fucking history essay. Maybe Louis had found it hard to do anything other than sleep for the past few months. But it was pointless to explain herself, Rose had the empathy levels of a brick wall.

The redhead stared at her with a raised brow, tapping her foot on the floor impatiently like their English teacher did. Louis dropped her eyes to the mud, and held in a scream.

Why, out of all punishments, did the principal have to choose gardening? Why couldn’t it be the usual floor wiping? Or helping out in the kitchen? Hell, she would even prefer doing the basketball team’s laundry!

But this? She wasn’t ready for this.

She considered telling Rose to fuck off, then walk back home and pretend like none of this ever happened, but Rose hardly ever made empty threats, and Louis’ report card couldn’t stand another note.

After a deep breath, she forced her hands into the humid ground, pieces of dirt getting trapped underneath her nails. Bile rose on her throat and she fought to keep it in.

“See? It wasn’t that difficult!” Rose gloated beside her, but it sounded so far away. Her neck prickled with cold sweat. “I bet it’s been ages since you’ve done anything aside from straightening your hair and playing with– wait, are you crying?”

Louis rubbed her face on her shoulder, wiping the tears that fell without her permission. She failed to hold back a sob, then blushed furiously at the whole situation. Was she really crying in front of Rose?

The wind blew their hair softly as they took way too much time to process the sequence of events that led them there. Being with Rose felt like walking on eggshells, and Louis had just stepped on all of them.

“Hey, don’t cry,” Rose scratched her neck awkwardly. “We can divide the work, it’ll be over soon.”

“It’s not that,” Louis’ voice came out gravely after being silent for the past hour. They remained still in the middle of the backyard while Louis sobbed.

“Then, what is it?” Said Rose after a while.

Should she say it? It was such a mood killer. Louis often found herself toeing the line between talking about him for hours on end and keeping all her memories hidden. Talking about him felt blasphemous; but the silence was uncontainable. Maybe sharing her memories drained them away, or maybe it stopped her from forgetting. She couldn’t give less of a fuck about Rose’s opinion though, and that’s just what she needed to get it out.

“My father passed away at the farm last year. I haven’t gone since.”

As expected, there was a long pause. Louis found a strange amusement in the stunned silence that always followed the confession, as if sharing her grief was like passing a heavy weight to a stranger only to watch them struggle to hold it up. How would Rose react to the news? Louis certainly put her in an awkward position, but that sounded like a she problem.

Louis gasped as she got pulled backwards into a hug. Rose squeezed. She smelled like lilies.

“I’m so sorry."

And that broke the dam again. Louis cried silently into her shoulder, something she hadn’t allowed herself to do in a while.

After an eternity, Louis stood up, took a deep breath and turned around to grab the seeds, but Rose slapped her hand away.

“Stop that, I’ll plant the damn tree.”

That startled a chuckle out of Louis. “I thought you weren’t going to do my chores,” she said, in a weak attempt to humor herself out of the embarrassment.

“Consider this an exception. Just… don’t punch me again.”

“You bit me first.” declared Louis, but after receiving a stern gaze, she relented. 

“Fine. Truce?”

“Truce.”

And the seed was planted.