Yellow Rose Petals

Monday, May 18, 2009

"You shimmy shook my bone, Leaving me stranded all in love on my own." -Kings of Leon

The cotton-like velvet brushed his palm as they slipped through his open fingers. As he studied the arrangement of the bright petals on his desk, he knew who had been there. Yellow roses were her obsession. She said yellow roses meant jealousy, but he was the one always jealous.

"Al." He was jolted back to reality. Beth was staring at him intently. "Al, are you ok?" she asked with concern.
"Yea." he answered shortly. "What do you want?"
Hurt flashed a moment through Beth's sad brown eyes. "Nothing, it seemed like something was bothering you."
"Nothing is bothering me." he lied smoothly. He looked again at the garden he passed. The owner had planted yellow roses.

She was laughing. She was always laughing. With a mischievous glint in her eyes, she was backing away from him. He knew what she was going to do, she was assessing oncoming traffic and she was timing herself to step off the curb at the exact time cars would be flying by. "Don't do it," he said with more pleading in his voice than he had hoped. That was what set her off, giggling she took a step off the curb. In a moment he rushed to her, pulling her resisting self back onto the sidewalk. "Why do you do that?" he asked angrily. She giggled, wrapping her arms around him. His anger immediately melted as he immediately held the warm body against his. She pulled away and started to walk away. Leaving her belongings on the sidewalk. He sighed, picked them up, and immediately started after her. It was always an ongoing chase with her. She looked back and smiled, 'It's fuckin worth it.' he thought.

Al was almost to his destination. Out of habit now, he walks Beth home. Beth wishes he would stay with her, but he claims he has things to do and must get home immediately. She lets it go every time, because she didn't want him to get annoyed. But she knew every time he would get quiet and have that look in his eyes, he was thinking about her. Jealousy and hurt was raging through her, which propelled her to ask him to stay a little longer. He replied exasperatedly, "I told you i'm busy." Beth asked timidly, "Well couldn't you do it later?" Al sighed and retorted, "You don't understand Beth." and walked away. Beth was standing outside her place, confused and hurt and immediately turned to walk inside, hiding the pool of tears rushing to her eyes.

Her eyes were brimming with tears. Sniffling she folded her arms across her chest, trying to control her sobs. He felt his heart twist with immense pain, wanting her to stop crying. He put his arm out to console her and she violently shoved it away. She was never supposed to cry. It hurt him that much more to know that he caused her this pain. The pain he felt when she left him, he instituted right back to her. He promised to never hurt her, and to love her always. But he sadly realized that he couldn't promise both. So when she walked away, he let her. It was easier to love her, without her.

His phone vibrated against the nightstand, signaling a call. He rolled over to check who it was. Beth. He sighed and answered it. "Hey."