Flower Bouquet || h.s

0.1 - too little too late

Harry is a hopeless romantic. I know this because, well, I know him. He's always telling me about the dates he goes on with the latest girl or all the cute things he does for them. His favorite past time is making people smile. He knows exactly what to say and exactly how to say it. While I fumble and trip over my sentences, and my feet, Harry eloquently slips his way into every conversation and glides down the hallway with an air of confidence. It's the confidence that attracts the girls. Or it could possibly be the dimples and the curls. What drew me to him and him to me though was something completely different.

Believe it or not the curly haired, dimpled boy that is now my best friend wasn't always the curly haired dimpled boy that people have come to know. Before, he was a bowl cut, dark green eyed, chubby six year old who couldn't get anyone to play with him. I had seem him a couple of time. We weren't in the same class but we were in the same grade. Our school was one of those ones where there are two grade one's and two grade two's and so on and so forth. So every year you were never really in the same class with the same people because everyone got switched around. Play time and lunch time was the same for everyone though.

I remember Harry distinctly. Not only because his dark green eyes were wide and sad, like he just might burst into tears, but because he had a fairly large head and he was sitting alone. I had been playing ball with some girl named Maria or something like that and I kept glancing his way and being completely  caught off guard when Maria tossed the ball back my way.

"Adelaide!" she whined. "Why won't you play with me!" she demanded in that six year old way. Stamping her foot and crossing her arms over her chest, downing this complete look of total frustration and attitude.

"There's a boy over there." I replied pointing in his direction. Maria, or whoever she was, followed my finger and stared at him with curiosity.

"So?" Now if this was middle school, or high school she would have pulled me aside and we'd quietly discuss every aspect of that boy's life. We would figure out who his friends were, his name, where he lived and what he liked to do all in the span of that ten minute break without even speaking to the boy himself. But this was grade one and we didn't talk about boys.

"I want to go talk to him. See what's wrong." I replied. Maria frowned again, her eyebrows knitting together.

"Well I want to play ball!" she cried out. I decided right then and there that I didn't want to play with Maria if she was just going to boss me around. Throwing the ball back at her I turned around and slowly made my way towards this mysterious boy. "Nooo!" Maria wailed. "Adelaide come back!" she cried out but I didn't listen. I kept walking towards him. He didn't look up when I approached since he was playing with something in his hands.

"What's that?" I asked. He had been so startled he fell backwards off his haunches and hit the ground with a thud. "Oh! I'm sorry." I apologized a little embarrassed that I had scared him.

"You're.. Talking to me?" he seemed astonished. I was confused.

"Why wouldn't I?" I asked him. Harry cocked his head and blushed slightly before staring at the ground.

"The other kids make fun of me." he mumbles. I rocked back and forth a little, waiting for him to look back up at me and when he didn't, I sat down in front of him, right on the dirt.

"Why would they do that?" Harry sniffled and shrugged. "Did ya do something? There's got to be a reason." He didn't seem to want to reply.

"The.. The boys.." He stammered out. I scooted closer to him on the dirt, staining the hem of my favorite flower shirt.

"It's okay. You can tell me." I encouraged him. He smiled and with his chubby fingers brushed his hair out of his eyes.

"They made fun of me for my haircut and called me a girl because I like kittens more than puppies." I almost laughed. Not because I agreed with whoever called him this but because he was upset over the fact that he liked cats more than he liked dogs.

"That's okay. I think your haircut is cute and I love cats. Who doesn't love cats." I lied. I didn't love cats. I was into dogs but I wasn't going to tell him that.

"Yo-you want to play with me?" He questioned. I smiled and nodded. He finally opened his right fist. Inside it was a couple of small toy cars.

"You don't mind do you?" I shook my head. Toy cars. Much more fun than playing ball with Maria.

"I'm Harry." he said suddenly after we had been playing for a couple of minutes.

"I'm Adelaide." Harry grinned.

"Your name is really pretty." he complimented. He was always really good at those. I blushed a little and looked away.

I used to think Harry and I were meant to be together. Actually, I still believe it. I'm still holding out hope. The thing is, Harry has never seen me the same way. There's always another girl on his arm. They'll stay for three months, five, a year. That one was painful. I almost gave up on Harry. They were talking weddings and kids. They thought it would last forever but it ended just like the rest.

"The only constant girls I've had in my life are you, Gem, and my mum." Harry sniffled, his green eyes a bit blood shot and red from crying. I smiled at him and took his hand in mine. I always wait. Always. Every time he breaks it off with a girl or they break it off with him I wait. A week, two, three. A month. Usually by then he's set his sights on another girl and I'm always just a little too late.