Wallflower thought her friendship with Aria was nothing short of perfect. Now, she realizes all of her feelings towards Aria are wrong—the bad, misguided, romantic kind.
Wallflower has been friends with Aria for a whole month, and then some, for a while now. They like the same music, hobbies, food, and each other. Their friendship, while unlikely, has quickly become the perfect friendship Wallflower has always dreamed of.
But when Wallflower realizes her emotions are something else entirely, everything changes. They're the kind of emotions that are bad, misguided, wrong, and likely unreciprocated.
It's not normal to love your best friend, not when you're both girls.
Wallflower never knew she could really make a friend with someone. By herself, that is. Not that she didn’t appreciate Roseluck and Ditzy, they were great friends! Even still, the three only met because they both joined the gardening club. Which was after…everything with Sunset.
Yes, Sunset helped her make the gardening club a bit more popular—enough to have a few people actually join—and they were on decent terms at the time, that wasn’t exactly the case anymore. Nowadays, they were more distant than ever. It just..happened. The rest of the Rainbooms were, at best, politely sociable.
But that was fine. Roseluck and Ditzy were her new friends, and Wallflower enjoyed their company. They accepted her, and genuinely liked her despite knowing what she had done with the Memory Stone months prior. Was having only two friends kinda sorta totally pathetic? Yes, Wallflower reminded herself of that fact every single morning.
But now? Well, Wallflower had three friends now.
“Hey! You there?” Aria waved her hand in front of Wallflower’s face, pulling her out of her thoughts and into reality.
“W-Wuh? Oh, yeah. Yeah. I’m here.” Wallflower nodded. Aria’s voice brought her back to reality, the halls of CHS. They walked once again, moving from the standstill Wallflower temporarily took in the middle of the nearly empty halls.
It had been a few weeks since the beginning of their friendship, the two putting the slightly rocky start behind them and deciding they enjoyed spending time with each other. Spending part of the evening with Aria at the Dazzlings’ house became a regular part of Wallflower’s schedule for most days. Goofing off, playing video games, talking about music..
Wallflower loved it.
It was like the perfect friendship she had always dreamed of. Someone who understood her, and someone she could understand. Someone she could spend hours with. Someone who made her legs feel all shaky when they were together. Someone who was almost always on her mind.
She didn’t feel that way with Roseluck or Ditzy, so it meant her friendship with Aria was special. Right? Otherwise, the cause of the odd giddiness she felt around Aria was unexplainable.
“..so, you were saying?” Aria glanced over to Wallflower as they walked. How could she walk without looking where she was going so easily?
“What I was saying?” Wallflower asked, questioning herself. “Oh, right. Right. So..since we’re friends,” Wallflower didn’t have the nerve to title them as best friends yet, “I wanted to, err..introduce you to my other friends.”
Aria raised a brow. “Including the one who runs away from me.” She bluntly stated. A smirk came to her face as she turned to look forwards again, clearly still entertained by the thought. “She’s still terrified of me. You should see her reaction when I’m with Adagio and Sonata, it’s hilarious.”
Wallflower stifled a snort. She found it a bit rude to talk about Roseluck behind her back like this, but it was all in good fun. “I talked to her about it, soooo..hopefully she doesn’t pass out? Or run away. I just want you guys to be on good terms, since you’re my friend and they’re my friends and all of us being friends would be nice..”
This was an incredibly delicate operation, something Wallflower had been planning for quite a while. It was like the surgical operation of an organ transplant, except Aria was the new kidney or heart or whatever and her small friend group was the body. Inserting Aria into her friend group deserved the same amount of preparation and delicacy.
“Fine, fine, fine. But,” Aria stopped Wallflower in her tracks by tugging on the collar of her sweater, pulling her close in what was probably a lighthearted attempt at friendly intimidation. “We’re hanging out tomorrow like usual. We were supposed to play Hellraisers today, and I can’t play the Raise Harder expansion without your help. ‘Dagi and ‘Nata were gonna be out of the house today, damnit!”
“I-I thought you played with them when I’m not there?” Wallflower stuttered out, the familiar feeling of shaky legs coming to her. Aria must have noticed Wallflower’s rosy cheeks just as Wallflower herself did, suddenly letting go of her sweater collar.
“Well, uh, yeah. But they aren’t actually good at the game..” Aria grumbled, folding her arms as they resumed their walk. “Sonata doesn’t even use the rocket launcher against the tanks, and ‘Dagi kills me at the end of every mission..”
Before Wallflower could comment on the questionable gaming skills of the other sirens, the two turned a corner to the usual set of stairs where Wallflower, and thus Ditzy and Roseluck, often hung out during lunch and briefly after school. There sat Ditzy, helping a hyperventilating Roseluck calm down.
“There, there, Rosie..it’ll be fine, if Wallflower likes her then she’s definitely nice!” Ditzy turned to face the two as they showed up, her smile still remaining even with one of the sirens being right there. “Oh, good! Uuhm..I tried calming Roseluck down, but she’s still kinda scared, I think..”
Roseluck took a deep breath and actually looked up, only to cower once again once she saw the purple siren. “Ah! You didn’t say she was here already!”
Before Aria could do anything brash, Wallflower stepped in to sit next to Roseluck and make an attempt to calm her. Which was going to be pretty difficult if Ditzy couldn’t, as Ditzy being able to comfort someone no matter what was supposed to be one of the permanently solidified laws of the universe that held space and time together.
“Roseluck, c’mon. You could at least give her a chance. I was just as evil, remember? If not worse! But I’m not anymore, right?” Wallflower forced a smile as Roseluck hesitantly looked back up.
Wallflower’s efforts seemed to work, as Roseluck was now smiling (an actual smile) and flicking Wallflower on the nose. “You broke your streak again. One week and a half since you said something bad about yourself.”
“Oh, right..uhm, promise to try harder if you give Aria a chance?”
Roseluck’s smile turned into a frown, another flick promptly delivered to Wallflower’s nose. “Bargaining like that with a promise doesn’t seem healthy, Wally,” She sighed, giving Aria a side-eye glance which was—surprisingly—not met with a scowl, “I guess if you trust her, it’s fine.”
Ditzy interrupted by suddenly clapping, big silly smile plastered on her face. “Yay! We’re all friends now!”
And with that, the operation was complete. The Aria organ had been successfully transplanted into the friend group body and was now being sewn shut. Of course, that was ignoring all the bonding that had to be done for. But Wallflower had planned for that!
Aria cleared her throat. “So. Where are we going, anyways?” She questioned, really only speaking to Wallflower directly.
“We—”
“To the store!” Ditzy cheerily replied while standing up and pulling Roseluck along with her, “Wally says we gotta move some plants inside the greenhouse, so we’re buying more soil aaaand..pots..aaand, uhm..more seeds!”
“Oh.” Aria bluntly responded. She turned to Wallflower, who was giving her a tiny little smile to try and sway her to go along with it. “..sure, whatever. I’ll come.”
Wallflower was grateful to find relief from the biting cold now that they were all inside the generic big box store, only wearing her jeans and slightly ratty sweater as warmth. The others had clothes that were far more suitable for the fall season, Aria notably having swapped out her usual look for a hoodie.
“Ooohkay..” Wallflower murmured, taking a handwritten list from her pocket. She squinted at her own poor handwriting before reading, “Soil, small pots, some tools, fertilizers, trays for germinating, and the usual seeds we get. We should be able to find everything we need in the gardening section, I think.”
The four set out to the gardening section of the store, the entire section acting as a giant greenhouse and a separate wing of the store. Roseluck and Ditzy set out to find all of the non-seed related supplies, still not quite as well versed in gardening compared to Wallflower to pick out anything else. Wallflower never asked Aria to stay right by her side as they shopped, yet she was right there next to her. Hands in her hoodie pockets looking so stupidly cool without even trying.
“You, uh, didn’t have to follow me. I’m sure Ditzy and..er, well, just Ditzy would have been happy to have you along,” Wallflower pointed out. Roseluck, not so much, but Ditzy would probably be friends with anyone Wallflower called a friend.
Aria shrugged. “I like you, and I don’t like them enough to be ‘actual’ friends. Hope you don’t expect me to.”
Wallflower partially ignored the fluttering feeling in her chest when Aria said she liked her, finding her sudden realization much more important in the moment. Of course Aria didn’t have to be friends with Ditzy and Roseluck, they just had to be acquaintances on good terms! She didn’t know much about friendships as a whole, but something along those lines was probably a valid relationship.
“Oh, gosh, I don’t know why I didn’t think of that..” Wallflower cracked a smile at her own stupidity. How could she be so dumb? “I was gonna try and get you all to get along, but..yeah, just acquaintances is good.”
“Mhm.” Aria stepped from behind Wallflower to be shoulder to shoulder with her. “Still not sitting with you guys at lunch. Only dweebs sit on stairs away from people.”
Wallflower glanced over to see Aria giving her another one of those leg-shake chest-flutter inducing smirks. That was how best friends were supposed to make you feel, right? “Am I at least the best dweeb out of the three of us?” She innocently asked.
“Sure. You’re already the only dweeb that matters, anyways.
Did she really mean it? Was Wallflower the best dweeb in Aria’s eyes? For some inexplicable reason, the mere idea was making her cheeks feel warm. “You..really mean that?” Wallflower questioned further, a smile now quickly forming on her lips.
Her question was met with a light punch to her shoulder, Aria’s cheeks taking a similar hue to what Wallflower’s must have looked like now. “Y-You know what I mean, alright?” It looked as if she was about to scowl, yet faltered once the two made eye contact. Aria quickly looked away. “Don’t make it all weird..”
Wallflower stifled what was going to be a giggle, only letting out an odd and indecipherable grunt. “Okay, okay..just saying, I uh. Really like being your friend.” She casually stated while her eyes went back to the seed packets. It was oddly easy to give friendly affection to Aria.
Out of the corner of her eyes, she could see Aria squint like something was wrong. “..oh, uh. Okay. Yeah, whatever. Being friends with you is..nice.”
Quick to avoid any semblance of an awkward silence, Aria presented a packet of red chrysanthemum seeds to Wallflower. “These look nice. You could, uh, plant ‘em for me. Since I won’t be there.”
Wallflower examined the packet, her mind already working through all the complications of growing mums in the school greenhouse. It’d be a challenge, but mums were one of her favorite flowers next to forget-me-nots. “Yeah, sure! They’re kinda hard to grow, but..I’ve never tried. Once they bloom, they should be pretty easy to upkeep. It’ll be a fun project, maybe..”
Another tiny smile came to Wallflower’s lips, which Aria promptly rolled her eyes at. “Yeah, yeah. Don’t smile at me like that too much, or I’ll punch you.”
A sudden crash from near the tool shelves quickly grabbed their attention, as well as anyone else who was in the gardening section. Sharing a glance, they both decided it was worth seeing what happened. Wallflower already knew, anyways.
“Oops..” Ditzy mumbled, shovels and trowels and plastic pots and other miscellaneous gardening items piled on the floor.
Ditzy was in the middle of climbing on a ladder that was clearly meant for employees only, Roseluck hastily trying to put everything back on the shelves as people watched. “Dangit..Ditzy, help me out! I told you not to climb up there!” Roseluck exclaimed, a hint of annoyance in her voice.
“Ohkay, ohkay..ooh, there’s the soil we need!”
As always, a mix of school funding and money from Roseluck and Ditzy paid off all of the supplies. Without a car to transport all of their items, the group hauled everything back to the now mostly empty school (which was far easier with a stronger fourth person.)
Roseluck went home shortly after everything was inside the greenhouse, and Aria made a hasty return to get back home on the bus right after. In her own words, Adagio and Sonata were going to bug her for hours about why she took so long.
As the sun began to set, Wallflower and Ditzy remained and took shelter from the biting fall breeze inside the greenhouse.
“Thanks for staying to help, Ditzy,” Wallflower said as she opened the red chrysanthemum packet with her mouth, “It means a lot..being lonely here after school always gets to me.”
“It’s no problem, Wally!” Ditzy chirped, her hands deep in a bag of soil as she filled germination trays. “I know you don’t like being alone too much. And, uuhm, I like being around you here. Mhm!”
Ditzy slid the tray over to Wallflower, set to be filled with the chrysanthemum seeds. “Thooough,” she continued, “I think I know who you like being with more, hmmm?” Ditzy flashed a coy smile, which just ended up being cute with her crossed eyes.
“Huh?” Wallflower cluelessly asked while carefully inserting the seeds into the tray, “What..do you mean?”
“Aria!” Ditzy exclaimed, pulling out her dirt-covered hands from the soil to gesticulate, “I’m really super happy you made a friend by yourself, and uhm..I noticed how much you like to spend time with her. Sooo..are you two best friends now?”
“Uhh..” Wallflower nervously laughed, “I dunno. Maybe? I just..know I like being around her. It’s nice. We actually have a lot in common, like the kind of music we like and video games and stuff. And it’s..surprisingly easy to talk to her about stuff we don’t really have in common. I dunno, it’s just. Nice.”
She glanced over to Ditzy, who in turn gave her a nod. “Mhmm, go on!”
“Uh, well..” Wallflower shrugged, “I just..feel good being around her? I mean, whenever I look at her I feel good, and hearing her talk gets me kind of..I don’t know, giddy? And I really like her personality, I guess. Being with her makes me feel energized, or something.”
“Hmmm..” Ditzy’s smile turned into a thinking frown, her index finger tapping at her chin and smudging dirt on it. “I’m not the smartest person ever..buuuut, Wally, that kinda sounds like you have a crush on her?”
“...What?”
Ditzy’s smile returned. “I just think it sounds like you have a crush on Aria! You spend a lot of time with her, really like being around her, uhmmm..” She had begun to count on her fingers, trying to name all the symptoms of crushing on someone, but stopped at two. “All those other things you said!”
“I-I..” Wallflower hesitated, gripping the edge of the table in front of her to ground herself. “I don’t..”
It all made sense. Too much sense. The way she adored Aria’s smirk, how she admired how crass and unabashedly rude Aria could be at times, how much she liked it when Aria eased up when they were hanging out together, how much she…
Wallflower’s train of thought came to a screeching halt. She looked down to the nearly empty packet of red chrysanthemum seeds in her hand and pocketed it like it was going to kill her if she looked at it any longer. Her hands found a familiar place around her, hugging herself and hiding her sleeved wrists against herself.
This was wrong. Very, very, very wrong.
“Uhm..Wallflower?” Wallflower could see Ditzy turning back to face her, just out of the corner of her eyes. “Are you okay?” Ditzy innocently asked, unaware of the bomb she just dropped onto Wallflower. The bomb that exploded in Wallflower’s mind and laid waste to her composure.
“..Y-Yeah, yeah. I’m fine,” Wallflower hesitantly stuttered out. She dug into her other pocket, fishing out the greenhouse keys and sliding them towards Ditzy.
“Could you, uh, finish that tray and lock up? We can pick things back up tomorrow, I just..gotta, uh. Go home,” Wallflower said, forcing a smile. The greenhouse suddenly felt far too stuffy, far too hot. The more she stood still, the deeper the pit in her stomach felt. “My uncle doesn’t like me being out too late. Gotta get back.”
Ditzy must have said something, but Wallflower didn’t hear anything. Before she knew it, her legs were moving out the door and off campus. The cold breeze was biting at her once again, but she didn’t care. Her feet were aching from all the walking in her dirty sneakers, but she didn’t care. It was a long walk back home and she couldn’t afford taking the bus, but she didn’t care.
The fact it was a weekend did little to soothe Wallflower’s nerves. She spent the entire morning laid in bed, unmoving. Now, she was sitting at her desk, completely unaware of how much time had passed since waking up.
Everyone deserved happiness, right? But what if the source of that happiness would be wrong? Was it selfish to continue a relationship when your feelings have changed for the worse?
All these questions ran through Wallflower’s mind as she sat at her desk. Her world had humpty-dumptied and shattered into a million pieces, never to be put back together. All because of her stupid feelings.
For another girl. Her friend. Someone who trusted her.
Her hand was aching. Looking down, she realized she was still gripping the empty packet of red chrysanthemums with a white-knuckle grip.
Red chrysanthemums, a symbol for love.
Wallflower let go of the packet like it was on fire, pushing it away and off of her desk. Of course Aria picked these flowers. Without knowing of their significance and how much it was paining Wallflower just to think about them in the greenhouse.
No, not everyone deserved happiness. These feelings would only lead to pain and sadness and all other sorts of nasty words that Wallflower couldn’t think of at the moment. The only solution was to firmly grasp those warm, fuzzy feelings, shove them into a lead box, and bury the box deep inside of her.
It was the best possible thing to do. Both for her own sake, and Aria’s. It was never fair to her, and it never would be. Just thinking about continuing to be friends with Aria—knowing what her feelings towards her meant—made her feel sick.
Her phone buzzed, quietly clattering against the desk.
Wallflower was suddenly ripped from her thoughts and grounded back in reality, her eyes now fixated on her phone with a notification on the lockscreen. Hesitantly, she picked up her phone—which was a few models old at this point—and scanned the text message she just received.
Wallflower’s stomach dropped when she saw it was from Aria. Of course, Wallflower saved her contact as ‘Aria✨.’
For a moment, the notification sparked a tiny flicker of joy. But her heart was beating harder, and the warm and fuzzy monster inside the lead box was already coming out again.
Against her better judgment, she opened the text.
Aria✨ [12:23]: Hey. Aria✨ [12:23]: Where are you? We’re hanging out today.
Wallflower’s knee hit the bottom of her desk. Aria wanted her to be there. Of course she did, Aria was always insistent about their hangouts in the past. Now, it felt different. It felt like those days were years ago, from an abstract point in time that definitely happened but not quite comprehensible.
Her thumbs moved before she could think.
Me [12:24]: Sorry Me [12:24]: I got busy, I’ll be there soon. K?
Wallflower smiled as she reminisced on the time Aria got surprisingly upset at her grammar. Back then, Wallflower constantly typed without any capitalization or punctuation and Aria hated it.
Aria✨ [12:24]: You better. Aria✨ [12:24]: I think I threatened you yesterday. About if you didn’t show up.
Me [12:24]: Something like that Me [12:24]: I’ll be there soon Me [12:24]: Gotta take the bus
For a moment, everything felt like it was normal again. And then, Wallflower thought about the smirk Aria would probably make once she made it to her house—and the feelings it would invoke—and felt awful again.
Wallflower buried her face in her hands, rubbing her palms into her eyes. Normally, thinking about Aria always made her somewhat happy, but knowing why it made her happy just made the pit in her stomach feel even deeper. It was a deadly combination when mixed with the fuzziness in her heart.
“I-I’ll..get over it. Definitely. I have to..” Wallflower mumbled, talking to herself in hushed tones even though nobody else was home.
Maybe it was selfish to continue being friends with Aria, even if she was subconsciously pining for her. Even with this in mind, Wallflower was preparing to head out. It was especially cold out today, yet all Wallflower put on was the usual sweater and jeans. The rest of her winter clothes were too old.
The house was eerily quiet as she made her way downstairs, but it wasn’t unusual. Uncle only had Sundays off, and his work schedule filled most of the day well into the night. There were days where they never saw each other—usually because Wallflower went to sleep before it got too late.
Wallflower made it to the bottom of the stairs and began walking to the door, yet stopped in her tracks and froze. Her eyes fixated on the crucifix hanging just by the door, staring as it was staring right back.
Her uncle must have asked a thousand times if he should take it down for her sake, aware of how things were when she lived with her parents—It was the entire reason she was living with her uncle in the first place. Every single time, she would reply with a ‘no.’ Because there was nothing in this world that could get her to look her uncle in the eyes and tell him to take that crucifix down.
In a daze, Wallflower quickly made it to the door and pushed it open to be greeted by the cold breeze. There was a light snow, which firmly cemented her plan of taking the bus.
“Just..don’t think about it,” Wallflower mumbled once more to herself, her head low as she walked to the bus stop, “She’s just a friend. She won’t love you. Not now, not ever. We’ll be friends and stay friends, and eventually I’ll die, and we’ll have always been just friends.”
Wallflower forced a smile and nodded her head, probably looking like a total dweeb, completely sure that the solution to her totally unreciprocated crush would be completely ignoring those feelings. How hard could it be?
Wallflower sat down at the bus stop, her nerves now settled.
“—Oh, the bench is wet..”
Wallflower neglected texting Aria to let her know of her arrival, instead knocking on the door of the house. After a few seconds, she heard footsteps and the shifting locks on the door until it opened. The sudden wave of warmth from the inside of the Dazzlings’ house made her flinch, but only for a moment.
Aria stood in the doorway, wearing an outfit similar to what she always wore when they hung out at her place. A t-shirt and sweatpants, which was far more casual than her usual outfit—when it wasn’t a hoodie.
“About time,” Aria said, a twinge of annoyance in her voice. Still, she did the little smirk that Wallflower loved to see. Just seeing her made her completely forget about any plan she had made to ignore the fuzzy feeling she got around Aria.
“So, you gonna come in? You’re getting snowed on.” Aria reached over, ruffling Wallflower’s messy hair to shake off all the snowflakes. “Makes you look nice, but it’s gonna get everywhere inside..”
Wallflower’s breath hitched as Aria’s hand sat on her head, momentarily dazed by the sudden touch. It took her a few moments to come back to reality, more snow having collected in her hair by the time she was back. “—Yeah! Yeah. Sorry. Uh..”
A strange scent wafted into Wallflower’s nose, causing her to sniff. “..is that lavender?”
Aria’s eye twitched. “Nope. Now come inside already, or I’ll punch you.” Without even waiting for an answer, Aria pulled her inside by the collar and threw her towards the couch.
Wallflower tumbled onto the couch on her stomach, landing head first into a pillow lying against the arm rest. Being thrown into the couch was Aria’s usual greeting to Wallflower, part of the status quo that was always set in stone prior to Wallflower’s revelation yesterday.
Now, she clung onto that former status quo for dear life.
Aria sat down across the couch, the space between them being pretty small—Wallflower never noticed how small the space was between them until now. Aria once mentioned that buying it was Sonata’s choice to buy it, because it fit all three of the sirens comfortably when they all sat at once.
Aria wordlessly began to prepare their game, tossing a controller into Wallflower’s lap as she did so. She hardly noticed, her eyes fixed on Aria as she fiddled with her own controller.
Sure, the source of her woes were all linked to how she felt about Aria, but it sure felt nice to indulge. She might’ve felt like shit for all of last night and this morning, but everything felt..decent, now. The dark and ugly thoughts felt so far away now, for better or for worse. Now the only thing Wallflower could feel was the fuzzy vice around her heart.
Wallflower frowned. How could she ever think like this? It wasn’t at all fair to Aria. She didn’t deserve it, especially when there was no way she could ever feel the same. How betrayed would she feel when one of her only genuine friends was thinking of her like this? Besides, Wallflower was sure there was no way Aria could ever love—
“Wallflower!” Aria snapped, shooting her a scowl.
“Huh?! Oh..” Wallflower jolted, coming back down to reality. Aria was giving her a rather cute yet annoyed look, and the game Aria decided to play was ready and on the huge flatscreen in front of them. Wallflower always wondered where they got the money for all the extravagant things in their house.
“You space out way too much lately,” Aria grumbled. Now her scowl was replaced by a tiny smirk. “You look pretty silly when you do. All wide-eyed and stuff. Like a puppy.”
“A puppy?” Wallflower took a moment to think, not spacing out this time. “I’d be a pretty ugly puppy..”
“Snrk..nah, not even,” Aria choked back what sounded like it would be a giggle, her foot jutting against Wallflower’s stomach—wait, her foot?
“You’d be kinda cute, probably. A green puppy would be a little weird, but..I dunno, cute,” Aria trailed off. Wallflower was too busy looking at Aria's legs splayed out on her lap. Right there. Just up against her stomach. And did she just call her cute?! Well, she said puppy Wallflower would be cute, but still!
Did the cuteness of Dogflower translate to the cuteness of Wallflower?
By now, the game had already started, but she could hardly pay attention. Cutting down bug people from a top down perspective inside of a mech was always good fun, but Wallflower could hardly focus—she already didn’t really focus entirely on the game since it was a little boring and only played it for Aria’s sake—her mind cluttered up by Aria casually leaving her legs across her lap. And being indirectly called cute! On top of all that, a ridiculously enticing smell of lavender kept wafting up into her nose.
And it was hot. As in, Wallflower was sweating. She tugged at her sweater collar, the heat that had enveloped her only now being obvious to her. “Is, uh, the thermostat up in here?”
“Huh?” Aria glanced over to face Wallflower, her eyes widening a bit, “Shit, you’re more red than green now..” she commented. “Uh, yeah, Sonata turned it way up because of the snow. I swear, she thinks we’ll freeze to death. Can’t touch it either, because she knows when we do.”
“Oh, alright..” Wallflower sighed. At least it was a good cover for how hot her cheeks were right now. “—speaking of, uh, where are they? Sonata and Adagio?” “Ugh,” Aria groaned, her annoyance more than obvious. It was impressive how she could pay attention to the TV while rolling her eyes, too. “In their rooms doing work for classes or something. They started getting more homework, but they just procrastinate on it all week and save it for the weekend. It’s so annoying.”
Right on cue, the stairs began to creak as someone began to bound downstairs. Wallflower jumped a bit at the sudden noise and would have turned around, if Aria didn’t immediately speak up. “Adagio, put some clothes on!”
“Oh, calm down, I already did! Besides,” Her footsteps grew closer, Wallflower suddenly feeling oddly on edge as Adagio was now suddenly right behind the couch (she was indeed wearing clothes,) “I knew you were bringing your girlfriend over, so I had no choice but to dress modestly.”
“She’s—..” Aria cut herself off, instead resorting to scowling at the TV and Adagio’s faint reflection on the screen, “Just..drop it. And tell Sonata to let us turn the thermostat down, we’re burning up.”
“Hmm..” Adagio suddenly cupped Wallflower’s chin, angling her face up to get a closer look at her. Wallflower must have made a stupid face, because even though her sight of Adagio was upside-down she could tell she was smiling. “I’m thinking she’s just blushing, Aria. Prooobably because of you, hm?”
Aria’s scowl intensified, her legs suddenly swooping out from Wallflower’s lap as she stood up and abandoned the game. Now her scowl was directed right to Adagio. “I already told you to quit it! Plus she’s wearing that big stupid sweater! Could you just try to convince Sonata to turn the heat down?!”
“Oh, come on, it’s just some fun teasing! But you can’t deny, you’d be cute together, wouldn't you? Aria and Greenie!”
“I’ve already told you a thousand times, she’s Wallflower, not Greenie. And your teasing is getting pretty damn annoying right now!”
“Please, ‘Ria, I’ve been down here for less than two minutes and you’re making a scene. Could you just go back to cuddling your girlfriend already?”
“ADAGIO!”
Another set of footsteps came bounding down the stairs. “Why are we yelling?”
“Oh, Sonata! Don’t worry, Aria was just overreacting again.”
“SONATA! Turn the fucking heat down!”
“But it’s coooold!”
Too many noises. Too much yelling. Each shout sent a terrifying jolt down Wallflower’s spine, and it just kept getting warmer and warmer.
She was suddenly grounded back to reality as the game over screen came up on the TV, Aria having left her controller unattended while Wallflower had completely tuned out. Without even thinking, she shot up and let the controller fall out of her lap.
“IthinkIshouldleave!” Wallflower blurted out, immediately rushing to the door. She went through the motions of opening and going through and closing it and walking out in what felt like seconds.
There was no more shouting, no more yelling, no more fighting. Was there even any fighting? Whatever happened, it made Wallflower’s heart feel like it was beating out of her chest.
“..Damnit..” It was all Wallflower could say. Of course she ran out, all because of some loud yelling. Of course it was because of such a tiny little reason.
She only looked back to their house for a second, quickly making her way to the nearest bus stop. God forbid any of them, especially Aria, opened the door or peered through the blinds to see her.
Everything felt normal when she was with Aria. Her feelings were still very much there when they were together, if not at their strongest, but it felt fine. Like being around Aria was what grounded her. But now, everything was wrong again. It was cold, and dark, and Wallflower wanted nothing more than to run back inside and be all warm and jump into Aria’s arms—
No. It was fine. It was okay. This would all blow over, and they might even laugh about it. Wallflower would try harder to ignore the fuzzy warmth she got when she looked at Aria, and things would be normal.
But was it really going to be okay? Would Aria think less of Wallflower after running out like that, or was she just overthinking things and Aria would think nothing of it? No, of course their friendship wasn’t over! Why would it be, this hardly called for something as drastic as a friendship breakup, as much as Wallflower’s mind was telling her as much.
Wallflower looked up, taking in the dark and cloudy sky. The sun had already set, and the air smelled crisp and cold. The way Wallflower liked, so much so she’d keep her bedroom window open at night to let that smell in.
It reminded her of Aria.
In that moment, Wallflower wanted nothing more than for the ground to open up beneath her and swallow her whole or for her guardian angel to swoop down and make her stop feeling. But even as she shut her eyes tight and hoped, neither happened. Because the ground would never take her and angels weren’t real.
“..I should really go home.”
Now wanting to get out of the cold and head back home, Wallflower made her way to the bus stop. Uncle was probably home, and it was for the best if she got home to cook dinner for the two of them before he ate any of those awful microwave dinners. Warm soup sounded good. Maybe with some kind sandwich.
Warm soup, sandwiches, and Aria. Wallflower was fine with those being her only thoughts for now.
But before she could indulge in two of those three thoughts, she had to wait for the bus stop. Her legs were tired—she was a wimp who couldn't walk for very long—and the bus would take a while. And so, she sat down.
Wallflower slumped across the counter, red-tinged eyes locked onto the screen of her phone. It was Sunday, which meant Uncle was out at church and she was out at work.
On Sundays, she worked for a measly five hours at a local nursery garden. It was unlike the usual big-box store she usually bought gardening supplies from, being much smaller and specializing in gardening. Wallflower never bought supplies from her place of work either, since her paycheck going right back to her boss left a bad taste in her mouth.
Normally, she would be pretty content working at the nursery. Nobody else worked her shift on a Sunday, and her little project plants were nice to tend to among all the other plants. But today, she wanted nothing more than to crawl into a little hole and disappear forever.
Her eyes were fixed to her text messages with Aria. They were for almost the entire day. And still, nothing. Only Wallflower’s last message from yesterday. No stupid memes, no three dots, nothing.
Sure, yesterday was a disaster, but it wasn’t enough to completely destroy their relationship, right? Even on weekends, they texted each other somewhat frequently—enough for Wallflower to get her Aria fix—but ever since she ran out last night, nothing.
Wallflower knew she was overreacting. After all, why not just message Aria first? Maybe Aria was waiting for her to do as much? Or was she going through the same thought process?
No, she was too cool for that. Wallflower, on the other hand, was enough of a loser to worry about sending a measly little text. So much so she had been constantly feeling like she was about to throw up, so much so she nearly collapsed in the break room while ugly crying just because thought about the possibility of losing Aria as a friend, so much so she had tear stains on her apron after using it to clean her eyes, so much so—
The silence of the nursery was broken by the ringing of the door opening, the little bell telling Wallflower to stop being such a wuss and straighten up for the customer.
Thankfully, there was nobody actually buying anything from a tiny garden nursery at 11 AM on a Sunday. Instead, it was Ditzy. Smiling like always, not a single trouble on her mind. Wallflower was really amazed by how carefree she could always be, but a normal upbringing with loving parents probably does that for a person.
“Hiya, Wally!” Ditzy chirped, standing at the opposite end of the counter with a smile, “How are you?”
Wallflower forced a smile. “Hey, Ditzy,” she croaked, her voice still temporarily ruined by all the quiet crying. Of course, Ditzy would immediately pick up on that, and thus the questions would begin.
Ditzy cocked her head, her smile now replaced by a frown. “Uuhm..you look like you’ve been crying..can I ask what happened?”
Wallflower tried to not appear irked by her question. She knew Ditzy wasn’t the best at reading the room, so to speak, so she couldn’t be mad. “..I would, uh, really prefer it if you didn’t. Sorry.”
“Ohkay, I understand,” Ditzy nodded. Of course, she said she understood and immediately went back to prodding Wallflower. “Soooo..how did your night with Aria go?”
Wallflower knew what Ditzy struggled with. She really, truly did. There was something remarkably defective in their makeup as human beings that allowed the two to connect despite how different they were from other people, and Wallflower recognized that in Ditzy. But that didn’t stop her from sometimes wanting to examine Ditzy like a specimen and see what went on in her head—not that she would ever tell Ditzy that much.
“It went..fine. Like all the other times—that we’ve, uh, hung out,” Wallflower mumbled. Seconds later, she only then realized how suggestive ‘spending the night’ with Aria sounded. Before Ditzy could cluelessly prod her further about it, Wallflower quickly changed the subject. “Uh, where’s Roseluck? She usually comes with you to see me here,” she questioned, hoping Ditzy would follow the conversation.
“Oh, yeah!” Ditzy beamed as if she had an answer, before quickly returning to a slight frown, “Sorry, all she said was she had to deal with some family stuff at home, so she couldn’t come..”
“Oh,” It was all Wallflower could say, accompanied by a dismissive shrug. She had a lot more important things on her mind, like the hot magical purple siren she was crying over just moments ago.
Referring to Aria as a ‘hot magical purple siren’ would certainly serve as fuel to the fire that was Wallflower’s guilt over her emotions.
“So, uuuhm..” Ditzy began after a small silence, “Do you want to relax in the break room? Roseluck isn’t here, but I know you get bored without anyone here. And your boss isn’t here today, right?”
Wallflower actually cracked a smile. Slacking off in the break room was better with Roseluck with them, but it wouldn’t be so bad with Ditzy.
“Yeah, I guess we could,” Wallflower replied, taking a quick glance to the door. The windows looking outside showed an absolutely dead street, very rarely having someone passing by.
“..alright, sure,” Wallflower decided, taking her apron off. If anything, some goofing off on phones with Ditzy would help her feel better.
“Uhm, can I ask why there are stains on your apron?”
“…I would really prefer it if you didn’t, Ditzy.”
Wallflower’s legs felt like they were about to fall out of their sockets as she speedwalked. The school day was over, and the final bell had finally rang. She didn’t have band class with Aria today, and neither of the two had texted each other yet. Now, she was walking to their usual meeting spot.
Her heart was nearly crawling out of her throat and out her mouth as she walked. They usually met right outside one of the exits, near the parking lot where Aria usually parked the van. The hallway felt like it was miles long, her fellow students blurring out of her vision as she walked. The dark pit in her stomach was growing more and more, threatening to throw her off of her equilibrium and send her head first into the tile floor. If that ever happened, she’d rather shatter into a million pieces than have to get back up.
The cold breeze bit at her skin as she stepped out through the exit, her eyes immediately scanning the campus surrounding her. The moment they settled on those familiar giant purple pigtails, her heart almost jumped out of her throat.
She must have made a really stupid noise, since Aria suddenly turned to face her. Her eyes widened as she looked towards Wallflower, her gaze momentarily faltering as they made eye contact.
“..Hey, Wallflower,” Aria hesitantly began. Upon noticing they were a little too far apart to have a conversation, she took a few steps across the snow to get closer. “..I—”
“I’m sorry for running out on Saturday!” Wallflower quickly blurted out, her words spilling from her mouth in a jumble, “I just—uh, it was really loud and..and I, it was loud when you guys were fighting and I really don’t like it when people yell and, and, uh I’m really really sorry!”
“Hey, hey,” Aria’s hand now rested on Wallflower’s shoulder, sending tiny shocks down her spine. “It’s..it’s fine, okay? Don’t worry about it, you dweeb,” Aria said with a tiny smirk, “You coulda texted me instead of waiting until today.”
“Uh, y-yeah,” Wallflower stuttered while rubbing her arm. “I was, uh..too nervous to..text you. I thought you’d be mad..or something. And then you weren’t texting me either, so I thought, uh..”
Aria rolled her eyes and took her hand from Wallflower’s shoulder, folding her arms and giving Wallflower a disappointed look that made her feel funny. “I wasn’t mad. Just..didn’t know what to say after all that. I’ll make sure we don’t yell anymore when you’re around anymore, though. We okay now?”
“Yes!” Wallflower quickly answered, the eagerness very obvious in her voice. The fact her relationship with Aria wasn’t ruined by her running out made her feel the odd yet exciting feeling in her stomach, not too dissimilar from how she felt when she felt guilty over her feelings for Aria.
Aria rolled her eyes, but she was clearly holding back a smirk. “Alright, alright, try not to be such a dweeb about it,” After a short pause, Aria frowned a bit. “I’m..sorry I called your sweater stupid. Y’know, when I was yelling at Adagio. It slipped.”
“Oh, gosh, it’s fine! I barely even remember what you all said, I wasn’t really listening..” Wallflower trailed off, an awkward silence soon forming after. Eager to keep things rolling, she broke the silence with an odd giggle. “Do you, uh..wanna hang out a little? As in, uh, right now. I mean, only if you want to but, I wanted to make up for when I ran out and I also just kinda wanted to but it’s really up to y—”
“Sure,” Aria bluntly interrupted, snapping Wallflower out of her rambling. “You got someplace in mind?”
Wallflower internally facepalmed as she recalled her original plan. Aria had made it a lot easier, thus negating the need to deploy her plan. But it was fine, she could still make it count!
“Uh, yeah! We could..go to a park nearby? For a bit, I mean. I don’t know how busy you are and if you should go home, but, uh,” Wallflower slowly trailed off. Surprisingly, Aria was simply watching her with a surprisingly patient expression—as patient as Aria could be, anyways. After a moment, Wallflower finally mumbled out, “..park?”
“Yup.” ..after a moment, Aria smiled. Just a tiny bit. “Pretty dweeby place to spend time at. Fits for you, though.”
“Yeah, I know..”
The two found a bench to sit on, now mostly wiped clean of snow and water thanks to Wallflower awkwardly wiping it down with her backpack. As they sat, Wallflower hugged her backpack in her lap—she unintentionally got her pants wet doing this—and dug around inside.
“Huh. This is..nice.” Wallflower could see Aria’s gaze was fixated on the scenery around them; the snow covered grass and trees and bushes, the gray-white clouds that preceded another batch of snow, and everything else that added to the atmosphere like the crisp breeze and the fresh smell of the air.
“Yeah, I pass this place when I walk to school..it’s really nice, but,” Wallflower paused as she continued sifting through her bag, “It gets kinda lonely. It’s really pretty all year round, though!”
“..Yeah..” Aria took a deep breath, seemingly taking in everything before turning to Wallflower rummaging through her bag. “What are you looking for?” She asked flatly, feigning disinterest as always. Wallflower always noticed when she did that.
“Just something I brought you..oh, here it is.” Wallflower pulled out something wrapped in tinfoil, offering it to Aria. Noticing her hesitation, Wallflower briefly panicked and blurted out an explanation, “I-It’s a sandwich! For, uh, you. I made it. As an apology.”
“Oh.” Aria took the tinfoil-wrapped sandwich, looking over it as if it was some kind of strange artifact. “I already said we’re fine, but alright.”
“I know, but..I already made it for you, so. I wanted to give it to you! Regardless of, the uh..reason I made it.” Seeing Aria was a bit confused, Wallflower hastily reached over and swiftly pulled the tinfoil off enough to reveal the sandwich. Turkey, mayo, and lettuce.
“Thanks..” Aria mumbled, looking at the sandwich with hesitation.
“..Is, something wrong? Oh, are you vegan or something? Geez, I really should have asked, I’m really sorry—”
“No, no. Nah. It’s not that. It’s just..” Aria sighed, her gaze moving to look at Wallflower out of the corner of her eye. “Just don’t say anything, okay?” Upon receiving a hesitant nod in response, Aria returned to the sandwich and slowly opened her mouth. Where normal teeth were on humans—incisors, canines, etcetera—was razor sharp shark-like teeth. They were about as big as normal teeth and interlocked with each other as one might expect. By the looks of it, they were the only type of teeth she had instead of the varied types in human mouths.
“Woah..” Wallflower stared in awe, much to Aria’s dismay.
Aria retorted with a flick to Wallflower’s nose. “I told you not to say anything, dweeb..” She grumbled, her tone making Wallflower flinch a little. She only ever spoke like that to other people, but never Wallflower.
“—Sorry, uh..I wasn’t trying to be rude,” Wallflower blushed, a nervous laugh escaping her, “I think they’re cool! I’ve never seen your teeth before, but they’re..really cool, actually.”
Aria squinted, her face scrunching up a bit in the way that made Wallflower feel dizzy. “Cool? Not scary, or freaky?”
“No, no! Well, they might be scary, but..I’m not scared. I think they’re nice, they make you look..kinda badass.”
“Badass?” Aria snorted. Seemingly rid of any insecurities about her teeth thanks to Wallflower, she flashed a toothy grin. “You think so?”
Wallflower nearly fainted then and there. Thankfully, her blushing could be waved off as a byproduct of how cold she was. “U-Uhm, mhm! Yup! Badass!” The word felt a little odd in Wallflower’s voice thanks to her rarely saying anything profane and Aria noticed it too. They snorted and snickered together for a moment, leaning against each other as they tried to regain their composure.
“Hah, anyways..” Wallflower huffed out, just barely able to sit back up and calm down, “..could I, uh, touch them? Your teeth, I mean..”
Aria composed herself soon after, sitting up straight and looking at Wallflower with a confused yet entertained expression. “Touch them?” After a moment, she simply shrugged. “Sure. Why not.”
Wallflower was faced with Aria baring her teeth, seemingly given permission to touch her teeth. They were all interlocked, the sharp triangles looking ridiculously sharp even when her teeth were closed like this. Not to mention how they were very taken care of, white and glimmering perfectly.
“Okay..” Hesitantly, Wallflower reached over with a finger to try and touch them. Sure, she wanted to touch the sharp tips, but now she was more fascinated by how perfect Aria kept them.
Suddenly, Aria jolted and chomped at Wallflower’s finger, causing her to retract with a yelp and look over her index finger to see if Aria had bitten it clean off. Thankfully, she was only bleeding a little.
“That’s what you get for being weird about my teeth. I could have bitten your hand off, so be glad I like you,” Aria snickered, before licking at the teeth that caught Wallflower’s finger and had a smidge of her blood on it. “Not bad.”
Once again, Wallflower nearly fainted. Her cheeks were beet red and she was steaming, but Aria was thankfully oblivious to this and was now paying more attention to the sandwich.
Aria, seemingly devoid of any insecurities now, tore into the sandwich right in front of Wallflower. She ate it in a way her teeth might suggest, chomping and gnawing at it and barely chewing before swallowing. The sandwich was gone in what felt like seconds, which was thankfully enough time for Wallflower to compose herself.
“Thanks for the sandwich. I’ll accept your apology for the second time now,” Aria said while wiping her mouth of crumbs, “I gotta go now. ‘Dagi and ‘Nata are probably wondering where I am, and I gotta walk home.”
She stood up from the bench, hoisting her bag with her. Before walking off, she turned to face Wallflower. “Don’t avoid texting me this time, alright? Seeya tomorrow.”
And with that, Aria was walking off. Leaving Wallflower behind, heading home to a house that had warmth and friends and food and all manner of expensive things. All Wallflower had to return to was a cold, nearly empty thing that was supposed to be home and looked like a home but never felt like home.
“..it’ll be fine.”
Wallflower looked down to her still lightly bleeding finger, the tiny jolt of pain from being bitten by Aria now nothing but a memory.
Raising it up to her mouth, she licked the drops of blood from her small wound.
It was hot. Swelteringly hot. The heat was wrapping itself around Wallflower like a blanket, leaving her uncomfortably warm. Her dress wasn’t helping, at all, despite the skirt allowing for some air flow.
Her gaze went up, looking towards the adults. Their faces looked blurry to her. There was her father, in his Sunday best—the suit that made him look as tall as a skyscraper. And her mother, wearing a dress with an ugly pattern that made Wallflower feel dizzy just looking at it. And the strangers they were talking to, still deep in a conversation that Wallflower couldn’t understand.
It was baffling to her. They all spent the past hour cooped up in one big hot room listening to a man go on and on about a book Wallflower never found particularly interesting, and now the only thing that seemed to matter was standing out in the heat and torture their poor daughter with the sun.
The other adults looked down on her as she fidgeted with a look of sympathy, because that’s all they could do. Nobody asked her if she was okay, or if she needed to sit in the shade, or told her father to stop holding her hand so tightly.
Wallflower turned to a nearby tree, the shade it provided, and the patches of dandelions that grew around it. Never before did she see such an inviting sight; the shade that would save her from the heat and the tiny flowers she could pluck and examine closely with a smile while her parents talked and talked and talked until they could finally leave.
Instinctively, she tried pulling away from her fathers side and towards the tree. She was met with her father pulling her right back, his grip tightening a bit. This was the warning, and she disregarded it entirely. Momentarily becoming a petulant little annoyance of a child, she whined and tried pulling away again.
Without even looking to Wallflower, her father merely responded by pulling her back even harder. Then his grip tightened, hard. Her tiny hand was gone inside of his grasp, confined to the death squeeze that made her finally shut up and sit still like a well behaved girl should.
Sometimes her mind ran wild with thoughts of things that could happen to her. A tragic event that would make her parents see the error of their ways and wish they had treated Wallflower better. Maybe one day she’d slip and fall on her head, or get run over crossing the street, or even be the sole victim of a car crash. Whichever would be most traumatic for them. One day, she hoped it would happen. And they would cry and cry and cry, while Wallflower would laugh at them from heaven.
“You shouldn’t have done that.”
Her fathers gruff voice snapped her from her thoughts. They were suddenly in the car, Wallflower in the backseat. He hadn’t even stopped talking, but Wallflower was already wincing. If he ever spoke to her, it wasn’t for a good reason.
She leaned against the window as her father continued to berate her, his words going through one ear and out the other. Her hand was still sore, nearly throbbing.
“Are you even listening to me?”
Out of the corner of her eye, her father turned around from the driver's seat to look at her. He said something, but she couldn’t hear it. Something was loud, it was hurting her ears. The noise became an ear-splitting cacophony, lasting only for a second but engulfing Wallflower’s whole world. Her body lurched forward, her face crashing against—
Wallflower’s eyes opened, her entire body jolting underneath her blankets. It was a dream. Her eyes hastily scanned her room, double checking to see if she really was awake. Sure enough, everything felt and looked real.
It was cold. Not even the blankets were helping. Crawling out of her bed cocoon, Wallflower stumbled to her feet and made her way to the window. She left it open because she was stupid and forgot to close it before sleeping.
After closing it with a thud, Wallflower trudged back to her bed and flopped on top of her mass of blankets. It was probably a good idea to go back to sleep, and normally she would. But she didn’t.
Reaching over to her nightstand, Wallflower grabbed her phone and unlocked it. Having already committed it to muscle memory, she opened her messages with Aria. Their usual routine had been going on for most days again; pester each other at random times of the day, more so after school had ended, and maybe say goodnight to each other if Wallflower was lucky.
Where they were at now was where their relationship began and ended. Good friends, and nothing more. No matter how much Wallflower wanted to deny it, her desire to be with Aria as more than just a friend was still strong in her heart. She couldn’t ignore it any longer, nor try to deny it.
But it was never going to happen. The leap from friends to..being romantically involved was huge, like a giant ravine between the two of them. It was an impassable barrier that could never be crossed, a solid brick wall that Wallflower would never be able to break through. Because how would she? How would she even try? Was there any way to bring it up? There was no way she could try and flirt, that would fail horribly. Even if it didn’t, how would Aria react? What if she wasn’t interested, or worse, thought less of Wallflower because of it? What if she would be disgusted by it?
Staring at their messages on her phone, Wallflower felt the whole world close around her. Her fists clenched, her grip on her phone tightened, and it felt like she wasn’t breathing enough air. She hyperventilated, her eyes suddenly feeling wet.
It wasn’t fair. It wasn’t fair how she had to feel this way about another girl, her best friend. It wasn’t fair how she didn’t even know if Aria felt the same. It wasn’t fair how her stupid brain wasn’t letting her think of anything else. It wasn’t fair how Aria wasn’t with her, by her side. It wasn’t fair how someone else could come in and take Aria all for themselves and destroy Wallflower’s world. It wasn’t fair how Wallflower wanted nothing more than to disappear forever and ever and to stop feeling anything—
Three dots. Three dots on her phone screen, in their messages. Aria was typing something. It was the middle of the night, when Wallflower was usually in a deep sleep, and Aria was typing something.
Wallflower held her breath, staring at those condescending dots bouncing as Aria typed something. Did she know she was awake? No, that was impossible. What could she possibly have to say then, in the middle of the night when Wallflower was usually asleep?
And then, they were gone. No more dots. And no message, either. All that for nothing.
A shaky sigh escaped Wallflower as she turned the phone off. Maybe it was Aria, maybe it was some sort of glitch. Maybe it was her imagination. Regardless, there was nothing. No message. No sudden declaration of love that would solve all of Wallflower’s problems.
“..I’m so pathetic.”
Wallflower rubbed her eyes dry and set her phone aside, deciding to instead wallow in her misery and sleep. Her eyelids felt awfully heavy, anyways.
She laid back on her side, dragging the blankets over her body up to her neck. One of the blankets was a weighted one, her uncle bought it before she had a job at the nursery and her own income. She still hadn’t paid him back for it, now that she had money. It was just another example of Wallflower being a burden.
Her thoughts finally began to quiet down as sleep began to take hold, her body curling up underneath the blankets. The bad thoughts could wait until tomorrow, both her brain and body were too tired to think any longer.
The electric shaver whirred as Wallflower ran it along her arms, the constant vibrating slowly making her hand numb. Yet, she continued, because this was one of the few things she was (mostly) able to endure and power through.
She hated being hairy. Anytime she wore short-sleeved shirts at home and saw her arms being hairy, her entire mood would be wrecked for the day. Sure, that was only a problem in summer, but it still applied when she knew she was hairy.
Sitting on the edge of the bathtub, she continued with her arms. Her legs and body were mostly shaved, only a few patches were left.
The electric shaver continued to buzz and shave, leaving tiny and itchy roots of green hair where she shaved. The blade was child safe, making it impossible to shave it all off completely. That, and she didn’t entirely know how to take care of herself like this.
Even still, the fact her uncle only bought her a child-safe razor was demeaning. She could be trusted with a proper razor with a proper blade! It was the only way to get to the root of the problem that plagued her arms and legs, one of the problems that made her so incredibly ugly.
It was only a few times, and she was too squeamish to do it any more. And yes, she did appreciate her uncle’s concern, but it really wasn’t that bad! Besides, if he were there the first time, he would understand..
The memory was etched into her skin.
Wallflower couldn’t remember exactly how old she was at the time, her memory often failed her regarding her early teenage years. She was becoming self-conscious with the hair growing on her limbs, so she grabbed her father’s razor and tried to shave it all off.
She nicked herself a few times before trying to apply any cream, but she couldn’t even get that part right. After what felt like ages, she had only managed to shave off small sections and left her arms weird and patchy and she felt like crying from all the little nicks and cuts she unintentionally gave herself.
Then at the worst possible moment, her mother barged in. She saw Wallflower sitting in the tub, looking up at her with big teary eyes and small wounds on her arms and small strands of green hair in her lap and in the tub.
And she laughed.
She laughed and laughed and laughed, because the sight of her little nuisance of a daughter struggling with shaving was just so hilarious.
It made Wallflower feel awful. She remembered she snapped back in the midst of her frustration, only to be met by her now offended mother reprimanding her in a way she couldn’t quite remember. Maybe it was a light smack or a backhand, or a promise that once her father was home she’d be truly punished. All she remembered was her mother left and closed the door in a huff.
For a moment, she was alone in that bathroom. At the time, her mind was all jumbled up with frustrations directed at her parents and herself. She didn’t know what to do to make it all stop.
Later that night, her father yelled at her for the blade in his razor being missing.
Wallflower snapped herself out of her memories, the shaver’s buzzing having made her hand numb now. She wasn’t sure if all the hair was gone, but it didn’t matter. Turning the shaver off, she stood back up and left her mess for her uncle to clean. Because of course she did, she couldn’t even clean up after herself after thinking about some stupid memories from her stupid childhood.
It was late, anyway. Her uncle would be back home soon. Sure, the last thing he needed was cleaning up after his miserable little niece, but Wallflower was selfish enough to crawl into her bed and sleep without a second thought.
It was really, really cold.
Wallflower trudged through the snow, her tired legs almost done with enduring the long walk from home to school. It was a very, very cold day. Too cold for even just one of her stupid sweaters. Instead of enduring the snow and cold with a usual outfit, she actually threw on something else—a jacket. Of course, it wasn’t new. It was from her uncle’s closet. Thankfully, she liked the color enough. Dark, muddy brown.
As she approached the entrance to school, she made eye contact with someone. It was Ditzy, accompanied by Roseluck, just barely about to head inside.
“Hi, Wallyyy!” Ditzy waved her over as she and Roseluck stepped inside, the three joining each other inside the much warmer interior. “Gosh, it’s really cold..do you really only have that jacket, Wally?”
Wallflower tried to hide her frown. “What? Uh, no. I’m just..not that cold. It’s fine,” She answered, her hands digging deeper into her pockets as she lied. She hated lying to them, but it was better than letting the two know she was poor.
“You sure?” Roseluck asked, peering closer to Wallflower’s face, “Your nose is kinda red. You might catch a cold like that, Wallflower..”
Wallflower backed away, a tiny scowl on her face as Roseluck got way too close just to look at her nose. “I’m fine, okay?” She huffed. After a moment, she retracted her scowl and hastily apologized. “S-Sorry. I, uh, you got really close for a second..”
Roseluck backed off, putting her hands up with a concerned smile. “No, no, it’s fine! Just, uh, you haven’t reacted like that in a while.”
Wallflower frowned. For a good while, she had her irrational temper under control—as much as she wanted to hiss at people for speaking to her at the wrong time. Was it Aria imprinting on her, or the inexplicable defect inside of her acting up? Either way, Roseluck and Ditzy were patiently waiting for her to process her little outburst.
“Yeah..sorry.” Wallflower calmed herself, even though she was still somewhat set off for no real reason. Having a tiny outburst was not a good start to the day.
“Oh! Uhmmm, class is about to start, I think,” Ditzy remarked, looking at her wrist despite not wearing a watch, “We should get going, probably..”
“Oh, right,” Roseluck agreed, “If I’m late again, my mom is gonna be really mad..” She sighed, turning to face Wallflower. “Better get to math, right?”
“Ugh..yeah. I guess so,” Wallflower groaned. Math in the very morning should have been illegal. “See you later, Ditzy.”
“Byebye!” Ditzy waved before rushing off to her first period, weaving through and bumping into others as she made her way to her class.
Meanwhile, Wallflower and Roseluck just so happened to share the same math class. “C’mon, Wallflower, we’ll be late!” Roseluck exclaimed, immediately turning to half-heartedly speed walk to their class.
Wallflower held back a snarky remark, instead following behind Roseluck with a slight smile. As boring as math class would be, at least her misery would be shared with a friend.
Wallflower frowned as she sat hunched over her desk, fidgeting in any way she possibly could to distract herself. Math and Chemistry were long over, and English was just about done. The last few minutes were the only thing standing between her, and band class.
Which, of course, was only important because of Aria being there.
Wallflower’s fidgeting intensified as her mind settled on thinking about Aria. Her fingers twirled her pencil around and her shoes rubbed together and against the flooring. Why did thinking about her have to make her feel this way? Why did she have to have these silly, stupid feelings for her? It wasn’t right. It couldn’t be. Or was everything she was taught as a child nothing but a lie?
Why did she even care?
It was a valid question. Her parents weren’t in her life any more. Her uncle wouldn’t mind—he’d take down that stupid crucifix and anything else if Wallflower actually said something—and he’d no doubt support her. Maybe too much, but still. So why did it feel so wrong?
Oh, right. Aria didn’t feel the same. Well, it was highly likely she didn’t feel the same. Aria was..perfect. She was different from the other Dazzlings. Yes, they were all pretty, but Aria was beyond that. It was like she somehow understood Wallflower.
It was something she had only ever felt with Ditzy before, but Ditzy was just a friend while Aria was a super cool and attractive magical siren girl who voluntarily cared about Wallflower and spent time with her. There was more to it than just thinking Aria was pretty, but Wallflower couldn’t put it into a proper thought without blushing.
But what did she, little old three-chord Wallflower, have that would ever catch the eye of Aria?
The bell rang, and Wallflower snapped back to attention. The wait was finally over. She stood up from her seat and immediately filed through into the hallway, tracing the familiar steps she had taken many times before. It was, thankfully, only a short walk from her English class.
And there she was. Waiting in the usual spot outside of the band room where they silently agreed was where they’d meet before class and wait several minutes after the bell rang to be slightly late.
Aria looked over with just a quick glance, immediately recognizing Wallflower as she approached. She pushed herself off the wall she was leaning against, now facing Wallflower. “About time you got here. Don’t be late next time, we barely have time to not go in.”
Once again, Wallflower’s heart was fluttering just talking to Aria. If feeling this way was so wrong, why did it make her feel so..happy? Excited? “Sorry! I, uh, the halls were pretty crowded..” She sighed. Aria was right, they didn’t have much time to sit around outside of class anymore.
“Or,” Aria began, “we could leave.” The evil little smirk Wallflower loved to see returned to her face, and immediately had her listening to whatever Aria had to say. “Last class of the day. We could just skip, go hang out or something.”
“O-Oh, gosh, skipping? I don’t, uh..” Wallflower stuttered, momentarily taken aback by the suggestion. She never dared to skip any class ever for her entire childhood, purely due to the fact her parents would find out. Father was always looking for a reason to punish her back then, he always came home angry. But things were different now, would her uncle even care? “I’ve..never skipped class before. Is it..uh, is it really okay for us? To do that?”
Aria rolled her eyes and immediately took Wallflower by the wrist, tugging her along and down the hallway. “Nah, not really. But we’ll still do it. I hate that class, anyways. If you weren’t there, I’d be skipping every day.”
Wallflower’s heart skipped a beat. Not figuratively or metaphorically or whatever, she was genuinely legally dead for a split second. Aria only liked band class because it was a class they had together? Sure, it was something painfully mundane, but it made Wallflower feel..special. Just a bit.
In the midst of her gay haze, Wallflower nearly tripped with how Aria was tugging her. Just barely catching herself, she was snapped out from her thoughts and back to their skipping class and leaving school early. More importantly, to the weather outside as they reached an exit.
“It’s, uh, pretty cold out, isn’t it? I mean, it’s not snowing anymore, but..I think it might rain?” Wallflower became very aware of the jacket she forgot she was wearing over her sweater, pulling it close against herself as they neared the exit.
“So? You said you liked the cold and rain, that one time,” Aria retorted. She was right. Wallflower did mention her fondness for cold weather and rain in one of their many, many conversations. Aria was indifferent to the weather in any case.
“I..I guess..”
Aria let go of Wallflower’s wrist as they reached the exit, turning to face her. “You wanna skip with me or not? I’m just gonna go home if you don’t, so—” “Yes! Take me with you!”
…
The two shared a brief moment of silence and blushing before either of them spoke again.
“I, uh..do want to skip with you. Let’s go!”
After another moment, Aria simply smiled and turned back around to face the exit again. “Then c’mon, you dweeb. I’m not skipping without you.”
That was more than enough to convince Wallflower. Without a second thought, the two were side by side and leaving school grounds. For the first time in her life, Wallflower was skipping class.
All because she was, quite possibly, in love.
“You actually eat the school food?” Aria asked, a look on her face that was a mix of annoyance and disbelief.
“Well, uh, yeah. I don’t bring anything from home, and I get kinda hungry..” Wallflower avoided mentioning her whole poverty thing, hoping Aria wouldn’t prod her about it too much.
The two were absentmindedly walking around the streets of Canterlot, not having a specific destination in mind. It was nothing special, but Wallflower was having a blast. Being with Aria in any way was already fun, but the weather made things exponentially better.
The clouds were heavy and gray, the cold and biting air blowing against them as they walked. For some people, weather like this would have been absolutely miserable, but for Wallflower it was nothing short of perfect. Especially since Aria was with her.
“Mm,” Aria grunted in response. For a few seconds, there was silence between them. It didn't bother Wallflower, keeping up conversation for minutes on end was always exhausting. Besides, small periods of silence was nothing new to them. It was pretty common for the two to simply enjoy eachothers company like that.
“You always sit with your friends at lunch, huh?” Aria asked while looking at Wallflower from the side, not turning fully to her. How could she walk so easily while doing that?
“Uh, yeah..well, most of the time. I think you saw where we usually are once, on the stairs..”
“Yeah. You should sit with us sometime, instead.”
Wallflower paused for a moment, bewildered. Aria wanted to sit together at lunch? With the other Dazzlings? Together? “L-Like..me with..the three of you? Sitting with you?”
Aria gave an annoyed sigh, clearly a little irked Wallflower wasn’t immediately on board with the idea. “Duh. We’re friends, and I’m always sitting with Adagio and Sonata. And, uh..” Aria crossed her arms, blushing just a bit. “Y’know, we’re friends, and..I kinda want you to, alright?”
Wallflower was speechless. Aria was asking her to sit with her? And the other Dazzlings? She was meaning to try and be more than just acquaintances with Adagio and Sonata, but what was more important was Aria wanting to sit with her! It took every ounce of self control inside of Wallflower for her to resist jumping up and down and kicking her legs, instead only fidgeting with her hands with a smile.
“O-Okay, yeah! I’d, uh, really like that maybe I think!” Wallflower eagerly nodded, unable to hide the excitement in her voice. It was uncharacteristic of her to be this vocal, she never was since she was a child, but something as simple as sitting next to Aria during lunch really got to her.
Aria responded with a heavy eye roll, delivering a gentle shove to Wallflower to really feign her annoyance. Judging by her smile, she wasn’t truly annoyed at her. “Yeah, yeah, stop being such a dweeb about it..”
Wallflower nodded and opened her mouth to say something, only to be interrupted by the top of her head feeling awfully wet. Glancing up, she felt little droplets splashing against her forehead. “..I think it’s raining.”
“Yeah, I can tell,” Aria grumbled, pulling her hood over her head and making her big stupid pigtails disappear—how that worked was something Wallflower would never know. “I guess we should go home. I don’t—”
The clouds boomed, the rain coming down even harder now. The two were soaked in a matter of seconds, Wallflower especially. Without another word, Aria grabbed Wallflower and immediately began to drag them somewhere they could stay dry.
“Of course it had to rain..” Aria huffed, tugging Wallflower along. They quickly found a small awning to hide under, only being somewhat sheltered by the rain. It was only getting worse as they stood there, the wind picking up and blowing rain into their shoddy shelter. “..you okay, Wallflower?”
Wallflower zipped up her jacket for the measly warmth and protection it provided, shoving her hands in her pockets. “Huh? Oh, yeah, yeah. It’s..just, I might get a cold from this. It’d really suck if I got sick..”
“You’re gonna get a cold because you’re still in the rain, you dweeb,” Aria said, her tone halfway in between teasing Wallflower and being annoyed at her. Suddenly, she reached around Wallflower and pulled her underneath the awning. Subsequently, she was pulling Wallflower right up against her and hugging her from behind. “There.”
For a moment, Wallflower was completely silent. Internally, she was completely freaking out. Aria was hugging her. From behind. Hugging her! Their bodies were touching! Pressed up against each other! While it was raining, even! The storm around them didn’t even matter in that moment, not while Wallflower was about to explode just from a hug like this.
“..Wallflower?”
“—Yeah!?” Wallflower blurted out, her cheeks blushing crimson. Aria might have noticed, as she let her go. Still, the physical contact wasn’t over. She took Wallflower’s hand and immediately walked them into the building nearest to them, a generic coffee shop that already had a few people inside.
Once again, Aria let go. Wallflower could have shattered like glass. “Quit looking at me like that, you dweeb,” Aria huffed, giving Wallflower a gentle punch in the shoulder. “I wanted to get out of the rain, and you were spacing out or something.”
“Okay, okay..you’ve just, y’know, never held my hand before..” Wallflower’s cheeks were feeling less hot by now, but she could see Aria was blushing as well. Surely it was just out of embarrassment, right? “I, uh..I guess I kinda liked it, maybe..”
Aria grumbled incoherently, hitting Wallflower’s shoulder with a slightly forceful punch this time. It actually slightly hurt, but Wallflower could care less. Seeing Aria all flustered was ridiculously cute.
She was still flustered and blushing even after punching Wallflower, glancing at her with a cute frown. For the first time ever, Aria was too flustered to speak!
“Uh..” Wallflower hesitantly began, hoping to change the subject, “I think we’re gonna be here for a while..I mean, I don’t want to walk home while it rains. I’d definitely catch a cold then..”
Aria seemed to calm down, taking a deep breath and not looking directly at Wallflower. “..Sure. Adagio and Sonata are probably home, but those idiots should be fine.” With that, Aria seemed to compose herself. She turned to a table near the windows, walking over to claim a spot for the two. “We aren’t ordering anything. I hate coffee.”
Wallflower followed behind Aria, taking a seat across from her. “Well, I hate coffee too! It’s really, uh..I don’t know. I just don’t really like it...I like coffee cake, though.”
“Coffee cake? That sounds dumb.”
“It’s not dumb..it’s pretty tasty, actually. You should try it!”
“Nah. If it tastes like coffee, I won’t like it.”
“What if I made it? I’m..not really good at baking, but I could try..”
“You can bake? You’re such a dweeb.”
The two went back and forth once again, just like that. It was much like the many other times they were able to effortlessly go into a conversation, Aria being the only person that Wallflower could ever talk like this to when they had something to talk about. And whenever they did, Wallflower loved every single second.
Aria sat in front of her mirror, fumbling with her hair to put it up into her preferred style of big silly pigtails. She spritzed them with water and roughy brushed as much as she had to until her hair was perfect, now satisfied.
She admittedly didn’t care as much for her appearance as Adagio or even Sonata did, but it was still important to look better than everyone else who wasn’t them. A bit of eyeshadow here, very light mascara there, and that was all Aria needed. There was a fine line between looking too butch and too feminine, and Aria liked to run along it every day.
Despite the weather of the previous days, things were finally clearing up into sunnier days. Which meant Aria could wear her usual ensemble, somehow being more comfortable to her than the drab hoodie she had been wearing during the colder days.
Still, there was one thing missing. Opening her beside table, Aria rummaged through the back of the drawer to find it. An incredibly gaudy, incredibly expensive lavender perfume the other two sirens had bought for her one day.
It had been sitting in her drawer for ages now, yet she had been recently wearing it. It wasn’t like she was trying to impress anyone or was doing it for someone specific, she just..felt like it. There was no other reason. Not at all
Aria applied a few light puffs of the scent onto her body, satisfied with the very subtle smell of lavender now following her. If she were to put on too much, Adagio would surely catch on and bother her about it. Ugh.
She exited her room, walking down the stairs to the kitchen. Sitting at the table was Adagio, lazily dragging a brush through her tangled poof of hair, and Sonata, in the middle of combining all of their cereals into one single bowl with chocolate milk.
Aria rolled her eyes. They weren’t even dressed yet, still in their pajamas—which thankfully included clothes in Adagio’s case. “You two aren’t even ready? We gotta go. Like, right now.”
Adagio sighed, turning to face Aria while still trying to brush her hair. “Oh, try to relax for once, Aria. We still have time, and I promise you we don’t have to be so early every day.”
“Being on time isn’t the same as being early,” Aria retorted, moving to grab the brush from Adagio’s hand. Stepping behind her, she began to yank it through Adagio’s orange fluff to tame it.
“Wait—ow! Stop that—ow! Really, why are you in such an—ow—hurry?!” Adagio winced with each pull, her hands reaching behind her to try and wrestle the brush away.
“Because, you two woke up late again, and if you keep being so slow, we’ll actually be late this time. Like last time,” Aria answered, swatting away her hands and continuing to brush.
“Hey,” Sonata spoke up, a mix of sugar-frosted flakes and marshmallows spilling from her mouth, “why do you always like to be at school now? You used to skip, like, every other day or something. You said it was super duper boring!”
“It’s better than staying home with you two,” Aria grumbled back.
“Oh, don’t be like that,” Adagio began, “you know you love to be with us, and this whole ‘school’ thing is simply something we do to pass the time further. Though, I’m guessing you’re more invested due to a..certain someone? Hmm?” She teased, smiling through the pain of her fluffy locks being harshly brushed.
“Shut. Up.” Aria snarled, giving one last rough brush that made Adagio yelp before putting the brush down. “That’s it. You two get in the van in five, or I’m leaving without you.”
“Well, no need to be so rude..”
“What?! That’s not faaaair!”
Aria slipped away from class before the bell had rung, just as lunch was about to begin. She had to see someone, or rather two someones before meeting up with Adagio and Sonata.
Wallflower wasn’t at school. And that was bothering her. Usually, she’d see her from afar a few times throughout the day. And she liked that. It was nice to see her best friend throughout the day before they met up for a while once school was over. But, for some reason, she was completely missing today.
But maybe she could find someone who knew where she was.
Aria trudged over to the stairs, the place she knew they would be. The only two people who could possibly tell her where Wallflower was. As she approached, she could already hear them. She hadn’t really interacted with them after their first real interaction all those weeks ago, but she could remember their voices.
“Yea..she hasn’t been answering any texts all day, Roseluck!”
“I’m sure she’s fine..she just, uh, might be busy?”
“I dunno..do you, uhm, think she—”
“No! She..she wouldn’t. She told us she’d..let us know next time. And call us, or something..”
Aria’s patience had worn thin by now, turning the corner into the stairs where they sat. Roseluck immediately yelped and recoiled as she appeared, but Ditzy was unfazed. In fact, she was smiling.
“Oh, hi Aria! What’re you—”
“Shut,” Aria interrupted, a grimace on her face due to instinct. She quickly frowned at her own reaction, retracting her interruption. “Sorry. That was, uh..mean. I guess..”
“It’s ohkay!” Ditzy cheerily replied, not at all phased by her sudden rudeness. Roseluck, on the other hand, was still recoiled away and disengaging herself from the conversation.
“Uh,” Aria began, trying to recover from the slightly awkward start to the conversation, “do you know where Wallflower is? I mean, it’s not super important that I know or anything, I was just wondering where that dweeb is..”
Ditzy frowned, her mood souring as she seemed to remember Wallflower’s absence. “No..we’ve been trying to call and text her and stuff, but she hasn’t been answering..we’re actually kind of worried, but it should be fine! Right, Roseluck?”
Roseluck didn’t respond.
“Weeell,” Ditzy continued, “I’m super very sure she’s—“
“Don’t you know where she lives or something?” Aria interrupted.
“Oh! Well, we kinda do, buuut..” Ditzy looked over to Roseluck as if she was asking for permission, only to be quickly shushed as Roseluck practically lunged forward to her to stop her from speaking.
“No!” Roseluck exclaimed, “we, uh, shouldn’t do that, because..Wallflower trusted us not to tell anyone where she lives, because we’re her friends.”
“Yeah? I’m her friend too, so just tell me since you already know,” Aria spat, clearly getting annoyed now. It was imperative that she knew, how else would she know Wallflower was okay—err, if she wasn’t just skipping school. Without her. That would have been really lame of her.
“Well, she doesn’t like people showing up to her house,” Roseluck retorted, “s-so, you should, uh..respect..” she trailed off, backing down as Aria’s expression was bordering on angry.
“..Uhm,” Ditzy spoke up, “I’m sure Wallflower won’t mind, since she’s really close with Aria! And I think I trust her!”
Roseluck was visibly distraught, immediately trying to say something to stop Ditzy. “W-Wait, are you sure Wallflower would—“
“Uhhmmm..” Ditzy squinted, looking at something on her phone, “ohkay! Here’s her address, just..uhm..if she doesn’t want you there, you shouldn’t stay. Aaand..don’t say anything when you see what it’s like. It makes her feel bad..” Ditzy instructed as she showed the address to Aria.
“Uh-huh. Yea. Got it.” Aria committed the address to memory, immediately turning to leave schoool early once she had it in her mind.
“..Thanks for the help,” she quickly added, hurriedly walking off after.
“You’re welcooome!” Ditzy exclaimed after her, Aria already nearly out the doors of the school at that point.
Aria got into the drivers seat of the van, pulling out from the school parking lot and driving straight to the address Ditzy had shown her. She knew most of the streets around Canterlot, thanks to being the one to drive her fellow sirens everywhere.
Skipping the entire day of school was fine, it was a special occasion. Surely, she’d be back to pick up Adagio and Sonata.
She just had to know if Wallflower was fine.
The van came to a stop as Aria pulled up to the address, parking just along the street. It was some weird human tradition not to park in someone’s driveway, right?
Regardless, she made it. Wallflower’s house. At least, she was told it was her house. Did anyone even live here? The neighborhood was quite a ways away from CHS, in the poorer part of town. Nothing like the glitzy very-upper-middle-class home the sirens claimed as their stomping grounds. Each house looked old and worn, practically slumping under their own weight.
This house in particular was one of the worse looking ones, foliage growing all around and over it. If Aria squinted her eyes, the second floor looked like it was about to fall apart under the roof.
“..Whatever.”
If Wallflower lived here, she wasn’t going to judge. Ditzy told her not to do that, right? She wasn’t really listening at the time.
Stepping out of the van, Aria walked along the shoddy concrete path that led to the patio. Several potted plants crowded along the floor of the patio, looking surprisingly lush and healthy compared to the dirty and rotting floorboards that comprised the patio floor. Maybe Wallflower really did live here.
Aria stepped up to the front door, staring at it for a moment. Why was she nervous? There was no need to be nervous. At all. Wait, did Wallflower have parents? That was a human thing, right? Not immediately being abandoned by your parents at birth?
Whatever.
All Aria needed to do was knock, and she’d get to see Wallflower—err, possibly get to know where she’d been for the whole day.
She wasn’t a wuss. She just knocked.
…
Nothing. Was she supposed to knock again or something? Wasn’t the first knock enough? Maybe Adagio was right, humans really are weird.
Aria was about to knock, her hand stopping as she heard footsteps from behind the door. The footsteps stopped, a series of muffled clicks replacing them. They must have been locks.
Suddenly, the door opened slightly. The door guard was preventing it from opening completely. In the crack of the door, a figure stood there and stared Aria down.
“..What is it.” Judging by how deep and gravely the voice was, it must have been a man.
“Uhh..” Aria’s mind blanked for a second. She sort of expected Wallflower to be the one to open the door, who was this? “..is Wallflower here?”
“Who’s asking?” The man immediately asked. Before Aria could even answer, he immediately tried to shut the door.
Aria didn’t let him, shoving her shoulder against the door and pushing it as far back as the door guard would allow her. “Her friend. Is she in here or what? Quit trying to lock me out!”
“Her friend..?”
“Yea, we’re friends, is she he—“
The door suddenly jerked forward and completely closed, catching Aria while her guard was down for second. For a second, she contemplated kicking the door down—which would have been a pretty bad idea and probably would upset Wallflower. Instead, the door opened. Without any kicking.
“Well, why didnt you just say so!” The man exclaimed, grinning.
The first thing Aria noticed about him was his height, being taller than her even in her boots. And she was pretty tall without wearing them! Wallflower not inheriting his height made Aria question their relation, yet his hair immediately confirmed it. Green and messily chopped short. He did have a mustache, though, which made him look awfully similar to a walrus.
Wallflower didn’t have a walrus mustache. Maybe they weren’t related.
“Don’t just stand there, come on in!” He stepped away from the door to let Aria in, seemingly trusting her to close it behind her as he walked off to the kitchen.
The house was dimly lit, dusty, and overall looked just. The only light was coming from the television and a light in the kitchen where the man was.
“We don’t get many visitors, so I wasn’t real sure who you were. I think Wally shoos people away if they come here, which is a real shame! Yknow—oh, wow, where are my manners?” He turned to face Aria once again, offering a gaunt hand for her to shake. “I’m Wallflower’s uncle, Pinecone. But you can just call me Pine.”
“..I’m Aria.” She shook his hand, remembering the traditional human greeting and doing her part in the ritual. He felt like he was just skin and bones.
“It’s real sweet for you to show up, probably wondering where she is, huh?” Pine went on, rummaging through the cabinets of the kitchen, “poor girl got sick, I think it must’ve been when it was rainin’ a few weeks ago. Gosh, I couldn’t pick her up since I was at work, but if I knew she’d get sick I woulda came for her. When she gets sick, she gets real sick, y’know?”
“Yup. She mention me? I know she doesn’t really like to talk about her home life here, ah..well, it’s complicated. Y'know?”
Before Aria could say anything else, Pine turned around and put a mug full of something in her hands. The smell immediately wafted up into her nose, her face promptly scrunching at how it smelled. “Eugh..what is this and why am I holding it?”
Pine simply smiled and turned her around to face the stairs, ushering her up. “Tea for Wallflower. Why don’t you go say hi while you take it up for her? I bet she’ll be real happy to see you!”
“—What? Uh..alright.”
Aria would have instinctively said no—she hated doing things for other people when Adagio asked her for plenty at home—but she wanted to see Wallflower anyways. This was as good of an excuse as any.
Walking up the stairs, Aria made her way down the hallway and to the only closed door..
Sick.
Sick, sick, sick.
Wallflower wanted to die.
Warm phlegm coalesced in her throat as she tried to swallow it down, lest she had to sit up and spit it out into the little garbage bin next to her. It felt like she was seldom breathing life. Mostly death.
Why oh why was her immune system so pathetic? A little bit of rain and she was absolutely wrecked, confined and quarantined in her room and stuck in bed. Okay, sure, it was more than just a little bit of rain, but still!
Her nose was congested. Her voice sounded awful. Her stomach kept making weird noises. It was awful. Her uncle was encouraging her to eat something, but she could barely make it through half of an orange before her upset stomach decided it was full and forbade her from eating anything else without resistance in the form of rumbling and a sensation of being bloated.
On top of her being sick, she felt terrible! Her mood was already bad waking up, but it was thoroughly trashed upon her throwing up in the toilet shortly after getting out of bed. Another one of her awful mood swings, timed at a terrible moment.
But worst of all? She couldn’t go to school and see Aria.
Sure, they could text, but..
Wallflower..didn’t feel like it.
It was the same reason she wasn’t replying to the texts from Roseluck and Ditzy. She just..couldn’t will herself to do it. She felt absolutely awful for it, yes. Especially because she was ignoring Aria. But was there really a point? Surely, knowing she was okay didn’t matter too much to any of them. Why would she matter that much to Aria?
Wallflower was being an ass for not responding to any texts for no reason other than ‘being sad,’ but it’s not like it affected Aria or anyone else. Right? There was no way she was that important to—
Wallflower’s soul nearly escaped her as she jumped up in reaction to the door opening. Her uncle was making a point not to come into close contact with her to avoid getting sick, so who was at the door?
“A-Aria?” Wallflower could hardly believe it. Aria was there, giant pigtails and all, in her room. “W-What are you doing here? How did..you find my house? Why are..you here?”
“You weren’t answering your phone. So, I interrogated your friends and got your address. Can’t get rid of me that easily.” Aria stated, a toothy smile now on her face. “Coulda just told me you were sick. Though, you’re usually all over me, so I had to know why you were being all silent. Oh, uh, here’s some tea.” Aria outstretched her arms, beginning to walk over to Wallflower in her bed.
“Wait!” Wallflower exclaimed, sitting up properly, “I, uh..I smell. Bad. Let me..take care of that first.” She then promptly stood up from bed, her legs wobbling as she did so. The air around her felt cold, but her body was burning up. Stumbling past Aria, Wallflower went towards the bathroom.
“..You smell like how you usually smell!” Aria called out after her.
In the bathroom, Wallflower splashed water in her face to try and feel freshened up. She looked into the mirror, grimacing at the sight of her face. Her hair was uncombed, a tangled mess. The dark circles around her eyes looked terrible. She looked dead! But there was no maneuvering around this. Aria was in her house. Uninvited, but she’d stay if she wanted. Which she probably did.
No time to waste. Hopefully, Aria didn’t see her as the ugly disheveled cat that she looked like right now.
Wallflower stepped back into her room, moaning in slight despair as she prepared herself to look like absolute death in front of Aria. “Hey, sorr—”
Aria had Wallflower’s phone in her hands, a hand on her hip as she looked at the notifications on the screen. She turned over to Wallflower, a frown on her face. “You were totally ignoring my texts. I thought you loved texting me.”
Wallflower groaned. That’s what she was worried about. “Look, um..I know it makes no sense at all, but..I just. I couldn’t get myself to do it,” she explained, “I feel awful! A-And, I can barely force myself to talk to you right now, because I sound awful too! I just..I feel so shit. I really, really wanted to text you back, but I just couldn’t get myself to do it. And..I’m sorry. I figured you didn’t really even care, anyways..”
Aria rolled her eyes, setting Wallflower’s phone down. “I care enough to track your house down and come visit you. You had me worried, idiot. Your friends were talking like you could’ve done something horrible. What’s up with that?”
“..oh, they did?” Wallflower sighed, now rubbing at her arms with a frown. “I knew they’d get worried about that..uh, look. I’m really, really, really sorry. I..I really care about you as a friend, Aria! I’m sorry for..kinda ghosting you..”
“It’s fine,” Aria simply stated. “Now I know you aren’t dead or something. Plus, I’m here with you now. You being sick doesn’t really affect the fact I’m with you right now,” she said, all the while approaching Wallflower. Once she was close enough, she pulled Wallflower into..
A hug.
“Don’t get me all worried like that again, you dweeb..”
“..you aren’t mad at me for sorta ghosting you completely?”
“No, I am.” Aria calmly stated. The hug got a little tighter. In a threatening way. “You’re in no position to ghost me like that, you dummy. I’m too cool to be worried about you, even if you’re my best friend.”
Aria soon let go, leaving Wallflower without arms around her. Wallflower was blushing, the realization that it was their first real and proper hug dawning on her. Their first hug! A real, proper sign of affection! Sure, it wasn’t quite a ‘I love you Wallflower, let’s date and get married,’ but it was something!
Wait, those thoughts were wrong. She couldn’t just think of Aria like that. Aria was her best friend, not an object of her affection. She was more than that, she was a living magic shark girl! Reducing her as just something to date and marry wasn’t very nice..even if she had a huge crush on her.
The fact Wallflower even had that kind of thought regarding Aria deflated her. Suddenly, the effects of her sickness hit her all over again. Her head began to ache, her legs felt weak, her skin felt cold, her entire body felt dizzy. She needed to lie down.
Groaning, she stumbled back over to bed and crawled back inside. “I-I’m, uh, really sorry you have to see me..like this. I probably look awful..” Wallflower mumbled, settling back under her blankets. Looking over to her nightstand, she saw how Aria had laid the mug of tea there. Might as well chug it down now.
“You look fine,” Aria responded, taking a seat at the foot of Wallflower’s bed, “I’m just glad you aren’t dead. You wont…die from this, right?” For that brief moment, it sounded like Aria was actually, genuinely worried. Aria, truthfully worried over little ole Wallflower? It wasn’t something Wallflower could believe.
It hardly crossed her mind as she raised the mug to her lips, raising it and letting the vaguely honey-flavored remedial tea fill her mouth. It tasted icky and was way too thick as a tea, but it did make her feel..slightly better. She could only manage a few sips before putting the mug back in her lap for a moment.
“What, die? No, I don’t..think so. Are you, umm..” Wallflower hung on her words, not sure if she should ask, “..that worried about me? Thinking I might die?”
Aria scowled, quickly looking away. “No,” she quickly blurted, “..a little bit.”
“..why? It’s just, uh..a little cold. I mean, it feels worse than that, but..that’s what I get for staying out in the rain with you,” Wallflower spoke. Aria was still looking away. “..have you ever gotten sick?”
“Nah,” Aria began. She leaned back, letting herself flop down on her back onto the bed. “Sirens don’t get sick. I don’t know too much about it, but Adagio does. Something about our species evolving to have a damn good immune system to protect our vocal cords.”
“Well, uh..I definitely won’t die anytime soon! That doesn’t really happen with colds and stuff..so, you’re stuck with me for a while longer!”
“That makes it sound like I don’t enjoy spending time with you,” Aria promptly retorted.
Wallflower paused. “..u-uh, you..uh, you mean..you..”
“Yeah,” Aria interrupted, “believe it or not, after all these months, I think you’re a pretty great person, Wallflower. And I do like spending time with you. Do I have to spell it out for you? I like you.”
“..a-as in..”
Aria’s cheeks reddened, ever so faintly. It was hard to notice on her pink skin. But Wallflower noticed. “As in, best friends. Now say it back, that we’re best friends.”
Wallflower hid her dopey, dumb smile behind her mug as she took a sip. It was still on her lips as she put the mug back down. “Well, uh..if you really mean it, then..we’re best friends! That’s okay, right? Well, of course it’s okay, you’re making me say it back, uh..”
Aria shifted on the bed as Wallflower rambled on, crawling from her spot below Wallflower’s feet to being right beside Wallflower on the bed. “I hate not having a pillow, so I’m stealing this spot. Move over, dweeb.”
“O-Oh, alright,” Wallflower easily surrendered her spot in the middle of the bed, scooting over to the left side where she was near her nightstand. Aria took the side where she was cornered by Wallflower and the wall.
Just the two of them. Lying beside each other in bed.
For a moment, they simply basked in their mutual presence and laid there. The silence was only occasionally broken by Wallflower’s sniffles.
“..Hey, uh, Wallflower,” Aria spoke up, acting as casual as possible.
“Yeah?” Wallflower immediately turned to face Aria, seeing only the side of her face as Aria looked straight up to the ceiling.
“..You’ll be fine to come back to school soon, right?” Aria asked, not yet looking at Wallflower. “..cuz, I don’t really want to have to keep coming all this way. To see you.”
“Well, uh, I think so..” Wallflower said, the lack of certainty in her voice visibly irking Aria. She could see Aria’s brow furrow, just a little bit. “Y-You don’t have to come here every day that I’m sick, though..I won’t ghost you anymore, I swear!”
“Nah, it’s not that,” Aria deflected, “I’ll keep coming over if I have to. ‘Til you’re better to come around to school like normal.”
Wallflower smiled. It was probably best not to poke at Aria to see why she was so adamant. Besides, it was nice to silently accept it. Aria cared about her. Aria cared..about her!!
Before silence could set in between them again, Aria spoke once more. “Ditzy and Roseluck mentioned you..doing something. Or, I guess, how you could’ve done something. Since you were ghosting them, too. What’s up with that?”
Wallflower frowned deeply, both at the idea her only other two friends worried about her that badly and how Aria now vaguely knew about it.
“U-Uh,” she stuttered, “I-I..don’t really want to talk about that. Not..right now, at least. I’m sorry. I-It’s just..not something I want to..remember. And..I don’t want to make you worried, or anything.”
Aria raised a brow. “So it’s something bad, then?”
Wallflower sighed. “..yeah, kind of. But, you don’t have to worry! I-I..well, you don’t know what it is, but..I wouldn’t do it again.” Her hand inched closer to Aria’s. “Not with you being my friend.”
“Good,” Aria resolutely responded. “..I..” she began, her mouth forming an expression that was something between a grimace and a smile. “I..tease you sometimes. A lot. A few times. But..it’s all. Y’know. For fun. I really..appreciate you, Wallflower. And I’m..s-s…sorry..if it’s ever made you..feel bad. Or something.”
Wallflower quickly nodded. “Y-Yea, I know! I know..I-I like it, too, so..y’know, you don’t have to stop being yourself like that. You can be mean, cuz..it’s sort of one of the things I like. About you. You’re mean, but..in a good way.”
“Being mean to you is good?”
“W-Well, it’s..more complicated. Uh..” Wallflower paused, trying to come up with a way to phrase it properly.
Suddenly, Aria’s hand moved over hers. To be on top of hers. Like they were holding hands. Holding each other's hands.
Wallflower steadied, taking a deep breath. She hardly registered it, but Aria was looking at her now. Their eyes met. “What I mean, is..a-a lot of people have been mean to me. And..I’ve felt alone, a lot. Even with friends..”
“..yeah?”
“Yeah..but. The thing is..you’re not like that. You don’t make me feel like that! Uhm..I guess what I mean is, I’ve felt alone almost the entire time I’ve been alive. But you make me feel like we’ve been best friends for years. You never let me spend a day by myself.”
Aria visibly struggled to hold back a smile. “..good. I’m glad—uh, I’m..it’s good. That I make you..feel that way. I guess. Right?”
“Yes!” Wallflower exclaimed, quickly giving a little nod. “It’s really good, I swear! And..you don’t have to worry. About..if I die. Or anything. Because..I’ll try not to, as long as we’re friends.”
Aria’s hand suddenly felt heavy on top of hers. And tight.
That’s how Wallflower had been feeling for the past few days.
Her sickness had mostly passed by now, finally feeling well enough to attend school again. Unfortunately, what she was met with was pages of work and assignments that had to be done.
It was all spread across her desk in her room. She couldn’t get herself to start anything last night. So much as lifting a pencil made her feel drained beyond belief.
Physically attending school again didn’t make her feel much better. It was all so tiring, both physically and mentally. She wanted to chalk it up to a lingering sickness, but in truth she knew it was something deeper. Maybe just general malaise, or something more mental, but she didn’t like it.
Walking through the halls made her feel even worse. Shuffling along the tiled floor, her head down, passing by dozens of students who didn’t constantly feel like something was terribly and awfully wrong. Who didn’t have a constant pit in their stomachs and a slight weariness in their legs for no valid reason. She tried to relax as she made her way to her next class, but she felt so tired, and couldn’t stop thinking about all of the things troubling her..
The greenhouse was in rough shape after her brief absence. The other members of the gardening club, including Ditzy and Roseluck, were pretty good about tending to the plants, but some of her personal projects were wilting by the time she was back. Her red chrysanthemums weren’t doing too good, either. She’d have to take care of that after school—
“Wallflower! Hey..”
Wallflower shuddered as she felt a hand on her shoulder, and a voice calling her name from behind her. But, of course, she put a face to that voice in an instant. She turned around, shocked but not disappointed at all.
“A-Aria?” Wallflower questioned, turning around to properly face her, “Um..what are you doing? We’ve never..talked like this in the hall..” She trailed off, looking over to the students around them that were walking by. Everyone was taking glances at Aria, most likely barely acknowledging Wallflower in the process.
What were they all thinking, looking at the two together like this? For the most part, they were hardly seen together in public before. Sure, they ate together sometimes, and almost always met up after school, but barely anyone saw them in those cases. Here, everyone was seeing them. Seeing them talking, together.
“..Yeah,” Aria admitted, seemingly embarrassed about it, “but it’s important, alright? —Uh,” She took her hand off of Walfllower’s shoulder, having let it rest there for a few seconds too long, “Have you been okay?”
Wallflower blinked in surprise. Aria was surprisingly concerned regarding Wallflower’s health ever since she got sick. And Wallflower wasn’t visibly ill this time, to most people anyways. Aria had to be very perceptive to notice something was off.
“Um, well..no, not really. I’ve been..I-I don’t know, tired? Drained? It’s been, uh, I don’t know. Just. I’ve felt really tense, or something. Weird..how could you tell?”
“I’ve seen you walking around today,” Aria said, before a blush crept onto her face, “..n-not, like, in a creepy way or whatever, I’ve just seen you. Walking. Hard not to notice my, err..best..friend.” It still strained her to say that. Wallflower still thought it was cute.
“You just..didn’t look okay. And I was. Worried. So now I’m asking you if you’re okay.” Aria tried to smile, two cute and toothy rows of teeth being revealed in the process. How long has it been since Wallflower had seen her teeth? Maybe around a month? It was good to see them again.
“O-Oh, um, well. I..guess I’ve been kinda tired, still. Still sick, maybe. Just coming to school makes me feel so..ugh. I don’t know..” Wallflower frowned. It was tiring just to try to explain it. “I-It sucks just acknowledging it, so, sorry I can’t really explain..”
“Oh. It’s fine, it’s fine!” Aria spat out, quick to absolve any worry that she might be frustrated, “..so, do you wanna hang out later or something? After class, I mean.” she asked, in the tone that she always used which made it sound more like a statement than a question.
The two hadn’t spent time together outside of school since Aria came over while she was sick. Now Aria was the one asking to hang out? Wallflower must have been dreaming.
“S-Sure! I’d like that!” Wallflower exclaimed, “but, uhm, I’ll be at the greenhouse for a bit after school, since a few of the plants aren’t doing too good..y-you can wait for me, though, right?”
“Nah. I’ll just come with.” Aria bluntly stated, before looking around. Most other students had made it to their class, the time to move through the halls now dwindling. “We should get to class. See you later, dweeb.”
Aria left her with a jab to her shoulder, just barely less forceful than the other playful punches she had given her in the past.
“R-Right..see you later..”
Just like that, Wallflower felt like the rest of the day was going to be perfectly okay.
Wallflower hunched over the table in the middle of the greenhouse, which was where most of the gardening club plants were. Various members’ plants and individual projects, anything they wanted to grow with the assistance of Wallflower. All placed into pots with their names shoddily taped onto the face of the pots.
Except for a few, which were Wallflower’s own little projects. Forget-me-nots, one of her favorites, a rather expensive venus fly trap, and most importantly, her red chrysanthemums. They had been growing for a while now. She wanted them to be mature enough to pluck one or two off.
How long had they been growing? Oh, right, since Aria picked out the seeds for her just a few months ago.
..That felt like an eternity ago. It was kind of funny. Wallflower always wanted to grow something for Aria. And she ended up picking out a flower that meant love.
Love..
Wallflower still wanted to give these chrysanthemums to Aria soon. They were just taking a while to grow. An unusual amount of time, yes, but..they just needed time. Time to grow, and bloom, until one day it’ll seem like they’ll bloom in an instant.
The little bell Wallflower installed above the door rang—she didn’t like it when people surprised her with how silent the door was, so she installed it after a few days of the gardening club becoming popular.
Turning to face the door, it was exactly who she expected.
“O-Oh, Aria! You really did come..”
“‘Course I did, dweeb. I..” Aria opened her mouth to say something else, but she caught herself and instead walked up to Wallflower and the plants she was tending to.
Wallflower nervously giggled as Aria came close, moving to make space for her around the table. “You’ve never been in here, have you? I used to spend..hours in here, after school. The plants never needed that much care, but..it was all I had. Now you take up almost all my time.”
“Nope. I meant to check in a few times, but I guess I never did.” Aria smirked at her last comment, “I’ll try to keep it that way. Don’t gotta stay all crammed in here. It’s kinda suffocating..”
Wallflower was suddenly aware of how stuffy it had gotten in the greenhouse, now grabbing at her sweater collar and fanning it against her collarbone. “Y-Yeah, it’s already not too big of a greenhouse to begin with, and the temperature has to be pretty warm to keep the plants safe. I’m pretty used to it, though..”
“Even in your big dumb sweaters?”
Wallflower rolled her eyes. “Yes, even in my dumb sweaters. But, anyways..” she moved over to the plants on the tables lining the glass walls of the greenhouse, “the club mostly grows whatever they want that I buy, within reason. Of course. We do grow some vegetables, though! We don’t have much space for big plants to grow them, but we did make a space right here for peppers..o-oh, and, some flowers are just pretty profitable, so I, um..I pocket a fair bit of what we make from them, since the school funding usually covers most of our expenses..”
“Ooh, embezzling your own money?” Aria’s smirk grew wider, showing teeth now. “I was never a bad influence on you, you were always a little criminal.”
“I-It’s not embezzling, I’m not even obligated to put it all back into the club!” Wallflower retorted, her cheeks now red from both embarrassment and being teased. “I just..let everyone assume it’s all going back. I barely take any, too..just enough to support myself a bit..”
“Relax, I get it. And I know you don’t like talking about it too much. All I want is for you to tell me if things are getting rough for you and your uncle. ‘Dagi and Sonata won’t mind parting with some money, they don’t even check our bank account.”
That certainly made Wallflower smile. Aria really did know how to respect her boundaries..and to assure her that she had a safety net if things got bad? Aria truly understood her.
“Though, since we’re talking about crime..” Aria put her hands on her hips, giving Wallflower a particularly devious smirk. “Wanna shoplift with me?”
“S-Shoplift? That’s an actual crime..a-aren’t you rich?”
“Pshh. Yeah. But not paying for something is what makes it fun. Now come with me so we can hang out.”
Wallflower’s moral compass spun. There was no north pole now. Or a south pole. Which way did a compass point to? It didn’t matter. The magnetic pull of her morals was completely and utterly thrown off now! Completely! Utterly! There was a new, evil west pole! And that evil west pole was Aria!
“..okay!”
The mall, Canterlot’s hub of consumerism and one of the more disappointing places for teenagers to spend their time at if they didn’t like spending money or playing on the children’s playground.
Wallflower would have liked to do one of those things, but she still enjoyed the atmosphere. It was where people naturally gathered. It was nice to be part of a crowd.
Did she ever have the money to shop there herself? No, all of her and her uncle’s purchases were made at the thrift or dollar store. Or someplace cheap like that.
But this time, she wasn’t exactly paying, if Aria had anything to do about it.
“Sssooo,” Wallflower drawled, turning to Aria as they walked together. “What are you, umm..g-gonna, y’know..”
Aria did something in between a snort and a smirk. “What? You think saying it is gonna get us arrested?”
“No! I just..don’t usually ask ‘‘what are you gonna shoplift,’ it feels weird..”
“First off, don’t worry. Second off, we’re shoplifting something to wear to the beach. Sonata told us there’s one really close to here, and we’re pretty damn excited. It’s..pretty stupid how we never realized it, but it’ll be awesome to finally swim again. And you’re coming with us. Whether you like it or not.”
Wallflower blinked. The beach? They were going to the beach? The beach where you were ideally to get half-naked and swim? With parts of your body showing? With your arms showing?
“O-Oh, haha, well, t-that’s the thing, I can’t swim! So, uh, guess you guys have to count me out..”
Aria gave her a quizzical look. “You..don’t know how to swim? Why not?” she asked, the ability to swim being as simple as walking to her.
“..I-I..I’m scared of drowning..” Wallflower was actually telling the truth. It was a horrible fear throughout her early childhood, and she still couldn’t get over it.
“I’ll teach you when we’re there. Simple,” Aria stated, shooting down that excuse.
“Well, I—..uhm, it’s still pretty chilly, isn’t it? Pretty mediocre weather for the beach..”
“Nah,” Aria bluntly replied, “Adagio made sure to check. The day we’re going is gonna be pretty warm. Really convenient.”
“Oh, um..” Wallflower frowned. There was no way out of it. There was also no way she was going to explain why she didn’t want to go to the beach, she never wanted anyone to know..
Suddenly, they were at their destination. A pretty generic clothing store, probably some standard chain store that Wallflower wasn’t familiar with because of the price. Aria dragged her in by her wrist, going straight to the swimwear.
Wallflower yelped, having to clumsily stumble after her with how gosh darn strong Aria was as she pulled her. She always noticed how nice her arms looked, but she didn’t know Aria was strong enough to nearly pull her out from her feet!
“I-Isn’t this a little obvious?” Wallflower stammered, just barely holding her footing as Aria dragged her through all the rows of clothing.
“What? Nah, not as long as we aren’t holding anything when we leave.”
Almost at the back of the store, near the changing rooms, was the swimwear. The dreaded swimwear. Wallflower squirmed just looking at it all. Sure, for swimwear standards, it was all modest and what you expect when going to the beach. One piece and two piece swimsuits, everything in between and out-between, as well as the masculine options like shorts and the like.
None of it seemed particularly appealing to Wallflower. Sure, she could just say no and deny Aria’s forceful invitation to the beach, but…she didn’t want that. She really did want to go with Aria, her fellow sirens included! But she very well couldn’t show up in her usual outfit.
“Wallflower.”
“—Huh?” Wallflower snapped out of her thoughts, realizing she had been silently staring at the racks of swimwear while Aria was actually browsing.
“Dummy..” Aria rolled her eyes, “Anyways. What do you think?” She held a two-piece swimsuit by the hanger and showed it to Wallflower. It was relatively simple, but miraculously it was the same neon blue-green that highlighted her hair.
“W-What do I think?”
“..Yeah. What do you think of it. I like it. It’ll match with my hair, but not too much. Contrasts well, or something,” Aria explained. She didn’t show it much, but she cared about her style and good fashion as much as her two siren compatriots did.
“I-I..umm, I..” Wallflower immediately blocked the mental image of Aria wearing the very swimsuit out as soon as she even had a notion of it. No, no, no. Not right now. “It looks..good. It’ll look good on you! I think..n-not that, umm, it’s..n-not, um..not that it, uhh..”
“Good,” Aria said, stopping Wallflower from having to awkwardly trail off, “I like the color. If you like it, I’ll take it.”
Wallflower went silent again as she processed what Aria said. Was that really the major deciding factor? Whether she liked the swimsuit or not? Of course, she was going to like Aria wearing any kind of swimsuit—that wasn’t the point!
But, still, did Aria really care that much for Wallflower’s opinion?
“You gonna pick one?” Aria asked, interrupting Wallflower’s thoughts, “I could pick one for you, if you keep staring and don’t even try to look.” Her words were coated in her usual snark, but Wallflower could have sworn that she was almost smiling. Almost!
“N-No! Here, I’ll..find one!” Not wanting to waste any more of Aria’s time, Wallflower immediately began searching through the feminine choices of swimwear. Nothing too revealing, but maybe she could find something..something a little too modest, something puritanical, something fit for scuba divers..
“I’m gonna try this thing on in the changing rooms. Come when you find something.”
“Mhmm..” Wallflower hummed in response, still looking.
Aha!
She fished out an off-black full body swimsuit with boring and dull green accents. It covered her body entirely, save for her head, feet, and hands. This was exactly what she was looking for! It was the complete opposite of revealing! It might’ve been a bit form-fitting, but that was fine by Wallflower. It wasn’t going to get much better than this.
“H-Hey, Aria, what do you—oh..right.” Wallflower stopped herself as she remembered what Aria told her. The changing rooms.
Making a short walk to where the changing rooms were, Wallflower stopped in front of the only occupied stall. She took a quick look down, seeing Aria’s usual chunky boots. “A-Aria? I, uh, I picked something out. Finally..”
“Huh?” Aria called out from within the stall, “Oh, cool, I’ll come out. Just a sec.”
Wait. Was Aria coming out while dressed in her swimsuit? Was she trying to show Wallflower? More importantly, was Wallflower going to see her in it? Of course, she was going to eventually when they were to go to the beach, but now? Aria in the two-piece she picked out? Right in front of her? Not just in her imagination?
It was too late to turn away now. She could hear the little lock on the stall clicking out of place. She could see the word “occupied” go from red to a green “unoccupied” in slow motion. She wasn’t going to turn away in time! Instead, Wallflower did the only thing she could do to avoid anything awkward! While feeling her cheeks already burning hot, Wallflower shut her eyelids tight! Just as the stall opened!
“..what are you doing.”
“W-What?” Wallflower managed to bring her hands up to cover her face, not giving herself so much as a chance to peek. “I..uh..” Was it possible Aria wasn’t wearing it? There was only one way to find out..
By taking a peeeeeek..
“Oh. Um..sorry.” Wallflower only peeked with one eye, hiding her now burning hot blush behind her hands. She hooked the hanger for her swimsuit on her arm.
“..is that the one you’re gonna take?” Aria glanced to said swimsuit, nodding in something that was probably approval. “It suits you. Just put it on underneath your clothes and follow my lead.”
“Wait, are you, err..wearing yours underneath your clothes?”
Aria rolled her eyes, having a tiny chortle at Wallflower’s question. “Duh. That’s how we leave without paying for it. They can’t force you to take off your clothes, especially when it’s barely noticeable like this. Now get in there so we can get out of here.”
With a gentle push from Aria, Wallflower was urged into the stall. Ugh..she hoped it wouldn’t feel too weird to wear under all her clothes.
With enough rubbing up against the odd-feeling material and fumbling with the zipper, Wallflower was fully changed into her swimsuit of choice. Her baggy choice of clothing made it impossible to know she was wearing it underneath! Now came the actual hard part..
Working up the nerve to come out and leave without paying.
“O-Okay, umm..” Wallflower began, hesitantly opening the stall door, “so..we just..leave? Without paying?”
“Yup,” Aria bluntly answered, “Just follow my lead.”
Grabbing her wrist, Aria once again yanked Wallflower along and walked straight towards the exit. This time, much more leisurely. Casual, but not too casual. Inconspicuous, but not too inconspicuous. Kind of life walking around in your own house. Without an urgent purpose, almost absentmindedly.
Well, that’s what Aria was doing. Wallflower was practically sweating bullets.
But..they did it. They walked right out of the store, into the freedom of the mall. Without paying for a thing! Not a thing!
“W-We..I..really just shoplifted..” Wallflower had to contemplate this for a moment. This was probably her first, real, actual crime. A crime that was explicitly not something people should do, something she would have never done by herself.
But she did it with Aria.
And she liked it.
“Uh-huh. I’m sure you’re having some kind of crazy revelation about it or something.”
“..I-I am.”
“Oh. Uh. Well..it’ll get easier. I’ll try not to drag you into any crimes for a minute, though, you aren’t looking too good..” Aria glanced over to Wallflower, “You okay?”
“U-Umm, yeah..” Wallflower shakily answered, “..I think it’s just my empty stomach..can we get something to eat?”
“Oh, sure. I’ll pay.”
“We aren’t shoplifting the food?”
Aria rolled her eyes with a smile. “That’s a little too much for you. And also something you can’t really do in a food court. So don’t worry about it, I’ll pay. What do you want?”
Wallflower hummed as she thought, recalling the possible options the food court in the mall had. “I haven’t had a pretzel in a while..”
“Pretzels sound good. C’mon, you’re shaking. You only do that when you’re nervous or hungry, and I think you’re both.”
“Hehe, yeah, I am..”
“Then let’s go eat! Which one do you like? I just want something with the cheese sauce.”
Wallflower stuck her tongue out, not liking the idea of cheese in sauce form at all. “Yuck. I like the pretzel bite things..”
“Pretzel bites for you, then. But don’t diss cheese sauce like that. It’s good stuff.”
“Too slimy..”
“It’s not supposed to be slimy! I don’t know where you got that idea, but you’re totally wrong. Now c’mon.”
With that, Aria grabbed Wallflower by the wrist once more. This time, Wallflower kept up as they walked to the food court.
Wearing the full body swimsuit underneath all her clothes felt a little weird, but that was okay. If she was with Aria, everything was okay.
Wallflower believed she was sleeping sometime around 4 AM, a very early Saturday morning. She knew it was a little past 4 AM because her uncle always woke up at this time. She was also awake.
Specifically, his phone’s alarm would go off and wake him up to a muffled tune that she could hear through the walls. After that, it’d take him a few minutes to get up from bed before going to the bathroom.
For the next half hour or so, he'd play sad rock ballads on his phone as he quickly made himself presentable for work. Then, he'd come into her room to rub her shoulder and give her a soft kiss on the head before going downstairs to make breakfast and head to work.
The sad and muffled wailing of guitars was paused, telling Wallflower that he was about to come into her room. Tensing up in anticipation, she curled up under her blankets as her door rattled open. Familiar yet comforting footsteps creaked along the floor of her room, soon stopping at the side of her bed.
She felt her uncle’s presence, even as her eyes were closed shut. She felt him lean down, his fuzzy walrus mustache tickling her face as he kissed the top of her head.
“..hhk...” Wallflower swore she wouldn’t make any noise, but she did. Affection always made her choke up a bit.
“Ope,” Pine muttered, gingerly brushing messy strands of hair out of Wallflower’s eyes, “did I wake you up again, sweetheart? Sorry ‘bout that.”
“N-No, it’s okay..” she croaked, her voice still raw and dry. “I was already awake..” Her eyes fluttered open, now looking up to her uncle, Light flooded in through the crack in her door, letting one long strand of light filter in.
“Awake? C’mon now, you ought to be sleeping..” He placed his hand on her shoulder again, giving her a smile. “Something troubling you? You’re only awake like this when you’re sad.”
Wallflower was often awake at this time. She blinked away the wetness in her eyes, briefly thinking of what to say. Usually she was able to keep her composure around her uncle. But tonight, his comfort and voice were making that familiar bubbling cry come from her throat. "C-Can you, um.. Stay today? I, uh.. I want you to be here.."
Pine frowned and leaned down to give her another kiss on the head. "Oh, Wally. You know I would, but I can't.. But, I have less hours today, so I can be home for you to cook dinner fresh for me. Would you like that?"
"Yeah.." Wallflower nodded, biting the inside of her cheek to stop the tears from flowing. "And.. Spend time together? I-I'm only going to the beach tomorrow, so we have time.."
"Sure thing, sweetheart." Pine gave her shoulder another rub before leaning back up with a sigh. "I gotta get going, I'll be back at four. Will you be okay until then?"
Reluctantly, Wallflower nodded. Part of her wanted to believe, if she ever said no, that he'd put everything on hold and stay with her for the day. But she would never be so selfish as to say 'no' and force him to stay with her. She always said yes, and he'd always be gone until four. Or five-thirty if it wasn't Friday or Saturday. He had Sundays off, but tomorrow was beach day for her and the Dazzlings.
“Alright then,” He continued, in a slightly louder voice so Wallflower could hear. “I’ll be back soon. I love you, sweetheart.
“..I love you too, uncle.”
And with that, he was off. Gently shutting the door behind him, going downstairs, unpausing the sad rock ballads, and audibly pulling out of the driveway in his rumbling truck.
Now, the house was quiet again. She was alone. It was still dark out. And she had nothing to do today.
Except..
Reaching for her phone, she turned it on and winced at the brightness. Quickly turning it down as she went straight to her texts. With Aria.
The last message was sent by Aria. A simple ‘goodnight dweeb.’ Sent about four hours ago.
Wallflower reacted to the message with a little heart.
What else did she have to do to flirt? Surely a heart emoticon was the pinnacle of flirting! It was basically screaming ‘I want to kiss you!’
No. She’d never be that forward. More forward than heart emoticons, anyways. If she directly flirted, how would Aria react? It just wasn’t something Wallflower would do. Or wanted to do. It was unbecoming of her.
But that didn’t stop her feelings for Aria. She could still feel that want whenever they were together. An Aria-shaped hole in her heart that ached every moment she looked at her. Wallflower desperately wanted to fill it.
But it wasn’t right. It was selfish. Incredibly selfish! Having these kinds of thoughts..what would Aria say if she knew? If Wallflower told her? Not only was it selfish, but it could ruin everything between them..
..After everything, Wallflower felt like she was owed a moment to be selfish.
And Aria was the only person she wanted. A relationship with her was the only thing she wanted. That was all. Couldn’t she silently want that, even when it was never going to happen?
Wallflower’s eyes suddenly began to sting with tears. It was never going to happen, no matter how badly she wanted it. No matter how much she wanted to deserve it.
They’d always be together, but in her eyes there would always be a chasm between them. Something preventing her from being as close as she wanted. As personal as she wanted. As loving as she wanted.
…
Her thumb, practically moving on its own, tapped the few buttons needed to pull up Aria’s contact. Without even thinking, she began to call her.
..Vrr.
Vrr.
Her phone only vibrated twice before the call went through.
“..Hello?” Aria’s voice came through, tinny and quiet.
It took Wallflower a moment to realize Aria actually picked up. This was her. She was awake, and she picked up!
Scrambling to put the phone on speaker, she sat up straight and held the phone to her ear. “A-Aria? You’re awake?”
“..Yeah. Can’t sleep. You’re awake too.”
“..I can’t sleep either.”
“..mhm..”
“I missed you.” Wallflower sighed. She really was pathetic. “A lot.”
“We saw each other on Friday. And texted until we slept.”
“..and I missed you. I’m missing you right now.”
“..I missed you too.”
Her breath hitched. “Really?”
“Yeah.” …. “Is that kinda dumb?”
“No, it’s not! I, uh..if we missed each other, it’s not.”
“Yeah… Excited for tomorrow?”
“Of course! I-I’m..I’m really looking forward to it. Being with you..—a-and the others! I, uh..y’know..wanna spend time with Adagio and Sonata, too. But..mostly you.” Wallflower squeezed her phone tight against her ear after she spoke. She was completely hanging on Aria’s every word.
Through her phone’s cruddy speaker, she could hear what sounded like Aria chuckling in the middle of exhaling. “Definitely. You gotta hang out with them more often… No more than with me, though. You’re my best friend, remember that.”
Wallflower couldn’t help but giggle. She loved it when Aria said that. It felt possessive, but in the good way..was it supposed to be possessive? “U-Um,” she spoke up, “anyways..it’s late, soo..how were you awake too? Since..I’m also awake. Obviously.”
Aria made what sounded like a grunt in response. “Couldn’t sleep. Thinking about stuff..I was gonna text you, but..I figured you sleep better than me.”
“No way! I’ve already told you about how late I sleep..you forgot?”
“Nah. I just thought that..if you were actually sleeping, I wouldn’t wanna bother you.”
“I’d have woken up to answer! If I was asleep, that is..I wouldn’t care if it was you calling.”
“..Sh..damn. You’re too nice to me. What’s up with that?”
“..I like you.”
Wallflower held her breath immediately after she said those words. It was a simple statement. She had probably said it to Aria several times before. But right now, tonight, those words felt heavier and more important than ever.
“..I like you too, Wallflower.”
… “Should we, uh… Go to sleep? It’s.. Late. Or, almost morning, I guess..”
“Yeah. Yeah..I was, uh..just about to say. See you tomorrow, right?”
“Right. Definitely.”
“Definitely.”
Wallflower continued to hold the phone to her ear, and it seemed like Aria did as well. Neither of them hung up, for a solid ten seconds.
“..Dweeb. Go to sleep.”
And then Aria hung up.
Somehow, Wallflower felt at ease. Her legs were shaking underneath her blankets, and her heart was racing, but she felt..okay.
Aria liked her. She said it just now in return to Wallflower saying it. Had Aria ever said it before? Maybe.
Wallflower put her phone down on her nightstand, deciding it was too late to dwell on it. She wanted to dwell on it, though. If she had the energy, she’d be dwelling on it harder than anyone else had ever dwelled on anything. She’d be the biggest dweller on earth.
…Well, she was dwelling on it a little, even as she snuggled up back into bed.
She’d have plenty of time to dwell on it later that day. Preferably not tomorrow, at the beach. Tomorrow was for her, Aria, Adagio, and Sonata.
