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I update this when I want to, so sorry about that!

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Forbidden

2

"Did Amir visit your stand?" Daisy asks me. She props her chin in her hands, and mischievously grins at me. "Isn't he hoooot?" Her eyes shine in the cafe light, waiting for me to give another answer.

What does she want me to say? Honestly, I haven't yet told Daisy that I thought that Amir was pretty good looking. And I won't anytime soon.

I roll my eyes. "No, he didn't visit my stand." Then I smile. "But Ivan did."

And that's pretty special, because Ivan only likes coming to the Bazaar during the spring time. He says that spring is his favourite season, with the nice atmosphere and the peacefulness. In the springtime for Ivan, the weather is just right.

"Ooooh!" Daisy coos, taking a bite into her doughnut. "Well, I was with Angelo yesterday." Like she always is. "Guess what he did?" Oh, I don't know, showed him her very interesting pencil sketch of Stuart?

For a while now, Daisy has been attempting to draw. It's a passion, she explains. She adores art. Once, she made me sit in a chair while she sketched me. And that did not go well, because she playfully complained that my hair had "too much detail". Oh Daisy. I love her.

But I blame Angelo. He's been encouraging her, and giving her pointers. She's told him that his hands are "magical hands". Isn't that cute?

"No idea," I say, sipping my coffee. When a shiver creeps up my spine, I grab my woollen sweater and pull it tighter around myself. It always bothers me that this cafe didn't have doors.

The cafe is a cute little shop. It's the kind that makes you step in to wonder what it held, then feel welcomed and cozy inside. The roof is striped red and white, ballooning out into some kind of cover for us. Behind the counter, Joan and Marian Evedern bake and sell their items. With beaming faces, they offered their food to any passing person – like a regular person would to.

Daisy eagerly leans forward, a smile spreading across her face. "Guess, guess," she eggs. "It was so darn cute!"

I almost groan in annoyance. She will never stop at her strange schemes when it comes to Angelo. The other day she jumped in the pond, fully clothed, claiming that there was a special medallion in that part of the pond. "Angelo said so," she protested when I argued how stupid it all sounded. "I could be rich!"

"As long as you have Angelo, life will be good," I had reminded, pulling her towards the direction of my house to properly clean her up.

She shut up after that. Not that I minded.

"You jumped in another pond, didn't you?" I ask, slightly bored with Daisy's topic. Checking my chipped nail in impatience, I sarcastically comment, "I reckon you posed for him in his art studio!" Now I'm sounding a little mocking, but trust me – Daisy is going crazy.

"No!" she exclaims, seemingly disgusted. "Ew. Gross. No."

A small smile appears on my own face. I begin to giggle, the strange imaginings in my head taking a scene.

"Shut up!" she points a finger at me, blue eyes wider than the glasses of Mayor Felix. "I know what you're thinking, but it's not happening!"

I attempt pushing out the images of Daisy sexily sitting naked in a chair, with Angelo painting her with a horny desire. "Yeah, yeah, whatever. Continue."

"Well..." Daisy starts. Patiently watching her, I take a sip of my sweet coffee.

Nervously she uses her left hand to fluff her blonde curls. Then I notice it: a glittering diamond studded silver band on her ring finger.

My eyes pop out of their sockets. I slam my coffee mug on the table. It violently shakes, causing poor Marian at the counter to jump in surprise. Soft splashes of the drink spill on the surface, making its way to the edge of the table, but I don't care.

"What the hell," I say, staring at that ring. "Is that what I fucking think it is?" Did Angelo seriously propose to her? Please, that doesn't even have a blue feather embedded within the stone.

Furiously she waves her hands in the air. "It's not what you think!" she squeals, bouncing in her seat.

I sigh, not believing her for an instance. "What is it, then?" I demand, punching my fist against the table. Suddenly I'm pissed. I have a desire to shoot something with my paintball gun sitting at home. If only I was home.

"It's a promise ring!" she quickly explains, reaching her hand up to twirl her hair of ringlets again. "He can't find a blue feather and he's looking for one, but golly Anita, he wants to marry me! Can you believe it?"

I fail to answer her. Instead, I snatch her hand from the side of her head, and examine it. "Gee, that's a nice ring," I murmur. I mean, this guy must have invested a load of money to buy this. It's definitely expensive, with or without a blue feather.

"What do you think?" Daisy repeats.

"Do you want to marry him?" I ask evasively, narrowing my eyes. I almost give her my opinion – for like the hundredth time – on love. It simply doesn't exist. There's no way it can. From my past, it's just proved: love isn't real.

"Marry him?" she asks with a swoon. "Of course I do! I'm in love!" Giggly, Daisy forks the last of the chocolate donut, and inserts it into her mouth. "Mm, I can't wait until the wedding."

I can't help mutter, "If there even is a wedding." Immediately I regret my words, but don't let it show on my face. A few days ago, Amir already saw me at my weak point. It isn't happening with anyone ever again.

She abruptly catches this. Her mood evaporates into bratty little girl mood. "What do you mean, if there's a wedding?" she snaps. "Of course there's going to be a wedding." Now I have infuriated her. Oh, joy.

"Don't count on it."

"Why not?" she challenges, glaring at me with such hatred that I believe she's going to retrieve her paint ball gun.

I try not to let any emotion show on my face. "He's going to dump you, Daisy. You're going to be happy, and then bam, he's gone. Believe me." I truly have faith in this. I'd bet nearly ten thousand gold on it. It happened in the past, it's going to happen in the future. Like it did nearly every time.

"Listen, darling," Daisy pushes her chair back, towering over me. "Just because you've had a bad life with a bunch of bullshit and dumps doesn't mean love doesn't exist. It's real, I'll tell you that, and I think that Angelo is really a keeper. I love him," she sniffs, turning her head. "I don't know why you can't accept that."

"Mm," is all I can say. "Good luck on that."

"If it's not real, what's Ivan to you? Are you just dating him because you're bored in life?" This is the first time she's asked a serious question about my feelings about Ivan. I'm taken back. This so isn't like Daisy. Usually she's laughing and judging, but never, ever, emotional.

"Ivan is just an easy fling," I state, using a napkin to wipe up the remainders of leaking coffee.

"Fling? That's what relationships are to you? He's freaking infatuated with you, Anita, can't you see that?"

"Ivan is someone who can entertain me in life. I'm not bored or anything, but I can't live my whole life with you being my only friend," I say. It comes out harsher than I meant it to be.

Her voice unexpectedly rises, high and shrill. "You have many friends, Anita Greendew, you just don't realize it."

I realize that the argument has gotten out of my hands. I like my things under control, calm and controllable. Not like this at all.

"Whatever you say," I do my best to be calm, merely raising my eyebrows in the attempt. "I can break up with him any time at all and it won't be that serious."

"I can't believe you." She ends the conversation by picking up her jacket from the creaking chair. She storms out.

"Bye," I wave my hand, trying not to accept the fact that this was the real, actual argument I've had with my best friend. My heart sinks as she doesn't bother to look back.

But she does. And I can hear her scream, loud enough for the whole town to hear, "I won't be surprised if you fall in love with Amir-what's-his-face, Anita Veronica Greendew!"

I slip off the chair, bid good-bye to an awkward feeling Marian and Joan, then leave, feeling beaten all at once.

Maybe Daisy does have a point about love.

But that doesn't mean I'm going to start believing in it.