Mug Pie

Roses and Thorns (Part 2)

Dahlia had her arms folded across her chest and tapped her shoes against the tiled floor as she waited outside the classroom. She had reached school 30 minutes late. Instead of rushing into class, it would be best to wait out the remaining 10 minutes. 

A million thoughts flitted in and out of her head. Maybe this was a terrible idea. What did Anya know about her, anyway? Worse, what if she was straight? Maybe handing out chocolates was too basic. She should have gotten one of the bouquets from the shop, and have someone play "We Fell in Love in October" in the backdrop. Dahlia chastised herself. She really should have gotten one of those bouquets.  Or, (more importantly) actually talked to Anya more.

The bell rang. Students filed out of the classroom like a swarm of bees, and Anya's head disappeared amongst the crowd. Dahlia tried to keep up with the ponytailed head.

"Anya! Wait up!"

Anya stopped slowly and glanced around. Her face broke into a small smile when she locked eyes with Dahlia. "Hey, what's up?"

Dahlia's heart hammered in her chest. Now or never.  For a terrible second, she had forgotten all the lines she had rehearsed. All that buzzed through her head at the moment was how she should have gotten the bouquet, how unromantic the whole setup was, and how the walls plastered with anti-bullying posters which no one read, were too distracting.

"So...?" Anya prompted. 

"I appreciate your existence as a person," Dahlia blurted out. 

Anya blinked and paused for a second or two. "Thanks...I do too," she added as an afterthought.

No goddammit. Dahlia erased that one-liner from her memory, clumsily rummaged a heart-shaped box out of her bag, and carried on. 

"I really appreciate your existence as a person. I like everything about you. You caught my attention ever since you ordered those Magnolias from our shop for your aunt's wedding." That's a creepily specific detail, why did I add that to the confession speech?  "I don't usually feel comfortable around other people, but there's something about you that makes me feel so at ease. You're sensitive, calm, super nice and chill and I love how we have so much in common when to comes to music and movies. Other than that I-"

Anya put up both hands to stop her. Surprise, followed by apprehension flitted across her face. She took a step back and glanced around nervously making sure no one else heard. "I'm not..." her voice trailed off. 

The discomfort spoke volumes. Dahlia's spirits deflated like a balloon. Everything about that response was screaming at her to make a U-turn. Shrug it off. It's not a big deal. She tried on a smile and shook the box good-humoredly. "It's alright. I got it. You could still take the chocolates though. As friends."

Anya shook her head. "Could you just...put the box back inside your bag?" she whispered. Her eyes shifted sideways towards the people who had started to stare. She turned on her heel. "I-I'm sorry, I gotta go." She quickened her pace and got lost among the pack of students once more.

Flabbergasted, Dahlia listened to the sounds of Anya's dwindling steps. She had been preparing herself for a negative response but had definitely not expected Anya to be so ill at ease. She sighed. Maybe she had come off too strongly, too desperate and creepy, and maybe it just wasn't meant to be. 

She thought rejection wouldn't affect her much, but after all those nights of unhealthy infatuation, she felt like an important part of her had suddenly gone missing. She would just have to go home, eat a tub full of ice cream,  listen to mopey indie music, discard her binder of cheesy free verse poetry and file this day off as another one of her bad days. 

Dahlia's main problem was that she was a hopeless romantic. She desperately wanted to experience a movie-like love, one that was all-consuming and perfect and brought some colour to her otherwise bleak life. She wanted to love someone like that and be loved in a similar way in return. Dahlia knew all this. She knew she needed to get her head out of the clouds and live in reality.

Unfortunately for her, her reality wasn't all that nice to live in, and as the day progressed, she was going to be reminded of the reason why.