Thorn In My Side

Tarragon

- lasting interest -

That morning at breakfast Chiron had handed out mail. Katie had torn open her letter and smiled. "Chiron," She asked, "Can I call my dad?" The centaur had nodded and she had stuffed her face with the last of her fruit salad and ran to the big house as fast as she could.

Now she stood in the back of his office, listening to the answering machine. "Hey papa, it's Katie. I just got an letter back and I got in! Call when you can I guess, I'll see you in a few weeks. Bye I love you."

She hung up the phone and sighed, that was a weight off her shoulders. She sighed and then realized that there was a tarragon by her feet. She was lucky she hadn't stepped on it, Katie knelt and picked it up.

She walked out of Chirons office to find Travis Stoll standing there, "Hey."

"Hi."

"I, uh, saw you run off and I just wanted to make sure everything was alright."

She smiled, "Yeah, I'm fine. I'm more than fine."

"I guess you got accepted then."

She nodded, "What about you?"

"I didn't get my first choice," He handed her his letter. She skimmed over it and beamed at him, "Remember that time you said that we should go to college together?"

He looked at her, stunned, "Wait, actually?"

"Yeah." She said, handing the letter back. "Want to come to the greenhouse?"

He shrugged and followed.

Once they got there Travis looked around and grinned as Katie knelt and began planting the tarragon, "I guess it's safe to assume you've been getting my flowers then." He said.

"What?"

"Did you get my flowers, right?" He asked. "Unless that's the first one," He let out a laugh, "If it is I just spoiled the surprise."

And that's when it hit her.

For a moment there was complete silence, then Katie lost it. "This was all some lame prank, wasn't it? Gods, you are so immature!" Travis tried to interrupt but she just kept going. "You think it's funny to play around? You think it's funny to you with my emotions? What made you think that giving me my own flowers that you took from my garden was a good idea?"

"I thought you might understand."

"Understand what? Your thought process? I didn't even know you had one. You just do things Travis, you never think about how your actions effect other people."

"But-"

"You can't just take things that aren't yours."

"I gave it back."

"Ugh." Out of sheer frustration Katie plopped down on the green house floor. "You're impossible."

Travis walked over and squatted down next to her, "I wasn't trying to hurt you." He looked so desperate, Katie almost believed him. Almost. "You sure?" She asked sceptically.

"Id never hurt you Katie."

"Really? Remember that time when-"

"Katie, I know you're mad and you hate me right now."

"I don't hate you." She snapped. "I could never hate you."

"But, I..." He hesitated, as if he was preparing himself to say something big. Travis took a deep breath, then for the briefest if moments seemed to hesitate, "I should probably warn you that there's a geranium in your bed."

She stood up and started to storm out, she was so done with him. What she would find out later, was that in that moment of hesitation, Travis had decided to do what he did best, lie instead of tell her how he really felt.

"Katie, wait."

She turned to face him, "What?" She snapped, "If you're going to apologize, save it."

"What did I do wrong?"

Then she was furious again, "What did you do? Like I said, you don't give a girl stolen flowers. Especially if they're stolen from her garden, you dolt!"

Travis blinked, "I... I thought... that..."

"What? It was romantic or something? No, I don't care what you thought! You don't take someone's stuff."

"I'm a thief, that's what I do."

"And I'm a gardener, this is what I do."

"Yell at people?"

"No, just you." And with that she turned on her heel and left.

There was no geranium in her bed, but that just made her more upset. And so, she buried herself in her blankets and stayed there, asking herself why she was so upset. She shouldn't be so upset over the stupid son of Hermes.

From beneath her blankets she didn't see Travis walk by her cabin, glance at the window and sigh. She didn't see the look of hurt or the pain in his eyes as he forced himself to keep going. She didn't hear him telling himself that it would be okay, that it was all a misunderstanding and she would understand eventually. She didn't see how his eyes were puffy from crying or how he hesitated at her door, before walking away. She didn't see how hard he'd fallen for her. She also didn't see how hard she'd fallen for him.

its been a while but i'm back boys