Play Pretend | ✓

22 | take 2

"No, hey, hey, no! Tyler, give that back!"

I screamed as I ran after Tyler. He had the last pizza slice, which I'd rightfully claimed as mine. Just as I'd been about to take it, he'd snatched it away from right before my eyes. I could just gape at him, wide eyed, as he dangled it in front of me and then sped off with it.

"Don't you dare eat it, Ty!"

He merely chuckled and ran up to his bed, then flopped onto it. He then proceeded to take a huge bite of my slice and chew on it, all the while smiling a cheeky grin at me. I glared at him and fell on the bed beside him. Then I slowly crept up to his side and trailed my fingers along his waist, upwards. His muscles visibly tensed and I smirked. His hand with the pizza became limp and I took that moment to suddenly dart my hand towards it and snatch it away. I grinned evilly at him and ate the remaining part.

He made a face at me first, then grinned. "You do know you just took a bite of the same pizza which I took a bite of, right? That's just gross."

Oh, he was hoping to faze and disgust me? He should've known better.

"So?" I shrugged. "We used to do it all the time, back in school."

That led Tyler to smile faintly, almost in a nostalgic way. He fell back into his pillows, hands behind his head.
"Yeah, that we did."

There was a change in mood, as the air became heavy with nostalgia, sadness, and fond memories. I smiled into the distance, remembering how we would cover ourselves in blankets and comforters and make cloaks out of them, and pretend to be King and Queen. We'd make paper crowns, and once, Ty even made me a flower crown out of paper roses that he'd made. I'd been ecstatic and had treasured that crown. Maybe I still had it somewhere.

I recounted that memory to him and he grinned when I mentioned him making the flower crown.

"You know, Lizzie, I still remember how to make paper roses."

I raised my eyebrows at him. "Really?"

"Really really. And I intend to give you a surprise right now."

I sat up. Right now? What did he mean by that?

Tyler got out of bed and went over to his desk. It had a few drawers attached to it, and he pulled one of them out. It was not cluttered at all unlike the rest of his drawers, which were filled with odds and ends, junk and old comics. But this drawer had only a single item wrapped in newspaper. It was something round, judging by its shape.

Tyler took it out and unwrapped it. I gasped as I realised what it was.

A flower crown.

He smiled. "Yeah. A few nights back, just the night before we met at the park actually, I couldn't sleep. I was constantly thinking of you and how I'd wronged you. It was unfair on my part and I was almost sure you'd never even listen to my explanation, let alone forgive me. Thank god Kiara made us meet, otherwise god knows what might've happened. Anyway, so that night I couldn't sleep and suddenly I remembered me making you that crown back in fourth grade. You know how they say that the best ideas come to us in the middle of the night? Well, the same happened with me. I got this idea and went around the house as stealthily as I could to find some paper and wire. I thankfully found some pink paper in the kitchen cabinet, probably used by Mom as cupcake wrapping. I tried to make paper roses and realised I still remembered how to make them. So I did and then stuck them to this wire, and now here you are. I know it's probably very mediocre and childish, but---"

All this while I'd been staring at him, eyes wide, as he ranted on nervously about the crown. But now I couldn't take it anymore and hugged him as tightly as I could. He wrapped his arms around me instantly and hugged me back. We stood in that embrace for as long as we could, as if both were trying to make up for all the hugs we'd missed.

Finally I pulled back and softly kissed his cheek. "I missed you, Ty. I missed this so much. Thank you."

He grimaced. "I'm so sorry, Lizzie, I can never forgive myself---"

I pressed a finger to his lips to shush him. "Shh. I understand. It's okay. Now how about you put that crown on me?"
He smiled and slowly slid the childish yet beautiful crown over my head. "Anything for you, m'lady."

I grinned and went over to the mirror to check myself. I looked so happy and my cheeks were flushed as well. This was a new look.

So maybe the flower crown was of paper. Maybe it was amateurish. Maybe it wasn't exactly what you'd call a work of art. But it was still Ty's work, and he'd made it with a lot of care, for me. And for that, I couldn't be happier.

(A/N: please vote and comment! And thank you soooo much for over 600 reads! Let's see how fast we can reach 1K!)