Cupid's Lover

Chapter 1

vida

THERE ARE EXACTLY 3,128 STUDENTS in Maple Hills High School, which means that for me to prepare for Valentine's Day I would have to order a bundle of 5,000 roses because there are no shops that will sell me the exact 3,128. But here's the thing, if I bought a single rose over one hundred times that would cost me more than my stay-at-home daughter's salary could ever afford meaning that buying at least 5,000 of them was nearly impossible. This is why during my freshman year I decided to switch out real roses with paper roses that I had to handcraft myself to save money.

It is exactly one week until Valentine's Day, which thankfully falls on a Wednesday.

I have exactly 7 days and 168 hours to make 3,128 roses and cards, be creative enough to conjure at least 400 unique and personalised gift baskets for the faculty, and then find the time to create the perfect love letter.

It is extremely late a night as I turn the corner. The old Brusters store sits behind an abandoned warehouse where almost no one can see it, you have to turn past a certain angle not to miss the opening. The air is hot and my sweater sticks to my chest, and when I drive through the opening I see Maya and her co-worker, James, sitting on one of the picnics in their bright red aprons.

Maya tries to hide her cigarette as I come out of the car.

For as long as I've known Maya, it has become a habit of hers to always unconsciously hide her cigarettes when I come around. She thinks that the slight of them would somehow corrupt me.

I watch her toss it on the ground and crush her bright new yellow Converse sneakers into it. James looks up from his phone and hands his cigarette to Maya so she can do the same with him.

"You're ruining your lungs," I point out.

To which Maya smiles and says, "Good thing I can't sing."

"Hey Lydia, what's up?" James talks slowly like he is chewing gum.

I don't want to remind him once again that my name isn't Lydia because I don't want to feel a burden but Maya corrects him.

"Regular order?" Maya asks.

"Extra cream this time? I feel like it's one of those moods," I say sitting down next to James. When Maya runs back inside I look around the empty parking lot. It's peaceful, and the only sound is the distant hum of traffic.

I want to clear my throat, but James is right next to me, and I don't want to make any awkward noise. I need Maya with me. Without her, I'm mentally prepared to talk to people. She is like my social life balance, or what Kiko said about Emery in my favorite book Starfish. Maya is my social crutch. Without her, I can't function right.

"We haven't had someone besides you coming here for months, I keep telling our boss that we need to relocate because no one comes, sometimes our paycheck depends on your urgent moods to come to get ice cream or something," James says after a while, he runs his hands through his blonde dreads, takes out a rubber band from his wrist and puts his hair into a ponytail.

I nod because I don't know what a normal person would say.

Welcome?

I pull down my sleeves because I want him to stop talking to me but continue talking to me all at once. I almost open my mouth to start another conversation, but I feel like something is pulling me by strings, forcing me not to.

"You're a senior, right?" James tries again, pushing a conversation out of me.

My mouth feels all filled up with cotton that I can barely swallow, so I nod.

"Cool, so have you decided on any colleges yet? Maya tells me you're good with anything art, that's a direct quote. She said that you can take photographs as if it's just blinking, that you can paint the sky and people could be confused about how it's all on paper," James' brown eyes are getting large as if he's a little kid talking about his favourite toy, he's enough cute that I laugh a bit.

"You think I'm kidding, she tells me that you could write a whole book if I say two words," James closes his eyes and starts humming.

"Candy Floss." He opens his eyes and claps his hands together real loud, "I expect my book the next time I see you."

Maya comes back with my Oreo mixed with cotton candy milkshake, the extra cream foam sliding down the cup's side.

"Okay, stop flirting with my best friend behind my back," Maya laughs as she hands me my milkshake and red straw.

James gets up from the picnic table and stretches his arms, letting out a yawn. "I gotta go, Maya," he says, giving her a quick hug. "See you later, Lydia." With that, he walks towards his car and drives away, leaving Maya and me alone in the empty parking lot. As James leaves, I feel a wave of relief wash over me. I'm not sure why, but I always feel so awkward around other people, like I don't know what to say or how to act.

The sun has started to set, casting a warm golden glow on everything around us. Maya turns to me, a serious expression on her face. "I've been meaning to ask you something, but not in front of James, I know how you get with communicating with humans," Maya nudges me with her shoulders.

I nod and suck on my overused red straw, "Go ahead and ask."

The golden hour comes in slowly drowning both me and Maya. Being dramatic Maya takes in the moment and closes her eyes and it makes her look like she's merged into the sun's golden perspective, she looks so beautiful even if she's wearing a Brusters' milkshake-stained uniform and I wonder how she does it naturally.

I want to paint the image, of Maya stepping into the sea of gold surrounded by golden trees and birds

"Is this going to be the year?"

 I scrunch up my nose and look down into my practically emptied cup, inside of it chunks of Oreo and candy rocks. Deep down I know what she is talking about. David Jeong. Every time I close my eyes, I see him and I wonder if that is the stupid side effect of having a crush on someone since the beginning of time. But I pretend like I don't know what she is talking about and create circles with my straw inside of the cup.

"...Going to be the most epic year?" I try to continue off for her, "I mean, yeah! It's the second semester of our senior year, I want to make this Valentine's real special."

Maya shakes her head, "Is this going to be the year you finally confess your feelings to that special someone?" she asks, a hint of mischief in her voice. 

I feel my cheeks ballon up. Maya has always been able to read me like a book. I take a long sip of my empty cup purposely sounding nosy to compose myself before answering. 

"I don't know," I say, my voice barely above a whisper. "

'm still not sure how they feel about me." Maya puts her hand on my shoulder and gives it a reassuring squeeze. 

Maya laughs and grabs the cup from my hand, "Just promise me this year you will do something about David this year?"

I open my mouth to promise but in the back of my mind, I already know that is not going to work.

~ ᥫ᭡