rose-colored glasses (or the lack thereof)
In retrospect, his mother buying the garden should have been a point of concern. At the time you and Patrick had chalked it up to some sort of pre-emptive mid-life crisis. Not a brash or wild purchase like you'd expect, but large and lavish enough that it felt logical to group into the category anyway. And frankly, both of you were too enamored with this new space in the Zweig's summer home to really question the randomness of it's appearance.
It would have been a waste of time to worry about it then too. The academy took Patrick for most of the year, but his summers were always yours. Split between time at your homes in the city and wandering the acres of the summer house. There was no time to question the garden, not in the excitement of spending time with Patrick. The garden became a new adventure, a point of excitement in it's own right.
You two would wake up and bring your breakfast out there. Eating by the bushes, and later requesting to have all your other meals outside too. You'd walk around and play childish games you had yet to out grow. Sometimes read a book or just talk. It felt like the garden was a never ending entity, always with something new bud to capture your interest.
You never touched the flowers, rather enjoying the thought of you peacefully coexisting alongside each other and partially afraid of what Mrs. Zweig would say if she saw. Not that Patrick cared about any possible reaction his mother would have or the natural peace of the garden. He took to plucking any bud within arm reach.
Snagging flowers as you walked by a bush, plucking off bundles at a time. Begging to be picked, he'd smirk, pushing the flowers into your hands. Haphazardly made bouquets, if you could even call it that. It'd fluster you, endearing in it's own way, as long as it wasn't the roses.
They were the prettiest of the bunch, both in look and smell. A unexpectedly warm scent with a hint of sweetness reminiscent of the heady earthiness of cloves or myrrh. It'd wash over you anytime you were close to the large bush, drawing your gaze to the pastel blooms.
You'd run your fingers over the edge of the flower, pressing down against the the thin silky petals, as Patrick grabbed at the stem to pull them off. HIs brows would furrow the minute his fingers pressed against a thorn, but it stopped nothing. Only tightening his grip to properly pull the flower from the bush.
When he'd hand you the bud, you'd see the little prickles pushed into his thumb. Still grinning carelessly, as he insisted you take the flowers, you'd instead try picking out the thorn. He'd tell you not to worry and you'd scoff until you'd coax the small barb from where it was nestled in his skin. Wrap a band-aid around it for good measure, and watch it come loose in the span of couple hours.
It happen over and over again, him plucking the flower and you removing the thorns. An inevitable part of your time in the garden. Leaving you with more roses than any one person could need and having seen too many thorns pricked with his blood.
It's what you remember most about that summer. More than the garden or the sun, it was defined by that rose bush. Looking back, you and Patrick had settled into the roles you'd always play for the other that year.
Not that you realized it then (another gift of hindsight).