Amidst love and heartbreak

Emily between two loves

Maggie’s POV

Melanie spent the entire night tossing and turning in her bed. She was still so confused about what had happened that afternoon. Her heart told her to enjoy the attention and the care Arnold gave her, but her brain was warning her against him. She was still so young to make decisions but not that young to not know what the frantic heartbeat and the dryness in her throat every time he approached her meant. She just didn’t want to lose that, didn’t want to lose him.

The next day she decided to follow her heart. Melanie got dressed in one of her favourite dresses, took the book she was reading at the moment and left her house to go to the tree. She didn’t know if he was going to be there or all he said yesterday was nothing but lies to make her not hate him at the moment, but she went anyway.

In less than fifteen minutes Melanie was sitting under the shadow of the tree, with her legs stretched and her knees covered properly with her dress. She had the book open but she could not read a word. She tried but she had to go back to the same paragraph at least three times until some of the content finally registered in her brain. The reason: he was not here.

Melanie took a deep breath and closed her eyes for a while. The wind moving her hair from side to side was actually something that she enjoyed. Being born in Autumn, she loved the wind and some raindrops here and there. For her, it was like being born again, whenever the first rain of the season came and she could feel it in the air that it was approaching.

When she opened her eyes, though, she found Arnold looking at her with so much emotion in his eyes that it made her cheeks go red. 

“My God, you are so beautiful,” he said in a whisper like he didn’t want her to hear it. She did though, and her cheeks became even redder if that was possible. “... and cute. Am I making you blush, my dear?” he asked in a playful tone with his voice in a little louder voice but still soft.

“Hi,” she responded in a whisper as well. “I thought you would not come…” she continued in the same voice and lowered her head as if she was ashamed of what she said.

“Why did you think that? I came here waiting for you for three days until you came back,” he said a bit offended and hurt. “Do you think that I could live without seeing you?” he stepped a little closer to her. “That, now that I tasted those lips I could stay away from them?” he continued while sitting down next to her.

Melanie’s heart was beating frantically once more. She knew what was coming but was not ready to move towards him again. She was too shy to do that again. He was not, though. In a heartbeat, he went closer and cupped her right cheek pulling her for a much-desired kiss.

“Hello, gorgeous,” he said after he kissed her lips. 

“Hello, Arnold,” she responded, taking a deep breath in order to try and control her heart.

I heard some noise in front of the house and then the doorbell rang. Probably Emma is here. Exactly now that the book was warming up. I went down the stairs and opened the front door. 

“Well, hello you two,” I greeted Emily and that young boy that always floats around my granddaughter. 

“Hello, Miss Maggie,” Emily greeted politely.

“Hello, Miss maggie. How are you today?” Kyle asked. Well, that is a pleasant surprise. He finally remembered about manners. 

“I am fine, Kyle. How are you today?” I asked back but his attention was already elsewhere and I might just know where. “Emma is still not here, if that was what you were searching for,” I answered his unasked question,”

Immediately, Kyle’s face showed disappointment. He must like to play with her very much.

“Her father will bring her here any minute. I actually thought you were them. If you want, you can wait for her in the back garden. I might just need someone to help me water the plants in the pots,” I said and he seemed like he was thinking about it but then he nodded.

“Come, Emily, let's put the kettle for some tea. I know you love it. We can have a chat meanwhile,” She did not bring Kyle a lot because it is easier for her to have to care for just one child instead of two. She only came here with Kyle when I was not going to be home or when she needed a set of ears to listen to her. Emily is such a nice girl. It is a pleasure for me to listen to her as well. She reminds me of my younger self sometimes, but I wish I was as determined as she was.

“Thank you, Miss Maggie. You are the best,” she said with a grin on her face.

“How is school, my dear,” I didn’t know how to start the conversation and I didn’t want to ask her directly.

“School is fine. Just the last exams and I will be finally free. These last two weeks will be very busy with everything but I don’t seem to have my head in the game as I had it before,” she said and huffed.

“I feel like this is a heart problem, but not the type my age might get if you know what I mean,”

“Sort of. You know Aron, right?” she finally started to talk. Let’s get to it, then. “We have been best friends since forever, but in my head, we have always been more than just friends but not enough to call it differently. We joke and we tease each other. Sometimes, I think he flirts with me and I might have responded to some of it, but I never wanted to have anything with anyone before I was done with school/schools. You know how busy I can get and that I barely spare some time to go grab a bite during the day, let alone have a boyfriend or something similar,” I knew what she meant, even though I did not agree with her approach.

“I know, my dear, continue. What is the problem?”

“I always thought that once I am done with school, I would ask him out. He teases me, but I know that he is very shy and he is trying to respect my decision to be single until I finish school. The problem is that I am not sure I want to do that anymore,” she said and her eyes were filled with concern.

“What do you mean? You changed your mind?”

“No… Yes… I don’t know, alright?”

“What’s his name?” I was convinced that I have found the real problem and by the look on her widened eyes, I have hit the target.

“Ethan. He has been coming around me lately and I don’t know what to think. My first instinct is to push him away because I know he is a player. But when I do and he comes after me again, I feel that I like his attention,” she finished and I put the cup of tea right in front of her.

“Would you like a cookie, dear?”

“Yes, please. I am so confused, Miss Maggie. What should I do?”

“I think you should give him a chance. When he asks you out, accept and make sure to enjoy yourself. You are as free as a bird and don’t owe anything to anyone,”

“What about Aron, Miss Maggie?” she asked full of concern. 

“Emily dear, if you liked him in any different way from that of a friend you would have gone after him a long time ago. He was just not a priority in your life,”

“He actually… asked me out last week, but I never responded and he let me chose the time when I was ready,”

“Then, call him. Or write him a text. See him as a friend. Get to know the guy. You say he is a player but I trust that you can see the difference between yourself and other girls. I think he sees that, too. And you see something that you don’t like, I believe you are feisty enough to give a piece of your mind to him,” I said with a naughty smile on my face. I wanted to encourage the girl to get a life but what I said is only the truth.

“I might just do that,” she said and as soon as she finished the sentence, her phone pinged. “Talk about the devil,” she chuckled.

“Then go. I will take care of Kyle. Emma should be here any minute, anyway,” I said.

“I don’t know, Miss Maggie…” she started but her phone pinged again and a smile crept into her face.

“I might say the boy is pretty persistent. Go!” I said a bit more harshly but still in a caring way.

“Are you sure it is not a bother?” she asked while taking her heavy backpack from the chair next to her.

“I have many other chores for those two to do today, so you actually are making me a favour,” I said and winked at her.

“Thank you. I will come to pick him up before 6:30. Kyle needs to be back home for dinner,”

“We will be waiting for you, then,”

As soon as she left Kyle came back inside. He was still a bit disappointed but didn’t seem that he wanted to show it.

“Miss Maggie, can I ask you a question?” he suddenly asked.

“Of course, young man,” I said with a smile on my face. This was actually the first time he wanted to initiate a conversation with me.

“Are you the love guru?” he asked with a curious face.

“The love... what?” I asked and I couldn’t help but let out a soft laugh. “Where did you hear that, Kyle?”

“Emily was talking to her friend Aron one day and was telling him that you are ‘a love guru’. What does that mean?” he asked. How many questions does this young man have for me today?

“First of all, I am not a guru. It takes great intelligence and expertise in the matter to become a guru, and I am not either of them. I write books that most of the time talk about love, but that doesn't make me a guru or expert,” I explained.

“But you are older than me, so can you help me?” That I am. Much, much older than him.

“What do you need help with, Kyle?”

“How can I make a girl my age, fall in love with me? What do I do?” he asked and I almost spit the tea I had just sipped. Today was a day no for tea. First, Emily goes and doesn’t even try her tea, not this young man is making me spit it all over the place with his peculiar questions.

“Well, it is a bit complicated, my boy. You just care about her. That is the first thing you do, but you can’t make someone fall in love with you, you can just try,”

“But I do care about her. A lot. I help her with the books in class. When the teacher makes us clean up I take her part as well. I share with her my snacks… What more should I do?”

He is such a sweet boy I thought.

“You are doing it right then. I believe that she has noticed it as well. She might just be shy, then,” I said and saw a bit of relief on his face. His head was on the door from time to time and I knew who he was looking forward to meeting.

Suddenly, the doorbell rang and his face lit up.

“It’s probably Emma and her dad,” I said and he straightened properly on his seat. It was funny how he reacted when I said that Emma’s dad was going to be with her. With a huge smile on my face, I opened the door to find Emma with a bigger smile on her face. As soon as she saw Kyle she ran to him, leaving me at the door. She didn’t even say hello. Kids these days.