author’s note: Inspired by someone’s love for strawberry milk
He takes the milk carton from your hand and opens the corners.
“You know you could have been subtler with how you handled that right?” He downs the drink and tosses it into the bin across the room.
He walked to his desk and sat down staring at you knowing you’d succumb to his glare. Trudging you feet, you sat next to him opening your milk carton to take a sip. Honestly, you knew you could have just given the milk carton away but you still fought for it anyways. You hated how he was right and figured nothing of it because he was always right. You sighed, “Sorry, couldn’t help it.” He chuckled under his breath and laid his head onto your shoulder.
He dragged his finger down your arm trying to get playful. “What’s up with the attitude? Can’t help but feel jealous?” You felt the goosebumps shivering down your arm and you immediately pulled your arm away. You scoffed, “What makes you think I was jealous of something?”
“Then why bother grabbing the strawberry milk? Something else could have been fine too.” He stared at you endearingly hoping you’d spill your affections for him. He knew you had a crush on him but didn’t want to pressure you into thinking he already knew. You knew he was hoping for a simple answer but you didn’t want to give in.
“Strawberry milk is our favorite drink. Why wouldn’t I want it?” Oh my gosh. You accidentally said “our”. You made slight eye contact with him and he smirked. He knew you already slipped something and he took advantage of the situation.
“Our? Wow since when were we something?” Your face filled with heat as he kept leaning in closer to your seat. With one hand, you placed it in front of his chest to stop him from moving further. His eyes softened as he realized what he was doing. He didn’t want to scare you into thinking that he was trying to push something onto you. He whispered, “I’m sorry.” You shyly looked at him trying to collect himself. He didn’t know what to do and sat quietly.
You placed your hand over his and he looked over to you shocked. You admitted, “I know I’m not the most expressive person but I know you know that I like you.”
Feeling betrayed, he stood up from his seat out of shock. “Wait then why haven’t you said anything to me? All this time I thought I was the only one who knew what was going on.” You grabbed his arm and made him sit down again in his seat.
“I told you I can’t express myself. Plus, I didn’t say anything because I didn’t know if you even liked me back. How could I say something if I’m not sure what is even going on between us?” You pushed yourself back from your seat and stared at the ceiling. You felt your heart racing, face blushing, and embarrassment filling your whole body as you finally admitted you liked him. He looked at you and grabbed your hand.
You turned to look at him and he said, “I liked you for a while. I just enjoyed teasing you hoping you’d say you liked me. It took a while but it happened. I feel even more betrayed that you knew that I knew about your crush on me yet you didn’t do anything about it.”
You giggled and laid your head onto his shoulder. “Well now you know.” You felt slightly embarrassed but you grabbed for his hand to hold. He smiled and held your hand as well.
author’s note: Feedback and constructive criticism are always welcome (:
Inside the cabin, you were sitting in front of the fireplace with a blanket around your shoulders. The vinyl record playing on the phonograph exuded soft jazz while he was tending the fire. Sipping your cup of tea, you called out to him, “That’s enough firewood for tonight.” He turns around and places the fire iron on its stand. You open up your arms to allow him to enter your embrace and keep each other warm.
The howling winds and thundering rain were shaking the willow trees around your cabin as both of you talked about your first experience camping. Although it wasn’t with the traditional pitched up tent and bonfire, it was still exciting.
Caressing your arm, he asked, “So how was your first time camping? Sorry I didn’t check the weather before we came to the camping site. I never would have thought there was going to be a storm, let alone on the weekend we were supposed to camp out under the stars.”
“It’s fine babe. No need to be sorry. All that matters is I get to spend the whole weekend with you and only you. Although if you remembered to bring the marshmallows for the s’mores this morning, we would be enjoying dessert right now.” You gave him a playful glare and loosened yourself from his hug. Laughing and running around the living room, he chased you up the stairs and into the bedroom on the bed. Shuffling to get away, you rolled around the bed until he pinned your arms down next to your head.
“Hey, I’m sorry about the marshmallows. I was too busy moving the supplies into the trunk that I didn’t realize they were still on the counter. Plus who needs s’mores when we have hot chocolate?” He giggled and flipped you onto your side. Both of you got under the comforter and entangled your limbs together facing each other.
The clock on the table read 3:49 a.m. Both of your arms wrapped amongst each other and before you knew it, he was drunk on your scent. His eyes gave into the temptation and fell into a dreamless state. You felt his breathing slow down. Stroking his hair, you outlined his face with your eyes and found yourself discovering things you never would have thought you’d seen up close. From his tall nose bridge to the long eyelashes fluttering every few seconds, you kissed his lips in an attempt to wake him up.
“Babe, I’m not tired yet.”
No response.
You turned around and faced the window. Lights off, you could see the sky was starting to clear. Stars shone through the window illuminating the night sky and the sight of the moon reflected onto the river. As you recalled today’s past events, you smiled to yourself thinking how much fun you had with him. From fishing for dinner to cooking a barbecue, you did things today you’ve never done before with anyone else. Thoughts clearing and body relaxing, you shift in bed towards his warmth. The special moments from today still lingered in your mind and suddenly you felt him move.
Just when you were close to slumber, his embrace tightened on your waist and he mumbled sleepily, “It’s almost 4.”
“I know. I’m sleeping.”
As you watched the stars fade from the sky, all you could remember was the sound of him whispering into your ear, “Come dream with me.”
author’s note: This was my second attempt at writing a scenario. It may not be the best but I’m still a beginner please don’t judge. I hope you do enjoy my little work and feedback and constructive criticism are always welcome (:
story note: italicized text is a flashback
You opened the trunk to your car to grab the guitar case and speakers. The evening traffic was starting to hit as you heard the loud honks and screeches along the street. Walking down the parking lot, you walked towards the intersection of Blaine Street and 7th Avenue to set up your equipment. It was a busy Saturday night as many workers were starting to leave work and outgoing traffic prevented incoming partygoers from entering downtown. Connecting the wires from the guitar to the speaker, you tuned your guitar and stood there.
Among the ever-growing pace of the city, you seemed to find the peace and balance among the busy streets and started playing a melody. With a few strums and subtle hums, the melody of the song started flowing out but you couldn’t help but think why you weren’t satisfied with this. All of the other times when you were able to create a song on the spot, those results were always satisfying but this time, it was different. As you kept playing around with your guitar, an audience formed around you and you decided to take requests due to your lack of creativity at the moment.
An arm shot up from amongst the crowd and you called out, “Yes? You raising your hand?” As the figure started walking towards the front, you couldn’t help but notice the silhouette that formed when he walked towards the light. A tall, well built figure was making its way towards the center and you couldn’t believe who you saw in front of you.
“Sunday Morning by Maroon 5”, he said as he passed that sly smirk towards you with those glistening eyes of his.
“Wait for me!” He shouted for your name as you were running across the sandy dunes of the coast. The wind was blowing on your face while the coastal breeze gave you the slight chill you had always enjoyed. He closed the distance between you and grabbed you by the waist. He swung you around in circles and hugged you tightly laughing in delight.
As you faced him, you told him, “I hope this doesn’t end as tragically as we had thought it’ll be.” You sighed with watery eyes, tears on the verge of rolling down your face and he kissed your temple and tightened his hug on your body.
“That’s impossible. Don’t start thinking about that. I’ll always be with you, whether we are as close as we are now or across the world, I will always be with you in your dreams and in your heart.” You kissed his lips and tangled your fingers into his hair. His hands cusped your cheek and wiped the tear rolling down your face. As you pulled away from each other, the sun was at its horizon and the warmth was starting to come back.
You gasped, “Babe, look, the sun’s up. I can’t believe we stayed up all night out. My parents are going to kill me.”
“It’s Sunday morning, how bad could it be? It’s not even a school night. Also, I’m hungry so before we go back home, want to grab some breakfast?”
“Fine, but you’re paying for my breakfast and the lost time I’ll have once my parents ground me.”
He laughed, “Anything for you.” He scooped you off the ground and carried you bridal style as he walked towards his car.
It has been a while since you’ve seen him. Back then, you guys were high school sweethearts until the unfortunate separation due to the shortcoming long distance. He attended university abroad while you decided to stay in your humble hometown pursuing a college degree while working with music on the side. As you took on his request, you played a few others after but couldn’t help but look towards him throughout your performances. You stole glances of him in the audience and he never failed to return a small gesture.
Soon after, it was almost 11 pm and you thanked everyone who watched you perform until this late at night. As you were packing up after the performance, he walked up to you to exchange a formal greeting.
“I see you still enjoy making music. How have you been?”
“ I’m doing good. I should be asking you what are you doing here?”
“Well I recently came back to visit some friends and family while on my break.”
“Oh, that’s cool. How long are you planning to stay then?”
“I just arrived last weekend and I’ll be leaving in two weeks from then.”
You couldn’t help but hope that he could stay a little longer but there was always a chance that things may never work out to what it was before. You could tell in his eyes that there was also a look of disappointment as he looked down towards the ground and noticed your music equipment.
He saw all of the things that you had with you and asked, “Do you need any help with carrying the equipment? I could hold the speakers for you?” You accepted his offer and walked down the street towards the parking lot where you parked your car.
As you opened your trunk, he placed all of the equipment into your trunk and closed it for you. The both of you stood in awkward silence until you had a thought and spoke up.
“Hey, would you like a cup of coffee while we’re here? I know a good coffee shop down the street and I wanted to thank you for helping me carry my stuff back.”
“Sure.”
As both of you walked back down Blaine Street, you entered the hidden coffee shop down the stairs of the entrance. The ambiance of the cafe was quiet since it was close to midnight. You ordered the house brew and he took a latte. While waiting for your orders, both of you talked and caught up with one another asking about how life was. In the midst of discussing, your orders were ready and both of you sat down near a table and started talking about your current dreams and aspirations. Mentions of hardships and the lowest point during that time of your lives helped one another connect back on an emotional level and in this moment, you realized how much you’ve actually missed him.
As hours and hours passed by, both of you realized it was already the next morning. Early birds started entering the coffee shop and the morning rush at 6am filled the entire shop with smells of freshly brewed coffee. He mentioned, “It’s been a while since we’ve talked this much and this early into the morning.” The sun shines through the glass window, light rays striking the crystal chandelier splitting the light up into multiple colors of the color spectrum. You reached for the light and stared at its beautiful colors. “Have you ever wondered what we would have been? Before everything went down?” He brought up.
You couldn’t help but wonder as well. You thought about your relationship with him and how much it meant to you. Never had you ever had something as special as that with anyone else and you wouldn’t trade anything in the world for those memories, even if things weren’t meant to be. You responded, “Maybe we’re not meant to be or maybe we are. We’ll never know but like these light rays that strike that crystal chandelier up there, even though we split apart, we are still glowing our individual colors and are still fine, beautiful even without the existence of one another. When they join together again, the lights become one complete light ray again, as strong as ever.”
“What are you trying to say?” he mumbled.
“I’m saying that no matter what happens to us, we’ll be fine. We move on from the past, life moves on, and eventually, things will work out for the better.”
Both of you silently sat there after hours of talking thinking about what you just said. When you brought up the topic of what you two could have been, you couldn’t help but think about the past and realized you wanted to take initiative on what could be the best thing you’ve done yet.
You blurted out, “I missed you.”
He stares at you with wide eyes and disbelief. Both of your eyes looked into each other at the moment and your stares said it all. He let out, “ I missed you too. I missed the times when we spent hours on end talking and your touch and your affection and all of the wonders that existed throughout our time together. Without you, I had been regretting the decision when we called it off and I never thought I’d be able to see you again. I thought that was one of the biggest mistakes I had made with you and this time, if you give me the chance again, I’d like to start over anew and rewrite our story together.”
This time, you were left wide eyed and your mouth agape as you just heard what you’d never hear in a million years. He grabbed your hand and looked you in the eyes sincerely. “Please. If you don’t want to, it’s okay with me. I just wanted to let you know how I felt, that’s all.” You were left speechless and before you said anything, you gathered your thoughts and made the jump.
“Yes, I’d love to but instead of rewriting our story, let’s continue it”, you said with a smile on your face. He pulled you in for a hug and you hugged him back tightly.
He mumbles into your shoulder, “I love you.”
“I love you too.”
As you two walked out of the cafe hand in hand, you asked, “Want to get breakfast together? I’m pretty hungry.”
He responded, “Anything for you.” The two of you walked down the street towards a diner. The sun rose above the horizon as the clock struck 7am beginning a new Sunday morning.
