You'll always be my Darling

Anniversary surprise

A soft glow drifted through the curtain, an orange haze that promised the end of a long and uneventful day. There was a small mess of items scattered across Darling's bed, each object wrapped delicately, and with so much attention that there wasn't a wrinkle or fold to be seen. Clothes that had been long since forgotten about were strewn in the corner of the room, inconveniencing anyone who needed to get to the shelves.

Darling glanced back and forth between the perfectly wrapped items, the gears in her head turning. She needed the perfect gift for Apple, but all the items she had chosen seemed somewhat insignificant in one way or another. She could give her all of them, but no- that would diminish the meaning behind it. She wanted the gift to reflect her love, to show how much she cared about Apple. She wanted the gift to be personal. Maybe the flowers- no, you could get flowers from basically anywhere. The whole school was populated with all sorts of flowers, none of them would be able to properly show her love. Maybe the special photo album she had made for them- but that would only be something enjoyed for their future selves, not now. Maybe the song piece she had written- no, it was terrible. She may be good at a lot of things, but songwriting was definitely not one of them. She gave out a loud frustrated groan before flopping sideways onto her bed.

"You nervous for your date?" came a voice from across the room. Rosabella sat curled up on her bed, eyes drifting lazily over her mirror phone.

Darling gave out another, lower, groan. "I can't find an appropriate gift for Apple. I want something that really shows her how much I love her. I got all of these weeks ago but now they all seem so...." She struggled to find the right word.

"Just 'not right,'"Rosabella said, stealing one of Blondie's lines with a playful smirk.

"Yeah, something like that." Darling rolled over, staring at the pile of gifts that now seem insignificant. This wasn't just any date, it was the first anniversary of the day they had gotten together. She wanted it to be special. Two weeks ago she had scouted out the perfect spot in the enchanted forest, taking into account the temperature for the evening and the lighting of the setting sun filtering through the trees. This morning she had set everything up, waking up at four in the morning and spending hours just trying to get everything perfect. She wanted only the best and most sincere for Apple.

"Why not the necklace you made?" Rosabella asked, eyebrow quirked.

Darling sat up on her elbows, giving her roommate the 'you know why' stare. "Uh, because I made it. It'll feel cheap if it's something I made myself." She said like it was the most obvious thing in the world. She was sitting up fully now, one leg tucked under herself. "Also, it's all wonky. I'm not very good at making trinkets."

Rosabella pointed a finger at her, a good natured scowl on her face. "Darling Charming, do not undermine your jewelry crafting ability. That necklace is literally the cutest thing I have ever seen and I would absolutely die if Daring made something like that for me." Which he had tried once with Darling's help and supervision. He nearly burned down his dorm room trying to fuse two types of metals together with a very-cheap-and-definitely-not-the-right-tool-for-the-job blow torch. After that he told Darling to never mention it to anyone. Which she hadn't, so Rose never knew about it.

"And..." She continued, "it would be something from the heart. I literally watched you spend two full weeks on that thing. Trust me when I say that you put your soul into it. Even if you dont think it's good- which it is, don't argue with me- it's something that you made, and from what I've seen- which is a lot- gifts from the heart tend to be more well received."

Okay, maybe she had a point, Darling thought. But the necklace was so bad, she didn't feel confident enough in it. Of course she knew Apple would take any gift given with a bright smile and shining eyes, but she really wanted it to properly convey everything that they had gone through together, every hardship they had faced when getting together. It really had to be something special.