A/N: This oneshot was written for Project PULL, a venture set up by Bookaholic 711, in which you post something every fortnight, and inspired by Chapter Two of Chimera's Curse- my musings on how the conversation could have taken an alternative path :D
Daisies
"It'd be okay if she just stuck to blackberries and things, but she will branch out- chuck in a bit of anything that catches her eye." Rat complained. Connie glanced down at the velvety daisy that she was absentmindedly twirling between her fingers. She had found it hidden in an oddly-positioned clump of grass that had taken upon itself to grow- horizontally- between the deep orange bricks that made up the Ratcliff's garden wall.
'He loves me, he loves me not,' she whispered, a little louder than she had intended, pulling one of the petals from the tiny flower. Col glanced downwards from the sun-lounger that he was sprawled on, and briefly caught her eyes. Connie looked away immediately, blushing. but the exchange did not go unnoticed by the ever-observant Anneena. She hastily returned to the subject that they had been discussing, to turn the attention away from her.
"Like what?" she asked Rat, in a manner that she hoped would pass as genuine curiosity.
"I dunno- like nettles and cow parsley- anything really." Rat grimaced, as if the bitter, acrid taste of the 'jam' still remained in his mouth. Smoke began to billow from the kitchen window, and from somewhere back in the house, the faint tones of a smoke alarm bleeped madly. A sheepish Ms. Ratcliff opened the back door.
"Rat, will you get the smoke alarm down from the ceiling? I can't reach it." Rat rolled his eyes.
"Coming, Mam!" he called back. With a histrionic sigh, he pulled himself up from where he sat on the grass, and disappeared into the house. When a loud crash emanated from the corridor, immediately followed by several choice swear words, Col laughed quietly.
"Trust Rat. I'd better go find out what he's broken this time." He swung his legs over the side of the chair and walked towards the door. The smoke alarm, feeling neglected, raised its pitch an octave, and Col picked up his pace, closing the door behind him.
"So, what was that about?" Anneena asked, eyebrows raised inquisitively. Connie gave a bemused shrug.
"Who knows. Maybe he fell over the table?" she suggested. Anneena gave an exasperated huff and shook her head, setting her long crystal earrings jangling.
"You know very well that that wasn't what I was talking about. I saw the little moment you had with Col," she teased. "Why don't you just tell him you like him?"
He loves me.
Connie had continued to pull the petals from the daisy, and it took a few moments for the words to sink in. Once they had, her head shot up like she had been electrocuted.
"I do not!" she defended, an indignant look adorning her features. "We're just friends- I've told you a million times that there's nothing more to it, and honestly, I wish you'd just leave me alone about it." She ripped another petal off furiously.
He loves me not.
Wolf, Rat's exceedingly hairy German Shepherd, sensed the universal's distress and padded over to her, laying his head down on her lap and giving her free hand a comforting lick. Jane took the moment to intervene, laying a palm on her friend's shoulder gently.
"Connie, I'm sorry, but I agree with Anneena. You two haven't been the same around each other the last few months." Connie stared at her in disbelief- Jane never harassed her about her occasionally rocky relationship with the pegasus companion. Wolf snaffled the next petal she dropped happily.
He loves me.
"I don't know what you mean," she hedged, but at this point, she was starting to realize that her attempts to turn them off the matter were completely in vain.
We're your friends- we're just worried about you," Jane reasoned. "Did anything happen?"
"No, nothing happened, not since-" Too late, Connie realized her mistake.
"Not since what?" Anneena encouraged eagerly. Connie shrank backwards, and turned her eyes firmly back to the daisy in her lap. She fed another petal to Wolf, who decided that he didn't like the taste of the flower- probably due to some dredged-up memory of being slipped some of the hedgerow jam by Rat or Mr. Ratcliff, as so not to offend Mrs. Ratcliff's feelings. He promptly spat the petal out.
He loves me not.
"Tell us what happened," Anneena beseeched. "You know we won't tell anyone." Jane gave a nod of concurrence, and Connie sighed, defeated.
"I kissed him," she mumbled, and was unprepared for the other girl's reaction. Anneena suddenly pounced on her, and Wolf gave a yelp of surprise as he was pushed out of the way by the usurper. The petal that Connie had been holding was pulled from the daisy due to the impact.
He loves me.
"You kissed him!" she exclaimed incredulously. "When? Where? Why?"
"Just on the cheek," she clarified hurriedly. "After the… storm." Anneena's eyes gleamed in excitement.
"Oh my goodness! I can't believe you kept that from us! What did he say?" Connie's face had turned a shade of bright red that rivalled the poppies dotted around the garden as she mumbled an answer.
He loves me not.
"He didn't say anything." she responded quietly, and Anneena's jubilant mood deflated slightly. Jane gave her a sympathetic hug. After a few moments, she pulled back and looked Connie directly in the eye.
"Connie, do you like him?" she asked frankly. Connie nodded, not trusting herself to say anything else. "As more than a friend." After a pause of hesitation, she nodded again.
"You can't tell him, though," she maintained. "If he found out, then…"
She trailed off and her gaze focused on the wall in front of her. A foot, oddly bereft of a shoe, appeared over the wall, and was followed by a hand, signalling the arrival of Connie's younger brother.
"Hi, Connie, Anneena, Jane," Simon greeted easily, then looked slightly to the left of the group. "Hi, Col." The colour drained from Connie's face, but she didn't look around. Jane's and Anneena's corresponding expressions of shock told her enough.
Simon glanced at his grey sock bemusedly, as though he had not noticed its lack of further footwear. "Hold on. I'm after losing the other shoe," he announced. Jane and Anneena shared a look, and dashed towards the end of the garden.
"We'll help you look for it," Jane volunteered, and the pair exited out through the gate, without acknowledgement of the betrayed glares Connie sent in their direction.
She turned around slowly, agonizingly, desperately hoping that nobody behind her; that it was all a joke. She took one look at Col's expressionless face, and hurriedly stood up, brushing the grass from her jeans. The daisy, now forgotten about, clung to the fabric of her t-shirt. She turned away from him, unable to bear meeting his eyes after what he had probably just heard. She waited for him to speak- to confirm that he had heard her, to say what she had dreaded hearing in that moment after she had kissed her cheek, to explain that he didn't want to be anything more than friends.
He didn't say anything, and she took the chance he gave her to run. She sprinted towards the gate, frantically trying to escape the words that she knew were inevitable. Before she reached the wall, a hand caught her firmly by the shoulder.
"Connie, hear me out," he pleaded. She didn't respond, but did not move any further. "I didn't know what I wanted to say then." He moved around so that he was facing her.
"I know what I want to say now," he stated softly. "Do you remember the time we first met?" Connie nodded, somehow regaining the use of her voice.
"The coffee shop," she replied hesitantly, despite the fact that she did not need to think about her answer. "The summer I came."
"I told you then that the odds were probably about one in ten million that we had met." He paused. His expression still gave nothing away. "I think I've changed my mind." Connie tried to pull away, unshed tears sparkling in her eyes, but Col didn't loosen his grasp.
"Wait, let me finish," he soothed. "I've changed my mind. The odds are much, much higher." He drew her in closer towards him, and placed his arms around her waist gently. "I'm not letting something like that go."
The kiss was fleeting, but it was filled with hope. Even after they had pulled away, Connie and Col did not turn their attention away from one another.
They did not notice Anneena and Jane beam at each other, and silently share a high-five from behind the wall. They did not notice Rat stroll from the house, or notice his eyes widen at the couple before he quickly re-entered the house, grinning quietly.
They did notice, as they pulled away, a dishevelled daisy falling from Connie's clothes. Col, with quick reflexes, caught it before it hit the ground, and offered it to Connie without saying a word. They shared a smile as she bashfully pulled the last petal from the daisy.
He loves me.