one kiss, one day (girlxgirl)

The White Egret Orchid

Grace’s pov 

After the breakup I was lightly to say absolutely demolished. I had no desire, no motivation and no energy to do anything. My grades started dropping down, I started skipping dance practices and I never skipped dance practise and when I came home I just cried. I was drained out, a complete mess but I still had to wake up and go to the university. Today was no different. I got up, barely did anything to my appearance and went to school. In one of my dance lessons our teacher assigned a project “How dance saved lives”. She put me and a girl from my class together. We’ve never really talked but we were friendly. 

“Okay so we gotta get together and see how we’ll present this, but I don’t have much dance space at home” i said

“It’s okay you can come over, I have space”

“Okay well when do you wanna get together… Scarlet, was it?”

“Yes. Well you could come over after school if you don’t have any plans”

“I don’t” I said with a sad and pale face

“See you then, I have to get to my next class”

“Okay, I’ll get snacks” Scarlet said with a comforting smile

I headed to Scarlet’s place after school, following the directions she sent me. I was starting to get closer to the end of the town and I still couldn’t find the said address. 

“Hey, I think I’m kinda lost can you come and meet me, I’m in front of the little flower shop”

Around 3-4 minutes later she showed up greeting me and giving me a hug. 

“I’ll go in the shop for a second, my mom works there, I’ll be right back”
In a minute she came out with the most beautiful flowers. 

“Those are gorgeous! What are they?”

“This is a White Egret Orchid” 

/you can see it in the picture in the beginning/

“When I was little and felt sad my mom used to bring these to me and tell me “Your mind will enchain you. Your heart will set you free”. She linked being free with the egret and with this orchid. I see that you need to free your mind and soul so I hope this reminds you to be free.”

I was speechless, this girl that barely knew me knew what I needed to hear.

“I know this may be weird, and we don’t know each other that well but I’ve just seen that everyday you come to school with this sad expression and you used to be so full of light. I’m guessing someone hurt you and just know that whoever did something to you that made you feel unappreciated didn’t deserve you in the beginning ”

We had a moment of silence just looking at each other, her eyes were crystal looking from the fresh sunbeam.

I felt my heart heal a little. 

“Should we go?” Scarlet asked causing me to come back to reality after I had spaced out

“Uh yes, sure. So how long have your parents owned the flower shop for?” I started making small talk

“Oh, it’s just my mom, my dad isn’t around”

“Oh I’m sorry, I didn’t know”

“No worries, there’s no way you could’ve known. He died when I was twelve. He was a sailor and was gone most of the time”

“Oh God, it must’ve been hard for your mom, my mom is also a single parent and I’ve seen her struggles”

“I  didn’t know that, guess we have a lot in common. My mom tried her best at raising me and when my dad passed I tried helping her as much as possible in the flower shop so that we can keep it and not sell it since it was our only income. But now we share our house duties and I try to help her as much as I can. I’m sorry that you lost your father too? How old were you?”

“Well he hasn’t passed away, my story is different but I was just a baby when my parents separated and my childhood growing up was in patterns with him but...” I stopped. I realised I had started revealing too much of my personal life, too much of my past, too much of my ‘broken’ side 

“What happened? Are you okay?” Scarlet asked with a concerned look on her face 

“Uhh yes, I just don’t feel like sharing. I know you shared your story but I just-”

“It’s okay” she interrupted me kindly

“You don’t have to feel pressured into sharing your private life, it is in your control, just know that ”

The thing was that unlike with Alice, I wanted to reveal myself to Scarlet,  wanted to share and make her feel comfortable that she isn’t different from the others just because she doesn't have a father and other people do.

I sighed “A lot of people through time have betrayed my trust but I just wanted to let you know that I’m with you and maybe someday I could share. Thank you for understanding”

“Always. And we are actually here. This is my house.”

“Wow, this is beautiful”

It was a two story small house with a front and back yard. She gave me a quick tour. Her and her mom had planted so many flowers everywhere, she said that all flowers are different just like all people are different. The house was in all light and happy colors, you could see that two women had decorated it. She showed me her room that was on the second floor. It was decorated with paintings and pictures, tickets from events she had been to, wristbands and lots of butterflies. 

“Are butterflies your favourite animal?” I giggled 

“Yes and don’t ever fuck with butterflies” she said serious but as a joke

“I love them, your room is so warm-looking, I love it. Did you paint and draw these?”

“Yup. They could use some more retouching but I just draw them when I’m sad”

“Why are there so many then?”

“I guess I’ve been sad quite some times”
There was a little pause. She had been hurt too, I could feel it in her voice

“So do you want to go to the kitchen, get some snacks and start the project?” Scarlet broke the silence

“Sure, sounds great” I replied, feeling better from our meeting so far. She made me feel better