Flowergirl

✿✽❀~ eighteen ~❀✽✿

That Saturday, Juliet was a no-show again. Mum told me that she hadn't come by all week, and that was when I began to really worry. Before I just thought that maybe something was going on at home and she was too occupied to carry on with her regular schedule, but two whole weeks? Now I began to wonder if something bigger was wrong. If Juliet was even safe.

And as thoughts of her safety began to flood my mind, I realized just how little I really knew about Juliet. I knew her name and her other name, sure, but that was it. I didn't know where she lived, I didn't know her brother's name, I didn't even know who her flower supplier was. There was no way for me to even begin to start looking for her if I wanted to. And I did want to. I wanted to show up wherever she was and let her know that I was committed to her—to this. No matter what happened.

It was on the third week of Juliet's absence that I began to wonder if maybe she wasn't in trouble. If maybe, she'd just decided to stop coming to Winter's Grove so that she could have a clean break from me.

I found myself thinking about our last encounter all those weeks ago. The way she'd looked at me as she said goodbye. As though she actually wouldn't be seeing me again. I thought about that last conversation we'd had on the phone a few days later. How everything she'd said had seemed so ominous.

She had called me late at night—later than we usually spoke—waking me up out of my sleep with a question:

"Miles, if today was your last day with me, what's something you would want me to know?"

Rubbing the sleep from my eyes, I had sat up in my bed, confused. I was half sure I was having a fever dream until Juliet spoke again.

"Oh no, did I wake you up?" she asked, and I smiled. I could just see the face she must've been making—eyes wider than the ocean, mouth parted into a small 'o'. "Oh God, I'm sorry I just—"

"No, no, it's okay," I said, chuckling softly. "I wasn't really sleeping anyway. I think I needed to hear your voice first."

"Oh," she said. "Well good. Then you're in luck."

"Don't I know it."

The line was silent for a few seconds until I spoke again.

"Ever since the first time I saw you, I knew you'd be the death of me, Juliet."

"What?"

"I'm answering your question."

"Oh." There was a pause, and I held my breath, only exhaling once I heard the sound of Juliet's laugh. "Wow, Miles," she said, a smile in her voice. "The death of you? That's intense."

"I know," I said. "But it's true. I fell in love with you before I ever even touched you, and I'd want you to know that. I'd also want you to know that you're...hmm...I don't even know, you're like a blinding light within a sea of darkness. You give me hope for the future. Our future." Plus, ever since we had sex, I can't even think about you without getting a stiffy. It's kind of a problem.

Juliet didn't say anything for a moment, and I wondered what she was thinking. If maybe I had said too much too soon. But what kind of answer could she have expected, dropping a question like that on me? She must've wanted to hear the truth—to get to the real meat of things.

"Mind my asking what brought on the question?" I finally said, slicing through the silence between us. "It's kind of a strange thing to ask. Not that I minded or anything, but...yeah."

I heard Juliet's heavy breathing from the other end of the line, and the sound of it made every hair on my body stand at attention.

"I don't know," she finally said. "I guess I've just been thinking about things...contemplating...looking for some clarity."