Walking into her room, Ambrosia fished out her headphones and iPod. She hit play, listening to a love song come on, and crawled into bed. A man sung passionately about his love for someone, pointing out all her lovable qualities. Demetri instantly popped into Ambrosia’s thoughts. Growing irritated, she skipped the song.
Yet another man sang softly about his love and the many things he would do for her, reminding Rose of what Demetri had done for her already. Another skip.
A woman singing about being unable to live without her love came on next. Ambrosia’s stomach began to churn and twist into knots. She began to see the truth to the song; Rose needed Demetri, and she needed him now.
Music wasn’t helping. It only made Ambrosia think of Demetri more. She needed to stop this. Depression was soon to occur if this continued. Pressing skip once more, Rose hoped and prayed another depressing song wouldn’t hum in her ears.
To her dismay, Ambrosia’s wishful thinking was discarded without any concern. As a girl sang about her heartbreak, Rose chucked her headphones across the room, feeling tears threatening to spill. Music always helped whenever Rose felt down, not this time.
Undesirably, Ambrosia grabbed her homework, pondering what to start first. With only one page to do, Ambrosia decided to work on English. Piece of cake as it was about herself. That is, until tomorrow when she would have to present it to the class, the thing Rose hated most about school.
Everything else Ambrosia excelled in, but as soon as she had to present, she flaked, unable to handle the pressure. When they were still friends, Josephine was the person to always help Rose practice, one of the few things Ambrosia still valued about their friendship. Josephine would tell her what she did wrong and what she needed to work on, giving positive constructive criticism. Now that Josephine betrayed her, they couldn’t do that, leaving Rose to suffer.
Hearing a knock, Ambrosia walked to her door, expecting Callum. She guessed Mom wouldn’t be home until after midnight, like usual.
“Yes?”
With no answer back, Ambrosia opened her door. No one was there. Hearing another knock, Ambrosia looked around confused. Where was it coming from?
Still gazing around her room, a third knock echoed. She didn’t know why, but Rose began walking to her window. Unconsciously, she thought about the boys in movies throwing pebbles at the girl’s window with the slightest hope she might be home.
Gazing out her window, Ambrosia saw Demetri unbelievably standing there. She had never heard of someone actually doing this. Boys didn’t do such cliché, romantic acts in reality. Girls weren’t rescued from life-crushing humility and didn’t find boys standing outside their windows all in one day. Life wasn’t a fairy tale. People weren’t saved.
Wide-eyed, Ambrosia opened her window and stared.
“Look, I’m sorry. I had to go get my sister; she needed me, Ambrosia. There was an emergency, and I had to go. I would have stayed and spent time with you, but I couldn’t. I tried to, but when I got to the field, you were gone. I had hoped you would be waiting for me still. I thought we were still meeting each other at the woods,” Demetri immediately defended, forcing Ambrosia to realize this was not the time to be amazed with him.
“I waited for fifteen minutes, but you never came. I left, and luckily, Callum was still there to drive me home. I thought we would have walked to the bus together, but you left me. You left me!” Rose screamed softly as to not let Callum hear, her hand clutching her chest to stop from losing control of her emotions.
A small, single tear rolled down Ambrosia’s cheek. Not wanting to show weakness, she turned around and wiped away the tear hastily, embarrassed. Hold it together, Ambrosia.
“You could have told me you needed to leave. I would have been okay with it. I wouldn’t be mad now if you had. All I needed was for you to simply tell me,” she continued. Another tear silently rolled down. I can’t hold on any longer.
“You should leave before Callum sees you. I have homework to do,” Ambrosia urged as she walked towards her bed, wiping away her overflowing tears as fast as she could. Why am I such a crybaby?
Nearly halfway there and sobbing to death, Rose felt arms wrap around her.
“I’m so sorry, Ambrosia. You’re right, I should have told you. I’m sorry,” Demetri spoke, sounding genuinely sincere.
Before slowly turning around, Ambrosia tried to wipe her tears away. Should I believe him? Ambrosia wondered as she stared into Demetri’s amethyst eyes.
With another tear rolling down her cheek, Rose was forced to turn around again.
“Ambrosia,” Demetri softly mumbled. Ambrosia remained silent.
I can’t let him see me crying. I just can’t, Rose swore before realizing Demetri already had. Even so, she hated when people saw her cry for the same reason she bottled her feelings inside: weakness, embarrassment, judgment. Each one could break her delicate self-esteem in a heartbeat. One wrong word, and it would all fall apart.
As Ambrosia tried to wipe the tear away, another one quickly replaced it. Her embarrassment rising, she prayed for Demetri to leave.
“Ambrosia,” Demetri softly repeated.
Rose remained silent when all of a sudden, Demetri forcefully grabbed her and spun her around. Ambrosia felt strong, caring arms hold her tightly. Her dam erupted. Rose no longer had tears, but an ever flowing river.
“I’m so sorry. I will never do something like that again, I promise. Give me another chance?” Demetri whispered, gently rubbing Ambrosia’s back.
Gazing up at him, she saw his deep cobalt eyes, leaving her helplessly entranced. Pleased, Demetri pulled Ambrosia into another hug.
With a sudden knock at her door, Ambrosia turned, breaking their embrace, and stared at her door.
“It’s Callum. You should go,” she murmured, a little saddened.
Looking back at Demetri, Rose found he was gone, nowhere in sight. Hesitant, she opened her door.
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