The Note

"They're dimming the streetlights, you're perfect for me, why aren't you here tonight? I'm waiting alone out..."

Green was so focused on studying that he hadn't even noticed her slip a paper underneath his textbook until he clamped it shut to move onto his next subject. He knew that it was her that had given him the crisply folded, note card sized piece of parchment because he could see the dark blue ink bleeding through the paper, penetrating deeply and soaking its fibers. He wondered if she had been pressing it too hard or if the pen just always did that.

That aside, they were the only two in the library—other than the librarians, who were in the office out by the front, while he was at a table tucked into the very back of the dusty, book-filled building—and she had just been pretending to look at books, he knew. He glanced out of the corner of his eye at her; she was standing with her weight shifted on her right leg down an aisle of books, gazing at the back of a novel before shoving it back on the shelf and plucking up another. Green knew she was really paying attention to him and just feigning her sudden interest in books, for he had known her long enough to pick up on her miniscule clues.

Most guys going to their school would wonder how he was able to have such a beautiful girl as one of his best friends. It was true, she could give an ample amount of the male student body a nosebleed if she chose to what with her surprisingly developed curves for a high school junior, along with her pretty face, chocolate brown locks, and not to mention her huge gems of eyes that more often than not contained a glint of mischief in their deep azure irises. And yet Green had never tried anything with her. He'd heard once a rumor that in freshman year, even their other best friend Red attempted to seduce her after knowing her since they could toddle, but she didn't succumb to it. He never mentioned that to Green, and certainly not to the last member of their quartet, Yellow (for while Red may have seen Blue in a light that most of the gentleman population would, Green could tell that he had loved Yellow for years).

Green wondered what was written on the paper and what thoughts were plaguing mind as she ran a finger over the spines of books. He nearly smirked when he noticed the fountain pen that undoubtedly wrote in the same blue as on the paper he had been slipped was tucked inconspicuously behind her ear.

Green reached out and plucked the paper on the table. The ink wasn't fresh, as if she had wrote it long before and debated transporting it to him. The parchment was rough yet thin between his fingertips as he unfolded the single crease and gazed at the curly letters scrawled onto its surface, obviously in her handwriting.

I like you. Do you like me?

Below the letters were two boxes, one labeled yes and the other no.

Green stared at the paper. It was such a childish gesture, something so cliché and obvious, but he felt the gravity of the words somehow weighing on him. He couldn't toss the paper aside. He couldn't lie. He knew, she knew, they both were aware that Green was an honest man and would have to write his honest answer.

Green also knew that she was toying with him. She had to ask him, but she had to ask him her way; a way that she would get a straight answer and be done with it. For she was notoriously known as the queen of heartbreak; she could match any student or break any couple up, and she demolished the hearts of all of her admirers. So if her own heart was to be shattered, she would want it done quickly.

Finally allowing the smirk to slightly grace his lips while she wasn't watching, Green picked up his ballpoint pen. He lowered it to the paper and made two swift swooshes creating a check, the black ink only cutting into the surface of the parchment, unlike the blue ink. His pen mark invaded the pristine white that had been left untouched, as well as some of the blue markings. For good measure, Green quietly flipped the paper as not to attract her attention and scribbled out a short message to her. She had been toying with him; but two could play at that game.

He folded the paper up along the same crease again, but so that the blue was visible and his note was invisible. Not even glancing up at her, he held the paper in her direction and cracked open another textbook, as if he didn't care. He felt the parchment snatched from his grasp and could see from over his book that her eyes scanned the side with the blue written on it.

Unbeknownst to Green, her worst fears had been confirmed. She frantically scrutinized the paper over and over again, but the single mark, the check that Green had made did not change. It was still scratched in the box with the word no beneath it. She felt her face grow hot in embarrassment and she couldn't help that tears sprang to her eyes and threatened to spill down her cheeks. She had known Green since they were kids, she had been best friends with him for so long and even put up with going to the library with him, and yet he had never felt the same way as her. He must have never felt jittery around her, or tingly whenever their hands would brush in the way that she did. However, she was the queen of heartbreak and could not allow her dignity to be too badly damaged by crying in front of him. She was the queen of heartbreak, and rightfully so, because her own heart had just been thrown against the bookshelves and had shattered into a million pieces that scattered everywhere, and she would not be able to recover them all. She turned and began walking away from the table, the paper clutched tightly in her hands, finally allowing tears to flow down her face.

"Blue."

She hadn't walked five steps when his voice stopped her dead in her tracks. Her stomach flipped and she thought that she might be heartsick; there was a pang in her chest that made it difficult to breathe, her stomach was churning, her face was feverish, her vision was blurred, and her throat was tight.

"You didn't look at the back."

He spoke in monotone, as he always did, but she detected something else in his voice. Could it have been compassion? She shook herself from those thoughts; Green had always been stoic and impassive and had been proven incapable of possessing emotions such as empathy. Still, she smoothed out the paper, crinkled from her tense grasp, and turned it over, where she saw his handwriting in black ink on the back. She had expected something typical Green might do to crush her even more, maybe a lecture or an explanation of why he didn't like her, but what was written sent a shock through her body that paralyzed her.

I can't say "yes" that I like you, because I don't like you.

She blinked away tears, it was hard to read his words but she continued on.

I wouldn't lie to you, so I'll clarify that I don't like you. I love you.

She stared hard at the paper, her eyes wide and the tears momentarily halted along with her pounding heart, yet the words thankfully remained the same.

I've loved everything about you since we were little kids. You drive me absolutely insane, but all the little things you do make me smile. I've gotten to know you like the back of my hand, and being your best friend has been the greatest, but I'd rather something more than that, after all the memories we've made together. After all the times we'd sit underneath a tree all afternoon together. After all the times that on movie night you'd bring a horror film to scare Yellow so that she would hug Red tightly, but it was too frightening and you had to scoot closer to me to alleviate your fear. After all the times we held hands walking to and from school, or all the Valentine's Days that we made our cards to each other with a lot more effort than those for everyone else, or whenever you cried in front of me when you fought with someone. I love you. Do you love me?

Below the multitude of words that in some places had become bleary with the tears that dropped from her eyes as she read were two boxes, one labeled yes and the other labeled no.

Blue spun around to see that Green had abandoned his textbook and was staring right back at her. She removed the fountain pen from behind her ear and drew it across the parchment, lifting it up for him to see the blue check within the yes box.

Green shot up as soon as he saw the mark and within two strides was standing directly before Blue. He lifted his hands to cup her face and leaned down to press his forehead against hers, their noses touching, their breath mingling. Green had always desired to be so close to her.

"I love you," he said. "I wanted to say that out loud."

"I love you too." He brushed a tear from her cheek with his thumb and moved closer so that his lips nearly touched hers. She shut her eyes and closed the gap between them, their lips fitting together perfectly, his hand intertwining with hers so that they both held the note within their palms.

"Momma!" cried a little girl no older than five. Her mother gazed down at her. "How did Poppa get you to be his girlfriend?"

Blue smiled at young Aqua and clutched the miniature drawstring pouch attached to the string that was at constant around her neck, the pouch always over her heart. She glanced over at her husband, who was sitting at the kitchen table with an amused expression although he did not look up from his newspaper as he sipped his coffee. They both knew that inside the pouch was a small piece of paper—a note—crumpled up from years of smoothing out, folding, and countless readings.

Blue caught Aqua in her arms and lifted her up with a grin. "Alright, I'll tell you the story."

"I can't help it if you look like an angel, can't help it if I wanna kiss you in the rain, so, come feel this magic I've been feelin' since I met you, can't help it if there's no one else, mhmm I can't help myself."

Author's Note:

Happy birthday to Blue, the pesky girl! I wrote this story like a week ago, but I never posted it and I was going to yesterday, but then I realized that it's Blue's birthday! So this is my present to her!
Oh and the italic lyrics at the beginning and end, I did that on the last story I posted too. I kinda like doing that, it adds a little something extra to the story.
HUGE THANK YOU TOPokeluv101, she let me use her OC, Aqua, at the end, and her amazing story A Winter Wedding was my inspiration! Thank you!

Rant over! Thanks for reading on!

-Silvia

Disclaimer: I still own nothing. I don't own anything. I would not could not should not own anything!