Ester wished she could just forget about the roses and move on. She found time to feel flattered the next day though. After Olivia told her to relax and don't view it as some sort of threat.
She also managed to let Ester think that yes, there is a strong possibility that Devon was her secret admirer. But it only made her feel more uneasy as her brain was filled with questions.
She didn't even know how to reach out to her secret admirer until later that night, right after Sierra's dance lesson. The two were sitting at their usual spot, eating and chatting.
Ester felt her phone vibrate in her jeans pocket. So she quickly fished it out and frowned at the display. Sierra was alarmed.
"What is it?"
Ester had yet to tell her friend about the secret admirer, but felt herself hesitate. If it were Devon, she knew he wouldn't appreciate if Ester told his sister. But where was this sudden sense of kindness coming from? Ester hated him, did she not?
"It's uh- it's nothing important. Just work." Ester forced a smile and shoved her phone back into her pocket. Sierra nodded, noting that something was wrong. But she gave Ester time. If her friend didn't want to talk about it, she shouldn't have to.
"Anyways. As I was saying. He's called me twice yesterday. I only texted him this morning that I was busy and that I wish him a great vacation." Sierra rolled her eyes.
"That was nice." Ester chuckled.
"Tell me about it. I figured I shouldn't let it out on him. He's just lucky and what would it give me if I worsen his vacation? According to mom, he really needed it." Sierra sighed.
"You're talking to your mom again?" Ester asked, placing her elbows on the table and letting her chin rest on her palms.
"No, she told me that before she snapped at me. I haven't talked to her in two days. She's called me three times last night." Sierra took a sip of her lemonade.
"You guys should talk it out. She's your mom, Sierra." Ester told her friend, who just sighed before looking at the table top for a long time. It was silent and Ester feared Sierra was mad at her for telling her what to do, but that thought soon vanished when Sierra looked up at her.
"You never told me anything about your parents. Do they live here too?" Ester's heartbeat quickened after her question.
"No. They're dead." She said and Sierra's mouth opened and then closed again.
"I'm sorry, I-"
"Seriously, Sierra it's fine. You didn't know." Ester forced out a smile and then took a sip of her water. Sierra sighed and then peeked over at her friend, who seemed to be in another world.
"What happened?" Sierra dared to ask. She figured if she didn't want to talk about it, she'd just not tell her. But Sierra felt a little insensitive for not asking. She did care about Ester.
"It happened two years ago. Well, my mom died two years ago. I never knew my dad, I just saw pictures of him. He was some American producer or something like that. I can't remember. But I know he died in a plane crash when he was on his way to Russia." Ester took a deep breath.
"Where I was born. My mother was Russian. My father planned on taking us to the USA after I was born. And after his death, my mother did go to America. We settled down in Utah. I lived there for most of my life until two years ago. When my mother got sick and we didn't have the money for the treatments." Ester's eyes watered.
"Oh God. I'm so sorry." Sierra reached over the table and held her hand. Ester just shook her head with a faint smile on her lips.
"The moment I heard the news, my whole world broke down. My grades started to fall and I found myself in my room, under my bed sheets for two weeks straight. Until life told me to move on. I had no one and I was afraid they'd send me back to Russia where I didn't even know anyone. I couldn't even speak the language, mom never taught me." Ester smiled now.
"She always said Russian was a language not worth learning and that she never wished for me to go back there. I guess she wasn't found of her country. And I wanted to respect her wish, so I didn't go back to Russia. I moved here with nothing but a little money left from my mom's savings. And with them, I moved in with Olivia, found a job to provide for my basic studies that I needed in order to become an intern. And now I'm here." Ester finished with a smile.
"I'm happy you're here. And I'm happy we've met." Sierra said and they both wiped their cheeks, away from the moisture.
"We're a mess." Ester chuckled before sniffling and Sierra laughed.
"We should call it a night. I feel like doing something tomorrow. Do you have work?" Sierra asked.
"Yeah, until 2 p.m. What do you have in mind?" Ester answered. Sierra shrugged and then winked.
"Let me surprise you. I'll pick you up from work." She said.
.
.
.
Once Ester came home, she immediately walked into Olivia's room, not bothering to knock. It was Sunday, which meant Olivia was definitely home.
"Of course. Come in, why don't you?" Her roommate scoffed and stood up from her desk chair. Ester sat down on her bed and looked up at Olivia before shoving her phone in her friend's direction.
Olivia took it with a confused frown and hesitant hands. And once she read the text that supposedly came three hours ago, Olivia's eyes widened.
"Oh my God." She smiled before handing Ester the phone back.
"Well, what are you waiting for? Reply!" She sat down next to Ester, who looked at her friend with a disbelieving look.
"Are you crazy? He's obviously a creep. Who the heck gave him my number?" Ester complained and Olivia rolled her eyes.
"You and your complaints. Others would find his approaches rather romantic and creative." She told Ester.
"Romantic? More like creepy. And creative? Please, every second romance on t.v. has a guy sending roses to a girls house and sending her late night texts. There's nothing creative about that." Ester scoffed again.
"You're missing the point, Ester. He's trying. And that on it's own is romantic enough. You don't find enough of his sort, trust me." Her roommate said.
"I hope not. Or else the list of restraining orders would be way too long."
"Oh my! You are the most oblivious and dry girl I have ever met. Say, do they not have romance where you come from? Love? Intimacy? Human contact? Anything like that?" Ester narrowed her eyes at Olivia after hearing her words.
"I'm being serious Ester. You need to open up, let a man in your life. Preferably that hottie from dance." Her roommate winked at her before continuing.
"And before you even know, you'll be married and have children and-"
"Wow, hold up! What about me told you that I would ever want to marry and have children?" Ester asked with another frown.
"You don't?" Her roommate asked.
"Well, no. I'll probably want to have kids at some point of my life. But the whole marrying and finding love thing is so not going to happen." Ester stubbornly shook her head. No love for her and she was fine with it.
"Who hurt you?" Olivia said dramatically and she rolled her eyes.
"Leave me alone. I don't need a man in my life. Never have, never will." Ester stood up.
"Wait, what about the text? Oh please do reply. If not for marriage, then do it for fun." Olivia begged and Ester lifted an eyebrow.
"For fun?"
"Yeah. I mean, you can't tell me it's not exciting to find out how far he'll go. And what he has to say. Ask him who he is first. And if he doesn't answer directly, continue and see how far it goes. It'll be fun and it'll bring some excitement in your life." Her roommate shrugged.
"I already have enough excitement in my life. I really don't need a creep in it." Ester told her.
"Okay, then don't do it for yourself. Do it for my amusement." Olivia grinned, making Ester shake her head and then turn around to leave the room.
"I'm going to bed." She murmured and Olivia stood up and stopped her at the door.
"Okay, then let's view it this way. You wanted to get out of your comfort zone this year. Try new things and embrace new challenges. This, my friend is new. I can see you'd rather throw your phone in the trash can and be done with the guy. But isn't this exactly what you wanted? A challenge?"
God damn it. Olivia hit the nail on its head. Ester knew she shouldn't have said her new year resulutions out loud. She did want to embrace new things and face personal challenges. And she started off well with the dancing and- well, that's it.
Maybe it was time to step it up a bit. It was already mid february and all challenging that Ester's done was signing up to Sierra's dance lessons.
"I hate you." Ester stated after glaring at Olivia for a long time. She turned around to sit on her roommate's bed again and sighed in defeat before opening the text message.
Did you like the roses?
- S. A (secret admirer)
"And what now? What am I supposed to say?" Ester looked up at Olivia, who was already thinking with her index finger stroking her chin like a villain. She suddenly gasped and then sat down next to Ester again.
"Tell him: I would've loved them even more if you would've hid a photo of you in them. Preferably shirtless." Olivia had a dreamy look on her face, but Ester frowned again.
"That sounds slightly creepy." She told her roommate, who narrowed her eyes at her in return.
"Complaints, complaints, complaints!" She exploded.
"Okay, okay. Jesus, I'm writing that." Ester's thumbs moved across the display swiftly, but when she was about to hit 'send', Olivia stopped her.
"What?" Ester asked with wide eyes.
"Maybe it does sound a little creepy. How about: I loved them. How did you know I loved roses?" Olivia proposed, but Ester shook her head.
"I don't even love roses. Besides, I didn't really love them. We're going with the first one." Before Olivia could say something, Ester hit 'send' and they both held their breath.
"If he looses interest in you, it's your fault." Olivia said after two minutes of nothing.
"I'll make sure to pat myself on the back then." Ester rolled her eyes.
But it seemed like her roommate didn't hear her as she started squealing again.
"He replied!"
Ester looked down and sure enough, her secret admirer sent her another text.