Don't You Dare

“JUST STOP IT ALREADY!” I screamed, “I HATE YOU WHEN YOU TRY TO DO THAT!”

“OH REALLY? WHAT AM I DOING THAT IS UPSETTING YOUR PERFECT LITTLE WORLD?” Adam yelled back in my face. Before I knew what was happening, my mobile phone was flying out of my hand, heading straight for his face. He moved out of the way just in time, but it still scraped against his cheek as it flew past. “YOU JUST CAN’T STOP ANTAGONISING ME FOR A SECOND, CAN YOU?”

He was slightly pale from the close call with the phone. His voice was calmer when he spoke, though. “I wish you would just come and sit down to talk like a normal person. It would be so much easier that way. But you just can’t, can you? You’re too proud, and its really going to hurt you someday.”

I folded my arms. “But that’s why you loved me. You like the challenge, and my headstrong approach to life. Now you’re getting bored, so you have decided to annoy the hell out of me.”

We had stopped shouting by now, and my anger was starting to cool slightly. Adam took a seat on the couch. “Look,” he said, “I am truly sorry for being so inconsiderate, and I really, really want you to forgive me. Please?” he said, and he widened his eyes. For a moment, I nearly believed him. Then I saw the barely suppressed smirk. My temper flared like a forest fire. “YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!!! SEE? THIS IS WHAT I MEAN! I CAN’T LOOK AT YOU WHEN YOU’RE LIKE THIS, LET ALONE HAVE A FULL CONVERSATION! YOU ACTUALLY LIKE IT WHEN I’M MAD!” I turned my back.

“You are so dramatic.” I could feel his eyes glaring at me, as if trying to burn right through my back and into my heart.

“I’ve had enough.” I said quietly. I moved towards the door.

“Don’t you dare. Baby, I you walk out of the door, you’re never coming back in.”

I paused, and glanced over my shoulder. “Maybe that’s what I want. Have you ever considered that, Adam?” I spat out his name, as if it burnt my mouth to say it. I opened the door, and stepped out into the street.

“Olivia…” I heard him say weakly, from a point just behind me.

“No.” I said simply. I slammed the door and walked out into the sleeting night.

~Three months later ~

I was still in my parent’s house. I had nowhere else to go. I was lying on the couch, staring out at their large, neat lawn, with the trailing pear trees on the fence, and the potted shrubs resting on the patio. Lavender, I thought. Rosemary. Californian lilac. Beneath the pear trees there were large beds of broken tulips. I had found out that they were called broken tulips recently, not because they were actually broken, but because of the beautiful stripes on their petals. Adam had told me that, when I had first introduced him to my parents. That had been one of the best days of my life.

I picked at the corduroy fabric on the sofa. In this corner, a little bit of stuffing was peeking out. I groaned, and pushed myself into a sitting position. The bags under my eyes were large and dark. Dad was on the other sofa, supposedly watching the Sunday after lunch match, with Barney the little beagle dozing on his feet. I could see he was sleeping, and, every now and then, he emitted a little wheezing snore. I pulled a knitted tartan blanket over me, even though it was very warm outdoors. I could hear the waves swooshing around on the shore. It was a two minute walk to the sandy beach, and it was one of my favourite places to go in summer. Adam and I had split up in early March, and the next day it had snowed. It was now June, and about twenty degrees outside.

After a while, I got too warm, so I padded to the kitchen to help Mum clear up the table and do the washing up. I sank my hands into the bubbly foam residing in the sink, not yet touched by the dirty dishes. Slowly, I pulled them in, and scrubbed vigorously at the patterned china. I wiped the water off it, and saw my face reflected in it. The long, brown hair framing a freckled face with bright green eyes. Green eyes that were especially bright today. Sadness always makes eyes shinier and brighter for some reason.

Mum walked in, and saw me standing there. Wordlessly, she came and put her strong arms around me. I leaned back, breathing in her scent. She smelt warm, a bit like vanilla and, slightly, the tomatoes she grew in the front garden. It was an odd mixture, but I wouldn’t swap it for anything.

Sometimes, I had good days, where I didn’t think of Adam once, but mostly I went from couch, to bed, to dinner table. I could barely do anything. I didn’t know how much walking away from Adam would hurt me. I had been sucked into a downward depression circle, and I couldn’t escape it for long. I yearned to call him, to pick up the same phone I threw at him and say sorry. But my pride held me back. Maybe Adam had been right. Maybe I just couldn’t take a joke. I knew he hated me now. I would never be welcome in his house again. He had probably moved on anyway. I shook slightly, my body feeling very frail compared to Mum’s strong one. We stood like that for a while.

The phone started ringing. “I’ll get it, love, don’t worry.” Mum whispered. I nodded, and brushed the gathering tears from my eyes. Back through the doorway, into the living room. I turned the television off, as Dad clearly was going to sleep off the rest of the afternoon. Mum walked back in, and mouthed, ‘its for you’. She came over and said, “Okay, thanks for calling, Adam, I’ll hand over to Olivia now.” Wait, Adam?! I sat up straighter, and took the phone. “Hi, Livie.” He said. He only used that name when we were at our closest point, before the arguments started. “Hey.” I replied.

There was silence for a minute, and I wondered if he had hung up, when he spoke again, “Livie, its really hard to say, but… I miss you so much. I am so sorry, and I mean it this time.”

I started shaking slightly again. It took all my efforts to say it, but say it I did. “I miss you too, Adam. I’m sorry too.”

Another bit of silence. I held my breath. Would he say it?

“Please could you come back to me? I’m just... broken without you.”

I had longed to hear those words for the past few months. But…

“Broken like the tulips, or properly broken?” I asked. I felt him smile slightly from the other end of the line.

“Properly broken.”

I smiled too. “Yes, I will come back, but, before, I want to meet at the cafe by the pier, tomorrow.”

“Alright, Livie. And… thank you. I know it was hard for you to say that, so thank you.”

“Thank you too. Bye, Adam.”

“Bye, Livie.”

The phone went dead, but I hadn’t smiled so brightly in forever. Mum looked at me inquisitively. “Me and Adam are together again.”

“I am so happy to hear it.” Mum came and hugged me, but I wriggled away. “I’ve got to get packing! I don’t have time for frivolities like hugging!”

She laughed. “Best get packing then!” I nodded, and galloped up the stairs, Barney hot on my heels, fully awake and super excitable. Dad jerked forward suddenly. “What’ s all this noise?!”

I giggled, and left Mum to explain. A few minutes later, I heard a ‘whoop!’ from the living room. So Dad was happy too. I shoved my clothes into my suitcase, and elbowed the it shut. I stuffed other things into cardboard boxes, and bolted down the stairs to put them in my car. It is a pretty cool one. A sky blue convertible, with black music note stickers and tinted windows. A 2015 model, too.

After the rest of my luggage was pushed into the boot, I ran down to the beach, my T-shirt flapping, my flip-flops full of sand. I ran into the shallows, and Barney came running from the house to join me. I grinned, and flicked water at him, making him yap and bounce like he had just eaten a pound of sugar. Off came the flip-flops, and I ran barefoot in the sand, laughing and dancing like a wild thing, Barney chasing after me on his stubby little beagle legs.

~

I pulled the straw sun hat down over my eyes, and walked the long bustling streets down to the cafe by the pier. The temperature had rocketed to twenty-seven degrees centigrade, and everyone was on the beach. I pushed open the door to the cafe. It was modern, with a polished oak panelling for the walls and beams between the clean windows. The tables were small, with an artistic metal frame and a clear glass top. The chairs matched the walls, except they were made of wicker. A little lace doily rested in the centre of each table, with a flowerpot/vase filled with large sunflowers, courtesy of the local sunflower fields, atop it. I chose a table by the window, in a corner, and pulled off my hat. I stretched.

After a minute or so, the bell rang again, and a man walked in. I immediately recognised the mop of blonde curls, and those grey, stormy eyes. “Adam!” I yelled, earning disapproving looks from the other customers. “Olivia!” We rushed over, and Adam pulled me close. I hugged him back. “I missed you so much.” We spoke at the same time. We walked over to the table. A waiter waddled over. “Mademoiselle, Monsieur, would you care to place an order?”

I nodded, “A coconut ice cream please, with the… whatsitcalled… chocolate sauce!”

Adam took my hand under the table. “Mango frozen yogurt with the pineapple drip, please. Oh, and two iced lemonades.”

When the waiter had waddled off again, Adam whispered, “ I have a present for you, Livie.”

I looked at him curiously, as he drew something from behind his back. Or somethings. He produced a beautiful bouquet of broken tulips, and I gasped. “Thank you! They’re beautiful!”

Then, he pulled out a tiny box. He placed it in the palm of my hand. Gently, with the tip of my thumb, I pried open the lid. My eyes went wide.

“ Olivia Isobel Brown, will you marry me?” My breath caught. I looked at the gold ring, which twined and curled on itself like a vine, then I looked into Adam’s beautiful storm cloud eyes.

“Yes.”