Page 21 of Clichés & Curses

I wasn’t fully convinced, and he must’ve seen it from the look on my face. With a small smile on his face, he said gently, ‘Practice doesn’t start in another hour, and campus isn’t even a ten-minute drive away from here. I already have everything I need in the car. So yes, I am sure of this, and I am driving you back home. Stop doubting me.’

‘Okay,’ I replied, giving him a small smile of my own. I appreciated Colton for using logic to back up his reasons, and itdid help settle a part of my guilt. Since we were already on this side of the street, I might as well take a look.

A sweet scent filled the air the closer I got to the store. The beautiful flowers took up almost half of the sidewalk, while the radiant colours of the petals welcomed me in their embrace once I was close enough to fully admire their beauty.

Colton stood patiently by my side as I took my time looking at them. My hands gently caressed each of the flower petals that I had passed by.

I was admiring the red tulips when I heard Colton ask, ‘Do you have a favourite flower?’

I tilted my head at him and caught him looking at the gardenias, his hands reaching out and touching the petals softly with his fingertips.

And I couldn’t take my eyes away from him.

My crush on Colton had been superficial, I would freely admit to that. It was shaped by seeing him from afar in the stands, as he scored points for the baseball team, fully living up to his reputation of being a star athlete. But at that moment, he had just seemed like nothing more than another guy, admiring flowers with a fond look on his face.

Colton’s eyes met mine and I instantly looked back at the tulips, a rush of heat filling up my cheeks. ‘I don’t really have a favourite flower. I just like whatever looks pretty,’ I answered him. ‘Bonus if it’s in pink.’

‘So pink flowers then?’

‘You could say that.’

I finally got to the section of flowers that had first caught my attention from across the street. The pink roses.

Looking at the flowers, I thought about whether I should bring some home. Nina and I had never really put flowers in our apartment before. But I was pretty sure we had a vasesomewhere that I could put on the coffee table in the living room to brighten up the space.

‘What are you thinking hard about?’

My head snapped up, seeing Colton standing closer to me than he did moments before. Close enough that our arms had almost been touching.

‘I’m thinking about whether or not I should get some flowers for my apartment,’ I told him, my mind stuck in a dilemma.

‘Go for it,’ he urged me.

I raised a brow at him. ‘You think so?’

‘Why not?’ He shrugged. ‘I mean, if having flowers in your apartment makes you happy, then why not get them? Isn’t that a good enough reason as any?’

I couldn’t fight back a smile even if I tried. ‘You’re right, that reason alone is enough.’

And before I knew it, I was walking back to the car with pink roses in one arm.

Colton opened the passenger door for me and offered to hold my flowers while I climbed into the car. I thanked him as he passed them back to me, closed the door, and made his way over to the driver’s seat.

When we arrived in front of my apartment building, Colton parked his car at the drop-off spot and once again stepped out of the car to open my door for me.

‘Thank you.’ I smiled at him. ‘I’ll see you next week then, partner?’

He gave me a nod. ‘Next week it is, partner.’

Chapter Six

In the next few weeks that followed, my Wednesdays had started to fall into a bit of a routine.

My mornings consisted of having breakfast at the apartment and heading down to campus for my classes. Then, I would meet up with Claudia and Lily for lunch. Although we were taking different classes, our schedules seemed to align with one another, and we took it as an opportunity to meet up and hang out until our next class.

After lunch came the afternoon portion of my Wednesday, which was slowly becoming my favourite part of the week. It started with ASL class, then going to the bubble tea shop to practice ASL with Colton.

The Wednesday after our first practice, Colton had asked me if I wanted to go to the same bubble tea shop again, to which I had enthusiastically agreed. The week after that, it just became the normal spot for our weekly sessions.

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