Okay. First of all, I would like to apologize for being MIA for a month and a half but I can honestly say that I was busy. I've been working my butt off this last month writing papers, doing readings, and studying because next week is FINALS! I can't believe that FINALS is coming up so soon. It feels like we just had MidTerms.
Secondly, I've been very stressed lately so I've honestly been reading Ryelsi fanfictions to calm me down.
Lastly, I've been putting off finishing this story for two reasons. One, I've been so busy that I can only touch and write a few paragraphs at a time. Two, I don't want to finish this because this will be the end of "End a Rooney" but technically, "End a Rooney" ended in chapter 2. I just want to continue it to see what happens when they get to Bolivia. I'm currently writing chapter 6 so I'm hoping to finish this story by the end of the year. I'm crossing my fingers that I actually do that.
Chapter 5: A Rose of a Different Color
The rest of the flight wasn't very eventful. Parker and I watched another movie until we both fell asleep, my head rested on his shoulder and his head rested on top of my head. His hand on top of mine on the armrest and our fingers intertwined. My dreams consisted of a life-changing event that happened a few days ago.
We had just gotten off of school for the summer but summer didn't mean I could see my friends, well, one friend in particular. Parker and I would be gone in a week to Bolivia for a whole school year and we just kinda-sorta confessed our feelings to each other the night before. I still couldn't wrap around the idea that the guy I've liked for nearly a year likes me back. I didn't know it yet but our relationship was going to move on to the next level.
I was in my room checking off everything I needed for Bolivia when I heard the doorbell. Not thinking much of it, I didn't look up. It wasn't until I heard a knock on my door that I put down my checklist and strode over to my door. I wasn't surprised to see Parker Rooney, my crush and best friend, on the other side. We've been seeing each other a lot lately, either I'd go to his place and we'd do something or he'd come over to my house and we'd do something. He's been coming over to my house an awful lot recently and I was starting to get suspicious. I got a curious look on my face. "Parker, what are you doing here? Not that I enjoy seeing you but it's 7pm. Why are you here?"
He looked at me with hopeful eyes, though I couldn't exactly tell why. Then a grin started to form before he grabbed my hand and dragged me out of my bedroom. "Parker! What are you…" He was dragging me so fast that I nearly tripped on my way down the stairs, "What are you doing? Where are we going?" He just turned to me and smiled bigger. I could tell that he wasn't going to tell me anytime soon. I sighed and followed him to some unknown destination.
After about 10 minutes of him dragging me out of the house and down a few blocks, he stopped but kept his grip on my hand. He then turned to me and took something out from his pockets. He unfolded it to reveal a bandana. I expected him to tie it around his head like a headband but instead it tied it around MY head, covering my eyes. After he double knotted the ends around the back of my head, he spoke to me for the first time that day. "How many fingers am I holding up?"
"How am I supposed to know? I can't see a thing."
I guess he was satisfied with my response because I heard him say "good" before dragging me once again to who-knows-where. I let out a groan in frustration because (1) I haven't seen Parker in 2 days, (2) he showed up at my house a few days before leaving for Bolivia and spoke all but 10 words to me, (3) he refused to tell me where we were going, let alone what we were doing, and (4) I was freaking blindfolded so I had no way of knowing where we were going or what was happening. All I knew was Parker was currently dragging me through the streets of Malibu a few days we were leaving for the Mars BioDome. I had to expect the unexpected because anything could happen. I sighed and let him drag me to our destination.
It didn't take us long before we stopped again. I felt that he was untying. I sighed in relief but that was cut short when he whispered "keep your eyes closed" in my ear. I shivered slightly as his hot breath made it's way past my ear and hit my cheek. I could just see him grinning at the effect he had on me. I obeyed him and closed my eyes, only to find his warm hands covering my eyes. This, I was surprised by because this was the first time his hands went anywhere near my face. Usually we would just be holding hands or linking arms. I guess you can say that I was shocked by the contact but I could feel sparks between his fingers and my eyelids. I had a good feeling about what was about to happen.
He guided me a few steps, saying where to step in the process. Soon, we stopped once again. I felt him slowly removing his hands from my eyes. "Okay. Open them." I flickered my eyes open and I was amazed at what I saw. I noticed we were somewhere familiar, very familiar. As in we-were-just-here-a-few-days-ago familiar. I smiled as I finally realized we were in the middle of BOOMS, between the Chemistry Lab and the gymnasium. We've had so many memories this past year, I lost count. I looked up to see that Parker was now holding a yellow flower with a red tip, and if I knew my flowers, he was holding a rose but why was it yellow? Weren't roses usually red or pink or something? He cleared his throat before speaking. "Val, in a few days, we'll be leaving to Bolivia to live in a Mars BioDome for a school year. It's been 10 months since we met and throughout those months, we've developed a decent friendship and I can honestly say that you are one of my best friends. I don't want us to go to the BioDome as friends." My smile disappeared. Did he want to end our friendship? Did he not like me anymore? Was all the projects, late night calls, and general hanging out all for nothing? My thoughts were going at a rapid speed that Parker noticed my sudden change in emotions. He continued. "I want us to go to the BioDome as boyfriend-girlfriend." My eyes lit up at the mention of 'boyfriend-girlfriend.'
"So what do you say? Me and you?" I couldn't believe my ears. He took a step towards me.
"Seriously? You and me?" I asked, just to make sure I wasn't dreaming. I took a step.
He stepped closer to me so that our faces were inches apart. "I can't think of a better pair," he whispered. I smiled.
"Um. Yes. I'd like that." Then I heard him chuckle.
"I'm sensing a bit of deja vu here." I laughed along with him and agreed. When our laughter died down, I tucked some stray hairs behind my ear and briefly looked at the ground. I then looked up at Parker, who was still holding the yellow rose. I was still curious about the yellow rose.
"Not to be rude or anything, but what's with the flower?" I pointed to it. He looked down at it and smiled before looking back up at me.
He admired the flower from his hands. "This is a rose, used by friends and lovers all over the world. I don't know if you knew this but the color of the rose means something. You may be used to the normal red rose, which symbolizes love and romance. I'm not saying that I should have gotten a red rose but I'm pretty sure I would get a red rose sometime in the future. It's just a little early for us." I nodded my head in agreement. We just became boyfriend-girlfriend and it was a little early to call it love. He continued with his speech. "Other colors mean other meanings. A white rose means purity and innocence. An orange rose means enthusiasm and passion. A pink rose means admiration. There's all these different colors that have different meanings. I can go on and on about other colors and other meanings but I think you get the idea." My smile grew as I let out a little giggle. When he was describing the different colors and the different meanings, he was looking at the yellow rose in his hand, He looked up to look at me. I was waiting for him to tell me what the yellow rose meant. "Do you know what a yellow rose means?" I shook my head no. "Well, to put it simply, it means friendship. We were friends before anything else. I believe the best relationships start out as friendships because that makes the relationship stronger." He started gently touching the red tip of the rose. "There's a reason why the tip is red while the rest of the rose is yellow. You see, a yellow rose with a red tip means something different than friendship." He paused and I waited, rather impatiently, for him to tell me what it meant. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath before opening them and looking straight into my eyes. I could feel the intensity of emotions from his gaze. "It means falling in love."
My eyes bulged out of their sockets. (Okay, not literally but you get the idea.) I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Falling in Love. Could it be? I looked over at him expectantly. "Do...do you feel that way...for me?" I was disappointed when he shook his head.
"Not yet but I'm pretty sure I'll feel that way soon." He took my hands into his. I glanced out our joined hands, how they fit perfectly in each others. "I can't stop how I feel for you. It may not be love yet but it's getting there. I really, really, REALLY like you, Val." I giggled when he put a special emphasis on the last 'really'. He reached out toward my face and dried a tear that I didn't know was escaping my eyes. "I really want us to work. You're the first girl that I had feelings towards and I want you to be the only girl for me." He then kissed my forehead. "And that is why the rose has a red tip on it." He stook out the flower for me and I gently took it from his fingers. I smelled the sweet scent of the rose. I've always loved how roses smelled.
"Oh Parker." I wiped a tear coming down my cheeks with my own hands. "No guy has ever done something like this to me. It makes me feel like I made the right choice when I accepted your not-Chemistry-challenge invitation." Both of us laughed at the memory. That was when I first saw that Parker had feelings for me. How could a misunderstanding be the start of a relationship? Love works in mysterious ways.
We spent the rest of the evening and into the night having a romantic picnic 2nd dinner and a moonlit walk on the beach. It was so romantic, I thought I was a part of some teen romance movie where the viewers could 'ship' the characters together and write fanfiction on them. What can I say? I'm a hopeless romantic, well not as hopeless now.
I woke up from someone gently shaking my body. I stirred in my sleep. Who dares wake me now? "Val? Time to wake up, baby. We're landing soon." I secretly smiled in my sleep at the sound of my boyfriend's voice. Boyfriend, it's got a nice ring to it.
The roses were inspired by "Twenty Five Roses" by fallinrain and "The Color of Roses" by HermioneRose. I also had to do a bit of research for the different meanings of the different roses. I wish guys would do that for me. I'm such a romantic.
