flower girl // hiatus

{two}

the following monday was calm.

jack had only told one person that flower girl was apparently in love with him. he told kyle wilson, his other half since second grade. jack had told kyle on sunday after trying to comprehend flora's note himself.

"flora madison loves me," jack said as soon as kyle picked up the phone.

"i'm sorry, what?" was kyle's immediate reply.

"yeah. she left a note and a rose on my doorstep, and i was all like 'holy crap, flower girl knows who i am,' and then i opened the note and it said 'i love you.' no joke."

"but she's never said a word to you. come to think of it, you've never spoken to her, either."

"i know! i've been trying to figure it out, but i just can't," jack said, exasperated.

"well, just man up and talk to her," kyle instructed.

jack was not sure that he'd be physically able to talk to flora madison, a washington high legend. but, being jack, he knew he'd have to talk to her at some point. he very much wanted to speak to her. her voice was pretty, just like the rest of her. everything was beautiful about her, really, on the inside and out. and so, jack decided he would suck it up and speak to the girl that loved him on monday.

but, when monday actually arrived, jack's stomach was filled with butterflies. what if he said the wrong thing? what if she realized that he was actually not for her? questions swirled in his mind, and suddenly jack did not feel well. he knew he was being a wimp and that he needed to man up, but there was just something about flora madison that made his stomach do a somersault. jack barely managed to get ready for school on monday morning, and when kyle came to pick him up in his new car, he nearly fainted.

"hey, kyle, i don't feel too good."

"i swear to god, if you puke in my car, i'm going to cut off your head and feed it to my cat."

"god, this is gonna suck. also, your car is old and crappy, anyway."

"first, just stay cool. smile. she'll like that. and second, it is not," kyle replied.

jack nodded. during the duration of the ride to school, kyle was talking about some sport, but jack was too busy mentally preparing himself to listen. by the time kyle parked in the school parking lot, jack's hands were sweating profusely.

"ready?" kyle asked.

"yeah," jack said, wiping the sweat off of his hands on his jeans.

kyle looked skeptical, but he took the key out of the ignition anyway and hopped out of his car. jack did the same, slinging his backpack over his shoulder. he thought about how flora was feeling right now as he walked towards the door, his thoughts racing at a thousand miles an hour.

flora figured that monday wouldn't be great.

she had avoided all contact with jack for fear of rejection. unfortunately, there was no way to avoid him that day. sure, she could have been "sick," but it was unlikely that her aunt would've believed her. there really wasn't anything else she could have done. flora knew that she'd have to face jack at some point or another, and she might as well get it over with sooner rather than later.

but what if jack didn't like her? what if he was in love with some other girl? what if he didn't even talk to her?

millions of "what if's" stomped through her thoughts. there were so many things that could go wrong. her head ached as she walked to her locker. a few people smiled and said hi to her. she responded as politely as she could and trudged away as quickly as one can trudge away from another.

i'll tell him that i meant the rose for someone else, flora thought as she opened her locker, stopping the "what if" scenarios dead in their tracks.

yes, that's what i'll do, she thought. it was a good thing that she'd thought of that, because jack rivers was walking towards her. she thought about her headache and started towards the nurse's office. unfortunately, she didn't make it very far, because jack had already pulled her into a janitor's closet.

"flora," jack said.

"uh, hi."

an awkward moment of silence followed.

"so..." flora's voice trailed off.

neither of them spoke for what seemed like an eternity.

"about the rose--" flora started. jack cut her off abruptly.

"i don't quite understand."

flora pondered this for a moment, trying to understand it herself. flora had not previously understood love. in fact, she had no clue what it really was before jack rivers. love was a curious thing to flora, and she was in love with the idea of it upon meeting jack. it was that way until she really fell in love with him. still, she could not explain it.

"neither do i, quite frankly," she replied.

and then the bell rang, which made jack flinch ever so slightly.

that's another thing to add to the list, flora thought.

"um, i've gotta go. i'll explain later," flora said, hurrying out of the closet. she assumed that jack had followed her out, but she was far too embarrassed to look back.

~

a/n
oh my god this is so short and i'm sorry but my brain does not want to function properly and this was the result.
sowwy.