Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
❘❙❚ ISSUE #27 ░░░░ VOL. 5 ❛ FIRST DATE ❜ ┆🌹
⁘⁙💥⛠ BUY ISSUE #27 FOR $1.00 HERE ➔
▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
Rosie had tried to stick to the established routine to achieve the academic excellence that an institution like Harvard demanded from its hyper-selective students. She would wake up very early to have a sweetened coffee with a good piece of chocolate cake for breakfast, which significantly boosted her spirits. Immediately, she would take her notes, spend the entire morning on a study tour starting in her study, continuing through the dining room, and ending on the balcony. She would create a questionnaire for herself on the topics she was learning, reviewing it the next day, allowing the concepts to solidify in her mind. That was her morning routine; at noon, she avoided touching books. It was her favorite time because she would cook a substantial lunch, but then her private tutor would arrive to catch her up on math and exact sciences.
Rosie was polite and disliked causing negative feelings in people, but since Steve knocked on her door and confessed his love, she couldn't get him out of her mind. It was the only thing she thought about day and night. She forgot what she was studying instantly, and her performance suffered noticeably. When she started a new text, her mind would inexplicably wander to why.
She blamed herself; perhaps the 'living room' only served to introduce her to the pain of unrequited love. She didn't feel like she learned anything, well, nothing beyond knowing how to control tantrums, but now that she wouldn't have a husband or children, what tantrums would she control? Could it have been her lack of socialization that prevented her from seeing Steve's affection? Or perhaps, Steve was a brilliant magician who hid it under his hat; either way, her mind had once again drifted off into the clouds, without any self-evaluation questions, and she had asked a hundred and one questions about Steve, all of them unanswered.
Rosie could rely on her friends and let them guide her. Nancy and Robin had visited her last weekend; they had to see her new apartment and catch up on each other's lives.
"I love your apartment, Rose. It's beautiful," commented Nancy, running her fingers over some porcelain vases given to her by a fan. "I really like the green sofa; it goes so well with your pine furniture. This place is infused with its scent. I'm going to steal the idea, but I think we should change the color of the dining room wall at home. Orange and green just don't seem to match."
"I've tried to be as true to myself as possible. I love green, no mystery there. Want to come to the balcony? I've set everything up for tea, and I baked some delicious cinnamon cookies."
The balcony was her favorite spot. She had been lucky to find an apartment near the campus that she could own without too many requirements, even though the rent cost her an arm and a leg. Her assets could handle it for a couple of years. She had turned it into an extension of the house on the military base; her dreamy balcony. She had made it look like the garden of a queen in a fairy tale, where tree trunks could magically transform into tables and chairs, and flowers and plants adorned perfect walls with small flashes of color in the petals. Compliments filled the air, and tea time was more enjoyable than ever.
