Title: You Had Me From Hello Status: Complete Characters: Anon, Stella, Rosa Rating: SFW Classification: One-Shot Author: PumpkinBrain Summary: Anon recaps how he got to the most perfect moment of his life. How he got as far as he did with the one he loves so much. The Bible. The literature of the Gods. The book of Christ, the list of sins or whatever-the-fuck else you wanna call it, says that all men are created equal. It says that all men have the same opportunities, and that all men earn their rightful spot on this planet. All men fight and all men succeed. However… this is all bullshit, and I just made it up. I’ve never read the Bible. I’m not sure if half of what I just said even made any kind of sense. I’m a little all over the place, aren’t I? That’s what my wife always says. Speaking of my wife: “You sure are, Anon.” Stella said, giving a sweet giggle. Her hair buns kept her beautiful green locks in place as her dress moved with the rest of her body. I moved with her—it was a bit of a pendulum, in a way. Or maybe a metronome. Something smart like that. “But that’s what I love about you.” She added. “Really?” I asked, giving a bit of a snort. “That’s it?” “Ach—no.” She huffed, feigning being upset. Her eyes narrowed as she looked at me, but quickly her expression changed. She was back to smiling. “I love so… so much more about you than just that.” I smiled back at her, and leaned in to give her a kiss. Her lips tasted of lime, and she herself smelt of plums. It was a fantastic combination, and one I had learned to associate with the love of my life. I looked around after pulling away from her, seeing all of our friends. Rosa and her husband, Chuck. Naomi and hers, Wayne. Naser and his wife, Olivia. Lucy, everyone else—it was great. It was all great. We were all here, all happy, all celebrating. Celebrating this holy matrimony… …Well, I guess I should explain the situation, yeah? I’m sure this seems a little… confusing, to the uninitiated. Well, it all started around five years ago. Back when I was eighteen, and still in high school. Naive and dumb, as they say. I had fucked up and let someone reveal my ‘power level’ to the entire school, thus forcing me to move far away and into this lonely apartment near Volcaldera Bluffs. Now, I know what that sounds like. No more parents, no more supervision. It was a young man’s dream! But… not so. See, this move also came with the price of having to attend a new school: Volcano High. Now, Volcano High is a fine school. The staff know their jobs and they know them well, the students are welcoming, the food is inclusive—even if it does suck—and the place is well-kept. However, there was a… problem. See, there were only three humans at Volcano High. And… two of them were staff. I was the third. Yeah. See the problem? If you don’t, I’ll spell it out: I was the only human student at Volcano High. So obviously, I was… a bit of an outcast. Nobody wanted to talk to me. I didn’t even get a welcoming committee or anything—the guy that showed me around was some dude named Cooper, and lemme tell you, guy was super disinterested in the school as a whole. Super disinterested in everything, it seemed. He was chill, sure, but… too chill. The tour only lasted around fifteen minutes, but those fifteen minutes felt like nine hours. It was torturous. Having a guy list out locations to me in a monotone voice is not how I want to spend my time, thank you very much… Now, what not having a welcoming community did was leave me sitting alone for lunch. And for the first couple days, that’s how life was. I went to my classes, I didn’t speak to anybody, and I lived off of packed lunches. AKA, an apple and a slice of bread. It wasn’t a lot of food, but with the allowance my parents were giving me, it was all I could afford. Apparently they thought the lunches were free or something. I guess I couldn’t blame them, but… principle. I’m starving over here. So, yeah. That was life. The food sucked, I was alone, I was losing weight day by day, and people still laughed at me in the hallways. However, one day, that all changed. Everything changed. One thing happened, presumably by mistake, and it sent me down a path I never would’ve expected. January 16th, all those years ago… “No, Rosa, Saitama could easily defeat Goku.” A feminine voice spoke, her tone fiery, her conviction ever-present. This mystery girl sat down across from me—which was weird. Normally, nobody sat with me at lunch. Another feminine voice spoke up, taking her seat next to the other girl. This girl was clearly Mexican. “No, idiota. Goku could easily beat that bald-headed puto.” She fought, her accented voice and occasional Spanish making her slightly hard to understand. No comprende, si? “No, he couldn’t!” Green stego fought. “Saitama can beat anyone in one punch! That’s his whole character!” She continued, still arguing, as if the fate of the world depended on it. “Aye, but that’s also Goku’s character, no?” The second girl giggled. Orange ankylo. Cute, but I think I liked green girl more. “He wants to see if he can beat every chump he comes across. Simple as.” “Well sure, but does that make him more powerful?” The green girl asked, crossing her arms, food forgotten. “Saitama doesn’t necessarily always wish for conflict, but he’s never struggled. Has Goku struggled?” “Si, but—“ “See!” The green girl threw her arms out, interrupting the Mexican. “That’s proof right there!” “No, it’s.” The other girl stopped, and looked considerate. She was thinking about something. After a few seconds, she sighed. “Ay ay ay… supongo que tienes razón…” “I knew I was right.” The girl smiled smugly, and turned her head away from the girl. Her attention landed on me, and she recoiled pretty harshly. “Gah!” I was caught off-guard by her yell, but quickly switched to ‘cool’ mode. I raised an eyebrow. “What? I didn’t think I was that ugly.” I quipped, giving a small smile. Shit. They noticed me. I would’ve rather continued eating alone, but… I don’t know, something about these girls… I liked ‘em. Maybe it was because they liked anime. Actually, it was probably only because they liked anime. The green girl was cute—but I could practically smell her from where I was sitting. She didn’t smell BAD, but… I felt like she didn’t shower every day. You know? Though that didn’t detract from how I felt about her. I was sure I’d eventually go nose-blind. Anyway, back on topic, they liked anime. Two cute girls who watched anime. My dream harem could be a possibility, is what I was thinking. I just had to not act completely retarded. So, where was I… oh right. The ugly joke. “I didn’t think I was that ugly.” I said, smiling a small smile. Hopefully it wasn’t creepy. “N-No, that’s not—“ The stego girl sputtered, chuckling nervously. “Uh, hello! I didn’t see you there. When did you sit down?” She asked, her tone going from nervous to questioning. I scratched my neck. “I’ve, uh, I’ve been here.” I answered. Apparently, they really didn’t notice me. Double-edged sword on that one. “You guys were the ones that sat down where I was at.” “What, no, that’s…” She looked down at the table. “Rosa, did you see him here when we sat down?” She asked, tilting her head to the orange ankylosaur. Okay, so her name’s Rosa… “No, Stella. I saw no such thing.” The Latina responded, finally deciding to take a bite out of her food. Okay, so green is Stella. Stella and Rosa. Pretty names. Rosa then turned to face me, gave me a nod, and then gave me a smile. “Lo siento, my friend. I’m sorry.” “That’s—uh, that’s alright.” I responded, shrugging nonchalantly. It did hurt a little bit. “I’m… kinda trying to remain hidden.” I answered honestly. Yeah, I was offended at not being noticed but I also didn’t want to be noticed. I was… in a bit of a weird place with how I felt about all this. “Why not?” Stella asked, genuine confusion in her tone. “It’s… uh, I dunno. Just never really liked friends.” I chuckled. “What?!” Stella exclaimed, slamming her hands—lightly—on the table. “But—friends are the best! You can talk to them, hang out with them, text them, garden with them—all sorts of stuff!” She listed, counting on her fingers. “How can you not like friends?” Memories of Rock Bottom flashed through my head at that moment. People I had considered my homies laughing at me and mocking me—tossing me to the curb as soon as they learned about my real interests. Peers, acquaintances, all of it gone in the blink of an eye. Food thrown at me, things shoved in my locker, water poured on me… it was all just.. such a shitty… “I just…” I started, interrupting my thoughts on purpose. “I don’t have very good memories with friends.” I muttered, and took a bite out of my apple. “Well, that’s.” Stella huffed. “Okay, look. One of my friends, Fang, sh—they’re having a concert after school. Would you like to come with me and Rosa?” Stella suggested. Huh. “There should be pi—“ Rosa cut in. “Ay, no. Look at him.” She nodded towards me. “Tímido. A concert isn’t the best idea, si?” She whispered. I could hear her, but I don’t think she minded. “Why don’t you take him to the garden? I’ll go to the concert, just so Fang doesn’t get upset that we’re not there. I’ll tell her you got sick or something.” She finished, giving a giggle at the end. Scheming, I see. “Are you sure? He’s… I don’t..” Stella responded, looking from me to Rosa. I felt myself somewhat deflate at that. Even if I had no interest in attending their garden, her rejection still hurt a little bit. “I don’t really know if… Rosa, I kinda want you there…” Rosa put a hand on her friend’s shoulder, and gave it a squeeze. “Oh, come on. It’ll be alright. He seems nice. Bonito.” She smiled. She then gave a bit of a shrug. “You two can garden and learn more about each other. What’s the worst that could happen?” I watched as nearly sixteen-hundred different possible realities flashed through Stella’s eyes, all worse than the last. Murder, death, accidents—things like that. Me killing her, her killing me, awkward conversations, possible arousing moments(?), and even the sun exploding. Various terrible things all within the span of a few seconds. But, eventually, she seemed to cave. “Alright.” She turned to face me. “It’s Anon, right?” “How did you—“ I started to ask, before being interrupted. “You’re in my math class. I remember you introducing yourself on the first day.” She gave a small smile. “You… kinda stand out, here in our little school.” She giggled, and… I cringed. Damn it, of course I did. Why wouldn’t I stand out? Stella caught on quickly, “Not that that’s a bad thing!” She waved her hands around. “It’s just… you’re the first human we’ve had in years. It’s a bit of a sight.” She said, her smile turning from happy to slightly nervous. “I’m sure it is,” I nodded, tone one of pure exasperation. You know how many times I’d heard that in the past week? “But it’s just… how it is, I guess.” I shrugged. “Yeah, I guess you’re right.” She looked down at the table. “But, anyway,” She perked back up. “Would you want to go to the garden with me?” Part of me was telling me not to go. She was being forced into it, and I wouldn’t even like spending time gardening. Let alone with a complete stranger! AND NEED I MENTION: SHE’S A WOMAN? I had trouble talking to MEN on my own. And now I’m practically being forced into a date with a girl? Sure, it’ll be hard work, but end of the fucking day, she’s a woman. I’ll be talking to a woman. How can I possibly prevent the spaghetti from falling out? This is a Defcon over twenty-five. Easy. If I go with her, I’ll just embarrass myself and completely ruin my life all over again… …However, there was this other side of my brain that was telling me to just… do it. She seemed nice enough, she was offering, and she didn’t even seem all that opposed to taking me. She was probably just awkward and nervous, like I was. But where was the harm? We would go, we would garden, we would talk it out and maybe even enjoy some food or something. Rosa would enjoy her concert, and me and Stella could tend to a garden. It… sounded relaxing, if anything. So… I followed that silent voice, and I spoke. “Sure. If you’ll have me.” Stella beamed, her tone now completely opposite of what it was before. “Great! You’ll love it, I promise!” Her and Rosa then began to go on and on about the flowers, but I tuned them out a bit. I was more… preparing myself for the upcoming outing. Gardening with a girl. Shit. How scary… why did I take that offer? What was wrong with me? That’s kinda what I was asking myself at the time. My first conversation with Stella, and I had already wrapped myself up in something. Granted, it wasn’t that bad, but I still got myself cucked. Maybe I wanted to go play video games after school! …But looking back, going to that garden is the best decision I’ve ever made. ///////////////// The remaining hours of that same school day dwindled away as the gardening deadline rapidly approached. I sat on some random white lawn chair, the January breeze blowing coldly around me. My overshirt was not nearly enough protection against the elements, to be completely honest. I might want to invest in a jacket. And, you know, one might say ‘at least it wasn’t raining’, but honestly, the rain would’ve at least… made me feel like I had a right to be cold. Being cold due to a breeze feels… weak. I don’t know. I don’t know how to describe it. I’m kinda stupid. But either way, after waiting for around ten minutes, I finally saw Stella in the distance. She was wearing the same outfit I saw her in at lunch, which made sense. I don’t know why I expected her to wear different clothes. But also, she was wearing less than me! How the—I have no idea how she wasn’t cold. It was freezing outside. Surely she has a jacket in that duffel bag. Wait, the duffel. Hm… yeah. She had a duffel bag with her. I wondered what was inside. Maybe spare clothes? Or maybe tools? I had no idea. She would have to tell me. But, when she saw me, she did just that. “Hey, Anon!” She yelled, giving me a wave. I waved back and stood up off the lawn chair as she jogged over to me. “Hope you didn’t have to wait too long. I just had to go grab the gardening stuff from Rosa’s truck.” She smiled. She seemed noticeably less… withdrawn and nervous. More so than before. I just smiled. “No problem, Stella. I was only waiting for a few minutes.” I lied. Ten is way more than a few. But I’m not gonna tell her that. I’m rude, but I’m not that rude. “Oh, good!” She exclaimed, putting a hand to her chest and feigning a sigh of relief. “That’s good. Now,” She said, and slapped the bag. “This bag here is full of everything we’ll need to do some good work on the garden. Shouldn’t be too hard today, we just need to…” She put a finger to her chin, and looked up to the sky. “We need to water the plants, of course, and… we should also go through them all. To—to make sure none of ‘em have been trampled or messed with. You’d be surprised how common that is.” She grumbled that last part. Must be a touchy subject. “But otherwise, I think that’s it for today. Just small stuff. Relaxing stuff.” She smiled. “Sounds good.” I nodded, still feeling somewhat indifferent to the whole thing. But I might as well get it over with. “Where do we start?” …And so, after that, me and Stella spent the next… twenty-or-so minutes cleaning up and tending to the garden. She was correct, it… it was a relaxing experience. It wasn’t exactly hard work either, so I really couldn’t complain. I was having a good enough time gardening. But I was also just… having a good time talking with Stella. Apparently, she was really into anime, if that conversation her and Rosa had earlier in the day didn’t make that obvious. But seriously! It was embarrassing to talk about it at first, but over time, we began to discuss some of our preferred anime choices. She had a thing for Sword Art, apparently, which I found myself wanting to die over; but I didn’t tell her that. I just tried to show her the beauties of a good isekai, like In Another World with my Smartphone and How Not to Summon a Demon Lord. God, those are so kino… Erm, anyway, we had a pretty good time chatting it up about anime. But the real kicker? She had other interests, too. She wasn’t a one-note character. Case-and-point: when she went to grab her duffel bag. As she bent down, something… fell out of her pocket. It was something tall—definitely multiple of something, as they were being held together by a rubber band. One of them slipped out when it fell. As soon as Stella saw it fall, though, she practically freaked out. “Crap, crap—“ She muttered, and dropped the watering can in her hand. She quickly fell to the ground to try and pick up whatever it was she had dropped. But I was curious. “What’s that?” I asked, wiping my forehead. Despite it being cold, I had actually started to sweat a little bit. I was out-of-shape, I guessed… “Oh, it’s! It’s nothing.” Stella said, nervously shoving it back into her pocket. “Don’t worry about it.” I bent down to pick up the loose card—the one she, apparently, didn’t notice had fallen out—and looked it over in my hand. It was a minimalistic design, one of a man on a horse holding what looked to be a chalice. It was colored with solid colors, mostly black and gold. The condition of the card wasn’t the best, but you can tell it was just from use. Old deck, probably. The card, though, it also had three words written on the front. Words that gave away what it was. ‘Knight of Cups’ “Knight of cups?” I asked, turning my head towards her. I knew what this was. “Is this a tarot deck, Stella?” She didn’t say anything at first, but I saw as a blush slowly spread across her face. I was going to open my mouth and ask again, but she beat me to it. “Y-Yeah, it is. Can you give that back, please?” She practically begged. She looked like a kicked puppy. “I don’t… I don’t really like telling people about those.” “What?” I questioned. I raised an eyebrow as I made eye-contact with her. “Why not?” “Because it’s…” She rubbed her arms. “It’s just kinda weird, is all. I only keep the deck on me to read my own fortune.” She looked down at the ground, and began to mumble. “Nobody ever wants their fortunes read, after all…” After she said that, I stood there silently. But I noticed how once again, I was being given a choice to make. Two options that can decide my date. Hand her back the card and pretend this never happened, or… “…You can read my fortune, Stella.” I smiled. She was right, it was a little weird, but she seemed so… dejected. She clearly hadn’t gotten a lot of support for her interests. So why couldn’t I humor her? Just this once? Yeah. ‘Just this once’ I had said. “R-Really?” Stella asked, snapping her eyes back to mine. “You’re sure?” Jeez. Had nobody ever asked her that? “Uh, yeah.” I handed the card back to her. “Here. Shuffle the deck and gimme another one.” “A-Okay,” Stella said, her tone surprised, yet not without a hint of pure and utter joy. She began to shuffle the cards, and then drew one out with flourish. “The Magician.” She read off, and looked up at me, eyes waiting. I took my cue. “What’s that one?” She chuckled nervously, nearly dropping her cards. “Well, in order to piece the story together, I have to draw two more.” She chuckled. “Sorry…” “That’s fine. Go ahead.” I nodded towards her hands. She smiled, and drew another. “Knight of Cups. And, last one…” She drew one final card, and then put the rest of the deck back in her pocket. She flipped the newest card towards me. “Two of cups.” “Two cup cards?” I asked. “Wait, no, technically three if you count the one I picked up earlier…” I trailed off. “But, sorry, uh—what do they mean?” I kicked myself back on track. “Well, let me think…” She put a finger to her chin. “The cards tell a story of past, present, and future. However, this… what you have..” She smiled cheekily. “I’m not sure I’ll say. Maybe later on.” ”Aw, what?” I cried. “I ask you for a reading and you don’t even tell me?” I asked, mock upset in my tone. How dare she! She giggled. “Yup. You’ll just have to find out later. But it’s good. Trust me.” I smiled in return. “So, good things for me?” “Good things for you, Anon.” She confirmed. After our little conversation, we finished cleaning up and decided to go our separate ways for the day. We didn’t get any food or anything like that, sadly. I was pretty hungry. But she probably wasn’t. She had an actual lunch today! Unlike my bread and apple, she had like… was it pizza? I’m not sure. It looked good, though… But, anyway, as we were walking out of the garden, she turned to me. “Anon?” She asked, stopping me in my tracks. “Oh, yeah? ‘Sup?” I asked. Maybe we forgot something? What could she need? “I… just wanted to say thanks. For…” She trailed off, looking embarrassed. “Thanks for letting me read your future.” “Oh.” I realized. “Uh, that’s—that’s not a problem.” I smiled. “You clearly like it, so it’s no skin off my back.” She gave me a smile, and then wrapped her arms around me in a tight hug. …my blush was almost immediately apparent. Holy shit. Defcon 4. A girl is hugging me. A cute girl is hugging me! What do I do? Do I hug back? How do I hug back? Do I clutch her or do I give her pats on the back? What’s that smell? Why does she smell like sweat? Because we just worked outside, idiot. Well no she’s always smelled that way. Because she worked on the garden in the morning too! Dear God, dear Raptor Jesus, dear DreamyBull, help me in this— Stella pulled away, coughing as she put a lock of hair behind her ear. “Th-Thanks, is all.” She muttered. She then gave a sharp nod and turned around. I just… watched, as she walked away. Damn it. I think I screwed that up. I should’ve just hugged her back. I stuck my hand into my pocket. Fuck. Shit… shit, wait. Something’s in here. What’s… I pulled it out. It was a piece of paper. 555-374-7282 Call Me :) -Stella … And believe it or not, but… the next day, she smelled like plums. ////////////////// After that day, me and Stella began to hang out more and more. We would work on homework together, we moved next to each other in math, I would help her garden, and we would all—Rosa was there sometimes—eat lunch together. It was… nice. Stella was the first friend I made at Volcano High, and I considered her the best. Even after meeting Fang and Naser and Reed, I still found myself gravitating to Stella. I still found myself wanting to sit next to her, wanting to talk to her, asking her to read my fortune and to tell me about the newest anime she had seen. Whether or not she watched my recommendations, I was asking about her. I wanted to know about her. Though, due to all of this, eventually… I realized something. Something that I honestly should’ve expected. It was just the most—it was the most goddamn obvious progression of this shit: I had gained a bit of a crush on our resident stegosaurus. Yeah, yeah. Yuck it up. The loser loner has a crush on the girl who’s nice to him. It’s a take as old as time. But… I… I remember the day I learned I liked her. It was halfway through the second semester of senior year, and about two months after our first time gardening together. I had stopped by Stella’s house for some reason or another—I think she was sick, actually. Her parents were on some kind of trip so she was left alone at home. Due to that, I took it upon myself to go to the store and spend the last of my money on a cheap can of soup. Along with the soup, though, I also purchased a tupperware container. You know, to make it look like I made it? It didn’t help the taste, but it did make it look more thoughtful. I didn’t need Stella to know I was flat broke. Anyway, on that warm spring day, I walked up to Stella’s house, the lukewarm soup in the tupperware container I had bought. The can had long since been discarded—the empty tin now being at the bottom of a grocery store trash can. Yeah, I had transferred the soup in the store parking lot. Call me impatient. Speaking of impatient, after few seconds of hyping myself up, I finally knocked on her door. She answered it a little bit later, looking rather frazzled. More frazzled than ever. Wait, that’s why. She didn’t have her buns in. “Oh, hello Anon!” She exclaimed, knocking me out of my thoughts. “What are you doing here?” She sniffled. “I, uh, brought you some soup.” I smiled nervously, being honest with my intentions. “I—I heard you were sick, so…” I trailed off, tugging on my collar. Hopefully she doesn’t think I’m weird for this. “Oh, Anon, thank you. That’s not weird.” She smiled warmly, and continued to stand in the door. Fuck. I muttered. God damn. I really have to get a handle on that. But anyway, after a few seconds, she spoke up again. “S-Sorry, I’d hug you, but…” “No, that’s cool.” I chuckled. “I don’t blame you, girly.” I gave a finger gun. She giggled, and opened her door wider. “Well, thank you. Do you wanna come in?” She coughed. “You might not want to stick around long, but, since you’re here…” She trailed off, looking to the side in a cheeky manner. She wanted me inside. Giggity. “Well, if you insist.” I played along, giving an exaggerated shrug, trying not to think about Stella naked. “I do insist, my dear companion.” Stella responded, speaking in an exaggerated English accent. I’m pretty she was combining three accents together on accident, but it was fun regardless. I gave her an exaggerated nod, and followed her inside. We walked throughout her house as the conversation stayed relatively silent. I had been inside before—there wasn’t any kind of need for a tour. However, there was one place I hadn’t been inside yet. There was one place that was still a mystery to me. “Here, let’s go in my room.” Stella said, so utterly nonchalant. As if it didn’t even matter. But it did! It did!! “Uh, sure.” I replied, acting cool. But on the inside, I was freaking. I was geeking. Me and a girl? Alone? In her room? I’m not really romantically interested in Stella, but shit, this was… interesting. This was a prospect. This was AN EXPERIENCE. When Stella opened her bedroom, the first thing I noticed was the… lack of anime merchandise. I honestly expected a fully decked out weeb room, full of body pillows and posters and hundred dollar figurines. Maybe even a jar. But not this. Her room was… her room was painted a nice lime green, nearly the color of her skin, and it looked… relatively normal. It looked like a teenage girls room—if the bras lying on the ground were anything to go by—and it was strikingly normal. “Not what you expected, huh?” Stella asked, clearing her throat of phlegm. Damn. Must’ve read my mind. “Yeah…” I trailed off, looking around. There were anime figures here and there, and a SAO poster. Dammit, Stella. Haha. But otherwise, no, it was normal. “It’s strikingly normal.” I muttered, echoing my thoughts. “Whu—What do you mean, strikingly?!” She yelled, feigning anger. She hit me on the shoulder. “My life isn’t ENTIRELY anime, you know!” “No, it’s—“ I picked up a spare tarot deck. “Also full of this.” I moved it back in forth in my hand, emphasizing it. She tried to swipe it from me but I held it out of her reach and laughed. “Give it back!” She said, going for it again. “Not until you admit that you’re a huge nerd.” “Screw you!” She yelled, swiping for the deck. I finally let up and gave it to her. “See what I mean?” I chuckled as she shoved it into her pajama pockets. She then hit me again. Speaking of pajamas, though. Her outfit? Actually pretty cute. She was wearing her white ‘OPPAI’ shirt—yes, I had seen it before—and some blue flannel pajama pants. She wasn’t wearing slippers or anything, though she was wearing socks. Thank goodness. I probably would’ve had to go ‘AYOOO, SHE GOT THE DOGS OUT!!!’ Or something if she had had her toes on the hardwood. But it seemed she would survive that day... Haha. Past that, though, I also took note of her lack of hair buns. She was pretty with her hair down. I still liked her buns more, I think, but she definitely didn’t look bad with her hair down. But back to what I was talking about, she was huffy, and pushed me onto her bed. “Sit there, I’ll be right back.” She said, and then turned around to walk out of the room. “Where are you going?” I asked, not thinking too hard about my situation just yet. It would set in shortly, trust me. “I need to put away your soup!” She yelled from down the hall. I shrugged, fair enough. She might not have been hungry. But… I was left there. Truly alone in her bedroom. …alone. In a girl’s room. Fuck. I was left alone in a girl’s room. I WAS LEFT ALONE IN A GIRL’S ROOM! AHH!! This is so much worse than just being in her room normally. What do I do? Do I look at stuff? Play with her figurines? Or so I sit here and do nothing? I think I should sit here and do nothing. That seems like the best option. Maybe I can get more of a lay-of-the-land that way. Right? Analyzing? Yeah… Yeah. Analyze. Due to my absolute autism and inability to not freak out about women, I started to analyze. I took notes of things. The animes she liked that she never told me about. Apparently, she liked Gintama, if that poster was any basis to go off of. But also, and I think most importantly, I found a bottle of something on her bedside table. It was on top of her wallet—so it was something she clearly didn’t want to forget. It was something important to her. It was… a purple bottle. It had a receipt wrapped around it, probably so she could return it, or something. Maybe if she didn’t like it. Or… maybe.. if someone else didn’t like it? It… was a bottle of perfume. And reading the label, I found myself understanding. ‘Plum Paradise’ It was her perfume, the one she used every day. I grabbed the bottle. Bath and Body Works, huh? Fuck. How much was this? I swear that store ain’t cheap. Wondering this to a great degree, I grabbed the receipt off the side, and unraveled it. Looking over the long piece of paper, I took note of two things. The price of the item, and… the date of purchase. It was 16.50, for one. That’s an expensive bottle of perfume. But… more importantly, and what can be considered the crescendo of this story… Purchased: Jan 16 This… I remembered that day. That was the day me and Stella first went to the garden. That was the day me and her had first hung out. That’s… that was before she started smelling like plums. My thought process at the time was basically… that she… she bought this for me. I must’ve muttered about her smell, or something. That’s what I was considering. She had bought it for me, right? She bought this bottle of perfume… so she could smell good… for me. There’s no other possible reason. The dates line up too much. Too well. She wanted to smell good for a random boy she had just met, because apparently, I was too obvious about her scent. It wasn’t even that bad, for Chrissake, but… she still cared enough to go purchase some perfume. God, it’s all so ridiculous looking back. To think that I gained such a crush on Stella because she didn’t want to stink in front of me. It’s honestly pretty funny. But… it’s the truth. Stella would come back into the room a minute or so later and I would slam the bottle back on her table, her being unknowing of my knowledge. We would spend the rest of the time chatting about Gintama, and I would go home around an hour later, so she could sleep. But… when I went home that night; it was all I could think about. …She had done it for me. She had bought expensive perfume for me. … My heart was left thumping at the prospect. /////////// Now, I’m not a fucking pussy. Despite popular opinion, if I have feelings, convictions—I act on them. And this was one of those cases. When I had finally learned that, honest-to-God, I had a crush on Stella, I knew I had to ask her out. I just had to. It would’ve driven me crazy for the rest of my life if I didn’t. But… there’s also another problem with that. Everything I just told you? Absolute bullshit. I’m a total vagina. I can’t ask out a girl to save my life. My brain went Defcon 3 when I went into her ROOM, for the good Lord’s sake. How can I possibly ask her out? Go on a date with her? Hold hands with her? And my GOD, how can I ever KISS HER? I didn’t know, and I was definitely freaking myself out over it. I could barely focus as I replanted some roses. It was fucking me up for weeks at the time. I think I had totally flunked my last math test because I had just drawn portraits of Stella the whole time rather than do any actual work. Fuck. What the hell do I… argh. I began to talk to myself. “What—“ “An-on, are you alright?” I was interrupted nearly immediately. “GAH!” I yelled, practically throwing my trowel into the air. I caught it quickly and whipped my head around to face my offender. Who dare interrupt me?! My expression softened when I noticed who it was. It was Rosa, of course. She was the only one I knew who called me An-on. “Lo siento, mi amigo. Did I scare you?” She giggled. She was holding a bag of potting soil, it having been thrown over her shoulder. She didn’t seem bothered by the weight. Damn. Impressive.. Anyway, “Y-Yeah, kinda.” I laughed. “Sorry. I was… thinking about stuff.” I looked down at the roses. “What’re you thinking about?” She adjusted the bag. “You’ve been distraida—distracted—these past few weeks, An-on.” She finally set the bag down, and slowly moved over to get on her knees next to me. When she noticed I didn’t object, she full-sent and sat next to me. She wrapped her arm around my shoulder, but more like a chick, and less like a dude-bro. You know what I mean? “Everything alright?” She asked, genuine worry both in her tone and her expression. “Uh, yeah…” I trailed off. “I’m… I’m fine. Really, it’s nothing.” I looked down. “I’ll get over it eventually.” She would never say yes, after all. She’s too good for me. “Who, An-on?” Rosa asked. “Oh, motherfuck…” I groaned, and put a dirty hand to my forehead. “Ugh. Just forget it. It’s not…” “Not gonna get away with that one, Anon.” She chuckled, saying my name normally. “Talk to me.” I sat there, staring at her. Her eyes were… caring. Affectionate. She wanted to know, but… not so she could make fun of me. I chuckled. “…You know what? Fuck it.” I shrugged. “Rosa, I have a crush on Stella.” I admitted. Rather than look surprised, she… looked like she knew. Like she had expected me to say that. Goddammit. “Aye, I understand. You want her to be your novia, si?” Rosa nodded. I sighed. “If that means girlfriend, or wife or whatever, then yeah. I guess I do.” “You guess?” She questioned. “Mi amigo, what do you mean, you guess? Love is not a guessing game.” She snapped slightly. But I could tell she wasn’t really angry. “Do you want her to be with you or not?” “I… I do.” I nodded. Rosa looked away, and then back to me. “Then say it.” Rosa responded. “Say what?” “Say that you want to be her novio.” Rosa said, her voice more convicted than mine. “It helped me when I was trying to court mi amor, Chuck. Say it, An-on.” “Say that I want her to… what? Be her… her what?” I asked. “Her boyfriend?” “Si, An-on! Imbecile!” Rosa yelled, smacking me on the shoulder. “Say it!” “I want to be her boyfriend.” I nodded. I sat down my trowel. “Say it again!” Rosa replied, shaking me a bit. Hey! “I want to be Stella’s boyfriend!” I said, louder this time. “AGAIN!” “I want to be Stella’s boyfriend!!” “OTRA VEZ!!” Rosa practically screamed, standing me up with her. “I WANT STELLA TO BE MY GIRLFRIEND!” I yelled. Almost immediately after yelling that, I heard a gasp, and I whipped my head to the left. “Then go talk to her.” Rosa nodded, and shoved me in Stella’s direction. …fuck. Did I really fall for that? Yeah. I did. “Are… are you serious?” Stella asked. My heart sank. Fuck. She was angry. She was unhappy. She was never gonna want to see me again. I would have to move schools and start all over. All because I couldn’t keep my mouth shu—“Are… this isn’t a joke?” Stella asked, her voice slightly quieter, yet still loud enough to interrupt my thoughts.. And then, her tail, it… it began to sway. Back and forth… Wait. What? Is… hold on. “N-No, I’m not… it’s not a joke.” I answered honestly. Stella waited a few moments, processing the information. But when it all went through, she gained a wide smile, and her face flushed with even more red. She quickly dropped whatever it was she was holding and sprinted towards me. “OH, YES! I’LL BE YOUR GIRLFRIEND!” She yelled like an anime character as she wrapped her arms tightly around my neck. “Glk-!” I choked, suddenly not being able to breathe, and nearly losing my balance. I was able to right myself as I wrapped my arms around her. Stella pulled away, and then, stuck her lips on mine. …Holy shit. Yeah, that kiss was fucking dope. I remember it very clearly. I don’t think… I don’t think a first kiss can be more picture-perfect. We were both VERY inexperienced, as made obvious by the beak-on-lips-fuck-up, but when we learned what to do—it was like fireworks. It was like an explosion of everything awesome and amazing in the world. She tasted like limes, and she smelled like plums. It was the perfect combination. A fruity vibe, for such a sweet girl… When we finally pulled away from each other, I had to laugh. “Oh my God.” I whispered. “Damn right, oh my God.” Stella muttered, practically in a trance. “Can… you.. you wanna..” We kissed again, and I chuckled internally as Rosa began to cheer. First kiss: mission accomplished. ///////////////// …Our first real date was around a week or so later. Given I didn’t have much money at all, I had to use my brain. I had some money saved up now due to Naomi telling me about this lunch card thing, so I could definitely take Stella out shopping somewhere and buy her a gift, but it can’t be something super expensive. And… I probably can’t afford a super expensive dinner. I’m broke as shit. This is why I have to use my brain. Our first date took place in the afternoon for this exact reason. Lunch is ALWAYS cheaper than dinner. It’s a proven fact. But basically, to summarize, I’m broke, and I have to act cheap. But not too cheap—I don’t want Stella to notice. So my cheap stuff has to be on the down low. Such as tricking her into borrowing her mom’s Kia Telluride and coming to pick me up. That saved me some money. That cab guy was usually nice enough to not charge me a lot, but every cent counts. I had to make our first date memorable, and even if I was super charming, I wasn’t going to be able to do that with an empty wallet. Shrimple as. But Stella… uh, I dunno. Something something Stella is cute. When she pulled up outside my apartment, I hopped in shotgun. The sounds of Green Day’s ‘Peacemaker’ filled the vehicle, before quickly being turned down. “Hello, Anon!” Stella beamed, one hand on the wheel as she gave me a smile. I smiled back. “What’s up, Stell?” I asked, buckling my seatbelt. Safety first. “Ah, nothin’ much.” She shrugged. Basic response. I would’ve said the same thing. “Excited for today, though. Are you excited?” I nodded. “Sure am. Hope you like what I’ve got planned.” I rubbed my neck. “It’s nothing too exciting, but… it should give us some good time together.” I smiled sheepishly, removing my hand from my neck and setting it on the center console. Stella took the opportunity to grab my hand, and then she gave it a squeeze. “Wherever you want us to go, we’re going, and we’ll enjoy it. I’ll enjoy it. Because we’ll be together.” She spoke softly, rubbing the back of my hand with her thumb. Her face then flushed slightly. “I love spending time with you, Anon. No matter where we end up, I know it’ll be great.” I blushed as well, and scoffed. “Jeez, Stella… since when are you the smooth-talker?” I chuckled. “That’s my job.” She looked away, blush still present on her face. “Well, s-sure, I just…” I laughed softly, interrupting her. But rather than get annoyed at an interruption, all she gave me was a charmed smile. I decided to keep it going. “Yeah, no, I get it.” I snorted. “I’m being replaced. Any day now, I’ll be wearing a pink apron and smelling like plums.” The lime stegosaurus giggled. “You already smell like plums, dorkus. You spend too much time with me. It rubs off on you.” She winked. “As if, there’s no such thing as too much time spent with you.” I stated, rubbing her hand. I watched as her face exploded in red, the blush spreading quick. Hell yeah. I’m back in my rightful spot, bitch. I’m the smooth talker. Not you! “Sh-Shut up.” Stella snorted, and shook her head. “Where are we going?” I gave her the location, and she put the car back in drive, allowing us to move on from Skin Row. She was still shaking her head as she drove off, and I was still laughing to myself. Skin Row, though. I was honestly surprised we lasted so long—usually, having a nice car parked in Skin Row is a death sentence. It’ll either get shot at or stolen with you inside. So the fact that this three-year-old Kia could stick around for that long was… impressive. Highkey lowkey, or something. Whatever it is the kids say these days. Either way that car was still there and still in perfect condition. Nobody had tried to steal it. Though, maybe that’s just because it’s Korean. Nobody wants a Korean car… haha. Anyway, it only took a few minutes before we ended up at our destination: Sutter Street. Infamous for the bar and grill that I feel like I’ve been to before, it’s a pretty neat spot for tourism. You can walk around town, buy chocolate, buy gifts and look at art. But also, there’s another thing that appeals to me about this place. Why I believe it’s the perfect date idea. Get this. It has a bunch of these shops on it that sell knickknacks. And when I say knickknacks, I don’t mean gifts from a gift shop—I mean like, astrology stuff. Rocks. Crystals. Incense. Tarot cards. All stuff that Stella really likes. See? I can be a good boyfriend. After Stella parked the car, we hopped out together, and I sighed as I looked around. It was pretty active right now, probably because it was a Saturday, but that’s good for us. Walking around this street alone is weirdly lonely and creepy. Uncanny, as one might say. It just feels wrong. This is such a populated area—it should never be empty. The hustle and bustle of the street made me feel comforted. If it were missing, I would have had to swallow a twelve-gauge. Or something. I dunno, that was pretty edgy. I turned to Stella as she locked the car and put on her cute sunglasses. “Which way do you wanna go first?” I asked, forgetting my weird bout of suicidal feelings. “No specific destination in mind?” Stella asked. A genuine question. “Nah.” I shook my head. “I think it’ll be nice to just walk around a bit. Maybe check out some of the shops over here.” I pointed in a direction. Okay, here’s the big guns. “I hear some of them have tarot cards n’ stuff.” “Ooh, really?” She asked, giving a surprised gasp. “I haven’t been around here that much, I didn’t know that! That sounds cool! Can we—can we, uh…” She trailed off, probably losing her nerve a bit. “Of course we can, Stell.” I said, and walked around the car. I held out my hand, and… she grabbed it. Cue the nervousness from me. I was able to push it down, thankfully, but jeez. Finally holding hands with a girl… the forum losers would be so jealous. No longer was I kissless or hugless or even hand-holdless. I was now just… a normal virgin. Haha. Holding hands, though… it was a weird experience. Weird, but neat. It felt nice. It was just about everything my previously-mentioned mongolian shed-building forums said it would be—in the good way. Her hand was warm, and mine was too, and I was probably sweating, and I was dying maybe? But it was sick. After that initial bout of nervousness, though, I relaxed more. The awkwardness and the sweatiness gradually faded as we kept walking. Sure, Stella was my girlfriend now, but first and foremost: she was my friend. I cared about her a lot already. This was just… the next step. So why be nervous? I’d walked to places with her before. This wasn’t anything new. The handholding was, but spending time with Stella was a normal thing. So… just. I needed to let go. So I did. I relaxed my shoulders, and rubbed Stella’s hand. She tightened her grip, and we kept walking. After a few minutes of this, we arrived at our first destination: this cute little astrology shop called ‘Little Dipper.’ When we walked in, I was immediately hit with a variety of smells. I think they had like, three different incense sticks burning. I didn’t really like it, and I didn’t really want to be in here too long. But Stella clearly loved it, judging by how I saw her eyes absolutely LIGHT up. “Anon! Oh my gosh!” She whisper-yelled, and practically ran off to go look at everything. I chuckled as I trailed slowly behind her. Eh. Maybe I could stick around for a little while. Her first destination was this shelf that had some light-up salt rocks. I could swear I saw one in her room the last time I was there, but I guess she wanted another one. I couldn’t blame her. If that’s what she wanted, I would probably buy it for her. That was my plan when we walked into the store, after all. But… when I looked at the price tag, I nearly dropped dead at the sight. 54.99 “Oh Jesus.” I muttered, wheezing. That’s more money than I had. I only had around forty-seven dollars, there’s no way I can pull off haggling for a salt rock. “That’s a lot of money.” I whispered. “…Yeah, you’re right.” Stella shook her head. Shit, didn’t mean for her to hear me. “Way overpriced. You can get them on Amazon for like, thirty bucks.” She snorted. Oh, never-mind. She agreed with me. Her next destination was, as I would’ve hoped, the tarot deck area. Which was a lot more affordable. There was this cool black and gold one called ‘Luna Somnia’, and the store had it on sale for around thirty-five dollars. Here’s hoping she feels like getting that one. Hint-hint, yeah, that’s what she was looking at. You think I know anything about tarot decks? I can’t even PRONOUNCE Luna Somnia. That’s a lie. Anyway. “You like that one, Stell?” I asked. “Huh?” She turned to me, having been completely enraptured. “Oh, y-yeah! It looks super cool.” She picked up the box, and flipped it around in her hands. “I’ve always liked the moon, so this… this is awesome…” She whispered, a sparkle in her eye. “You want it?” I asked. She whipped her head to me. “What?” She asked. “No, you don’t—I can—“ “S’alright.” I chuckled. “I got some spare cash. It’s no trouble for me.” Stella put the box back, and gave me a wide smile. She then jumped at me and wrapped her arms around me in a tight hug. She practically knocked the wind out of me, but I responded in-kind—giving her my own tight hug. She then spoke up. “Thanks, Anon.” “Of course, babe.” I chuckled. She ‘hm’-ed, and I raised an eyebrow. “What? Not a fan?” “N-No, actually I…” She trailed off. “I really like it. Call me babe more often.” “Alright.” I shrugged. Sounded good to me. We stood there for a few more moments, hugging each other. Enjoying each other’s company. And I… didn’t have any complaints. She was soft. She smelled nice. I… I loved hugging Stella. I would start crying if it weren’t so oddly unfitting for our situation. Honestly, I could’ve hugged Stella forever—but eventually, we backed off of each other. It was just how it would have to be for now. I’ll get my forever hug one of these days. I then pat my sides, feeling for my wallet. “S-So, you wanna buy that deck?” She nodded sweetly, her face dusted lightly with pink. “Alright, let’s go.” I smiled. … Around an hour after that, we were finishing up our date at a lunch spot. It was a cheaper place that sold sandwiches. I don’t remember what it was called, so it must’ve been something boring and soy. But it was a lunch spot. Sadly, though, duebto the tarot deck running up for pretty expensive; I could only afford one sandwich. So… me and Stella were currently fighting over who got to eat it. “No, you have it. Stella, I insist.” I insisted. Haha. “No, I insist.” She fought. “You bought me the tarot deck.” She said, bringing up a pretty good point. But I didn’t care. “Yeah, sure, but I want you to have the sandwich too. I saved up the money for you.” I replied. “Well, sure, but Anon—it’s not just my special day. This is a date for the both of us. Just because I forgot my wallet doesn’t mean you get to buy me everything.” She pouted. “But I want to.” I shrugged. Shrimple as. “Why? Why do you?” She huffed. “I’m just a girl, Anon. A normal girl.” “You’re…” I trailed off. “You’re not just a normal girl.” “Yes I am—“ She spoke, but I interrupted. “No, you’re not.” I shook my head. “You’re so different.” “Yeah?” She asked. “What’s different about me? Why do you even like me?” She egged me on. Fishing for compliments, huh? Whatever. I’ll hand ‘em over. “Well, let’s see.” I then began to count on my fingers. “You’re Stella, you’re my girlfriend, you’re adorable, and I love yo—“ I stopped. …The table went quiet. My words had felt like an atom bomb. A gunshot. Stella stayed quiet, and I watched as a blush grew on her face. After a few moments, she spoke. “Are… are you… do…” “I… I don’t. I don’t know.” I muttered, looking down at the table. “I like you a lot, but… it might be a little too soon to say.” I admitted, embarrassed. “S-Sorry, I..” “No, it’s okay.” Stella smiled, and grabbed my hands. “I feel the same. I just… yeah. Maybe it’s a little too soon.” I smiled at her. “Let’s wait some more, then, yeah?” She nodded. “Sounds good to me, Anon.” We can love each other another time. For now, though, Who gets the sandwich? /////////// Next in line: …It was prom night. We had been dating for around five months at that point, and neither of us had said we loved each other. Not since that slip at the sandwich restaurant. It was hard to process, honestly. Both of us definitely wanted to say it to each other—but we were worried about what the other person would think. I was worried, at least. I think Stella was too nervous to ever even try. She could be eccentric, but man, behind closed doors she was pretty shy. It was endearing, though, so I guess it wasn’t all bad. But on this night, we couldn’t concern ourselves with such ridiculous notions. It was our big day. Everyone was excited. Everyone was happy. We were all piling into the Kia Telluride—‘we’ being Rosa, Stella and I—earlier than we were supposed to, because apparently, there was an issue with the catering—and due to this, Spears had enlisted Rosa specifically to help with the food. Rosa didn’t have a ride, so she called up Stella. I obviously was hanging out with Stella at the time, as I usually was. I do like her a lot, after all. None of us were in our cool prom clothes just yet. Even though prom was going to be starting in… actually not that long, we just decided to save time and change there. I had my suit in a dry-cleaning bag, but Stella apparently had her dress in her backpack. Rosa as well. Damn it, women. Lucky fucks. They can put their clothes in their bags without worrying about wrinkles. Not me, though. Oooh. I gotta go to a Chinese dry cleaning place. So lame. I gotta get Asian Stephen to dry my clothes… wait. Is that racist? Probably. I don’t know. That’s just who did it. His name was Steven and he was Asian. I swear! A-Anyway, we were inside the car and on our way to the high school. “Lo siento, Stella, but can you turn off the Green Day?” Rosa asked. I chuckled at that. “Punk music… it’s hurting my head.” “It’s mainstream. It’s barely even punk.” Stella muttered, but switched the radio off anyway. I just laughed again. Rosa shot me a look, but I turned around and gave her a dorky smile. Afterwards, her expression softened. See? I’m smooth wit’ it. When we pulled into a parking spot shortly thereafter, we all quickly removed ourselves from the vehicle. Honestly, the car trip wasn’t that bad. We were only around a mile or so away from Rosa’s place, so it only took about five minutes. Why she didn’t just walk, I don’t know, but… wait, no. I’m retarded. She had brought a bunch of cooking shit with her. Pots, pans, the works. The basic stuff you’d need to cook meals. As we climbed out of the car, I sighed. It was nearing darkness. Honestly, it… was a weird feeling to still be at school when it was getting dark. Like. It was uncanny! It shouldn’t be dark, but it is! I just whistled. “Man. This is…” “An-on! Give me a hand!” Rosa shouted, opening up the back of the SUV. It slowly opened as she reached in and grabbed out a pot of some kind. I stopped stargazing, and quickly helped her carry said shit inside. Stella did too, but for some reason, I was doing most of the heavy lifting. Rosa and Stella are BOTH stronger than me! It was bullshit. Life is bullshit for us humans—we’re so oppressed. Like what all those liberals on twitter say. But anyway, gay oppression shit aside, carrying the stuff inside wasn’t… THAT bad. It only took around three trips. We were bringing it all into the school kitchen. Apparently, Rosa had a good amount of ingredients waiting in there for her. When we finally got it all inside, we looked around at the school kitchens. Once again, another thing I had never seen… “I once again have to thank you, Miss Rosa.” Spears said, wearing his usual suit as he walked into the kitchen. I jumped in fright, before realizing who it was. “Oh, Mister Anon and Miss Stella. Good to see you both,” he nodded, speaking before I could say anything. “Good to see you too, Principal Spears.” Stella said, giving a smile. Spears gave one in return. I just nodded at him. “Ah, Principal Spears. Buen tiempo,” Rosa practically shouted as she clashed pots and pans around, trying to get out all of the ingredients for the food. “I need your help. How many dishes do I need to prepare?” Rosa asked. I nodded to Stella as the two of them began to discuss things. That was our cue to get out of there. We would just be getting in the way if we stuck around. I looked at my phone, taking notice of the time. “Hey, actual prom starts soon. You wanna go get changed?” I suggested. “Sure, that sounds nice.” Stella responded, giving a curt—yet excited—nod. As we split off to go to our separate bathrooms, I recall hyping myself up. It was our big night. Our big day. The absolute PEAK of high school, as some would say. I couldn’t fuck this up. I couldn’t fuck any of this up. I hung the dry-cleaning bag on a stall hook as I considered these words. Taking off my jeans, I kept thinking. I couldn’t fuck it up. What could I fuck up? I don’t know, but I can’t fuck it up. No fucking up allowed… …Yeah. I was a little nervous. But as I looked at myself in the mirror, I sighed. I straightened my tie, and I adjusted my coat. “Alright, Anon.” I took out a piece of mint gum, opened it up, popped it in, and began to chew. I don’t remember buying the gum, but it sure was useful. “Let’s do this.” I muttered, my voice muffled by the chewing. I then walked slowly over to the exit, wound up, and kicked open the men’s restroom door with the force of a thousand suns. I was back, bitch. And I BRING… the DESTRUCTION… OF OLYMPUS! But not really. To tell the truth, I kicked the door, but… it didn’t fly open. “OW!” I screamed. “FUCK! PULL DOOR! PULL DOOR!!!” It was a pull door. I didn’t bring any death, nor destruction, nor Titans to kill Zeus. I was just a normal guy, and I was gonna go dance and eat food with my stego gee-eff. As soon as my foot stopped hurting. I growled as I held it in pain, but… smiled, when I thought about her. It… it wouldn’t be that bad, to be honest. I was nervous, like always, but this is one of those times where I have to man up. You only get one chance, one shot at prom. You don’t get another one, save… I don’t know. Your wedding day? But that’s a different thing. The wedding is much bigger, but prom is very high on the list. End of the day, end of the day—I had one shot. But… I thought it would be fine. Everything would be fine. Even if I did mess up, me and Stella would just… laugh. We would laugh and we would move on. Like always. I sighed as I smiled to myself, and turned my head to look at the door to the women’s restroom. I then… immediately took notice of the note hanging on the door. I raised an eyebrow, and walked closer, in order to actually read it. ‘Meet me in the gym’ ‘-Stella <3’ I smiled at the note. “Alright, Stella. You wanna meet in the gym before the dance starts, we can go meet in the gym. I have no idea what you could possibly be planning, but I doubt it has anything to do with my death…” I said, reciting a soliloquy. If you don’t know what that is, then you’re less of a nerd than I am. Anyway, I pocketed the note, and walked down the hallway—towards the gym. I looked around the halls as I walked, taking notice of the various Japanese decorations sprinkled about. I could tell Naomi had some influence there. She’d always been really into the Japanese stuff. Well, wait. Maybe she’s just Japanese? I wasn’t sure. Naomi is an Asian name, but is she actually Asian? I’d probably have to ask. I couldn’t tell. And… to this day, I’m still not sure. She wore a Japanese dress on prom night, but maybe she was just culturally appropriating, or… whatever it is that Fang says. I don’t know, I don’t often pay attention to her shit. Not to say she’s annoying, or anything, it’s just… I’m getting off track. I pushed open the doors to the gym, and immediately took notice of how dark it was. I raised an eyebrow as I pulled out my cell phone. Switching on the flashlight, I waved it around. From what I could see, there were a few tables and shit like that set up, along with some more great decoration. Someone had clearly decorated this whole place and then shut off the lights, or something. It was kinda weird. But then, a light turned on. A spotlight. On… me. “Huh?” I asked, looking up—and directly into the bulb. I winced as I looked back down at the ground. Argh. Bitch. But then I heard another spotlight come on. This time, on the other side of the room. I looked up from my view of the dark floor, and stared in awe at the sight before me. It was Stella. And… she was… she was beautiful. The first thing I took note of was her dress. It was a strapless dress, the color being a nice light blue. It was very simple, but… that fit perfectly for Stella. Stella had never cared for complicated clothing. She’d said multiple times that the dresses she liked were simple yet effective. It was just who she was—and this was the proof. She spent most of her life in shorts and a tee-shirt, and to her, this beautiful garment might be considered the equivalent. But I don’t know. I… I just thought she was gorgeous. I couldn’t think about anything else—she was taking up my attention completely. Speaking of beautiful, though, I also noticed the makeup she had used. Sparing makeup, once again. Light blush. A beautiful eyeliner. Eye shadow… As she walked closer to me, I could see the blush getting brighter on her face. I knew my face wasn’t faring much better, but forget me. This is about Stella. Look at her. She’s… she’s so amazing. Stella continued silently, walking up to me. When she finally reached me, before I could say anything, she grabbed both of my hands. The lights then flickered off, and one big spotlight shortly replaced it. Weird move, given it’s… just us in here. But either way, I could follow along with what we were doing. Well enough, at least. Though, when the music came on, I had to count my blessings. I couldn’t slow dance. Hell, I couldn’t REAL dance! But wait. I know that song. I snorted. “Endless Love?” “What?” Stella asked. “Friends can listen to Endless Love in the dark.” “Good one, Arnold Sandbag.” I chuckled. She giggled in response. But then my smile dropped. …and of course, Stella noticed my concern. “Just walk with me, okay? We’ll go slow.” “…alright.” I sighed softly, and stared at my beloved stego gee-eff. I smiled warmly as she smiled back. Blue is such a nice color on you, Stella… “You like the blue?” She chuckled, her eyes lighting up. Fuck. Muttering. But… it wasn’t wrong. “I-I… I love the blue. Why wouldn’t I?” I sputtered. “God, Stella. You’re gorgeous.” I commented. “Shut up, no I’m not.” She chuckled, clearly embarrassed. She then looked away. “I just… am good enough. And that’s enough for me.” She said, keeping us moving to the music. “Good enough?” I asked. “Stella, you’re way beyond good enough.” I fought, and pushed her away from me, before pulling her back in. Risky move but it worked. “Stella, you’re…” I slowed everything back down. “You’re perfect. You’re amazing.” “…but..” She tried. “Why… why do you…?” “Why what?” I asked, snickering. The climax of the song was coming. ‘Your eyes, your eyes…’ “Why do you think I’m so perfect?” Stella asked. Fishing for compliments, or… genuine? I couldn’t… No, I could tell. ‘They tell me how much you care…’ “Because.” I nodded, planning what I wanted to say. Uh oh. Now I was nervous. Can the good part of the song come already? “Stella, you’re…” ‘You will always be…’ Okay. Here goes. “Stella… I…” I spoke, before slowly leaning in. I took her lips in mine, and we enraptured ourselves in the love of each other once again. Despite doing it so many times, kissing Stella… it never truly lost its touch. It felt so magical every time. Like we were young, new, inexperienced. Everything good about life was remembered as soon as my lips touched the person I loved so much. But speaking of love… I had one thing left to do. I pulled away from her. ‘…my endless love.’ “Stella.” I nodded, and choked slightly. “I…” I trailed off. “…yes?” She asked, urging me on. “…I love you.” …The world went silent. And for a few moments, all Stella did was shake her head. We were still dancing, but she was shaking her head. I was confused initially. Was she upset? Angry? Sad? Thought I was wrong? Self-hating? I didn’t get it. But… then I saw the tears. “Anon, y-you idiot.” She choked. Her mascara was running down her face. “I… I love you too. I really, really do.” …All I could do was smile. She loved me back. She had always loved me back. I don’t know why we took so long to say it to each other, but… we just did. Simple as. I don’t have any grand explanation for it. It’s just… neither of us felt it was right to say it. Not before that moment, at least. And… I didn’t even plan that. I didn’t have some grand scheme, the plan had only come in in those last few moments. It just… it had felt so right. Everything had felt so perfect. It’s just what I had to do. And… that was so weird to me. I had never considered this turn of events to be possible, but… fuck. Here I am, man. I’m—it was real. I chuckled to myself. “I love you, Stella.” I said it again. “I know you do, dork.” She responded, as we continued dancing. I’m surprised she was able to stay focused. “I love you too.” She chuckled a soft chuckle. Her tone was wet, if that made any sense. Probably didn’t. But… I smiled at her words. We loved each other. We really, truly did. /////////////// Now, I have a lot of other stories I can tell. The next date, the end of prom, our first time, dating in college, and of course; proposing. But… I think I’ve wasted enough of your time. I’ve gone into hella pointless amounts of detail for some of these stories—and for no real reason. So… I think I’ll spare you the after-school special. You can make presumptions on how I proposed to Stella. It doesn’t really matter to me. I proposed to her, I loved her—your opinion and your headcanons don’t matter to me. But… what does matter, is… the end result. After months of careful planning and careful working, me and Stella had successfully set up our wedding. We get officiated at a church and then had the celebration in a hotel ballroom. It was cheap, sure, but most importantly: it was simple. If you remember any of what I just told you, you’ll understand why simple is good. I’m not going to explain it to you. Show, don’t tell, after all… But… there I was. The night was just beginning. Everything was still fresh on my mind. Everyone was still having fun. It was… it was the picture-perfect wedding for someone like me. All of our friends in the back, watching me dance with the love of my life. Watching me hold her close and give her kisses on the beak sometimes. Watching her nearly start crying because ‘she just loves me so much’ and watching me nearly cry for the same reason. Holding Stella close and feeling the soft fabric of her simplistic blue dress—something she had picked out herself, once again. Something I now loved because of Stella. She could somehow pull off not wearing white at her own wedding. Honestly, what a psyop. She was making me like blue, and plums had quickly become my favorite fruit. But anyway, it… it’s perfect. This is my utopia. This is my climax. This… this is my trophy. This is what I’ve won. All of that hard work? It was… to go to this. “You remember, Anon, all those years ago?” Stella started speaking. She must’ve heard my nonsensical muttering. “Do I remember what?” I asked, giving her a smile. She closed her eyes, and looked at the floor. She then opened them back up and practically whispered: “Your first reading. The cards you got… the magician, the knight of cups, and the two of cups.” She looked back up at me, and gave a smile. A soft one. A quiet smile. “Past, present, and future. The first card, the magician.” She swayed with me. “It represents loneliness.” “Yeah, that’s fitting.” I sighed. “I was pretty lonely.” ”Right.” Stella nodded. “Next. The knight of cups. A card representing potential.” She explained. I slowed our tempo, and began to shuffle more. ”Potential?” I asked. “You had good things in your future, basically.” She chuckled. “But, finally, the two of cups. It was… it IS, sorry; a card that represents passion, intimacy, and love between two people. The perfect unity.” She explained. I was starting to catch on. “Do… do you…” She stuttered. “Are we the perfect unity, Anon?” She asked. She seemed nervous to ask, but I have no idea why. “…Do you think you got a good future?” I said nothing, instead electing to fling her down towards the ground, and then pull her back up. After doing so, I pulled her into a kiss, and put my hand behind her head. I felt the bun there. The hair buns that I loved so. The kiss was… perfect. As always. When was it not perfect? I pulled her away soon after, and stared her in the eyes. I got us back into dancing formation, and moved her around slowly. Naturally. “Stella.” I spoke finally. “Babe.” “Yeah?” She asked, whispering. She was in her element. I was too. “I’ve always thought we would be the perfect unity.” I answered honestly. “It took a bit for me to see it, but even back then, I knew. I always knew. That reading you gave me… I didn’t know what it meant literally, but in my heart of hearts, I knew.” “You knew?” She giggled. “Of course I did.” I nodded. I kissed her one last time. After all, Stell. “…you had me from hello.”