Page 93 of Clichés & Curses

Bringing my eyes to our joined hands, I was met with the source of the gentle touches—Colton’s thumb. I didn’t even realize I was still holding his hand.

‘Do you want me to stop?’ he said, noticing what I was looking at.

I shook my head at him. ‘No.’

Colton eventually did stop, but he didn’t let go of my hand. From the delicate way he was holding it, I knew what he was trying to say.

He was letting me decide whether I wanted to continue holding his hand or drop it.

Making my decision, I gave it a gentle squeeze, letting my hand linger in his.

And because it was Colton, he got my message, and he gripped my hand even tighter.

‘Hey, partner,’ he then said, a small smile on his face.

‘Hey, partner,’ I repeated with a smile of my own, matching his.

We let the quiet surround us once again, as we held on to the comfort of one another.

Colton was the one who broke the silence. ‘I got you these, by the way.’

It was only then that I noticed that his other arm was tucked behind him, hidden from me, until he pulled it forward, showing me what it was.

It was a bunch of pink flowers: a variety of them, wrapped with cellophane wrap and tied together at the stems—the same way it had been the last time he gave me flowers.

Using my unoccupied hand, I reached out to them, accepting his wonderful gift.

‘Thank you,’ I held it closer to my nose and inhaled its floral scent. ‘But what’s the occasion?’ I teased.

‘I guess you could say they’re apology flowers,’ he shrugged. ‘I felt bad about what happened on Wednesday. And I know giving you flowers doesn’t make up for the fact that I missed our ASL practice, but I don’t know,’ he continued, his voice shrinking towards the end, ‘giving you flowers just felt right to me.’

Upon hearing his words, my eyes immediately shifted to meet his, only to find them looking at the ground instead, as if in embarrassment of his sweet gesture. But he shouldn’t have, and I realized I needed to let him know that.

‘Colton,’ I called out, willing him to look at me. And when he finally did, I said, ‘Thank you.’

A small hint of a smile appeared on his face. ‘You’re welcome.’

‘And plus. The flowers in my apartment were starting to wilt, so this couldn’t have come at a better time,’ I said, lighting up the tension from what the weight of his words had left behind.

He let out a small laugh. ‘Glad I could help.’

‘And oh! I got you something too,’ I exclaimed, remembering I had brought gifts of my own. I pulled my hand away from his, and went to put the lovely flowers on top of my backpack. Grabbing the handle of the plastic bag, I offered it to Colton. ‘Here you go.’

Surprise flickered on his face as his hand reached out for the plastic bag, and he peeked to see what was inside.

‘Bubble tea,’ he stated, seemingly needing no explanation for it but I gave him one anyway.

‘Think of it as a peace offering,’ I explained, ‘for what happened between us last week.’

‘But why are there two of them?’

‘You didn’t think I would get one for you, without getting one for myself, did you?’ I said, my voice teasing as I repeated the words he had said to me not too long ago. The smile on my face was evident as I voiced out the next sentence. ‘Plus, someone once told me that bubble teaisour thing.’

Emphasizing the ‘is’—present tense.

His lips tugged into a small smile. But the glow of happiness started to dim slightly, as his smile was replaced by a frown. ‘I feel like I should be getting you bubble tea since I messed up.’

‘You already got me flowers,’ I reassured him.

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