600 Words of Love ✓

She got another one. I didn’t need to look into her locker to know that; it was obvious from the moment she opened it. The crease on her forehead that showed up whenever she was anxious melted and small wrinkles build up around her eyes as her mouth, shining from the pink lip gloss, curled into a smile.

She loved those letters. As short as they were, even though they were never sighed, she loved them. Perhaps not knowing her admirer was part of the allure. For her, anyway. And for me?

Those letters always made me nervous.

She thought it was because we were friends. Best friends, in fact. She thought that I was looking out for her. At first, that had been true: I worried she might have a stalker.

But now, as I watch her eyes feed on the words on the notepad sheet – a sheet she was clutching too tightly – I felt that I was losing her, not as a friend, but as a potential lover.

I’d been in love with her for almost a year; I just never knew how to tell her. While I hesitated and made up plans for the two of us – plans that never left my head – someone had taken the opportunity to claim her heart. They did not tell her their name, but at least they wrote how they felt towards her and that was more than I had ever done.

“What does it say?” I asked, trying to control my voice. I didn’t want her to hear it shake, to suspect how I felt towards her.

“It’s a corny one,” she giggled, her large blue eyes never straying from the letter. “Roses are red, violets are blue. I’m not good with poems, but I hope to win you,” she began to recite, the smile never leaving her face. I loved that smile. I loved how it spread from her lips through her rosy cheeks and all the way to her eyes, sparkling behind the thin-rimmed glasses.

“I might not tell you my name yet, but know this: we’ve already met. You won me over with your smile, but I’m shy, please wait for a while. If you enjoy my letters, please give me a sign; tape the flower to you locker and I’ll know you want to be mine.”

“Flower?” I repeated. She looked just as perplexed as I was. She rummaged through her locker, the familiar crease forming between her eyebrows, before she grinned victoriously and took out a red paper rose.

“Will you tape it?” My fingers drummed against my outer thighs. I didn’t have to wait long for her reply.

“Of course not.”

My hands stopped the erratic movement as I gaped at her, stunned into silence.

“But you always smile when you get these letters…” I dragged out.

“They are flattering.” She shrugged. “And amusing sometimes,” she added, placing the sheet and rose in her locker and closing it. “But I want someone who is brave enough to look me in the eyes and ask me out, not sneak around, dropping letters through the slits in my locker. Come on, we’ll be late for class.”

“Emily.” I grabbed her hands in mine.

Don’t look at her shoes… Don’t look at her shoes…

I kept repeating in my mind and forced myself to look into the eyes of the girl I loved.

“Will you go out with me?”

“Now that,” she squeezed my hands, her smile more radiant than ever, “is the type of guy I will go out with.”

*****

A/N: Hope you enjoyed 600 Words of Love. Please vote if you did and don’t be shy to leave a comment :)