Here's something about fairytales from someone who's never lived one: they do not always have a happy ending.

Now let me tell you a story about the best day I've ever had. At least what I thought was the best day.

It started when Maggie opened the steel gate and revealed a small garden. However, it didn't look like any other garden.

The most prominent thing about it was the white gazebo right in the middle. It had vines entangled in it and covered a lot of its surface.

Apart from the gazebo, assortments of winter flowers were strewn all around the edges of the garden, along with the perimeter of the gazebo, even on the windowsills. In between the flowers were paths made of expensive looking marble tiles.

Whenever a whiff of wind would pass upon us and through the rustle of the leaves, it carried a breeze of too many aromas to identify.

Inside stood Thomas, carrying shears and wearing overalls buckled on one shoulder while the other was hanging loose. Underneath it, a white skintight shirt hugged his body snuggly, showing off his well-defined arms, which only made me realise how lacking my arms were.

I was the definition of no muscle definition.

Somehow, Maggie was no longer there. I didn’t see where she went and honestly, in that specific moment, as the flowers swayed to the beat of the wind, my heart was kinda doing a dance of its own, to the same rhythm.

Fuck.

I put whatever I was feeling aside. In the meantime, I was not going to let myself “feel” anything. I just focused on the beautiful scenery that surrounded me.

“This is beautiful.” I said, taking a few hesitant steps inside. I mean should I actually go in or wait for him to invite me? I was so overthinking unnecessary shit.

“You can come in you know” Thomas said. He clipped what looked like a weed and threw it in a trash bag that hung from the gazebo. 

“I didn’t take you for a gardener” I sauntered a bit forward, still infatuated by the intricate colours of the garden.

He looked me in the eyes, which he does quite often while talking to me, “You don’t know anything about me so why are you surprised?”

“Fair point well made.” I strolled to the right pathway, which was leading to a circular path around the gazebo. Thomas was walking around too, and soon enough we were going in circles. Literally and figuratively. Not only with our bodies, but with our conversations too.

“Lavender” he said as I passed by the lavenders. He'd say the name of each genus of flowers I’d pass by, and then continue our conversation. “…I planted those with Mags”

“Maggie seems like a nice lady, is she your grandma or?”

“No she isn’t,” he saw me reach the dark purple patch. “Irises.”

“Oh I thought she was from your family since she lived here”

“Just because we’re not related doesn’t mean she isn’t family”

“Another fair point.”  I gave him credit for that too. He did give off an intellectual impression whenever he talked, moved, or even looked, which I found very attractive—No. feelings were not allowed.

I don’t really know how the day dragged on, and I don’t really remember much of it, but somehow, and after taking 2 flights of stairs, and about three hallways, I ended up in Thomas’s bed.

NO, not that kind of thing. No touching whatsoever was involved. We were just lying comfortably in his bed, in an “|/” shape, just talking.

His house was bigger than my future. It was a huge mansion, and that cottage was just Maggie’s and her husband’s, who were the housekeepers. Thomas's Garden is a personal effort to establish and he built the gazebo with Maggie's husband.

"I spend time with them more than my parents. But I like it"

"I don't spend time with anyone except for lunch with Aiden and sometimes we have dinner"

"Your mom? Dad?"

"Dad's passed" I grieved.

"I'm sorry"

"It's alright. And mom's on business all the time"

"This is nice," Thomas turned towards me, but I was looking at the wooden ceiling. It was the same as mine if you thought about it. "You know, us being here, having a conversation in silence and peace. It rarely happens in real life, and I'm glad it's happening to me"

I turned to him. "Yeah. I'm glad too, but I should go home it's getting really late."

"Can you at least give me your phone number before you go?"

"Yeah of course" I said and reached for my pocket, before realising that I broke it. "A- I'm sorry. I don't-"

"It's fine I can take a hint like I said"

"No! No I just broke my phone the other day and didn't bother getting another and I don't even have the money to. I'm going to start looking for a job tomorrow."

"Oh. It's fine then, I'm pretty sure I'll see you around."

"Well of course you will, stalker" I- I actually joked and I was surprised at my own self.

"Not funny"

"Can you show me the door because I don't wanna get lost in your house"

"it's unnecessarily big, I know"

"big is good" I said, talking about the size of the mansion.

<><><><><>
I attempted to paint what I thought was a bowl of fruits. Or aliens mounting a spaceship; honestly you can't tell the difference if you relied on my painting.

When everyone finished their paintings, we had around 20 minutes of class time left. We got to leave a little earlier than expected.

I went to my locker to take out a couple school books home with me to study in after I finish looking for a job.

When I opened my locker, something fell to the floor. Its silver glint was unmistakable.

Admit One
Court Side Ticket #4
Quarter Game-Winter Semester
Midfielder 12
Current Position Holder:
Thomas Red

RiverTown High school Football League

I took the silver card in between my fingers and noticed that there's a sticky note attached to the back of the card.

Be my companion? Please? - TR

A smile rolled against my lips against my will. He was just too nice to keep a distance from. I kept the card with me as I left school.

When I set foot outside of school and felt the icy cold chill, I realized we truly were in December even though it didn't feel like it. This was the last week of school and the next thing we know it's that we have Christmas and New Year's break, which I had to invest every moment of them in getting my grades up.

I was going to pass by the coordinator's office before we take the break to discuss what papers and exercise sheets should I do over the holidays, which made me hate the holidays before they came.

"Where are you headed to?" Luna spoke next to me which got me jump scared.

"What is it with you people just popping up? Stop it it's creepy"

"Pardon" she spoke in a perfect French accent.

"why are you following me?" I said, as harsh as I sounded, I did not care.

"I'm not following! It just happens to be the same road we're taking" she said unfazed by my attitude. I didn't like how happy she was. It was almost fake and it worried me.

Employing Now!

A café called Solitude had that sign hung up, and I quickly entered without any hesitation.

Luna, who followed me all the way, entered too.

"Bonjour old man" she said to an old guy who let out a rough laugh.

"Bonjour back at you"

It surprised me the most when Luna stepped behind the counter and to the back of the café and grabbed an apron and came back.

Bottom line is: it was her dad's café, and I was hired.