"Hey!" "Hi Peter!" Chris waved as he ran over to us, obviously earning a sharp glare from me. "What brings you out here on this fine May day?" Oh god, Chris; why? "Uh, can I talk to you?" Peter addressed me, answering her question in the process. Of course….. You know, this sort of thing was a lot more romantic in books and movies. Chris kept glancing between us with that same knowing smile. Ugh! I loved her but girl…..

"Oooooooh, did you hear that, Aerity? He wants to talk to you; alone, I bet." My eyes rolled, followed by a short sigh. "Sure," I said without looking at Peter. "Wonderful!" Chris's hands clapped together. "I'll leave you two to it. If you need me, I'll be in the changeroom, google Justin Trudeau shirtless." This earned another eye roll from me as she took off, but not before shooting me a wink. Yeah, cause that wasn't obvious enough. After giving my face an exasperated rub, I reluctantly turned to face Peter for the first time. He wasn't smiling; he looked more awkward than anything. Huh, what happened to the confident Peter from the movies last night?

"Uh, um….." His thick hand rubbed the back of his head tensely. "Look, about our conversation last night…." He called that a conversation? "What you said….. I…. I get it now; what you meant about getting over me." What the hell is he talking about? I blinked confused but didn't say anything. "I'll admit, I was utterly clueless; I had no idea you felt that way." What way? What does he mean? Some context would be nice! "Don't get me wrong," his gaze drifted downwards in a slightly shy fashion. "I'm not mad or anything; well, not anymore. Now that I know, things just clicked. I wish we could have had this talk sooner…." What "talk"? What was happening? "I appreciate it, Aerity; I really do, but to be honest with you, it's never gonna happen."

Now felt like the perfect time for me to speak, mostly because Peter paused and patiently waited for my reaction. By the way he was talking, it almost sounded like he was rejecting me or something. But that didn't make sense; for me to reject him, I'd have to confess… Wait, my lips parted a tad. "What are you talking about?" I finally got out, sounding more than a little confused. "Ok, real talk; you're super hot, like you glowed up beautifully. And yeah, I guess we did have a bond back in high school." What? Did he just say "I glowed up beautifully"? "And I think it's really cool that you think I have golden specks in my eyes…"

Peter continued but I wasn't listening anymore. I had the upmost misfortune to peer down at his right hand, only to see one of the missing letters in it. Holy… My eyes started to widen as my jaw literally dropped open. I felt like someone who gets sick off dairy feels after drinking a whole carton of milk. My stomach was seconds from dropping right out of me and onto the track. My whole body was both burning and freezing at once. And I felt super lightheaded to the point of being dizzy. H-holy shot! That's the letter I wrote in high school to Peter! That's Peter's letter!

While I dumbfoundedly gawked down at his hand, Peter just kept going on and on; he obviously didn't notice my stunned expression. "It's just Gen and I, we're in a really weird place now and…" Blah blah blah. That's literally all I heard after that sentence. My head was too fuzzy, my limbs were going numb. I'd never fainted or swooned before, but this did it; this was enough. Before he could ask me anything, I found myself falling backwards straight onto my back. "Hey, whoa, whoa, whoa!" That was the last thing I heard before black; blissful darkness. At least for ten seconds.

"Hey! Hello? Hey, wake up!" Opening my eyes after my ten second nap, I found Peter bent over me with concerned eyes. "You ok?" Am I ok? I blinked repeatedly. Am I ok? What kind of question was that?! I just fainted right in front of you! Thinking about it only made me madder. "No, I'm not ok!" I yelled, sitting up a little too quickly. The dizziness lasted for five seconds before anger took complete hold over my brain. "Where did you get that?!" My hand reached over to yank the letter from his grasp. Peter flinched and looked at me with surprise. "Uh, in the mail?" He said like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "No; no, this can't be happening!" "Hey, hey," his hand came to rest gently on my shoulder. "It's ok; it's not a big deal. Like I said, I'm not mad anymore." "Oh, oh ok," I rested my shut eyes on my hand. Peter's not mad at me, great! Problem solved; that's the end of my worries! One down, how many more guys to go? Wait…. my hand lowered a little. More guys…? Oh my god, my jaw dropped for a second time. There were more letters! One to Peter and… "Josh….." I whispered to myself in horror. "Huh?" Peter tilted his head puzzled, not that I was paying attention to him anymore. My thoughts were all centered on another letter recipient; one who was currently trying to get over my older sister.

Without warning, I leapt to my feet. I had already started running by the time Peter stood up, looking utterly baffled by my action. "Hey, wait! Where are you going?! We gotta talk about this!" But I didn't stop; my body wouldn't let me. I had to get to the bottom of this and before any damage was caused; well, anymore damage. I didn't stop until I slammed the front door open; running helped fester my loathing. There had to be a rational explanation. "Kitty!" I screamed at the top of my lungs, which I could do cause Daddy wasn't home. I needed answers and I needed them now. "Kitty, get out here!"

I heard a fumble, then a bang, then the soft pattering of feet. "Jesus!" Kitty shouted down to me from the top of the staircase. "What is wrong with you, Aerity?! You almost gave me a heart attack!" "You said you didn't see the box!" My forefinger pointed accusingly her way. "You said you Daddy took it to recycling!" "What are you talking about?!" Kitty's own tone was mad now. "The box! The box with all the letters in it!" "What letters?" She asked, descending the stairs. "The ones I wrote to all the boys I've had crushes on; they're gone! And Peter has his miraculously!" "You wrote letters to all the boys you've loved before?" To my shock, a surprised and mischievously delighted smile bloomed across her lips. "And they got them? Like now?" "Yes! Someone found them and mailed them off."

"Well don't look at me," her hands flew up into the air. "I didn't know you did something so corny." "This isn't a joke, Kitty! Those letters were personal and never meant to be read. This is a huge violation of my trust and privacy!" I marched after her down the hall. "Then I suggest you save your energy, find whoever did this, and yell at them, cause I didn't do it." "Are you sure?" I eyed her suspiciously. Kitty peered back at me and rolled her eyes dramatically. "Please, if I was going to send letters to your old flames, I'd at least read them first myself." She said, opening the fridge and pulling out the milk carton. "You're telling me the truth, right Kitty?" I had a feeling now that she was, but I needed to be sure. "Come on, Aerity. You know I wouldn't do that to you," she spoke with such sincerity that I believed her; she confirmed it for me.

Sighing, I threw myself onto the couch and buried my head into a pillow to groan. "So," Kitty sat down on the other side of the couch. "Who'd you write to?" "Peter," I said without moving my head. "Peter?!" Kitty almost choked on her milk. "You mean that really hot guy from last night? You wrote him a letter?" "Yeah, back in high school." "And he got it?" "He confronted me about it today," I moaned again. "Confronted?" Her eyebrow raised. "More like rejected my sixteen-year-old self." "Too bad; he's cute. Who else?" "Josh…" "Really, Josh?! When?" "Like twelve years ago? Back when we were in middle school." "Does Margot know?" "No, I never told anyone." "Huh," Kitty sat back in her seat and gazed up at the ceiling; I could tell she was thinking to herself.

"Well, maybe this is a good thing." "How so?" I shot her an unimpressed glare. "You love Josh; he might as well know. You'll have to tell him sooner or later anyway." "Um, news flash, Kitty. Josh just broke up with Margot; he left to get over her. This will only complicate things; I want him to take his time getting over Margot properly." "Why? You can have him?" "No!" My glare intensified. "Because I want him to heal in a healthy, mature way. This is not mature! Besides, it was a letter I wrote a long time ago; it has no meaning now." "Really?" Kitty asked like she already knew the answer.

Before I could say anything else, there was a knock at the front door. Oh no! I inwardly cringed. Not another one; not now! Please, please don't be Peter. I looked to Kitty with a pleading stare but with a sly grin, she motioned dramatically for the door. With the upmost reluctance, I dragged myself to my feet and went to answer it, praying the whole way. The door opened to reveal- much to my surprise and astonishment- not someone I knew but an older, big man in a uniform. He had a clipboard which he looked up from to me. "Miss Aerity Covey?" He asked. "Uh, yes?" "Here," I suddenly found this huge bouquet of roses placed in my arms. It was so big that I needed both arms to hold them all. "This is for you." "Uh…. um!" But he was gone before I could even formulate a question in my head.

Kitty was also up by now and watched with wide eyes as I clumsily carried the bouquet inside. "Whoa!" She gasped in amazement. "Who are those from?!" "I have no idea," I set it down on the table. That was my first good look at the floral arrangement. Roses….. red roses; two dozen of them. They were all tied together with this fancy pink and gold ribbon. This little card was attached. Carefully untying the card, I brought it up to read it out loud; Kitty was just as startled and confused as I was. It read in blue ink: Dearest Aerity. Thank you for your letter; I will treasure it always. Will tell you more in person when I will see you soon. Your humble and faithful servant, J. My eyes grew as I felt like I was going to cry. Josh…..

"Your humble and faithful servant?!" Kitty burst out laughing, grabbing the card from my still stunned hand. "When did Josh get all Victorian?" "Hey! He knows I like classic English literature," I retorted defensively. Then I looked back at the roses; so many roses. My lips parted a little as I stood there motionless for a second. No one's ever done anything like this for me before. No one….. I should have been overcome with joy; I should have been swooning. And I won't lie; a part of me was unspeakably happy. But this also came along with confusion, surprise, and embarrassment- a lot of the latter.

Meanwhile, Kitty inspected the card curiously. "What's this symbol?" She pointed to a crest at the top righthand corner. I peered over her shoulder at it. "Huh, that's the Oxford logo. They must have not had any University of Edinburgh cards." My eyes slowly reverted back to the bouquet. Now what? I had no clue what to do….. "Two dozen red roses," Kitty also looked over. Neither of us said anything more for a minute, where I just stared at them and Kitty blinked to me. "I think you should marry Josh."

This came so out of nowhere that I almost fell down. Instead, I gave Kitty the most incredulousness gobsmacked stare. But her vivid expression didn't falter. "Think about it. He's the first guy to ever send you flowers like this." "I…. wha-… just no, Kitty!" My voice raised on its own again. "What? Let's go through the list: you're already in love with him; he obviously has some regard for you; he's rich; he's handsome; you live in the same building…. He's like your own Mr. Darcy!" "Yeah, except this Mr. Darcy is still in love with our sister- remember?! And last I checked, it's not a requirement but one should love their partner before marriage." "But you do love Josh, don't you?" She blinked slightly puzzled. "Yes, I do love Josh! As a best friend!" I threw up my arms into the air. "I don't know how I feel romantically about him….. yet. This is a very confusing time for me." "Well then call Josh and make it un-confusing. He just sent you a butt-load of roses, sis. Call me crazy, but that must mean something, right?"

Seeing Kitty's point rather clearly for once, I pulled out my phone and found Josh's number. It took me a moment to press the call button, and it felt even longer for it to ring. I won't lie, a light wave of relief washed over me when he didn't pick up. But seeing the look on Kitty's face, I tried again with no success. I put my phone away and turned to face her. "No answer." "Maybe he's busy," she shrugged. I was about to say I'd try again later but to my surprise, Kitty proceeded to shake her head. "Actually, on second thought, this is clearly something you two need to talk out in person. Maybe don't call him again; wait for him to call you." "You're right," my eyes peered back at the roses. We needed to talk about some things and I needed to do some serious thinking….. a lot of thinking.

Kitty watched me as I came up to the bouquet, examining it quietly- a little peacefully. They were gorgeous…. super beautiful. "I don't know how I feel…." My lips spoke on their own accord. "You can take your time," Kitty said in her intimate wisdom. "You two don't need to talk about it today." No reply from me. She waited a second before cracking a side grin. "Heh, he never bought flowers for Margot." "And we're not going to tell her," I directed firmly. "It would hurt her; she's in enough pain…" But Kitty was right; I'd never seen Josh even consider buying anything romantic like this. Then again, Margot wasn't really the "romantic" type. But maybe, I was…

I could feel Kitty's eyes on me as I reached down to pluck one of the roses up. I lifted it to my nose so I could smell it gently. And she smiled- she genuinely smiled, happy for me. I knew she was by the way her eyes glimmered. My lips mirrored her expression as a fresh, brilliant smile blossomed across my face. Josh…. Gently holding the rose in my hand, my eyes softened in the calmest way. His face flashed repeatedly through my mind. I don't know if I loved you like that, not yet…. but I wouldn't mind if I did, someday.