Hopeless Romantic

15. D Day

Oscar spent Christmas with Gramma and came back home for New years as our miserable school decided to start on the first day of the year. No rest for the wicked it seems.
He wished all his friends on text and asked them to come to school. Nobody was interested, they were all tired partying at New Year's Eve and Oscar always spent it with his family so he had a lot of residual energy left. He wasn't sure if even Rio would show up. But she did, at the end moment, a tired and sleep deprived Rio entered the class and sat next to Oscar.
That moment, Oscar felt his surroundings blur out. His face heated up. He couldn't think straight the moment he saw her face peeking through the classroom door. He was overjoyed but also afraid of what he was feeling. His heart beat faster than it ever did, and when she waved at him, he felt it stop for a second, then again when she started walking towards him. She was wearing a beanie and a simple sweater. Her brown hair was messy but had an overall direction. Her books were piled up in her hand and her smile was warmer than before.
He noticed the color of her eyes, the strawberry perfume she had on. Everything didn't make sense and made sense at the same time. He was overcome by the rush of emotions. He saw her walk across the class, her stride was elegant and precise. Every step she took closer to him made his heart go a beat faster. It almost exploded when she sat next to him.
"Hey"
"Hoi"
"What?" she chuckled in confusion. "I mean Hi and Hey"
"Okay? Are you sick? You look like you might have a fever"
"I think I may have caught something, but its fine" Oscar's face was pink and blue. A shade I have never seen on any person alive. Yes, he had caught feelings for her. He was in love and this time he knew it. It wasn't love at first sight, but he felt his heart fall in a canyon it never had been to.
He didn't say a word to her after that. He was busy processing the new software in his head.
Lucky for him, classes were cancelled, his mind wasn't ready to learn anything and he definitely needed to cool off.
"This sucks, I ditched an after-party and came here and they tell us the teachers are on leave"
"Yea they could've informed us I guess yes they should've." He tried to talk normally but he couldn't.
"You know what, let's go somewhere, I think you need a coffee too"
"I definitely need one now" he held his forehead and tried to press it in.
They walked out of school to the roadside hot dog guy, bought two coffees and wandered aimlessly.
Oscar started functioning properly after he took a few sips from his hot coffee.
"Let's go buy firecrackers and burst them by the lake" Oscar suggested out of nowhere.
"Now that's what I wanted to hear today! Let's go!"
They walked to the nearest market roads, a road where all kinds of stuff were sold. They soon found a firecracker place. Oscar and Rio explored and enquired about every kind of cracker and finally decided on a cracker.
"Its 99 dollars though" Rio said.
"I'll get it, I got excess cash from the holidays anyways"
"Cool you buy, I light"
"No way I'm lighting it"
"Let's see once we get there."
He bought the cracker; it was a box two feet long. They carried it to the lake and set up a launching pad of sorts to light it.
"So, do you wanna light it?" Oscar asked.
"You know what, let's do it together"
"That's a better option."
So, Rio struck a matchstick and signaled Oscar to hold the other half of it, they moved close to the protruding end of the cracker and held the fire on it for two seconds. It burnt up quickly and they ran away from it.
A bright yellow rocket flew out of the cylindrical box toward the sky, coloring it red and blue.
They both watched it while still holding the matchstick, their fingers around each other, until the match burnt up and the heat reached those fingers. The excruciating pain was followed by a burst of laughter. They stayed for a while and talked about what they did in the vacations.
They didn't realize it, but it was soon dark. When it finally struck, they decided to return back home.
"See you tomorrow" Rio said as they parted ways.
"Bye!" Oscar now looked forward to his life. It was a new beginning for him and the firecracker was a symbol of it.
A new hope.