Chapter 1: A Meaningful Trip

Adriana Silvia

Bumping past people, I make my way through the city with surprising speed. The buildings are thick blurs, where you can tell what they are, but all the details are lost to you. The people are just faceless obstacles in a world of never ending hurdles to my goal. I clutch the object tightly in my hands, holding it far enough away from my body that there's no way that any of the little pricklies could come in contact with skin or clothing. My hair alternates from flying in my face or flowing behind me, depending on the change of the wind. My green eyes hold a determination that is usually only reserved for training, but for a whole different reason.

Ahead of me is my target, the person that I need to reach more than anything in the world right now. I'd finally steeled up enough courage inside me to do this, to confront her, and I'm not giving up so easily. A block of scorching concrete and a sea of people stand between me and the violet haired hero that holds my affection and respect. I worry my lip as that small bit of courage starts to fail me as I get closer. My nerve is shaking, but it's too late now. I slow to a walk, trying to catch my breath when, out of nowhere, I trip. The pain that I feel wracks my body. Luckily, my body didn't have the momentum to truly slide, so my knees wound up relatively unscathed. I say relatively because I know that I'm going to have two almost identical scabs there in the next few days. I'm just lucky enough to have taken the entire brunt of the impact on my knees.

I had closed my eyes at impact, so it's a very pleasant, yet panic inducing, surprise that I wind up looking at a billowing, dark blue cloak that shrouds the girl that I had hoped and sorta feared that I would encounter today. Butterflies start in my stomach, utterly eliminating every bit of pain that I had felt from my fall, and I hesitantly stand. I can feel the little bit of blood that had shown itself flow down my legs in barely visible trickles, yet nothing can truly distract me from the beauty that stands, or floats really, in front of me. I slowly raise my gaze to connect with hers, and a surge of electricity jolts through me unexpectedly.

Taking a deep breath in, I thrust my hands out, offering the little cactus to the hero. "I, um, grew this for you." My voice wavers a bit, but otherwise, it seems to have effectively garnered her attention.

Her eyebrow quirks, and I swallow at the impending rejection that I know awaits me. Who gives their crush a cactus? "A cactus? Is this supposed to be a joke?" Her monotone doesn't betray anything, but I can sense the hurt behind her words. Whatever she's thinking is definitely bad.

My eyes fly wide in panic. "No no. No. I just, um, can't seem to grow anything else. I, uh, I tried with so many different kinds of seeds, and the failure was just a bit crushing, but this survived. I just wanted to give you something, and why not something that I had put a bit of dedication in? And, um, stuff?"

I force my eyes to stay open as her mouth twitches a bit. "Stuff?" That one twitch is enough to show her amusement, and I couldn't help but have a weight lift off my shoulders a small smile spread across my lips. I swallow once more before stretching my arms out a bit more until she takes the plant from me. She does a small inspection of the tiny thing and raises her eyebrow at me once more. "Why are you giving me this, though?"

My heart starts to beat faster, and I know that she can sense my emotions. That's a rumor that was proven months ago, and it's a very peculiar feeling to know that all of your emotions are almost literally right out there for her to read like a book. "I just, kinda, like you, and I couldn't just get you a bouquet of flowers or something cause it's not right to watch something die, especially when that something is supposed to represent affection. I just never saw the point of buying something so finite when love is supposed to be everlasting, and it's just way too cheesy to hand you a fake flower and tell you that I'll love you til it withers, so I'm giving you a live plant. I don't know if you'll take it or even take care of it if you decide to keep it, but that's a chance I was willing to take, and when I heard that you were going to be out today, I ran over here as fast as I could to give it to you." I take a deep breath after rattling that off so fast. I'm pretty sure that most of it was horrible rambling on my part, and I know that I said way too much, but I bared my heart, and I can't imagine what she must be thinking right now.

Her expression never changes from light curiosity, and I almost have a panic attack when she says nothing for what feels like eternity. I start to back away, feeling that sting of rejection before she even says anything. Panic sets in, and I turn to run. The speed at which I arrived is nothing compared to what I'm doing now. I take off toward home, and hopefully, she won't try to follow. I wipe the small bit of tears from my eyes, and find my vision blur even more. The emotional roller coaster that's I've been through all day is starting to take its toll on my body, and soon, i have to stop. I duck into an alley and let myself slide down onto the, probably, filthy ground as I let the sobs overtake me.

A/N: Okay, this is my first Teen Titans fic. *breathes deeply* This is basically the opening chapter. I swear it gets more interesting. Sorry, but there's not much action action. I'm an emotions person, you know? So, angst, love, sadness, lots of confusion, etc... Definitely an OC story. I'm trying to keep to the character's personalities, but the only one I really ever actually studied extensively was Beast Boy... But I know Raven hella good... Um, criticism way welcome. I'm just reaching out in the fanfic community, trying new things, expanding my stuff. Different characters really help writing and all. Anyway, tell me what you think.

I have approximately 8 more weeks worth written. I will post every Saturday for as long as I can, k?

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