Talia was quick to stand up as quick as possible, hiding her dirty hand behind her. Rick shook his head, came a few steps closer to her, reached behind her, and snatched her hand to be displayed in between the both of them. He withdrew a sturdy looking handkerchief from the inside of his jacket pocket and wiped her hand clean of the dirt and grime that had made contact with her hand while she had been fishing for her beloved half dollar coin. Talia made no attempts to explain herself until after Rick shoved the now dirty cloth back into his jacket.... which she then muttered, "Thanks."
"You are really something!" Rick said, raising his eyebrows at Talia who lowered her eyes. "I heard you went over to your ex's house or something and demanded to be taken back. Is that true?" When she didn't answer him, he let out an angry sigh. "Have you not learned enough from this douc - "
"It's none of your business anyway, Rick!" Talia said, raising her eyes to glare at her supposed prince charming who had been able locate her after all. "And don't...say that about him...he's....just....going through a phase..."
Rick laughed really hard at that last statement, and Talia's face turned a deep shade of maroon. "A phase? Really? Wake up already! He doesn't want you anymore!"
"Why would you say that? That's not even true!"
"It is true! Stop being so oblivious," Rick interjected.
"And besides," continued Talia. "Why do you care about what I...about what I decide to do....since when have you...since when have..."
"Since always!"
Talia, eyes wide, stared straight down at the ground at her converse sneakers and refused to look up. Her mind was completely blank at the moment, and she didn't know what to say or how to say anything. She chewed her lip as Rick cleared his throat, determined to keep the conversation going.
"Was this really all because of me? Because I said that being with you was as comfortable as being with a guy?" When Talia didn't say anything, Rick continued. "Well, I'm honored that I can make a girl take off her pride and run back to her ex just with my mouth. But I don't want that honor. And for the record, I know you're not a guy," he walked towards the fountain. "It sure is pretty here though, isn't it..."
Talia walked over next to him and let out a small sigh as the lump in her throat started to shrink a little bit. "I always come here when I feel bad," she paused. "How did you know I was here?"
Rick laughed. "Okay, don't give me any weird looks when I say this, but..." he paused. "I've seen you standing here several times with your eyes closed making a wish. I always saw you here when I was delivering papers throughout the city."
"Stalker!" Talia said, feeling a bit surprised but pleased. She chewed her lip again and stared straight at the sculpture of the woman being held by her lover. "I wish you would have said something about that because now I feel like a total idiot..."
"You are an idiot. Who's stupid enough to go and find their ex? No wonder he wouldn't take you back. No matter how you look or how you dress, no one is going to want to - "
"Well - Well, I pity the fool who falls in love with me," Talia muttered, turning away.
"I pity myself too," Rick almost immediately said. "And I know I'm not really one to act like this, but..."
He turned to Talia, reached over and planted his lips onto hers. Talia's eyes only widened and she froze, unable to think, say, or react to what was going on. Her eyes probably only continued to grow larger until Rick pulled away. She couldn't describe the kiss even to herself because her brain was dead by this point; she couldn't remember anything about it except for the fact that a part of her brain had wanted it to last longer and that he had kissed her. The end of the kiss was met by this... a small, serene smile by the guy that she had always secretly adored, the guy that always knew her favorite places and where to look for her, and the guy who acted as her secret keeper; the guy who had secretly watched her without fail stand in front of a "mythical" fountain rumored to make wishes come true to those with a sincere yearning for love.
Rick cleared his throat as his face was the same color as Talia's. He scratched his head and bit his lip several times while looking around the scenery as people of all ages walked past the fountain and its observers. Talia's heart was pounding like crazy in her chest and she felt like her face was on fire.
"Here," Rick suddenly grabbed Talia's hand and placed an identical looking half dollar in it before he helped to close her fingers around it. "Here's a refund for that...that kiss," he cleared his throat again as Talia's heart yet skipped another beat.
"No, it...it was good. I mean, it was fine - um, what I mean is, um, don't...don't worry about it," Talia said, sounding a bit too cheery than she wanted. She unexpectedly shared a look with Rick, and the two of them started to laugh.
"DELIVERY FOR MISTER BARSEN AND HIS BAE!"
Talia and Rick turned to see a very enthusiastic Zico pulling a very disgruntled and flustered Selena behind him. The couple ran straight up to Rick and Zico who tossed a bouquet at him which he caught quite naturally. "We looked everywhere for you two lovebirds," Zico said as Selena was trying to catch her breath.
"Lovebirds? Speak for yourself," Rick said as Talia snickered, seeing that Zico wouldn't let go of Selena's hand.
Selena glared at the two of them. "We're not lovebirds, we're - "
"- More than that," Zico interrupted, causing Selena to turn an even darker shade of red.
"You - !"
"Anyway, those're those flowers you wanted us to get for you, lover boy," Zico said, ignoring Selena and instead choosing to point at the flowers. "The Daffodils of Destiny....this one here came up with that cheesy name.."
"Hey, you said it was good this morning!"
"I say a lot of things."
"....."
As Rick turned to Talia and handed her the Daffodils of Destiny, Talia's face and heart started to set on fire. She felt like her stomach was melting with the smile on Rick's face. "See?" he said as she took the gift from him. "Today wasn't so bad after all. You got flowers and your money back."
"I guess you could say that," Talia laughed. "Thanks for these."
"Hey.....Sometimes, look closer..."
"Look closer...what?"
"Sometimes if you look closer, you can find that the people who you want to be closer to are already by your - "
"Oh, yawn," Zico said. "Let's go, Selena. Let's leave this old couple alone to kiss some more."
"You- you saw that?!" Rick and Talia said in sync, causing them to blush some more.
"How- how much of that did you see?" Talia said, her heart stopping.
"All of it," Selena said, suddenly gripping Zico's hand a little tighter. "You guys sure are slow at - "
Zico reached over and pecked Selena on the cheek. "Yeah, it was too slow for my taste too," while everyone was still frozen he waved and dragged Selena away from the scene despite her protests.
"Maybe I should take some advice from that guy," Rick suddenly said about a minute later after the two of them had settled into comfortable silence. "It might not be too late...to give it a try." He reached for Talia's hand unexpectedly and Talia felt herself go red for about the fifth hundred time today. "I gave you flowers and a refund, so you just come with me today."
"To - to - to where?" she stammered as a breeze swept past.
"Somewhere," Rick said with a soft smile, and with the soft pit-a-pat of combined hearts, the two of them raced through the city, their smiles and footsteps as light as a feather.
The card tucked away quite snugly in the sleep flowers kept forever towards that bouquet read this:
[ The Daffodils of Destiny
Sweet and Amorous
Only Complimented by Pairs
Always Yearning
Fate and Destiny Decided
The Daffodils of Destiny ]
~~~~~ END ~~~~~
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