It seemed a little clichéd to get Ari flowers, but Michael figured he had no choice. His feelings for her were rapidly consuming him, and he decided that he had to get back on her good side, even if that meant just being friends with her. He didn't know what he would do if he couldn't see her anymore. Being around her was like a drug, and he was having terrible withdrawals.
After he left Ari's house, he felt strangely lighter, as if confiding in Ashton had lifted a literal weight off his chest. He was still immensely confused about his feelings, and hugely upset that it would probably never work out between him and Ari. However, he was ready to throw some more wood onto the fire of his friendship with Ari, as he felt that the flames were dwindling.
He just hoped that she wouldn't take his flowers the wrong way and perceive his gift as a romantic gesture.
He headed towards a park, one he remembered seeing daisies at, and once he arrived, he glanced around.
There was a substantial patch of daisies near a play structure in the corner of the park, and Michael headed towards it and began picking the nicest ones he could find. A little girl hanging from the monkey bars gave him a strange look as he plucked a daisy from the patch and added it to his rapidly growing bouquet. When he smiled politely back at her, her eyes widened, and she scurried over to the shade of a big white pine tree, where a woman sat playing with her toddler-presumably the little girl's mother.
The girl said something to her mother, and the woman looked over at Michael, giving him a rather dirty look. She quickly scooped up her baby, grabbed her daughter's hand and guided her towards the sidewalk.
Michael sighed. He supposed he was sort of scary, especially to little kids. He was sort of the opposite of what most parents hoped their kids would turn out to be like.
He picked one last daisy and decided his bouquet was complete. He held the flowers to his nose, and then wrinkled it at the bland aroma.
"They don't even smell good." He said to himself, shrugging.
"What doesn't smell good? Your armpits?"
Michael was so startled that he almost dropped his bouquet.
He spun around, and Ari stood there, her white-blonde hair blowing around her face, a little smile on her face.
"No...um...never mind," Michael held out the daisies. "These are for you."
"Aww," Ari smiled, taking the bouquet. "That's so sweet. And daisies are my favourite! How did you know?"
Michael shrugged. "A little birdy told me."
Ari smiled again. "Thank you."
"You're welcome."
There was suddenly a silence, and Ari ran her finger over a petal of one of the daisies, biting her lip, her cheeks flushed a light pink.
"I didn't mean for this to make things awkward between us," Michael blurted before he could stop himself. "I just wanted to, you know, say sorry for kissing you."
Shit.
Ari's smile faded, replaced with a look of uncertainty. "Michael..."
Michael wanted to say something to reassure her that he understood, but he was suddenly at a loss for words.
"I'm sorry I just ran away like that yesterday," Ari looked at her hands, fidgeting with the flowers. "I shouldn't have done that. And I also shouldn't have asked you to kiss me that first time. I know we said it wouldn't mean anything, but I should have known that kisses are never like that. They always mean something," she took a breath, looking to the right, up at the sky, to the ground at their feet, everywhere but Michael. "I guess what I'm trying to say is that I think it would be best if we just stayed friends. I should have said that yesterday, but I didn't, so I'm saying it now."
Michael nodded. He felt his heart sink, his last hopes, ones he hadn't even realized he was still clinging to, completely dashed.
Just friends.
Okay.
Somewhere deep in his heart, Michael knew he couldn't do it.
Thanks for reading! And check out my friend @IckyIrwin's Harry Styles fanfiction. It's called 'The Truth About Love', and it's pretty good so far. Let's all read it so it gets a gajillion reads and she doesn't delete it like every other story she's ever written!! No offence.
Loser_Luke
(P.S. This chapter - this book, actually - is dedicated to the people who actually read my authors notes. Whether those people exist or are just figments of my imagination, I am not entirely certain.)
