Scout was vibrating in excitement, a bubbly feeling in his chest; making him feel like he could float away at any second. Standing still seemed impossible for the runner, as if that if he stopped pacing or having his fingers twitch with every rapid thump of his heart he'd lose his connection with the ground. Winter had melted away and the plants were turning green again. As much as the others poked fun at him for it, he couldn't help but be excited for it, a grin plastered on his face and a skip in his step no matter what happened. One only turned twenty-seven once after all. He had made sure that on all the calendars in the base there was a giant red circle on the date, March sixteenth.
It was four days away and he couldn't help but bring it up it every chance he got, even when the others got irritated with his repetition. Growing up as the youngest of eight, he rarely got his mother's attention to himself, yet she always made time for him on that day of the year. Even though the large family could never throw a large party with a huge pile of presents, the boys were always overjoyed when she tried her best. Only this year, Scout was at work and his mother was miles away.
Instead the runner planned on something else, a date. Though it took a week's worth of planning due to having to make a reservation, he just had to ask her. Miss Pauling. The thought of her made him tingle with a feeling he couldn't quite place, but he considered it love, or at least a crush. She had been irritable for the past few weeks with work and the administrator breathing down her neck so he had waited for once, searching for the perfect moment.
Instead of going with the rest of the team once the match had ended, he waited. Sitting behind the table with the intelligence, slightly wilted flowers in hand. Ever since his last stunt with trying to get her attention, at the end of each match she would go to the intelligence rooms and take them, he sometimes wondered why she just didn't keep them, instead having the two teams fight other them. But he got a paycheck for it and he got a chance to see her, so he didn't question it much.
A gnawing doubt started to eat away at him the more time ticked by. Fears that she wouldn't come or that she'd deny his request again. I tried to quell them with thoughts that may have been seen as arrogant by anyone but himself. How he was "irresistible" and how "she could never deny a nice dinner with him," but they only do so much. Just as the doubts and constant ticking became too much, he heard the squeak of a door opening. Ripped out of his musing, he rose his head to see her entering the room, shutting the door quietly behind her. "Miss Pauling," he exclaimed, a grin growing on his face. Jumping to the floor he bounded over to her, flowers in hand. "I- uh, I mean, hello Miss Pauling, do you come here often? I mean-" He suddenly thrusted the flowers in her direction. "These are for you," he said awkwardly fast. She sighed before, heading towards the briefcase. "I've got something big planned! You're sure to love it," he exclaimed.
"Scout, I haven't gotten any decent sleep in days. I'm pretty sure that at this point coffee may be running through my veins instead of blood," she sighed bags evident under her eyes.
"I know you're busy with work most of the time, but we almost never see each other! This date is really special, I had the French bastard help me get a reservation and everything," he retaliated, following her as she started to pick up the loose papers and move around the room.
"Did it occur to you that I might have been busy? Ever since the Administrator piled all this onto me, I've been working non-stop," she huffed before walking towards the door, only for the man to block her way.
"But-"
"Look, maybe this just won't work out."
"What do you mean? We can-" he was cut off again.
"Just, listen for a second alright? I don't think we can make this work. No matter how much we try I'm always busy with work and I never have the time for this. You just can't seem to accept that, you're looking for a girl that has time for all these things. I can't be that girl Scout.
"You need someone who can make time for you, I can't do that. So, I think it'd be best if we let this go," she said, looking down at the ground.
"You can't be serious, you're the one for me Miss P! We can make this work," he argued.
"You need to see other people, give it a year or two. Maybe if you still feel this then, we can try again. But now, it won't work, I'll see you around," she pushed him out of the way, his body was light, having lost any determination he once had, now being replaced with a deep seated sadness.
As the door shut with a sharp click, a deep pain bloomed in his chest. If the runner didn't know any better, he might of said he heard the sound of his heart shattering like glass. Pieces littering the ground, too many and too small to put back together again.
His fists clenched as a tear fell down his face against his will, but he managed to hold the rest back. Releasing his hand he walked over to the flowers that had fallen onto the ground, picking them up. He planned to stand back up, but instead he simply fell into a slouched sit on the dirty concrete floor.
"That could've gone better," he mumbled, pulling petals off one by one, letting them fall around him. "But what should have I expected with trying to get with a gal like her?" He questioned himself before choking out a sob. Tears streaming down his face with the force of a waterfall despite his determination to stop them.
He sat there for a moment as he let his sadness and despair consume him. By the time his tears slowed, his face was a splotchy red and there were wet spots on his shirt where the tears had hit. Crushing what little was left of the flowers, he stood up, dropping the crushed mass of stems on the floor among the leaves and petals. Just as he was about to open the door, he threw on an arrogant smile, as cracked as it was and left. Trying to leave the memories of that day behind in that room.
