Peach & Lemon

Chapter 5

My school day is over and I sit next to Autumn, as I always do. When I get there, she puts her diary down. She just finished writing there.
"Hey!" I say.
"Hey!" She answers.
"I loved our date yesterday."  I comment.
"Really?" And she looks incredibly surprised.
"Of course! Especially the fancy cake!" She blushes.
"It's not fancy, it just takes a lot of time."
"Thank you, anyway."
I just noticed how close our arms are. We're one ping-pong ball away from each other. I smoothly get closer and my arm is touching hers. She doesn't move, so I assume she's comfortable.
In my mind, we're holding hands. We're holding hands and then I'm gently kissing her. However, as always, it's just happening in my mind.
"I thought you were going to hate it."
"What?" I ask, distracted.
"The tea. The date I planned. Everything involved, actually."
"Why do you say that?" I turn to her so I can look directly at her.
"I only thought about that after it happened. I used to have these kinds of tea parties with Ollie, when she wasn't in the Volleyball team, so I thought you would like them too." There's a pause but I don't want to interrupt her. "But then I realized you're not like me or Ollie. You're different and you're probably the type of person that hangs out with friends in a mall or at the cinema. Not the type of person that likes tea parties."
"I can't deny it was different." I answered as sweetly as I could. I couldn't let her down because I really did enjoy it. "However, I would absolutely do it again. As long as it is with you."
It's my opportunity to hold her hand. And I take it. Her hand is as warm and soft as I remembered. And it feels so good.
"I'll take you somewhere better next time." She smiles. "I promise you there will be no mean boys there."
The fact that she says "mean boys" instead of other strong words is actually cute.
"Invite me and I'll be there." I smile and drop her hand. I don't want to force it.
"I'll make sure you are." She winks, still smiling. It's her stop. She gets up and waves a gentle goodbye.
When I went home, I apologized to my mother. She accepted the apology even though she didn't understand what she did to get me so angry. I shrugged and said it was just my period.

🍑🍋

"Pssst, Juno!" I tried to call her from outside the window. Juno doesn't answer.
My phone is ringing. It's Juno. I pick it up.
"I'm getting dressed." She says. "I don't want to be in my pajamas when I go to jail."
I look down, to my own clothes. I'm wearing a black Adidas t-shirt and grey sweatpants. This is my pajama and I'm not ashamed of it.
"You done?" I hear her breathing.
"I am. Going down the stairs now."
She hangs up when she gets outside.
"Looking fancy for a jail outfit." I commented when we started walking. She's wearing a light blue t-shirt and light grey leggings. Not what I would've picked up for a robbery, but Juno knows best for Juno.
"I don't know about you but this looks better than orange jumpsuits."
"Agreed."
We're at her house. I see a ladder on the left side of the house. I can perfectly get to the roof on it. Juno helps me quietly placing it in the front of the house, after making sure no one was awake or watching us.
"You're good to go!" Says Juno when I'm already on it.
I get to the roof in a few seconds and I bet the left window leads to her bedroom. I see her on the bed through the window.
Bingo!
I was right.
"I'm going to get in." I whisper to Juno, miming.
"Okay." She answers me in the same way.
Thankfully, her window is half open. It's perfectly normal since the nights are getting hotter everyday. I open it a little bit more so I can get in.
Autumn's turning her back to the window so it will be easier to not wake her up. I do a silent landing on her wooden floor.
Her bedroom is not as I imagined. I imagined something like a cherry wallpaper with a lot of pink and red furniture or vintage cottagecore vibes. Her bedroom is quite simple: it has champagne-colored walls, white and wooden furniture and some plants. It was totally the korean cozy bedroom aesthetic.
Her bed is exactly in the middle of the bedroom, attached to a single wall. I started looking for her diary.
Not on the bedside table.
Not on her bookshelf or near the reading area.
It's on her desk.
Foot by foot I get to it, grab it and leave her bedroom.
I get down the ladder, we place it where it was and run back to our own homes. I left it in my desk drawer to read it after school.

🍑🍋

When I get on the bus this afternoon, Autumn looks disturbed. She's nervously playing with her hands.
"Hey, Autumn, what's wrong?" I ask when I get to her. She looks at me, desperate.
"I don't know where my diary is." I notice her hands are shaking. "I thought it could've been stolen but I remembered that yesterday I wrote on it before dinner. I just hope no one finds it. Ugh... I should've put on a padlock." Now her legs are shaking too. I swallowed dry.
"Did you look for it?"
"I did. I looked everywhere before coming to school. Ollie suggested I look for it on my bookshelf."
"Maybe that's a good option." I answer, nervously.
"Oh, Twyla. What am I going to do if I can't find it?" She holds my hands and I can almost feel her heartbeat. It's too accelerated. She's anxious. The love of my life is anxious and it's my fault. What have I done?
"Well, if you lost it at home I'm pretty sure you'll find it. If not, you can always start a new one."
«Twyla, you're the most terrible person I've ever been with.» I imagine her saying. Why did I do this to her?
"I guess you're right." She's not convinced. Neither is more relaxed.
I really am the most terrible person she's ever been with.

🍑🍋

Later that night, I resisted the temptation to read Autumn's diary. I'm not respecting her privacy and I also left her feeling like shit because of it.
Therefore, I really wanted to know what she wrote there. Maybe she didn't even write about me or our dates.
I opened it, anyway.
On the first page, there's a title: "Autumn's Diary" in big letters and "Please return, if lost" in little ones. The page is decorated with colors, different fonts and stickers.
I turn the page and I see she started writing it on the first day of school. I jump through the non-interesting pages, until I see a male's name: Bryan.
I don't know who Bryan is, so I turned back to see if she mentioned him before. She didn't, so I started from there.
«February 12th
There's some news in my class: a new guy joined!» She wrote. «His name is Bryan and he looks really interesting! I absolutely love his style and he also enjoys books and coffee shops. If I knew him better, I would probably say we're soulmates. I'm going to try to spend the next few days getting to know him.
Also, Ollie will compete against a really strong team before spring break. Hope she wins!!» I don't care about Ollie, I want to know what happened between Autumn and Bryan. I kept reading.
«February 27th
Bryan is the sweetest guy I've ever met! Yesterday, we went to a vintage coffee shop after class and we discussed John Green's newest book. I had lots of fun!»
I keep reading and reading. She went on a lot of dates with him and she didn't even notice they were dates.
«March 31st
I think I love Bryan.» She wrote and my heart crushes in a million pieces. I feel like I can't read more about Bryan, even if it is written in her perfect handwriting.
I push myself to do it.
«I know it's probably too early to admit it, but I really feel love for him. He's sweet, he's kind, he likes the same things as me and we keep hanging out together and alone. I actually think he likes me too. At least he acts like he does. He even offered me sunflowers (my favorites) when he gave me back my favorite book he borrowed from me. "I know borrowing your favorite book can be tough. This is for you, for trusting me." That's what he said. See? Sweet as cotton candy!
I'm going to ask him on a date tomorrow, he'll probably accept and then I'll tell him how I feel.»
I kept reading and he actually accepted. The next day was not as happy as her described before.
«April 2nd
I told him how I feel. We went to the cinema to watch an adaptation of a book. It was pretty good!
But then, I told him I liked him. He was shocked.
He told me he likes Ollie and that he only saw me as a friend that shares the same interests as him.
I tried not to make the situation awkward but I ended up making it worse: I told him I could help him get Ollie's attention. He refused because I was her best friend.»
I started jumping with excitement. The guy is not interested in her! Which is a good thing, right? Right...?
What if she crushes my heart in the same way she got hers crushed?
I keep reading and there's only one more mention of Bryan: «He doesn't talk to me anymore. He blocked me on every social media when I asked him to go out with me, to discuss our favorite books. We used to do that all the time: discuss about our favorite books. We would always find something new to talk about.
Now he avoids me in class and in life in general.
He tried to ask Ollie on a date but she said she was not interested, since I had already told her what happened.
And because she's not into guys like him.
Guys suck.»
Yeah, Autumn, guys suck. Girls also do, because two of them stole your loved diary.