Planted Lovers...Part 4 (Finale)!

 The next morning was a Monday.  Sitting up abruptly at 6:59 AM, Sunny panicked, thinking she was late to class, but college was done for the year.  She went back to bed comforted by the thought of no alarms and didn’t wake up until Pa Nhia was in her room shaking her awake.  “Get up, girl!  All the friends are going on a bike ride from Woodbury to Hudson for a day at the beach!”  The riverfront beach in Hudson was one of her favorite places.  Sunny jumped out of her bed to put on her biker shorts,  They pumped their bikes in the garage and headed out to meet their circle of friends, and probably the young man who was secretly making Sunny have vivid dreams at night.  

In the sunlight, the definition of Lou’s neck, chest, and arms glistened.  He had taken his shirt off for the bike ride while everyone else warned him that he was going to turn into a hot dog.  Sunny pulled her sun spray out of her small backpack and handed it over to him.  Their hands touched -  his hand was warm from the sun and hers was slightly sweating. He twinkled his dimple at her and said, “Thanks.”    It was such a nice day that many people were out on the trail.  They pedaled their bikes one behind the other like a line of ants bustling toward their headquarters.

One of Justin Beiber’s songs came on Pa Nhia’s bike speaker and everybody started speeding up, laughing, and singing to the chorus.  A group of bikes headed in their direction coming just as fast and the string from Sunny’s jacket tied around her waist started wrapping itself up on her wheel.  Riding behind Sunny, Lou saw everything as Sunny tried to stop but ran off the trail into the bushes.  As she fell off her bike, she twisted her right ankle and scuffed up her knees trying to raise herself up on her wrists.  Like magic, Lou was at her side and picked her up while her ankle ignited in pain.  “Are you okay?” came the voices of the others.  Sunny’s face pursed and tears streaked her cheeks as she pressed herself into Lou’s shoulder.  He held her head with his hand and swept her up until she was sitting on the rear rack of his bike that was previously carrying a cooler of drinks.  They chained her bike on a tree to come back for, feeling thankful they had only traveled a few miles in.  It hurt to hold on to Lou on his bike, but Sunny hugged him close so as not to fall off but also for the strangely familiar comfort.  They left the group and whipped back towards her house.  

Ch. 5

Lou brought her boiled chicken soup with herbs daily until she didn’t have to limp when she walked again.  They got to know each other as they flipped through Netflix.  His favorite shows were anything to do with martial arts and adventure, while hers was rom-coms.  She fell asleep in his arms by accident one afternoon since they shared a blanket on her parents’ couch.  For a brief moment, she was in REM, and Lou appeared in her dreams again.

…they were in a field again.  This time, there were wildflowers similar to the ones in her family’s backyard.  She was wearing a traditional Hmong skirt with her favorite blouse and she twirled to see the skirt move against her hips.  Giggling, she looked up at Lou who looked hopeful with his dopey brown eyes at her.  He said something she couldn’t hear and then he bent down to kiss her lips.  She let him because she knew this was just a dream, and in dreams, Sunny was not in control but she couldn’t help but want him to anyway.  After the kiss, he touched her skirt and pointed at the hemp plants beyond the wildflowers.  

“Sunny?”

She woke up.

“I heard everything you said, “ she told Lou.  Right before she woke up, the wind had carried his voice to her ears and whispered, “This is our story.”

Lou and Sunny became best friends, and then lovers.  They ended up living the life they didn’t get a chance to in their previous one.  Grandma Va Her was thrilled to see them together and she became the only one who knew the truth behind their love.  Fate has its way of weaving itself back into the lives it is meant to, just like the hemp weaved into the textiles of Hmong clothing that always tells a story…

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