Trees, Apples, and Love

“Hey, brat!” Brady says to me as he enters my garage. I’m playing my guitar so I can barely hear him, but I still can. “Hey, jerk,” I say, rolling my eyes, though I have a slight smile on my face. “So whatcha wanna do today?” Says Brady as he walks over to me and gives me a crushing hug; he knows I hate hugs. “Hey! Get off of me!” I yell as I try to push him off, but to no avail as he just brushes it off. “I was thinking we’d go apple picking,” Says a yawning Brady, who’s now clearly bored. “Yeah that’d be fine I guess, lets go now, I’m just finishing up my new song. Maybe I’ll play it for you sometime.” 

We walk out to Brady’s beautiful 68 Pontiac Firebird. (To be completely honest I’m in love with this car, it’s my absolute dream to have one. But Brady can never know that.) “What an ugly, douchey car you have Brady,” I say to him as I see a wave of hurt wash over his face. He just rolls his eyes and tells me to get in the car before he beats me up. I get in and the seats are heaven; no better than heaven. They are the most beautiful and comfortable vinyl seats I’ve ever sat in. Brady turns to me and asks if I am alright, as I was just sitting in complete silence since we got in. We were already at the orchard, “Yeah jerk I’m just thinking about how terrible this car is.” I say with a smile on my face. He softly smacks my shoulder as we get out and pay for two baskets to pick some apples.

As we walk to one of the trees I notice that some of the leaves are already turning orange, bright fiery embers. I slightly smile as I turn to look at Brady, but he’s already gone up ahead, standing on a ladder picking apples. “How did you get up there in five seconds?” I say while Brady tries to throw an apple at me. But instead, he just falls off the ladder. I bust out laughing as run to Brady’s side while jumping in a soft pile of leaves. “Are you okay?” I say, laughter still in my voice. He just groans and turns over on his side, facing me. We’re inches apart now, as I just stare into his groggy eyes. He realizes how close we are and shakily gets up as fast as he can. He helps me up and punches me in the shoulder while calling me a brat. I just laugh and pick up my basket to pick some more apples. I turn to Brady just as he bites into a juicy apple. I can’t help but stare at him, soon enough I break my stare as he calls my name. He points to my left, where the sun is setting. He knows how much I love to watch the sunset. I think it’s one of the most beautiful experiences that anyone can go through. And sitting here with my best friend watching it go down, I know I’m right. We get out of the trees and sit on a blanket that somehow got in the middle of the orchard. I turn to Brady and watch his beautiful eyes, as they reflect the sunset with their own little twists on it. He watches me and puts his palm on my cheek. “Alyssa, can I tell you something?” I just laugh uncomfortably, and nod my head, not trusting my voice. “I think I’m in love with you”

Those words “I think I’m in love with you” threw my whole entire world into a spectrum. I genuinely had no idea. I don’t even realize I’m staring until Brady calls my name. He clearly has hurt and worry in his eyes. “So?” He says, his voice faltering a bit. “You mean to tell me Brady Smith is sitting here, under apple trees, after we just picked them to tell me he’s in love with me?” I say in complete shock, though trying to lighten the mood a little bit. I don’t really want this weight on my shoulders. On the one hand, if I say I don’t love him back our friendship is over. On the other hand, if I say how I feel and we break up our friendship is out the window anyway. Like an animal with primal instincts, I just kiss him. At first, he’s off-put, but then he begins to kiss back and I feel my heart flutter. I pull back just enough to look at him and say “I think I’m in love with you too” with a smile. He starts kissing me again and I probably shouldn’t tell you guys what happens next if you know what I mean. 

The next few days were heaven as we went apple picking every day and made apple pies; my favorite. Love was blooming and it’s all because of the apple orchard where we went apple picking. Apple picking always was my favorite thing to do as a kid, it was one of the first things I had a choice in. I was able to pick which apples that I wanted, and when we were done my mother and I would always bake the sweetest apple pies, and top it off with our homemade ice cream, using our own milk from our dairy cows. Not to mention the way the leaves seemed to change colors while we were out there. I've always been fascinated by fall, it is my favorite season after all.

"Hey, jerk!" I say shaking out of my dream-like state. "I want to sing you my song I was working on the other day," Brady complies and goes to sit down. He's frowning, clearly upset about something but that doesn't matter as the second I start singing he lights up with excitement and enjoyment. When I'm finally done singing about our experiences together he has a proud look on his face and calls me an angel. I can't help but smile as I'm ecstatic he liked it. I worked for a little over a week on it, which took a lot longer than usual. We share a long and passionate kiss as I set my guitar down, and when it's over I feel safe and warm. I've never been in love before this, and to be honest it's even better than a sunset.