Chapter 22
"I love having days off," Gardenia spoke beside me. We had laid a blanket down in the grass in her front yard and were just laying on it, bag of crisps sat between us.
"Me too. I've never really liked working," I stated, staring up at the clouds.
"I do, because otherwise life is kind of just pointless, you know? If you had all of the time off in the world, you'd never appreciate just being able to lay around. It'd become normal, and boring."
"Very true. I haven't minded working at the shop with you, to be fair. But I think the reasons for that are obvious."
"Not to me," she smirked, laying on her side so she was facing me. My hands were behind my head, supporting it, but I still tilted my head down in order to look at her.
"I get free crisps and skittles, for one. Also, it's quite easy. All I have to do is stock shelves, and sweep and mop, and then sit for the rest of the time. It's great." I was deliberately leaving her out because I knew that's what she was wanting to hear, and I decided to tease her about it.
"And what about your fellow employee?" She asked, trying to get me to talk about her. I wasn't backing down though, only returning her smirk before answering.
"She helps me mop, which is cool. Other than that, she's just an accessory." I mocked her words from when we first met, and she wouldn't even call me a companion. So much has changed since then.
"An accessory, yeah? You don't even consider her a companion?"
"Now that you mention it, I think she's more classified as a 'decoration'."
"Must mean she's pretty sexy then, if she's a decoration," she continued, and my smirk was now a full blown grin.
"Yeah, not gonna lie there. She's pretty sexy."
She slapped my arm, and I grabbed her hand, leaning in to kiss her lips. It was amazing. I could do that whenever I pleased now. I could hug her, kiss her, hold her hand, or just wrap my arms around her and she didn't object. We weren't official or anything, but I knew that we're definitely more than friends now.
She laughed against my mouth, pulling away.
"Well decorations aren't for kissing, so you're out of luck, sir," she smiled, pulling away.
I scrunched my eyebrows, acting offended, "But we're both decorations, now. Can't two decorations kiss?"
She shook her head, her lips pressing firmly together in order to hide her smile. It didn't fool me, though.
"Fine. What if I say you are a companion, would that suffice?" I asked her, and she shook her head once again.
"Tough crowd," I stated. "Hmm. What about," I hesitated for a moment, knowing that after this, there's no going back. I didn't know how she'd react, but I thought now is as good a time as any. We were in a good place, and we've been acting like a couple for almost a week now, and I wanted to make it official. I wanted to know that she was mine, and I'm hers. I wanted the label, so I took the plunge. "What about if I call you my girlfriend?"
She was shocked by my statement, that much was obvious. Her eyes were blown wide, and her mouth was parted. I could tell her breathing picked up, and I almost regretted even asking the question. Almost, because even though her reaction was scary, I wouldn't take the question back. I want her to be my girlfriend, and I wanted her to know that. Regardless of what her answer would be.
"Harry," she sighed, and I knew the answer before she even said it. My heart dropped, but I smiled to hide the pain that I felt. "It's not that I don't want to be your girlfriend," she started, and I looked down for a second before looking back into her eyes. "I need to tell you something."
