All I Wanted| JJ Maybank

"Do you remember our conversation about pomegranates?"he nods at the girls question, but she continues.

"I love the active peeling them more than I love the bitter taste, they take time and care to prepare, you have to be gentle when cutting one, peel back patiently to avoid missing one of its gems, you had never tried one before, it had seemed like too much work."she says to the lazy boy, she's known forever in front of her.

"I began to cut you one you took the knife from my hands, insisting you could do it yourself, and you butchered it the skin went everywhere, juice staining the floor when I asked if you liked it, you nodded but you said you wouldn't peel one again, it was too much work you would rather eat an apple instead."she said and the boy looked guilty knowing how lazy he was.

"I think you viewed me this way, you liked my taste but I was too much work, you made me believe I was too hard to love."she said and the boy shook his head quickly before she continued not wanting to here a word he had to say.

"I know now that isn't the case, you just wanted love to be easy, you wanted to pick up those pre plucked pomegranate seeds, you didn't care if they came covered in pesticides, you thought peeling away women's clothing would lead you to the beautiful fruit, you didn't like that I had more layers to peel away."she said and the boy (Rafe) looked down guilty.

"I handed you the knife and held out my arms ready to bleed but I wasn't worth a mess"she said looking down at the boy who she longed for years ago.

"I would peel a million pomegranates for you, but it wouldn't have mattered, you would have just, complained about the way the juice left stains around your lips instead of thanking me for opening it."she walked away from the boy on the deck of her own house.