masquerade 가장 무도회

masquerade [ch.10]

12:50 pm

"Mary." I remove my mask, showing myself to her. I run my fingers through my hair, getting down on one knee and taking a rose from the decoration.

She smiles, hugging me. Taken back, my arms wrap around her. "Mary?"

"Yeah?" I can tell she wants to live in this moment forever just as much as I do.

"Will you be my New Years kiss?" Screaming and cheering erupts outside, Mary looks over her shoulder to see people pairing up.

"Five. Four. Three. Two-"

   "Ma-" she interrupts me with a finger. "I gotta go."

"Please? I've waited seven years for this moment. Mary, don't you remember? I was your New Years Kiss when we were kids. We were playing with sparklers, waving them around in each other's faces, threatening to burn each other. You were wearing a red dress, one similar to the one you're wearing right now. And Not to long after I burned you with my sparkler, You asked me." I plead, still on my knees. Don't be a fool, my conscience tells me.

"I-i can't."

   This is going so wrong.

   "Mary, I'm that guy. The guy that was in your room yesterday, the guy who sang you a song in front of the school despite my fear of large crowds, the guy who gave you everything though you didn't know me..."

   She turns away, I look up to my friends on the roof of the house to stop them from dropping the huge bucket of rose petals and confetti. They do it anyways, then playing 'First Day of My Life' by Bright Eyes on an old school boom box.

In utter shock, Mary eases down and I do also. "Why're doing this?" She paces, stumbling in her shoes. "Because."

   "Because? Because what?"

   "Just because." I shrug, hoping she doesn't ask again. "It doesn't even matter why I'm doing this, be grateful that I'm the only person in the world that's willing to chase after someone who'll never give me a chance."

   "You're right, i won't. I don't need a boy to make me happy, they're failures at that anyway. All that's in their book is to smash and dash. Especially boys like you."

   "Me. Only a naive little girl would think something like that." I scoff, "I don't even know why I'm wasting my time with a child." I look down on her, infuriated at her bluntness.

   "Naive? The only naive one here Is you. You thought that just because I'm a 'child' I'm gonna just throw myself at you?" She gets in my face, her baby face features making me chuckle.

   "Honey that's exactly what I thought." I smirk, looking her up and down. She turns a bright shade of red that only a tomato could pull off.

   "I have self-respect... and just because I'm younger than you doesn't mean you're gonna take advantage!"

   "Do you want to kiss me as much as I wanna kiss you?" Shout loud enough to make her stop rambling.

   "Fuck n-"

   "Too bad." I press my lips onto hers and she goes mute. She goes along with it, until realising what's happening. "I knew you couldn't resist."

   "You forced it." She scoffs, her face still in the palms of my hands. "I knew I shouldn't have came. This is why I didn't want to come." She storms out, tripping multiple times trying to get away from me.

   "Mary, wait." She continues for the door to leave but I pick up my pace quick enough to block the door, gaining a few people's eyes. "Listen to me, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have kissed you. I've just waited so long for you and I don't know If I can anymore."

   "Too. Goddamn. Bad." She spits out, her red lipstick smeared a bit, not only on her lips but on mine also. We look terrible. I'm making her look bad. "Move." her piercing brown eyes demand.

   "Fine." I sigh whilst wiping some of the red off the corner of her lips with my thumb. "I'll see you later."

   "Whatever." She rolls her eyes, pushing me out of the way.