What if the seven dwarfs never really existed and were just branches of Snow White's personality? Happy for the good days, Grumpy for the bad, Sneezy when under the weather and Bashful around that special someone. What if every time you looked into...
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Ava said she'd come over to spend the night. I was pretty excited because it'd been a while since we had properly met up and talked about things that were actually going to matter in the next ten years.
See, that's the thing. Lately I'd been feeling as if everything I did was so useless if I thought about it in respect to my future. Nothing seemed important enough and every time I felt sad, lost or confused, all I had to do was tell myself that in due time, none of it would matter. I guess what I hadn't thought of was how this ideology would negatively impact me. By thinking this way, I didn't take any of my work seriously and I kept pushing everything off till the very last second.
I continued to stare out my window as always, crocheting the afghan for Ava's birthday and letting my thoughts catch up with me. I was hoping to see the boy with the the brown hair again, at a sudden realization that he'd never told me his name, but he never came. I waited and waited till an hour had gone by, then the doorbell had rung, informing me that Ava had arrived.
What I hadn't expected was for her to bring along someone else. I stared in confusion at the boy, as if I'd never seen a human quite like him before. Ava punched my shoulder, alerting me that I'd been staring too long. I bit down on my lip, stifling a laugh. He sensed my sudden change in mood and laughed too. It was almost comical.
Ava rolled her eyes at the two of us. "Daisy, meet Ted." I told Ted to take a seat on the couch so that we could watch a movie, then dragged Ava into the kitchen. "You brought a date?!" I asked, meaning to sound supportive, but ending up sounding betrayed and hurt. She looked apologetic. "I'm sorry, Daze...." It was so unlike Ava to bring someone along to my house. It was supposed to be just the two of us, always. Unless I was with my cheerleading squad. I gave her a long look. "You wouldn't have brought him over unless he was someone special.." I trailed off in thought.
She looked like she wanted to deny it, then thought better of it. "I guess you can say that. I think you'll like him." I was more than delighted to see Ava open up to me. "Anyone my best friend likes is someone I'm going to like," I said enthusiastically with a little squeal. She rolled her eyes and dragged me back to the living room.
"Sorry for that little delay. Daisy wanted me to coach her on her first impression."
I stuck my tongue out at her. "Very funny, Ava. See, I wouldn't have been so worked up about first impressions. It's just that bringing your boyfriend over changed up the game plan."
She opened her mouth in shock, but her eyes told a different story. "Let's just watch the movie, shall we?" she said, to which Ted nodded in response. I laughed at the awkwardness of the situation and went ahead to show them my movie collection.
In the end, we barely even watched the movie. Half the time we were aimlessly chatting about school, common friends and teachers, and how we barely had any time before we'd be off to college. It was clear that Ava was into this guy and I made it my goal to give them as much time together as possible and to keep them in close proximity on the couch by taking up as much space for myself as possible.
In between I excused myself several times to get snacks, I faked a few phone calls with Dad and went into the other room in the pretense of checking up on Granddad. It was perfect. By the time I came back, both of them were missing. I went to the front door to see if Ava's car was still parked in the driveway, and caught the two of them laughing at the doorstep. I decided to leave them alone and made my way to check up on Granddad ( for real this time).
"She agreed to next week, Daisy!" Granddad said excitedly when he noticed me in the room. "Charlotte?" I asked him, matching his enthusiasm. He nodded, and I found myself smiling from ear to ear. Suddenly, I had the urge to ask him something that I'd wanted to ask him for a long while.
"Granddad, how does it feel to be in love?" I asked him. He gave me a warm smile with a hint of sadness in his eyes, probably reliving his memories with Grandma. "There are no words to describe it, Daisy dear. When you see that special someone, you just know that you're in love and that's all you need. They make you feel safe and happy. They're the ones who brighten up even the bad days. They bring out the best in you, and when they're gone, you feel like a part of you has been lost forever."
I blinked back tears as he said that, then reached over to give him a hug. "Hey, now... It's alright. Life goes on. Sometimes you have to accept that nothing lasts forever." He said softly in my ear. I threw him a watery smile. He stroked my hair as tears spilled down my cheeks. "If only you could remember these moments forever, Daisy. If only I could stay in your heart forever,"he whispered. I didn't understand what his words meant, but I chose not to ask him about it. The moment was too perfect to overcomplicate matters.
Slowly, I rose from the floor, gave him one last smile, dried my cheeks and made my way into the hall. Ava was seated on the couch, looking like she'd seen a ghost. She started intently at the floor, emotionless like a blank canvas. I quietly sat down beside her and took her hand in mine.
"He kissed me,"she whispered, a small smile playing on her lips. And that was the first time -I realized with a jolt- that Ava had shown emotion.
Happiness was radiating off her in waves. I wanted to ask her more so badly, but I knew that would only cause her to shut off from me and distance herself. Ava was uncomfortable with sharing her feelings and I understood how that felt. I didn't relate to it, but I understood.
We sat there together in silence for hours on end, surrounded by nothing but our thoughts that echoed so loudly we'd lost all hearing of the world outside. I was waiting for her to tell me more, but by the time I'd looked over to see her, she was fast asleep, somewhere in a dream world where everything was perfect. And for once, that dream had made its way into reality.
