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Wilted Roses - Ch.15

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Chapter 15. Reaching Out For the Stars While Being On Top of the World


AUDI:
        Adrian seemed like a different person. I didn’t know how to respond to his change in behavior. It was almost like he… no, it couldn’t be. I mean, why would anyone ever have feelings for someone like me? I’m sure he just felt bad for me, and being the nice person that he is, he offered me his friendship for the time being.
        I don’t know why, but that made me kind of sad.
        “Audi?” Adrian said in between bites, looking up from his plate. “Why aren’t you eating? I thought I told you that you had to eat.”
        “Oh, I’m sorry. I… I was just thinking.” To satisfy him, I picked up a small piece of salmon with my fork and stuck it in my mouth. It was smooth and buttery—almost the texture of cream. It made my mouth water, and so then I broke off another chunk with my fork and ate it too.
        He chuckled softly as he watched me stuff my mouth. “So you were true to your word, weren’t you? You seem hungry.”
        I paused with my fork halfway to my mouth. Embarrassed, I set the fork back down onto the white ceramic plate and looked down at my lap.
        Adrian frowned. “I didn’t mean for you to stop… Look, just pretend I’m not here and eat ‘til your heart’s content.” Then he went back to eating his own dinner and so I slowly resumed eating mine.
        The rest of the meal continued awkwardly in silence, except for the clinking of forks and knives against dinner plates. And of course other peoples’ conversations carried on, but Adrian didn’t say another word until I had cleared my plate of fish. The waitress came back with our coats and the check, which she placed on the corner of the table in a black leather envelope.
        “Was it good?” he asked, grinning as if he were the one who made it.
        “Yes. How was your steak?”
        He laughed. “It was good, but I’ve had better. Do you want dessert?”
        I shook my head slowly. I was full and couldn’t eat another bite.
        There was a short moment of the two of us simply looking at each other. Finally, Adrian opened his mouth to say something. “Audi, I don’t know if this is too forward, but—“
        “Hi, friends!” a high-pitched and nasally voice called. We turned in our seats to see a well-dressed Philip standing beside our table. “I didn’t expect to see you here. My dad took us here for Mom’s birthday. What are you two doing?”
        “Sitting,” Adrian replied bluntly, in a way that made it seem like he was displeased with something.
        “Oh, Adrian’s friend suggested that we go here and try out the food with his membership card. The food is good, isn’t it? Have you eaten yet?” I made small talk in order to make up for Adrian’s lack of it.
        Philip smiled his toothy grin and rocked back and forth on his heels and toes, his hands folded behind his back. “Yup, my parents and I are going to leave soon, once the waiter comes back with our check. Are you guys finished too?”
        Adrian stood up from his seat and took his wallet out of his back pocket. Taking out a couple of twenties, he slipped them inside of the black envelope and then shoved his arms through the sleeves of his jacket. “I would say so,” he assumed, looking at me with a blank expression. “Are you ready to go, Audi?”
        I nodded, while taking my sweater and hanging it over my arm. “It was nice seeing you, Philip. Happy birthday to your mom.”
        And so we left the fancy restaurant that smelled like scented candles.

        While we were walking to his car in the brisk nighttime air, I realized that I didn’t want it to end this soon. I didn’t want to see him drive away while I watched him go on my front doorstep just yet. It’s just that I wanted to make sure that Adrian had a good time. You see, I’m not a very outgoing person, and so most of the time I feel as if spending time with me is extremely boring.
        I took a peek at Adrian, his straight-faced expression giving me a hard time deciphering what he thought about the dinner. “Adrian,” I blurted out suddenly.
        He stopped and turned his head towards me. “What is it?”
        “Um, you were saying something before Philip came by…” My voice trailed off into nothing. I stood there, rubbing my forearm behind my back and drawing little circles in the asphalt with the tip of my shoe.
        Adrian shifted his attention towards the cars in the parking lot. “Oh, that? It was nothing. Don’t worry about it.”
        But I couldn’t keep myself from worrying. I was curious, and the distant look on his face made it harder for me to comply. All I knew was that I didn’t want him going home looking like that.
        We were getting closer to the parking lot. I had to act.
        “Adrian, would you mind going to the park near the school with me? I… I like the fresh air and it’s a really nice night tonight.” My heart pounded in my chest. Doing something like this made me feel self-conscious, but I couldn’t stop myself from wanting to make this night longer.
        At hearing this, his eyebrows rose. He looked at me for a short moment, and then his expression softened at my words. “Well… I don’t mind. But is it okay to stay out this late? Maybe you should be home soon; your parents might be worried about you.”
        “That’s okay! They won’t be worried. Please, Adrian.” I hoped he wouldn’t hear the lie in my words. Knowing that my parents would be angry with me when I got home, I hoped he would agree to going to the park with me.
        He smiled slightly. “Sure,” he agreed as he helped me into his car. As we drove out of the parking lot and down the street, the car was dark. I couldn’t see his face really well from the corner of my eye. I felt even more self-conscious, even though he probably couldn’t see me very well either.
        “I used to go to that park a lot when I was little,” Adrian said suddenly, breaking the silence. He took his eyes off of the road for a short moment and, from what I could see from the light coming from the lights in the car, shot me a crooked grin. “My mom would kick me out of the house for being rowdy and I would immediately go to the park.”
        This was my chance. I realized that I didn’t really know much about Adrian, and so I was curious. “What is your mom like?” I asked with a sheepish smile. I kept my gaze straight ahead and watched the dimly lit street lamps go by.
        He paused briefly before answering. “More like was,” he corrected—his voice sounding a little less cheery.
        “What… what do you mean?” I asked softly. And instantly, I regretted it. I had a feeling that I knew what he meant.
        “She died when I was in grade school. Her heart stopped working one day and when we got to the hospital, they couldn’t get it to pump again. I don’t know the details; I was too young and didn’t know what was wrong with her.” Adrian parked along the side of the curb outside of the park.
        I felt my heart ache and some sense of guilt welling up in my chest. “I-I’m sorry…”
        Adrian smiled softly and said, “It’s okay. That was a long time ago and I try not to dwell on the past too much. Besides, why talk about sad things on a night like this?” Adrian opened his door and looked back at me before getting out. “Are you coming?”
        “Oh, um, yes,” I stuttered as I opened my door awkwardly and tried to get out, forgetting to undo my seatbelt first. I made a small choking noise and fell backwards into the back of my seat. My face flushed as I heard Adrian chuckle from the other side.
        “That’s the first time I’ve seen someone do that,” he teased.
        “Don’t make fun of me,” I replied sulkily, still blushing as I undid the clasp and stepped out of the car. I shut the door softly and looked up. Adrian was standing in front of the car, motioning for me to come closer.
        “So… what do you want to do, Audi?” he asked, while kicking around a rock in front of him.
        “Um, can we go on the jungle gym? I like it up there…”
        Adrian nodded and started towards the jungle gym, which was right in the middle of the entire park. I hurried to keep up with him; his long legs making each long stride take him farther away from me. Eventually, when he noticed that I wasn’t by his side anymore, he stopped and turned around, waiting for me to catch up.
        “Sorry about that. I didn’t mean to leave you behind,” he scratched the back of his neck.
        I said it was fine and, when I caught up to him, walked towards the jungle gym next to him. He took his pace slower so that he wouldn’t get too far ahead of me.
        The jungle gym was a lot bigger than I remembered. I couldn’t recall the last time that I had been at the park. The steel bars were cold against my hand. “Do you mind if we go up there? I love the feeling of the wind against your face… and you can see the stars better.” I turned to look at him behind me and smiled shyly.
        “Of course we can,” Adrian smiled back. “Do you need help getting up there?” He offered his hand to me as I gripped my hands around a bar.
        I blushed. “No, I’m fine. Thank you though.” I was about to start climbing up when I remembered that I was wearing a dress. Blushing even more deeply, I gripped the bar more tightly and asked, “Adrian, would you mind climbing up from the opposite side?”
        He had his hand on the bar next to me when he replied, “No, not at all.” He let go of the bar and made his way around the jungle gym and started climbing up the bars. He was very good at it, almost like a monkey would be in climbing up a tree.
        When I was at the top, I tried crawling in towards the center, but stumbled. Adrian rushed to help me and held his arms out to try and steady my body, which was rocking back and forth as I pressed my knees against the metal. “Careful now,” he said gently as he guided me towards the spot next to him with his hands on my shoulders. His hands were large and they firmly held my shoulders, but at the same time were somewhat hesitant.
        “Thank you,” I said in a bashful tone and sat down next to him.
        After we had gotten into a comfortable position, I tried thinking of something to talk about. I mean, it’s kind of awkward when someone asks you to go somewhere with them, but doesn’t have anything to do while you’re both sitting down not doing much.
        “Um—” both of us said simultaneously. “Oh sorry, you go first,” Adrian apologized while scratching his neck again. I giggled softly. He always did that when he was embarrassed.
        “Oh, I was just going to ask you if you enjoyed yourself tonight… Did you?”
        Adrian grinned widely. “Yeah, it was fun. Thanks for going with me.”
        “It was very nice of your friend, Garrett, to let us use his membership card. I like that restaurant,” I said, feeling like I was being boring again.
        “Yeah…” Adrian agreed with a blank stare on his face. He looked out at the night sky and studied the stars. Then it was silent again and I figured maybe I should just do the same thing as him and quit trying so hard to start a conversation. I could hear the crickets chirping off in the distance.
        “That thing I was going to say before…” Adrian started quietly, still looking at the stars against the big, dark blue sky. “I was going to ask you something.”
        “What were you going to ask me?” I urged, anxious to hear what he didn’t want to tell me before.
        It was dark outside, and so I wasn’t sure if this is what I really saw, but I think Adrian’s face turned red. I didn’t know why and that made me even more anxious.
        He looked into my eyes and his didn’t falter.
        “Hypothetically, how would you feel if someone were to confess to you their feelings right now, here on top of this jungle gym?”
        I couldn’t take my eyes off of his, but I really didn’t know what to say. “I… I don’t know. I guess it depends on the person.”
        “I see,” Adrian said musingly. He shifted his body so that he was in a different position and took his gaze off of me.  While looking down at the bark dust beneath him through the bars of the jungle gym, he spoke very quietly.
        “What if that person were me?”
This is chapter fifteen of Wilted Roses.
Yay, super mushy chapter (sorry for the long hiatus). Anyway, I can't remember the last time I've been on a jungle gym. I used to love those... And I just can't seem to think of any more super long chapter titles! XD; (I actually considered titling this "In the Head of a Lovesick Girl" just for kicks, but I like this title.)
THIS CHAPTER IS IN AUDI'S PERSPECTIVE.

:star:

Previous Chapter

Wilted Roses - Ch.14 - "In the Head of a Lovesick Boy"

Next Chapter

Wilted Roses - Ch.16 - "In His Heart Lies a Secret"

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Wilted Roses © ~ember-snow (A.K.A. Me)
Photo of night sky © Some Person On Google
© 2009 - 2024 ember-snow
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