Page 36 of Meet Me on Love Street
Once we get to a heavy concentration of trees, our group scatters to take pictures. There are hundreds of people around us also taking pictures with their phones. I see a few people with more professional-looking cameras too, and lots of girls in pretty dresses posing with the trees.
The sakura trees are almost… magical. They are absolutely enormous, and each huge tree is entirely covered with small pale pink flowers that contrast perfectly with the cloudless blue sky. There are so many of these towering pale pink trees in close concentration that the breathtaking beauty in every direction is almost overwhelming.
I come to see the blooms every year, and they have never not left me speechless. As this is nearing the end of their bloom period, the flowers are losing their petals, so the grass below our feet is carpeted with the same pale pinkas the branches. And with every gust of wind, more pink petals fall, swirling in the air like confetti.
I look for the others. Cara, Hannah, and Sarina are a few paces away, taking pictures. Ajit and Julie are a little closer, taking a selfie together. Miles is suddenly next to me. “Your dress has cherry blossoms on it,” he says.
I look down at my dress, fake horror on my face. “Oh my god… it does! How did that happen?!”
Miles chuckles. “You were wearing sunset colors when we went to see the sunset.”
I grin. “How observant of you.”
“Do you regularly pick clothes based on a theme?”
“Sometimes.” I position my phone in front of me to take a selfie of me with a tree. And of about twelve other people behind me doing the same thing.
“Do you want me to take it?” Miles asks, putting his hand out for my phone.
I give it to him and strike a pose in front of the tree. After he takes a few shots, he hands my phone back. “There are so many people around, I couldn’t get you alone,” he says.
“Why would I want to be alone?”
His forehead furrows. “Don’t you just want you and the trees with your matching dress?”
I shake my head. “No! The very last thing I want to do is erase all these people. It’s the coolest thing about this place… Everyone came to see the same thing I’m here to see. Thousands come every year to see some trees bloom. Iloveit.” I scroll through the pictures Miles took. He has quite an eye—the pictures are great. I start to upload a few to my grid right away, then look at Miles. “Come here,” I say, smiling.
“Why?”
“I want a selfie with you. You’re wearing flowers, too. We both match the trees.”
He laughs, but then comes and lets me take the selfie of us with our heads leaning into each other, surrounded by the pale pink trees behind us. I upload the picture along with the others he took, tagging Miles again.
“Question,” I ask as I put my phone down. “Did you wear that shirt with flowers on it because we were coming to look at flowers? Because I think I’m a good influence on you.”
Miles laughs again. I can’t get over how much his face changes when he smiles. It’s almost as if there are two Miles Desais—the nonsmiling surly one who is irritated at about every third thing I say and this easygoing one who laughs a lot.ThisMiles looks like it matches the rest of him. Like his bright eyes match his expression for the first time.
I turn away, exhaling. I’m way too fascinated with my frustrating new friend. Maybe it’s because he’s so completely different from me. But I need to stop this.Miles is my friend. We’re literally here because I want him to fall in love with someone else—mystepsister.
“I see your real reason for dragging me here, by the way,” he says as we walk to the next tree.
“I have no ulterior motive,” I say. “I wanted you to meet my stepsister. What do you think of her?”
He looks over at Sarina, then shrugs. “She seems nice enough. Quiet, though. But I mean why you brought ushere, specifically. You wanted me to see how many people will come to a place just so they can post it on their social media.”
I tilt my head. I actually hadn’t thought of that, but yeah, the number of people here at High Park proves my point that we should have some sort of installation in LOL Park that people can post to their socials.
“Yes, exactly,” I say, smiling. “Weneedsomething this photogenic.”
He nods. “I don’t see how we can do anything to this scale, but yeah, I see your point. We need a signature attraction. Social media bait.”
I grin, clapping my hands together. “Yay! We can brainstorm ideas after we get the festival permit. We’ll think of somethingiconic.”
“Ifwe get the festival permit.”
I shake my head, poking his shoulder with my pink-painted fingernail. “None of thisifbusiness, mister. We’re getting it. You and me? We’re an unstoppable team.”
He laughs, and again my heart flutters. I really shouldn’t be craving the rush of making him smile so much.
