Chapter 27: Where Actions Can Say More Than Words
CLANG!
"Shit!"
"Wh—Wh."
The following morning, Willow woke up with a stuffed rabbit in her arms instead of a pretty face… Disappointing… As she was having such a wonderful dream about a certain three-eyed witch.
Not that she would ever bring it up…
She stirs and stretches. Her vision a light daze and blurred. If she could, she would snuggle that pink rabbit and close her eyes for 5 more minutes. But as she rubs the shmuck from her eyes, the vision of a witch fades in. And she realizes there's dirt on the floor…
And Boscha frantically trying to clean up the mess.
Willow jolts up and hops over to the mess of shattered pottery. "Oh my gosh?! Are you okay!?"
"I—" Boscha snaps her head towards her. "I'm sor—Wait." She bites out that word like it didn't even appear in her mind. It hadn't occurred to her that Willow would be less worried about the plant and more worried about her.
She looks at the bits of shards in her hands, and sets them down. Her fingers were now covered in dirt and tiny scratches. As she rubs her hands together, her eyes dart away from Willow. "I'm okay..." she says. "I'm really sorry for being so clumsy I just bumped into it and—"
"Oh, Sweetheart!"
Boscha's ears wiggle as blood rushes to her face, unaware Willow was talking about her plant and not her. But before Boscha could respond, Willow's already shoveling mountains of dirt into a bigger pot.
Boscha looks over Willow's shoulder as Willow pats the dirt around the odd pink sapling. "S…Sweetheart?"
"Yeeppp. I… Named it that."
"OHh I see..."
With a gentle sweep here and there, Willow's already almost half way done with cleaning up the mess. To the point Boscha feels as though she was about as useful as the stuffed rabbit just watching both of them with it's horrifying button eyes…
"Boscha?"
"Yes?" She says, almost jumping at the opportunity to possibly contribute in any way.
"You can sit down now."
Ah. Despite the disappointment, she can't even be mad. There's not a lot she can really do anyways... All she can do is watch as Willow cleans up her mess for her.
"By the way."
Boscha hums, "Yes?"
"Do you need anything?"
"Well…"
Boscha mentally recounts her morning routine. Wake up, check. Eat breakfast… Well she can't do that yet. Drink el—Oh yeah.
"I haven't drank my…"
Willow's eyes widen suddenly. She snaps her head towards Boscha. "Oh no!"
"Ahah Willow!" Boscha holds Willow's face between two fingers. Almost just to tease her for being so worried. "I always bring spare!"
"Ouwhh." She replies, her voice squished into Boscha's hand.
"But I need water."
"I'll go fetch you some!"
Before Boscha could protest, Willow rushes out the room. Welp. She didn't need the help but sure, she'll let her for now. Maybe she could even help with the plant…
Or maybe she'll make things worse.
Never mind! Do something else instead…
Her eyes wander around Willow's room. It's littered with many different plants, each pot painted amateurishly, with messy doodles and obvious paint drops that were never cleaned off. There were even cartoonish skull doodles on some of the mushroom pots to indicate their poisonous nature. Surely, each doodle meant something to her. To the plant it belonged to…
Like all the little hearts on the now broken pot in front of her.
Willow quickly walks back in with a glass of water in her hand. A conversation trails off from outside the door;
"It's perfectly natural for teenagers we just need to know if you have—"
"WE'RE GOOD POPS THANK YOU!" Willow yells outside the bedroom. She slams the door shut and sits down on the bed beside Boscha.
"Here," she squeaks out with a half-assed smile.
"Thanks."
As Boscha takes the glass of water in her hand, their fingers brush ever so lightly. Her breath falters at the sweet feeling, but she doesn't think Willow noticed, as she's back to fixing up her 'Sweetheart'.
Damn it. Willow's too sweet. She can't not help her.
"You know I can help too." She gulps down the bitter elixr before following it up with a cold splash of water. With a triumphant sigh she wipes her face with her sleeve. "Just tell me what I need to do!"
"Well you can plant Sweetheart into this pot."
"Okay… How exactly?"
Willow giggles, and Boscha quirks her eyebrow at her. "Why are you laughing? I'm completely serious!"
"Because you're a nerd who would rather measure every last drop of water and schedule how long exactly you'd have to leave a plant under the sun?"
"Well of course! You wouldn't want your potion dealer to be just guessing their measurements. That's not only dumb, but also dangerous! I mean, don't you have some plant regime to take care of your plants properly?"
"I guess that's the fun part about plants. You have to learn to adapt to them depending on their growth. Take this one for example!" Willow hastily grabs her Valentino plant. "He's a bit needier than the others so I make sure to shower him with lots of love and affection"
Boscha chuckles. It's always amusing how Willow could just give her silly things personalities. But she'll play along. "Oh. And your other plants don't get jealous?"
"Well, no. They're perfectly content." Willow gently brushes the dirt off Sweetheart's leaves with her fingertips; Boscha sighs happily at that…
Willow really deserves the most loving partner. Just the way she takes care of her plants is indicative of how much of a loving person she is. If Boscha could even love half as much as Willow, she would be perfectly content…
But, she can't. And it irks her more than she would like to admit.
The closest she has ever felt to love was admiration and servitude. In her mind, love and belonging meant admiration or service. Sure. It's love to her.
But if she could just learn to love like Willow…
"Willow."
"Mhm?" Willow hums as she dusts off her dirty hands like a hardworking carpenter.
"About... Grom."
Willow stares at her, and her piercing green eyes melt right into Boscha's heart.
"I know I said wasn't ready. Frankly, I still don't think I am…"
She notices her breath falter in anxiousness. Her hands squeeze Willow's face, and her pudgy cheeks squish softly against her gentle palms. "But…"
Willow immediately blushes and gulps. "Y-yes?"
Boscha kisses Willow's cheek for much longer than a simple peck, the warmth of her soft lips melting into Willow's being. Her hands move from her face down to her back, blanketing her in a warm embrace. For a moment, Willow loses her train of thought, her eyes fluttering shut as she savors the sudden intimacy from her crush, her own hands wandering and squeezing her tighter into her.
"Thank you for letting me figure things out…"
As they pull apart, Boscha holds onto Willow's hands, squeezing them ever tighter than ever…
It was at that moment Willow learned how different people say 'I love you'.
Author's Note:
Yayy Willow got a small lil reward for being patient. And hopefully so did you, dear reader. Not much to say other than it's 10 pm and I just graduated yesterday and it's my brother's birthday today. Back to weekly updates (Wednesdays!)