Dahlia's whole life is flipped upside down when her eccentric aunt enrolls her in a prestigious university in England. She is forced to make friends with a rather eclectic group of people and adapt to her new lifestyle all while trying to find the a...
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After four days of covering the bruises on my neck with concealer and trying to forget why they were there in the first place, it was Thursday, February 14th- Valentine's Day.
I was sitting in the cafe eating a salad, surrounded by happy couples- I was the only person sitting by myself- while I worked on revising my notes for Shakespearean Literature. Mr. Browne had worked the course schedule so perfectly, that we were almost done reading Romeo and Juliet, which is, of course, one of the most famous love stories of all time, and very fitting for a holiday that revolves around love.
The assignment for Romeo and Juliet was to choose a movie that had allusions to the story or had a similar plot line to it, and to write an essay on the similarities between the two and how Shakespeare still inspires modern literature and entertainment.
When I decided that I was satisfied with my notes, I opened Netflix to browse for a movie to watch that night to use for my essay. Earlier, in art when we were working on a new sculpting project, Zayn told me that he planned on asking Atlas out on a date for Valentine's Day. It was safe to assume that she would say yes, and I was preparing for another year of being alone on the dreadful holiday. So, maybe watching some movie about love while being lonely would invoke some type of emotion that I could harness to write a solid paper.
The chair across from me was pulled away from my table, causing a horrible screeching sound on the floor. I thought that the person would just take the empty seat to their table to add another chair for someone, but they sat down in front of me.
"Hi."
I looked up from my laptop to see the guy who had worn the maroon suit to the party at Hyacinth Manor, the one that was always with Rebecca. He smiled, creating creases next to his warm, brown eyes. He looked approachable.
"Hi." I added an upward inflection at the end of the word, making it sound like more of a question than a greeting.
"You're Dahlia, right?" When we met briefly at the party, we didn't learn each other's names, so it was strange that he knew mine, but I didn't know his.
"Yeah. And you are...?"
"Liam Payne." He hovered his outstretched hand over the table to shake mine, so I closed my laptop to eliminate the obstacle and reached my hand out as well. He gave it the firmest handshake I'd ever experienced, and then he retracted his hand, to retrieve something from the breast pocket of his charcoal suit jacket.
He pulled out an envelope, and handed it to me. I didn't look at it, just raising a questioning eyebrow at him.
"What's this?"
"A letter," he deadpanned.
"From?"
"They said you could figure that out for yourself."
"But-"
He exposed his palms in a placating gesture and cut off my protest. "Hey, I'm just a messenger." He checked a nonexistent watch on his wrist. "I've actually got to get going now. Have a nice day."
