"Okay, deep breaths, in," he inhaled, "out" he exhaled. Kelson opened the car door and stepped out, grabbing the surprise, holding it behind his back and walking up to the front door. Little did he know that Lindsey was watching from her window. As he raised his hand to knock, he closed his eyes and mentally told himself to breathe. Before his fist could make a noise by slamming on the door, it opened quickly to reveal Lindsey standing there with a nice smile.
"I, uh," she began shyly, "I have a note for you." She held out a little piece of folded paper. Kelson took it with his free hand and shoved it in his pocket. "Y-You're not going to read it?"
"Um, not right now, but here," he took the flowers out from behind his back, a bouquet of roses. Beautifully ruby red roses with only one pure snow white rose in the middle. There was a little note attached to the white head of that rose and Lindsey read it out loud.
"'In every bunch, there's one that stands out, you're that one to me'," Lindsey felt unnecessary tears flow from her eyes, tracing a line to her chin. Kelson looked worried as he contemplated wiping the tears from her face, don't all hopeless romantics do that? So, in a very awkward attempt, he tried, pressing the pad of his thumb under her eyes and wiping away the tears that she hadn't sloppily tried to rid herself of with her sleeves. Lindsey grabbed his wrist gently and kept his rough hand on her cheek.
"Did I do something wrong?" Kelson asked quietly.
"No, I thought I did, I thought you wouldn't want to see me again after last night, I thought that I had scared you off," Lindsey smiled, "but I didn't and you're here, right now, trying to be romantic."
"No, if I was being awkward, it's only because I'm not used to this so I didn't know what to do. I'm sorry I made you think that," Kelson apologized profusely, looking at the ground.
"Come in, I've got to keep these flowers alive somehow," she smiled and invited him in after letting go of his wrist and moving out of the way so he could walk inside. She trudged to the kitchen and opened every cupboard door, searching for a vase. Well, not just any vase, the vase her mother got her with the beautiful designs that were put together intensely so that, altogether, the vase looked like a wave on the verge of crashing. The darker, deeper blue glass at the bottom of the vase fading into an arctic blue that eventually turned into a seafood white, giving the illusion of a wave in motion and ready to crash angrily onto the beach.
Lindsey wanted that one, that vase to compliment the red and white, American support. She found it in her special china cabinet in the hallway near her bedroom door. Delicately carrying it to the kitchen and filling it with water, she finally placed the flowers in and centered them perfectly on her table.
"So how about that picnic?" Kelson asked, after watching Lindsey take delicate care of those flowers as if she were holding a beautiful newborn child.
"I would love to." She looked back at him and smiled.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tara sat alone in her room, staring, just staring, saying nothing. She was up all night. Once James took her home, she took off the dress and changed into pajamas and undid her hair, quite painfully if anything, and then sat on the floor, in the corner, and rested the back of her head on the wall as she stared at the roof.
She was doing that all night, somehow keeping the patience for it and fighting the sleep that she needed. By morning, Tasha triumphantly walked into Tara's room, parading around and making lots of noise, like always, and screaming "TARA! HOW WAS YOUR DATE? WAKE UP! Oh, you're already awake. DON'T FORGET I HAVE TO GET MY DRESS SIZED! TODAY IS A BUSY DAY!"
Tara ignored her and still stared at the wall, although Tasha was waving her hand in front of her sister's face, with a dead expression result.
"MOM! TARA IS DEAD!" Tasha screamed as she walked out. Mom was, of course, terrified and ran right up to Tara's room and checked the pulse and asked her to answer. Tara ignored everything.
Mom resorted to calling Tara's "boyfriend" and waited for an answer from him.
"Hello, this is James," he answered.
"James, did you kill my daughter?" Mom asked a little too harshly.
"Wait, what?" James was terrified because there was the possibility. He hung up without an answer and then eventually he reached their house and Mom heard the doorbell ring.
"Didn't you do something wrong?" Tasha asked rudely.
"No, what's up?" He ran up the stairs to Tara's room and saw her mom just standing there, stunned.
"The pulse is normal, it's like she's sleeping," her mom answered.
"Okay, shoo, go away, I want to talk to her," James said, he left the door open but he made sure that the two women would be far enough away. He walked over to the young woman in a state of comatose and snapped his fingers before her eyes, but when she didn't respond, he said quietly "Tara, what are you thinking about?"
"Last night," She answered, still staring at the wall, and James just couldn't help himself so he laughed. "What? What is it?" she turned to look at him.
"You," he took a deep breath before continuing but still laughed.
"I what?" Tara raised an eyebrow.
"You've just been ignoring everyone?" James asked quietly.
"Yeah, why wouldn't I?" Tara asked, slightly confused.
"They thought you were dead!" James exclaimed with a gleam in his eye.
"It took a bit of effort not to laugh," Tara laughed quietly.
"You're one special somebody," James smiled at her creativity. Tara nodded with the purest smile she's ever had. "You look beautiful with a real smile."
"Thank you," She yawned.
"Did you sleep at all?" James asked very seriously.
"No," Tara answered.
"Come on, you're not going with them," James picked her up bridal style and took her to his home, walking all the way back and setting her down in his bed, leaving her to sleep and shut the door, sitting in his living room, reading pathetic articles and other lame stories on the internet.
Tara fell asleep, her light smile fading as she lost her consciousness to her dreams, sweet dreams.
YOU ARE READING
Finally Soulmates
RomanceTara is waiting for her soulmate... still. She is three years behind everyone she knew, maybe longer. Finally, at twenty years old, her timer says two months, three weeks, five days, twenty one hours, seven minutes and one second.