The Girl in a White Dress

Chappie 25

Same day...

Candice's POV

     I'm sitting on the bench outside my studio, waiting for my last student while Christian is at home with his dad. Suddenly, I saw him walking towards me with a bag of gummy bears and two helium balloons. "What are you doing here, John?" I said without any emotions.

     "Nothing...I just want to talk," he said, smiling. When I said nothing, he added, "I brought candies!" and sat beside me. He placed the gummy bears on my lap, and I sighed. Well, it would be rude if I just send him away...plus, he brought candy so, I let him stay.

     I know that it's not right to act as if nothing happened between us, but I'm too tired to make him leave or to at least shout at him. I opened the bag of candies and took out a green gummy bear. There's a certain way that I like to eat gummy bears. I would eat their ears first, then their arms, their legs, their head, and last, their bodies.

     As I was chewing the head of the green gummy bear, John started speaking. "I still remember the first time I saw you. You were alone in a room, playing the violin in your pink polka-dot sundress. Your eyes would close so you could truly feel the music, and your eyebrows would furrow when a note sounded wrong," he chuckled as I ate the arms of a red gummy bear.

     "That was a day that I'll never forget. You were so beautiful, and now, even more."

     The left leg goes into my mouth as he started to talk again. "Do you remember our first date? I was such a blabbering mess, and I even stepped on dog poop!" he laughed, and even I had to chuckle. It was a memorable date. "That date was a disaster, but somehow, it was still perfect...because you're the one I'm with," he said as I chewed the body of the red gummy bear.

     He spoke again when I was biting off the right arm of a white gummy bear. Gosh, why can't he just be quiet. "Remember our pet fish, Paquito? We got him when we graduated college. You even called him our son!"

     I remember Paquito...he looks like Nemo, and I would always say his name just like how a Mexican would. John continued, "When you called him our son, that was the time I decided that I want to marry you."

     It was silent for a couple of minutes, and as I was tearing a green gummy bear limb from limb, he said, "I see, you still kill the old way," as he pointedly looked at the bag of candies.

     "Yeah, some things never change," I said.

     Few minutes of silence passed, and he took in some of the air from the green helium balloon. "Potato," he said with a tiny voice caused by the helium.

     I just stared at John and raised one eyebrow.

     He again took some helium in and sang, "Come on...I know you want to..." He offered me the pink balloon.

     I put the candies aside and took the pink balloon from his hand. I took in some helium and said, "Peonies."

     John smiled, took in some helium, and said, "Conga line!"

     I replied, "Munchkin," with the voice that is caused by the helium.

     "Do you remember the first time we did this?" asked John.

     "Yeah," I answered.

~Flashback~

     Today is the last day of summer, and John and I are figuring out what to do with it. We've done all that we want to do already so we're pretty bored now. We're sitting on a park bench. It's gloomy today, and it'll probably rain.

     John suddenly stood up and went to a balloon stand. He bought a green and pink balloon and returned to his seat beside me.

     He took some air from the green balloon and said with a voice that has a higher pitch, "Cupcake." I furrowed my eyebrows at him, and he explained, "Say something random," as he gave me the pink balloon.

     I took in some air from the balloon and said, "Zoom," prolonging the o's.

     "Salsa!" he said after he took in some helium. After a minute of saying random stuff with our silly voice, rain started to fall.

     I took in some helium and said, "It's raining!"

     He took in some helium as well and said, "Bloody hell!" I laughed and just stood up. "Candice, aren't we going home?" he asked.

      "Nope. We're already drenched anyway. Let's dance!" I said. John stayed silent and just sat there, smiling. I rolled my eyes at him and started to dance in the rain.

     John was watching me as I make a fool out of myself when he stood up and went towards me with the green balloon in his hand.

     I stopped dancing and faced him. He stood in front of me as he took some air from the balloon and said with a straight face, "I love you, Candice...with all my heart." And as the summer rain continued to pour down on us, he kissed me.

~Flashback over~

     It was the first time John told me he loves me, and it was a picture-perfect memory. I turned to John, and he smiled and took in some air from the balloon. With that, he said, "I love you, Candice...with all my heart."