Chapter Text
Samuel found the lake calming, especially moments like this when he was alone with his iPod. Though he did thoroughly enjoy band camp, there were many moments when he had hoped to escape to the lakefront. This had been especially true today, he had had a cough throughout the entire day and in the last hour of rehearsal an amount of pressure had grown in his lungs. He flinched, remembering how much of a struggle it had become to play his saxophone. He had been hoping that this break would help his lungs to feel less full, but even as the break was winding down his lungs felt no better. Stifling another cough, he took a deep swig of his water and tried harder to concentrate on the song playing through his headphones. The more he tried to focus on his music however the stronger the heavy feeling in his chest grew. After a quick look in his general vicinity, he coughed loudly into his hand. After a few moments he felt a large amount of something slimy but soft land in his hand. Confused and suddenly queasy, he pulled his hand back from his face, and after another quick glance around to make sure no one was watching him, he quickly opened his hand and stared down into it. With a sudden increased feeling of dread and nausea, he saw a clump of hot pink saliva covered petals of a flower. After a few moments of horror, he dumped them down into the lake and stood up. “Nope.” Samuel wasn’t sure if he said that to convince himself that he was seeing things, or words of recognition of his very few options.
“Samuel?” A voice from behind him started him from his thoughts, “Mr. Wiley sent me to find you.” Turning around, his eyes widened as he looked up at Cadence. He could feel the twist of flowers in his chest tightening and swallowed hard, trying to fight back the petals that seemed to be fighting their way up. He must have had a look on his face because a moment later Cadence spoke again, “Practice, you’re late. Clark’s having a cow about fellow squad leaders incompetence.” She giggled slightly with her last statement, and the mixture of happiness and twisting of flowers in his throat stirred him enough for him to finally stand.
“Sorry.” He didn’t know exactly what to say, but he did feel better when Cadence gave him a small smile and gently patted his shoulder.
“I just hope you have a good explanation for Mr. Wiley, he’s in a mood today. Doug caused a collision right when I left and he was pissed.” She said, her voice holding the same half giggle that it had earlier and if he didn’t feel the dread of the band director’s reaction to his lateness. As they arrived at the feel, Cadence gave his shoulder a supportive pat before quickly running to correct the new mellophones position.
Samuel felt the tightness in his lungs grow as he watched her fleeting form. Stifling yet another cough into his hand, grimacing as he felt more soft petals in his hand. “Samuel!” Mr. Wiley shouted from behind him, startling him into dropping the petals onto the ground which he quickly covered with his shoe. “Where have you been! We’ve been running sets for half an hour and your squad has gone to-!” Whatever he had been about to say was forgotten, as Samuel coughed hard again, causing Mr. Wiley to quickly scrunch up his nose and throw his hands up in exasperation. “Ugh never mind, we don't need anything going around right now just go back to your cabin!” Without even waiting for a response Mr. Wiley angrily stalked away.
Feeling even more sullen he quickly walked back to his cabin and angrily slammed the door behind him. Angrily putting down his music, he gripped his saxophone tighter. After a few minutes of him angrily walking around his cabin, he sighed and decided to at least practice his music. As he started playing, he felt time begin to melt away, and as much as his lungs were screaming he decided to play as long as he could. After what felt like minutes, but must have been hours, the door to his cabin slammed open, startling him out of his musical trance and causing him to cough up petals. He continued coughing, realizing how much he had overworked his lungs and doubling over trying to catch his breath. “Dude?!” Doug’s voice rang through the cabin, and two pairs of footsteps quickly approached him. “Why are you eating flowers?” Doug questioned. Samuel could hear an angry huff from a second voice and both sets of feet hurrying away before the door shut, and a single set hurrying back towards him.
“Samuel?” Cadence’s voice sounded extremely concerned. “Is it…?” Cadence seemingly couldn't even bring herself to ask the question. He looked up at her, and nodded curtly. “Would you… should I…” Cadence seemed to be panicking slightly at this revelation, but eventually managed to spit out “Who?”
Samuel slowly reached forward and took her hand in his own. Looking up at her he smiled slightly, hoping that she would get the message. But after a few moments of her staring at him with a look of anxiety on her face he sighed. “Cadence, it’s you.” As he spoke he felt Cadence’s hand leave him and her arms wrap tightly around his chest, knocking the wind and petals out of him. As he caught his breath he smiled at the weightlessness of his chest.