This is my little Christmas gift to all my readers! Merry Christmas! :D oh, and the cover by the side is done by me~ it was so fun creating the cover. The same goes to writing this story, of course, so I hope you'll enjoy this short one!
Copyrighted © 2014, permafrost (from Wattpad)
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Lazy Daisy
I was sitting there in my chair, staring up at the crowd circling me. Everyone was sending me smiles filled with envy, and looking at me as though they knew something I did not. I hated it when people do that, so instead of basking under the smiles they were all giving me, I frowned instead, preparing to show my not-so-mature tantrum just so I could convince them to just break the news to me.
"Just say it already," I prompted them. My girlfriends all giggled at me, shocking me to my very core. Seriously, what was so funny?
"You'll know it soon, oopsy Daisy," Cyn told me with another knowing smile. "You know you're so lucky."
I raised an eyebrow. "You dragged me all the way here just so you could all laugh at me. Do you know how much of a chore that was?"
Arryn patted my shoulder. "Now, now. Simmer down. You'll know it's worth it." She whispered the last sentence into my ear. Her breath sent shivers down my back. I stared at her, then the backdrop, and I realised I was actually at a Christmas dinner in a house I didn't recognise. Mistletoes hung at every corner of the dining room. Christmas ornaments framed the top of the walls, and some snowflakes suspended from the ceiling. The smell of turkey filled the room – deliciously, definitely, but it didn't make me dribble with saliva... and I wondered why as I glared at all the people around me, who seemed to be ignoring me while drowning in their own conversation.
"Oh, he's here!" squealed a girl from the crowd excitedly.
Who's here?
The crowd parted ways for the man to walk. Towards me. I looked up at him, and felt the whole of my being scream. In a good way. He had a large bunch of daisies in his hands. Super cliche, I know, but it was super sweet.
With my eyes as wide as they could get, I said, "Hi." almost breathlessly.
He didn't answer. Instead, he gave me a look so intense, I wondered if I said it wrong. Then, he knelt down and lifted the daisies closer to me, but far enough to allow me to see his face. I saw how nervous he was, and my excitement turned to anticipation.
Everything was quiet, and then...
A huge big hand went right smack onto my face. I screamed, trying to get his hand off me. Slowly, skin became fur, and I realised that I'd stopped screaming.
I opened my eyes, breathing through my mouth, because a huge paw was resting on my nose, making breathing through it impossible.
"Geroff!" I pushed the massive paw away from me, and in my attempt to speak, fur entered my mouth. I spattered. "Yuck! Fluffy!"
I scrambled to sit up, and when I did, I sent daggers towards my family's Samoyed. She sat in front of the coach, looking all innocent with her tongue out. That was her cue to make me cool off. Soon, she was lying on top of me. Sometimes, she seem to forget that she's no longer the puppy she was five years ago, when she was found at my doorstep. I was fourteen then, and wanting a name that would still apply even after having grown up, I decided to Google pictures of a Samoyed. My first impression: fluffy. My little sister liked the name as much as I did, however ordinary the name was.
With a grunt, I finally managed to push her to the side, giving me the freedom to sit up. The television was still turned on. The theme song for some random romance drama played. I glanced at the clock. Only fifteen minutes had passed since I started dozing off. The weather was starting to cool, and it had rained not too long ago too. The smell of it still lingered in the living room. It was hard not to give in to the soothing sounds and temperature.
The memory of the weird dream quietly creeped into my mind when I saw the actor on the television place a hand on the actress' face. I groaned. I must be out of my mind to have dreamt of him. It was three years ago, the year when I graduated from secondary school. Shouldn't I have gotten over that crush by now? Trent Hemleaf. I looked at Fluffy. Her tongue was no longer out, just looking at me with her head tilted, as though asking me, "Really?"
I blinked sleepily a few times. "Fluffy, you know me better than I do myself sometimes." I reached forward to stroke her head. Her tail started wagging at full speed, making me smile.
To tell you the truth, I had never quite forgotten how I had felt towards Trent even though I knew it was just a childish sort of infatuation. We were in the same class for a few years and we never really spoke to each other, but I was just suddenly aware, you know? For the rest of the time with his absence, I just wondered from time to time how he was doing. There are things in life that are just too difficult to forget.
I glanced at Fluffy again. "Do you want to go for a walk?" Fluffy whined and quickly bounded away. I sighed. "Yeah, just as I thought. You're as lazy as I am. It's no wonder why I always choose to stay at home." I rubbed my eyes and picked up my phone, scrolling through my messages, just as the doorbell rang. Fluffy ran back into the living room, barking loudly.
I raised a brow when I looked through the peephole. Upon opening the door, I asked, "What brings both of you here?"
Without a greeting, Arryn and Cyn stepped past me. I closed the door in bewilderment. My breath caught just as two pairs of hands started pulling me towards my room.
"Hey! What are you guys doing?"
Arryn stared mischievously at me with her hazel-coloured eyes. A similar look was on Cyn too. Both of them were smiling at me creepily. I frowned, immediately knowing what they were about to do.
"Oh, no you don't. No way are you going to make me get out of the house. I stayed home alone for a reason."
"Trust me. You won't regret going." Arryn pulled open my almost-empty drawer. Cyn and Arryn both knew I hardly had anything nice to wear. I smirked when I heard both of them sigh. Finally, they pulled out a sleeveless dress, something which had been there almost forever. My grin fell as they came towards me, handing me it. I scowled when I saw that they were both wearing dresses as well.
"You better change, or else we'll drag you out in those home clothes," Cyn threatened as she pulled her chestnut brown hair into a ponytail, seeming to get ready for that feat.
My mind returned to that dream. Was I going to get dragged into something as crazy as that? I gulped noisily. I hoped not. "Just tell me where we're going first? I promise I'll change after I know where we're going."
Arryn, like the mother-like figure she was to both of us, put her hands together. "Less talking, more movement. Let's go." She snapped her fingers in front of my face. I waited for both of them to leave my room before sighing. I should have just showed them my tantrum, but I hadn't really done that in ages. That dream of mine was so old, and it made me realise how annoying the young me was. I wondered how Cyn and Arryn were able to stand me during our time in secondary school. The thought of our seven years of friendship made me smile.
After grabbing my wallet and bag from my study table – and at the last minute, the fiction book I was on – I stepped out. My friends gawked.
"What in the... why did you add on a pair of jeans?" Cyn asked, annoyed.
I blinked a couple of times, not quite believing that my friends suddenly wanted to have a say in what I wear. "Okay, now I'm really curious as where you guys want to bring me to."
Arryn shook her head, then said, "Come on." Both decided to pull me out the front door.
"Bye, Fluffy. Be good." I forced a smile at the dog, who gave me her happy look. I immediately dropped my smile, snarling at her. Stupid dog. I didn't know she was such a sadist.
We arrived at Monster Diner after ten train stops. I was so exhausted by the time I entered the place, but I tried my best to bring up some good feelings within me. There was nothing else I could do now that I was here. No point complaining. The three of us walked in, my two friends stretching their necks, searching. The place was considerably packed. No surprise there. It was lunch time, it was a Saturday, and this Diner was popular with the students because of their student offer with no exception to weekends. In addition, they had a large variety of food. If you craved for Chinese food, Malay food, Western food, well, this was the place.
"May I help you?" a female worker there asked when she saw us. I returned her friendly smile.
At that very moment, Cyn said, "It's okay, we found them. Thank you." With that, her hand was on my arm again, pulling me towards a long table filled with people. When I saw who was already present, my blood froze. I quickly turned back to the female worker, who was looking our way with an amused expression, seeming to find the sight of me being dragged funny. I tossed her a pleading look, hoping she would get the message to get me quickly out of here. She just stood there and waved, as though sending me to my death. The next second, her black ponytail disappeared with her to the back of the kitchen.
"Oh, lazy Daisy's here!" someone announced at the top of his voice. The only person loud enough to do that was Raye.
Once again, I felt myself shiver, suddenly hearing the nickname I was given back in secondary school.
"Seeing as both of you seemed to be dragging her, she hasn't changed much, has she? And she's still the little introvert." Tory, the friendliest girl out of us all commented with a laugh.
"Yeah, you have no idea how long it took to bring her here," Arryn said with mock tiredness in her voice, then sent me a smug smile when she saw that I was hiding behind her. I kept shaking my head at her, telling her to let me go. When she raised a brow, I decided to act defiant and stood straighter. Whatever. I was over him anyway.
"Hi." I raised a hand awkwardly.
"Hi!" the table chorused in unison, making me cringe. I deliberately avoided looking at him.
"Well, sit down. We've all decided what to eat. You guys decide, and then we'll call the waiter over to take our orders." Tory handed us menus.
After taking orders, our food arrived within a few minutes. My stomach growled with pleasure as the smell of my Japanese curry drifted to my nose. I quietly and quickly finished my meal with the push of having nothing to say to my ex-classmates, then regretted it. For the rest of the time, I sat there, feeling bored and slightly left out while waiting for Cyn and Arryn to be ready to leave. The whole time I did, I had this weird feeling that somebody was watching me. They were staring at me so intensely, it was as if they were drilling holes into me. At one time, I decided to bring up the courage to look up from my book. My eyes met his. Both of us looked away at the same time.
I felt a shy smile creep up my face. He had not changed much, I thought to myself. Still having the hair that stood up naturally, still having the glasses, as did many of us, but which the number seemed to have decreased now with the better idea of wearing contact lenses.
The dragging of chairs made my ears prick up.
"I need the washroom," Cyn told me. I shrugged. When I saw Arryn stand up too, I did as well. I was not going to let myself be left alone like that.
I pulled Arryn and Cyn to me. "What did both of you think you were doing, making me come to a class gathering?" They should very well know how much I despised things like this.
Cyn chuckled. "Oh, I see how it is: you still have a crush on Trent, don't you?" she asked slyly.
I huffed. "Of course not. That was so many years ago."
"Ah, well. You're already here anyway," said Arryn as she stepped into a cubicle.
I was the first to leave the washroom, and when both of them still hadn't made their exit after ten minutes, I thought they had already returned to the Diner without me, so I made my way back by myself.
I stopped when I saw that the table was very nearly empty except for one lone person. I frowned, suddenly feeling suspicious. I quickly turned back and stood at the entrance, thinking whether I should just leave my bag there and go, but it wouldn't be a wise choice to do that. I couldn't just leave my wallet there. Plus, Trent was probably fooled into doing this. There's going to be nothing wrong. Probably just a mistake. Cool down, Daisy, I told myself over and over while I walked towards the table with my heart beating like crazy.
Trent stood up when he saw me. He was in a navy plaid shirt and jeans, looking really casual, apart from the fact that he was looking quite indifferent. Seeing as how he was more of the extrovert, I didn't know he was quite capable of pulling that off well, by looking indifferent. Something was definitely up. This wasn't the guy who came to talk to me while I was sitting alone, away from the class during break time one day, when my classmates decided to head out to the field to play some frisbee. That was the first time we really talked. It was during third year. At first I thought it was just something random he wanted to do, like maybe he just wanted to take a break. He saw me, and just thought of coming over to strike a conversation. I liked it how he didn't seem bored when talking to me, making me comfortable. I liked how he always had this wide smile. The crinkles beside his bright greyish-blue eyes made me realise that he was enjoying the conversation as much as I did. He came to talk to me a couple more times over the stretch of our last two years in that school, but that was that. It was nothing special. He always spoke cheerfully to the others anyway.
"Daisy."
I bit my lips and looked around the table. Everyone's valuables were gone together with them. Plates were cleared as well. It was like we never had a class gathering at all.
I picked up my bag and slung the hoops to my shoulders. "I– I think I'd better go." I never once met his gaze until the very last minute. I sent him a nervous smile, then turned to walk away, almost a run.
"Daisy, wait." Trent jogged up to me once I was outside the Diner. "Do you want to take a rest, you know, with me?"
I stared up at him, confused, and I realised he had grown taller again. "What do you mean?"
The crinkly-eyed smile came on, sending my heart racing. How I missed it. "That must have been tiring, y'know, back there."
I frowned at him, completely mystified. A smile struggled to come. "I– How did you know?" No one ever said that to me before, like they completely knew how I was feeling. No one 'brave' enough, in a sense. They always said I was lazy, which I probably was to a certain extent, but mostly it was because I got tired easily. Only those close to me knew it, so how was it possible that someone who wasn't close like Trent Hemleaf knew it too?
He laughed. "Come on."
We walked alongside each other in silence for most of the way. The whole time I wondered where he was going to bring me. Turned out we were heading for the nearby park. I grinned as we settled ourselves beneath the shade of a tree. It was just like how it was when we first had our real conversation, but this time round, it was without the presence of our classmates. Our surrounding was quieter as well.
"So, lazy Daisy, how have you been? We haven't had such a conversation in two, almost three years. It's a pity we didn't go to the same college, huh? I would be lying if I say I didn't miss this." He grinned, looking pleased. I couldn't confirm whether he was looking like that because he finally had some time with me or what, but I'd like to think that. Wishful thinking again, just like back then.
I just nodded.
"Okay, so tell me about the latest book you've been reading."
I was startled by the question. Tell me about the book you're reading? It was like the one he asked that time. I bit my lip, then looked down shyly. "Well..." And I started speaking. No one ever liked hearing me speak about stories, truly. Reading was a favourite pasttime of mine, but wanting me to tell a story? I'd bore anyone to death first. Not Trent though.
"The latest one I've read wasn't so much of a fantasy kind of book. It's like... chick lit? So I'll probably just tell you the main gist, because there isn't anything much to say about it. Y'know, no plot twist and all that." I didn't even realise how easy it was for words to flow out of my mouth. At that moment, my head was just filled with the wonderful fiction book I got hooked on very recently. "To cut everything short, this main guy character wanted to kill himself, but didn't get the chance to because this girl showed up just on time to convince him that life is worth living. The next day, the girl found him exactly where he was again, then decided to follow him everywhere to make sure he didn't think about death again. I really like that book. It makes me think about... life."
A finger was at his chin. He hummed deeply and thoughtfully. "If I were that guy, I'd go crazier."
"Why?"
"I wanted to die, but couldn't. You know, always getting forced to live." He laughed.
I looked anxiously at him. "You... want to die?"
He shook his head frantically. "No! It's not like I'm saying that it was wrong of the girl to do that. That's a completely different situation. All I want to say is that I can sympathise with how you were feeling earlier today, with Arryn and Cyn making you come here. I'm really sorry that had to happen." He smiled sweetly at me.
"Yeah, well." I rubbed the back of my neck, giggling. I was giggling. Nervously, of course, but at the same time relieved I misunderstood his words from earlier. "I'm always lazy Daisy, I guess."
"But there's also something to envy, if I were the guy, y'know, having a girl care for him and all that. That would be nice."
I felt my cheeks warm. I couldn't believe we were having this kind of conversation. "Yeah, the girl managed to make him see the good in life in the end. It's all emotional and comedic at the same time, the way the girl tries to make him the man he was previously, before all the dreadful things, but that's life, you know? It's just a moment of bad things. They just need someone to be there for them all the time, until it passes."
Trent smiled at me, his eyes sparkling, looking slightly touched. "Yeah. It's just like how I actually went through the two years without speaking to you at all. Look at where I am now, but of course, I survived it with my own strength." He grinned.
A period of silent understanding passed between us, and I almost nodded.
"Argh! Just get down to it already, Trent!" a voice suddenly shouted from a bush at the other end of the park. Other park-goers stopped what they were doing and stared. I did, too, and saw it was Raye. I saw Cyn pop out from the bush to pull him back down, who continued waving his fist at Trent until he was out of sight. I frowned, feeling completely confused as I stared inquiringly at Trent, whose face was now turning beetroot red. I felt my own turning hot.
I stood up quickly, shakened. "Er... erm... I think I'll– I'll go now."
Trent was soon on his feet, pulling my arm. "Wait. I'm so sorry for that. Erm..." I had never seen him so lost for words before. The Trent today was giving me constant surprises, and I really wasn't used to it. It made me feel awkward... but this awkwardness wasn't something I hated, somehow, which was strange. I thought everyone hated any level of awkward, including me. I bit my lips while I waited for him to continue. He groaned in frustration. "This isn't me, Daisy. Seriously. I don't think anyone saw me this way before." He took in a deep breath. "I'm so sorry for scaring you."
"You didn't scare me. Raye did, along with the rest of our class..." I said, not wanting him to feel so apologetic, as I could tell from the tone he was using. It made me sad.
"No, it was my idea all along to have you see that everyone had left except for me. I know now that was frightening for you. I'm sorry. I should have thought this through properly first." He looked at my expression, then groaned again, placing a clenched fist on his forehead. "And I probably just scared you somemore. Look." He licked his lips, his eyes fully focused on me, making me want to squirm, but I held the eye contact bravely. "This whole idea was really stupid, I know. I forced you here. I made you tired from that gathering."
I had questions I wanted to ask, but clearly curious as to where this conversation was going, I just said, "I forgive you."
His expression relaxed, but some tension still remained. Or was that nervousness?
His voice was softer now. "I wanted to see you. I missed you so much." Another warm wave consumed the both of us. "But I know you wouldn't agree to meet me alone, so I did this. I just wanted to tell you that I like you a lot. A lot. Really a whole lot." He spoke that last sentence with both his arms stretched out, making me laugh, which made him laugh too. Who laughs at such an important confession? I felt amazing. "I just wanted to experience a little how it's like to talk to you comfortably. You're always so tensed up when talking to others, because they're not Arryn or Cyn. Never once was that not the case throughout the years I knew you. During third year, I thought I'd try to loosen you up a bit. That's why I went to talk to you that time, during class frisbee, and I realised how much I liked talking to you. Did you ever know how pretty you get when you talk about stories you love, about the things you feel so strongly about?"
I shook my head.
"You really do." He sighed, looking at me with longing. That look sent good shivers down to my very toes. "I really do like you, Daisy. What about you? How do you feel about me?" He searched my face, then added, "I'll allow you to run away now if you don't want to answer that."
My eyes widened. "Oh my God. Did I look like I wanted to run away?" Please say no.
Chuckling, he shook his head, making me breathe a sigh of relief.
With a new sort of strength, I took his hand in mine. When I saw him smile hopefully at me, teeth and crinkly eyes, I looked down again. He laughed, then went ahead to hug me. I was stunned in place, which he realised soon enough.
He quickly pulled back. "Sorry. I'm just too happy, and you looked adorable looking shy like that. Er... may I hug you?" I nodded, and he did just that, laughing all over again.
I blinked a couple of times, then laughed together with him. He knew it; I knew it. I wouldn't be able to say the three words so soon, but the action of touching his hand was bigger than any of us would have expected I would do. What I did know, too, was that I probably wouldn't need as long as expected for me to say them after all. I was certain my overwhelming feelings would make me have the courage to do something so daring again. Soon.
Not now, but soon.