Melanie's Flashback
"I woke up this morning, ate a toasted bagel with a cup of coffee, and headed off to take a shower. Same routine as most days.. But when I got in the shower, I noticed something was on my arm that I didn't remember putting there. I tried washing it off but it just kept getting bigger. It finally read '12pm. City Fountain Park. Look for the roses. -Taylor'.. I spent the rest of my shower just standing there until the water ran cold, thinking about you and what this would mean for us..
I got dressed, put on my best face, and asked Dad to drop me off at the park. I walked around for a minute, looking for the flowers like I was told, and finally found 3 red roses sitting on the fountain with an arrow beside them. I picked up the roses and followed the arrow, which led to another 3 pink roses and another arrow. And that's when I saw him, well, saw her… She turned around and faced me with 6 more roses in her hand, 3 yellow and 3 white.
I was so confused… I apologized, puting the flowers back down and said I was looking for someone named Taylor with roses and she just smiled and said 'I'm Taylor.' All I could think was that this was a prank or some type of mix up.. I told her I was pretty sure she wasn't who I was looking for.. So she took a pen from her pocket and said 'let's find out.'
She scribbled something onto the palm of her hand and then looked back up at me and told me to check. And that's when I seen it.. A big heart, halfway filled in with red scribbles, then she held her hand up and showed me she had the same thing on her hand."
Melanie paused for a moment, wiping away the tears and trying to remember, but also wanting to forget. Her heart sunk as she realized what she said to Taylor in her fit of rage.
"Oh god…." She burst into tears once again, but this time they were tears of regret, not sadness.
Alex jumped up from the bench and kneeled in front of her, trying to get her to calm down and look him in the eyes. "Melanie?? What's wrong??" But she just shook her head. "Baby, please tell me what happened. We can try to fix it, whatever it is."
All she could do was whisper "there's no fixing what I said…" Alex started to ask again, but she held up her hand to stop him. She took a deep breath.
"I told her…" she sniffed. "I just shouted at her.. I said 'I'm not gay! My soulmate can't be a girl! If a girl is supposed to be my 'soulmate' then I don't want one!!' And then I ran away… I threw the flowers on the ground and ran as fast as I could.. I didn't even look back. I didn't wait for her to say anything. I just ran.. And when I finally slowed down, I called you.." She went silent again, crying with her head in her hands.
Alex, sitting beside her once again, pulled her into his chest and stroked her hair, begging her to calm down. While he was shocked about how the events of the day unfolded, he couldn't blame her for how she reacted. He probably would've done the same thing. But that still didn't make it okay, and he knew that Melanie knew the same thing.
All of a sudden, Melanie sat up and fumbled through her clutch, finding a pen. She scribbled on her forearm. "I'm so sorry for what I said. Please forgive me, but I can't be with you.." She sighed once more and slumped into the bench.
"C'mon," Alex said as he stood up. "Let's go back to my house, eat some dinner, and you can sleep over tonight so you're not alone." Agreeing, Melanie stood up, taking his hand in hers. "Wait, before we go.." Alex pulled the black box from his pocket. "Do you still want this.?"
Melanie smiled, nodded her head, and turned her back to him, moving her hair out of the way so he could put it on her. She fixed the necklace to lay flat as Alex threw away their garbage. When he got back, Melanie kissed his cheek, and with their hands wove together, they walked away from the park and towards Alex's house in comfortable silence.