12: Limerance


noun

1.the state of being infatuated or obsessed with another person, typically experienced involuntarily and characterized by a strong desire for reciprocation of one's feelings.

"You look different today." Rose, staring at me with a puzzled expression, cocks her head to the side. Her mass of curly pink hair shifts, gleaming in the sunlight. "What is it about you that makes you look different today?"

Equally puzzled, I look down to give myself a once-over, then reach up with both hands, patting my cheeks. I have just about as much stubble as I usually do on my face, so that couldn't be it. "Hmm," I say, "Whaddaya mean?"

Rose points. "Oh, now I see! It's that," she says. "That. Your shirt. It's different."

I look down at my shirt. I can't help it—I laugh. "Oh, yeah. It is different from the shirt I wore yesterday, isn't it?"

Frowning as though she's thinking something over, she observes aloud, "Humans change clothing a lot. Very often. And you also purchase new ones." She locks gazes with me again, pursing her lips in that inquisitive way that she does when she's about to ask me something. "I've always wondered why. Is it necessary?"

As usual, I try my best to answer her with tact and patience. "Well, yeah," I say, pausing to think. "We change our clothes for functional purposes, that's for sure. We wouldn't smell very nice if we didn't. But it's also to…express ourselves. It's a way to show off who we are."

"Who you are," Rose echoes, ruminating over this with a nod. "Your individuality. Of course." Her eyebrows furrow again, and another question makes its' way to her lips. "So, is that what makeup and hairstyles are for? For the same purpose?"

"Sure," I say. "Many women and men like to use makeup and change their hair to express themselves. Sometimes even to change their appearances."

Rose nods again, turning to watch two women walk past where we're standing on the pier. As they leave hearing distance, Rose says, "Gems hardly ever change. Our appearances always stay the same. Unless we reform, that is. And except for Amethysts' shape shifting." She smiles softly at her own joke, but quickly it fades. "I'm jealous of humans' ability to change whenever or however they want. It's incredible."

I watch her as she speaks, and my stomach flutters in wonder, as it always does when she says things like that. For the millionth time, I think that I would have never seen the world the way I do now if I never had met her. Then I nod. "It is, isn't it?"

Suddenly she turns to me, frowning, appearing troubled. "Do you want me to change, too?"

Taken aback, I blink at her. "Huh?"

"To change my appearance. To look different every day. Like humans can," she clarifies, staring intensely into my eyes, looking as if the fate of entire universe hinges on my answer.

Shedding my brief shock, I shake my head fervently. "No, no! Rose, oh geez." I take both of her hands in mine. "Of course I don't want you to change. I never want you to change. Unless, of course, you want to change. Then I would fully support that," I add, just in case. "But you're perfect to me the way you are. You always will be. No matter what."

She relaxes slightly, and her face softens. "No matter what?"

I bring her left hand up to my lips to kiss it, then I kiss her right hand, too. "I promise."

Rose's expression warms as a beam appears, and she laughs musically. It's the most wonderful sound. "And I promise that you'll also be perfect to me always, even if you change. Even if you lose your hair."

I let go of one of her hands, flipping my long hair behind my shoulder in an over the top manner. "That'll never happen."

Rose laughs again, harder this time. I smile, too. Then she shakes her head. "If you say so," she says. Then, smirking, she unexpectedly lets go of my other hand and turns to leave down the pier toward Funland as she says over her shoulder, "By the way, Mr. Universe, that was a test. You passed."

Dumbfounded, I watch her amused, retreating form for a few moments as her admission clicks. Then I run after her, half cackling and half yelling, "Hey, wait! Wait up!"