Sunlight beat down on the field, hard and bright. Overwhelmingly sharp, like a room with fluorescent pink walls. Wildflowers bloomed everywhere, splashes of blue and red and yellow. The sky was a clear blue, cloudless. An odd day for a funeral. Not one of those rainy, gloomy scenes from the movies.

"Your Laura Eccleston, right?"

Laura turned around to see a girl with mousy brown hair. She was dressed in a bright green summer dress, flowing gently around her. Strange attire for the occasion. Yet it was true that she fit into the background better then those weeping ladies with lacy handkerchiefs and straight black skirts. And the green probably brought out the spice in her eyes. Not so spicy now, however. She had a wooden expression, as if the real girl had retreated behind the shell.

"I'm Caddie. Caddie Mallet." She said awkwardly.

Something clicked in Laura's mind.

"Oh yah…you were his best friend, weren’t you?"

A look of pain flickered across Caddie's face. But then it disappeared, replaced by the expressionless stone.

"Yah." Pause. "Can we…do you want to walk behind?"

Laura looked at her quizzically. "Sure," she said, shrugging.

They waited on the side as people in mourning walked past, shedding polite tears. Then Matt's mother, her face all red and splotchy, Laura's mom patting her comfortingly. They glared at Caddie, scowling at her lime dress and white sandals as they walked by.

Laura turned to Caddie, embarrassed by her mother's behaviour. The girl simply gave a little shrug, as if to say "don't worry, I'm used to it".

They lingered at the back of the procession.

"I like your dress." Laura said shyly.

"Thank you." She replied dispassionately. "It was his favourite."

Uncomfortable silence. Then Laura broke it.

"Well, Caddie-"

"He loved you, you know" she cut in.

Laura widened her eyes in astonishment. "What?"

"He loved you. Matt." She repeated. "Before he…" her voice broke, then returned forcefully, "died, he made sure I'd let you know." she turned to leave.

"Wait!" Laura called after her. She stopped, but didn't look back. "I mean, I barley knew him…our mother's were friends and all, and I went to dinner at his house, but-"

"He loved you." Caddie said simply. "He though you were cute and smart, and he loved the way you would push your blonde hair off your face."

"Oh." Laura didn't know what to say. Caddie walked a few paces, then swerved around, glaring. Icy air gone, replaced by a creature of passion and wildness.

"Did you love him?" She asked fiercely, her eyes boring into Laura. Tell the truth or die.

"Well…no." she said helplessly "like I said, we barely knew each other."

Caddie nodded curtly, as if the movement pained her.

"I did." She said softly, then turned and walked off through the wildflowers, the dress he loved billowing in the breeze.