(1) Flowers for Him

"Do you want daisies or roses?" The old yet nice-looking lady asked me as she rolled the newspaper into a cone-like figure.

".... Uh..." I trailed off, "Can I be the one picking them?"

Her eyes widened but nodded anyway. She gave me some cutting tools and asked, "You know how to make a bouquet?"

Chuckling, I knelt down and looked at the different kinds of flowers. "Well, I guess I was quite forced to."

I was in the middle of cutting a rose when she asked me, "Forced by who?"

Memories flash through my eyes; I saw my 8 years old version of me begging a random gardener to teach me how to choose flowers and make beautiful bouquets.

"Oh you know," I giggled, "A desperate girl who wants to learn everything for the one she loves... Me." Shrugging my statement off, I continued cutting the rose and put it on the ground.

The old lady gave me a look that I usually receive whenever I answer people's questions about learning stuff. The look of pity. I love it.

That's sarcasm, by the way, I mean, who wants to be pitied? Oh wait, I personally know someone who wants to be pitied, so me being me, I pitied her to grant her wish. -And trust me, that girl isn't me and that says a lot.

After a few minutes, I stood up and held the flowers in front of me. "These are beautiful."

"Thank you!" She beamed, making me laugh, and put the newspaper full of flowers on the desk.

Doing the same thing the gardeners I've met before told me, I made a finished product, a beautiful and literally a flowery finished product.

"How much would this be?" I asked her as I finish the note for him.

"I'm giving that for free."

"What?" My eyes widened, "You can't do that-"

"But I just did."

Smiling at her feisty attitude, I bowed down and thanked her. -A sign of respect influenced by anime for me.

Leaving the flower shop, I run towards my bike and went straight to Jay's house. Well, his parents' mansion. A white beautiful classy-looking mansion that was given to Jay's father, Adam.

Jay Emmerson is truly a handsome god-like person. He has this strong jaw, perfect nose, the most beautiful eyed and plus, his eyebrows are on fleek! But it isn't just his physical looks that made me attracted to him, no, his personality is also spot on!

I slowed down and turned to the corner, seeing the magnificent mansion I was talking about not too long ago.

"JAAAAAY!" I screamed, before halting to a stop and gently taking the bouquet from the front basket of my bike. "JAAAAAY!"

I ran towards the patio and rang the doorbell. I smiled widely as the door opened up, seeing Jay's mother, Emily. "Hey Em!"

"Hey, Riles." She greeted me and was about to give me a hug when she saw what I was holding. Her eyes widened and asked, "Is that for my son?"

Nodding enthusiastically, I showed off the bouquet I personally made. "Beautiful, huh?"

She grins, "As beautiful as the owner. Come on in."

I blushed because of her statement but entered her lovely home anyways. "I'm going upstairs!" I called out while climbing up their stairs.

"Alright! Oh and Riley, please tell him that dinner's ready!"

"Okee dokee mommy Emmy!" I laughed as I called out my version of "yes ma'am" to her.

Knocking two times, I entered the room and gawk as I saw Jay sitting in front of his computer. Since his monitor is facing his room's door for some reason, I can clearly see that he was currently stalking someone on Instagram.

And it isn't me.

Jumping from my entrance, Jay turns around and frowned at me. "What are you doing here?"

I felt my hand grip on the bouquet quite tighter than before, "Why are you stalking Jessa Knelm?"

Jessa Knelm aka Mertano Junior High's number one flirt.

"She's hot." He shrugged bluntly, making me gulp with extreme jealousy.

What do Jessa have that I don't?! -Oh right, her extreme flirtiness.

"Oh..." Coughing the awkwardness off, I grinned at him, "I brought you some flowers!"

I shoved the bouquet to him and grinned as he picked it up. "It's beautiful, right?"

"Uh yeah..."

"I made it myself!"

And with that, he sighed. "Look Riley, you're a girl and I'm a boy; If anyone's supposed to be giving what to who then the boy should be doing that to the girl he likes."

"Pfft, what happened to gender equality?"

"Riley..."

"Fine." I picked up the bouquet from him and gasped, "Oh Jay! This is for me? Why you're so kind!"

He rolled his eyes, "I don't like you, Riley. I mean, I like you as a friend but not as a... well... what you want."

I felt tears brimming in my eyes, "...but Jay... I love you..."

His eyes widened, "Whoa, hold there Riley. We're still 14, you don't know what the meaning of love is."

"I do!"

"What is it?"

"It has no other explanation but my feelings for you."

He grabbed the bouquet from my hands forcefully and threw it at the other side of his room, making me shout in pain. Not physically, but emotionally. "JAY!"

He groaned and faced me, "Listen here, Riley. You don't know what you're talking about -but if you think that the nonsense you're talking about is true, then don't get me mixed up with your lame ass fantasy."

Gasping, I was about to pinch him for saying a bad word when he pulled his hands away and glared at me, "Stop acting like we're together because we're not."

Did you guys hear my heartbeat? Oh wait, you didn't. Because he tore it apart.

I licked my lips since it was dry, "B-but I love you-"

"Well, I'll hate you if you continue loving me!"

"I-I'm sorry, J-Jay..." I sobbed and fell to the ground, "Please d-don't hate me. I'd do a-a-anything so y-you w-won't hate m-me."

He walked towards where I was. Yes, that's right. Jay Emerson will never hurt me. Because I love him and someday he'll love me too.

He knelt down in front of me and said coldly, "I'll never love you, so please, stop loving me."

The look in his eyes scared me, the dark and cold look in his eyes that got my 14 years old self wanting to crawl back into my room.

I shook my head while sobbing and stopped when I saw the beautiful bouquet lying on the floor at the corner of his room. Turning to my left, I saw the unmissable red construction paper I cut into hearts to give as letters to Jay... inside his trash can.

Jay had done this to me before, rejecting me on the spot, but what hurts the most right now was the reality that crashes down on me when I realized that Jay Emmerson will never love me.

"DINNER'S READY!" Emily's jolly voice called out from downstairs.

I wiped the tears from my eyes with the back of my hands and smiled, "A-a-as y-you w-w-wish."

His eyes soften and he offered me a hand to stand up, "Come on, let's eat."

Shaking my head, I stood up on my own and smiled at him, "I c-can't..." I took a step back and tried smiling, "I g-g-got to go. M-mom wants me for dinner."

Not waiting for his reply, I turned around and left his room. Running downstairs, I accidentally bumped Adam. "Riley?" He grinned, then he noticed my tears. "Are you crying?"

Not being able to give him a reply without a sob, I forced myself to nod and left their mansion. Hopping on my bike, I went back to my home and planned on how to put myself to sleep tonight since I'd be crying for a very long time.