What It Seems | Wattys 2023

Chapter 34

A knock was prominent on the wooden door. "Come in!" I was patting powder on my face. I clipped my hair to pin it back from my face so the powdered makeup wouldn't interfere with my clean hair.

"Happy birthday!" Jo exclaimed in a silvery tone, her words ringing through as a sing-song.

"Thank you," I grinned from ear to ear. She sat a big, blue-topaz bag on my dresser. It read Happy Birthday! and the bag had three balloons: yellow, green, and red imprinted into the bag.

"Okay, so before you open it, I want to do your hair," Jo stated. "Do you have a wand?" she queried. I pointed to a wide drawer that held a curler, straightener, and my wand.

"I've only used it, like, twice. I've burned myself over and over again so I just stopped using it," I amused.

"That's what the cloth glove is for. Every wand or heated hair essential should have a cloth glove that comes in the box," Jo noted.

"I might've thrown it away," I laughed.

"Well I'll do your hair." With that, I nodded in agreement. I finished my makeup by brushing mascara on my eye lashes.

Luckily, she wasn't pulling my hair. She hadn't burned me, either - well, not yet.

"So have you and Aiden dropped the 'L' word yet?" I asked.

She chuckled, "You mean the word love? Yeah, just a week ago." My heart swelled with happiness for my brother and my best friend's joy.

"What does it feel like - or, well, how can you tell when you're in love?" I implored. I've never been in love before.

"Love would be when you always want to be together, and when you're not, you're thinking about being together because you need that person; and without them, your life feels incomplete. It's when you trust the other with your life; and when you would do anything for each other. When you love someone, you want nothing more than for them to be really happy, no matter what it takes because their needs come before your own. It's when they're the last thing you think about before you go to sleep, and when they're the first thing you think of when you wake up. Love is giving someone the power to destroy you and trusting them not to. When they're with you, your heart races. When they touch you, you get butterflies in your stomach. When you kiss, it just takes your breath away. It's when you can't get the smile off your face; you feel like you've been touched by an angel. You look down on everybody else because you think that they can't possibly feel what you're feeling. Love is miraculous, and when you find it, don't let it go."

I didn't know what it meant, really. I was only seventeen of today and at this age, it's not necessarily puppy love. Although the word "love" has been thrown around like an insult or a compliment. A couple would only be going out for a day or two and they're already planning their wedding and naming their kids. But Jo knew the definition of love.

"That's deep," I confessed.

I could hear the smirk in her voice as she spoke, "Are you in love with Baylor?"

My chest caved in; my heart began beating uncontrollably. Was I? I hadn't given it any thought. I mean, we've only been a couple for two months, not two years.

"I have deep feelings for him, definitely. I care so much about him and there's no doubt in that." And there wasn't. There was a short lick of silence, as if Jo expected me to go on.

"He's always been there for me and he always says the right words that makes me fall harder. Like with nightmares and such: you know some nights he comes over at, like, midnight, sometimes after I had fallen asleep, and he'd sleep with me until about 5 AM and go home? I mean, that's crazy," I say.