181 Days of Madeline Jesty

Chapter 13: The List

"For you, Your Majesty," Mickey greeted as she offered me violets tied nicely in a white ribbon.

Roses, sunflowers, and daisies were customary for a courting man to give to the woman he desired, and to be honest, when Suzie told me Mickey brought me flowers, I was expecting any of these. But my expectations were exceeded, as violets were a symbol of sapphic love. Either Mickey knew her literature, or the coincidence was just destiny's play. I wanted to ask why right on the spot, but Suzie watching behind us made me uncomfortable, so we decided to walk upstairs and proceed to my room. Since I didn't like Suzie to suspect there was something between Mickey and I, I kept the door open.

We sat around the floor table I prepared a few minutes ago, with a notebook and some pens ready for us to use. I was about to reach for a pen when Mickey did too, and the moment her finger gently rubbed mine, I felt a current running through me.

As if Suzie could sense the sexual tension, she knocked on my door and entered my room while clearing her throat loudly on purpose, placing a glass of juice, two more empty glasses, a pitcher of water, and a cup of hot chocolate on our table. Luckily, I was able to snatch my hand away before Suzie entered.

When I was sure she was out of sight, I started, "You said we're making a list?"

"Oh, is that why there are pens here?" When I nodded, she brought out a folded paper from her pocket and then placed it on the table. "I said I'll be bringing a list. At least you have something to start with."

I unfolded the paper and briefly browsed the unnumbered list. Counting the items, I was surprised that it didn't even reach twenty. Wouldn't there be around a hundred things she'd love me to discover so she could impress me? Because I had numerous activities in mind if she would agree to skip the whole school year and if Mom would give me the money to fulfill this self-centric goal. "Just seventeen?"

"These are the planned ones, Your Majesty. But romantic gestures aren't always arranged, and spontaneity and improvisation are where I'm good at. Besides, we only have less than twenty weekends to spend. We can't ditch classes, but we could always have a simple after-school date."

I knew she'd disagree on not attending classes. Who in that elite school would be in the right mind to do that? Only people who had nothing to lose anymore, probably—like me.

"Kiss in the library, huh," I remarked with a smirk. "Getting bolder, are we?"

"You want to be in the shoes of your character, right? I think the best way to feel something is to do things you're afraid to do."

"What character—oh, my character. I thought you mean character as in personality. Yeah, good call," I nervously responded. I hated myself for forgetting that I actually made up a story so Mickey would entertain my stupid idea. To hide this oversight, I went for the next item even though I wanted to argue that I wasn't afraid to kiss inside a library. "Lock the bathroom and kiss—is this a kiss list?"

"Maybe." She laughed.

Her list was mostly a mix of cute and crazy kiss ideas, as well as simple couple dates such as picnic and movie meetups. Among the weird ideas in the list were to kiss inside a prohibited property, tour in an amusement park and kiss when we're at the peak while riding a Ferris wheel, dance to slow music inside an abandoned house, and camp in the woods and eat roasted marshmallows. They were too specific that I wasn't sure if I should be amused or alarmed. To my disappointment, there were no extravagant dates such as riding a cruise or going to the beach.

"We have twenty or so weekends to spend and there's no going to the beach? Romance movies usually have this. I can't let my character die without having a romantic scene while watching the sunset."