Strawberries On Top

🍓 FIVE🍓

 A FEW MONTHS LATER 

Knock! 

Knock! Knock! 

Knock! 

She threw her pen inside of her journal at the sudden knocks. Her heartbeat instantly increased when she recognized the unique knocking pattern. Only one person came to mind. And frankly, she wasn't sure if she was ready to see them or talk to them. 

In that moment, she knew she had more than enough time to gain perspective and avoid Huck as if her life depended on it. She knew she couldn't run away from him, she couldn't run away from how he felt about her, and she knew she had to accept the fact that everything that surrounded her was about to change, and not all for the better. She had no choice but to do what everyone else did -- adapt. 

She gripped the doorknob for a moment and took a deep breath before she slowly turned it and pulled the front door towards her. And on the opposing side, revealed a rather distraught Huckleberry Pie. He seemed a mess -- as if he didn't get a wink of sleep the previous night, or have time to comb his really messy hair. For him to rush her house so early in the morning, it must've been urgent that he saw her. 

She couldn't lie to herself much longer -- she had missed him more than she let on. 

"We need to have a talk." He finally said to her after a few moments of what felt like awful silence. 

She felt her heart wanting to come out through her chest. "Now is not a good time." 

She thought saying that to him would give him enough reason to go back to his Fort. It only had the opposite effect on him, seeing that it only caused him to stay with her and not even dare to keep his eyes off of her. "Please? It's important." 

She drew in a heavy breath, and then proceeded to grab her night robe that hung from her dining room chair. She nodded her head and they both walked outside. They walked around in her garden and nothing but awkward silence was shared between the two teenagers. She didn't know how to start a conversation with someone she purposely avoided for so long. 

"I haven't heard from you in a while." 

"I've.. been busy." 

"You mean, you've been busy avoiding me." He said to her with a sad sigh. "I don't understand -- I kept trying to reach you. You haven't written back to me and every time I come by, Custard had to be the one to tell me you're not at home. I don't understand what it is I did to you." 

"That's just it, Huck, you didn't do anything to me." 

"Then why were you avoiding me?"

"It's.. complicated." 

"If it's complicated, then talk to me -- uncomplicate it." Strawberry felt her mouth wanting to move, but no words came out. Huck let out a sympathetic sigh when he noticed the pale expression on her face. "You know what? That is not why I am here with you right now. I've been meaning to tell you something, and it's been on my mind for a really long time."

Her anxiety heightened at his statement, and the feeling of not being to form real words or sentences surely increased. But he didn't care. He stopped them in the middle of her garden, both of her hands in his, and not daring to let his eyes drift away from hers. 

"Strawberry Shortcake, I love you."