10 Things I hate About Her (10 Things #1)

20. Batman's Kiss and a Bouquet of Flowers

Love was never easy. It was an endless path of twist and turns, that often, of two lovers, only one arrived at the end. Naomi noted this as she adjusted her white dress. Her face was painted bluish white. Thick black circles were drawn around her eyes. Glitter covered both cheeks. At each wrist, the sleeves separated into jagged edges and stretched like long pale fingers towards her knees. She felt like a ghost and now her exterior matched her insides. It was maddening how love twisted one's self perception and made them into a version of themselves that was lacking. Without Val, she felt that she was a mere piece of her original self. She wasn't whole.

She didn't like that feeling.

The doorbell rang, its blaring noise breached the sacred sanctity of her room. Next door, her dad yelled, "Honey, can you go hand out candy to the kids? I'm working on a project. Be quick about it. If you take too long, they'll ring so many times we'll go mad."

"Alright," she said, irritation inching into her voice. She had planned to go to a party with Claire in an hour. Val wouldn't be there. Lately, Val was never anywhere.

Naomi missed Val. She missed the annoying smirk. She missed her touch, the roughness of the callouses on her right hand. She even missed the sweaty odour that accompanied Val after soccer practice and games. Val had convinced her counselor to let her drop English for a spare and switched into a different Calculus class. They no longer shared any classes together. Val hadn't spoken to her in over a week. The last time Naomi saw Val, a teacher had led Val out of the cafeteria after Juliana punched the daylights out of the witch that brought on this misery. Then Val disappeared.

One last look at herself in the mirror and Naomi went downstairs. She checked outside first, but seeing no children, she left the bowl of candy waiting on a chair by the door and turned the knob. She checked the porch a second time; a bouquet of red lilies waited on the welcome mat. Confused, she stepped outside and took it up, checking for a card or return address. No one in her house bought real flowers. The artificial ones served much longer. She looked about her for clues. In the darkening twilight, the sun sunk below the horizon, scattering its light. The warm reds and oranges dispersed into a majestic blue, perfect for trick or treating.

Kids ran to and fro. A little way from her house, a group of miniature skeletons knocked on a neighbour's door, holding out metallic silver bags. But Naomi didn't see anyone that might have left the flowers. She returned the bouquet to its place, deciding this was some silly joke, or some guy that found out where she lived and thought himself charming. Down the six steps, on the blades of grass that swept forward, a bat symbol appeared, the same one used to summon Batman. Naomi's heart caught in her throat as the sign meant something else to her. Tiny particles flittered in the stream of light that came from the roof atop the veranda.

If this was a joke, she was going to kill someone.

A body fell from the roof; the black cape fluttering in the wind. Batman stood before Naomi and held out a hand saying, "Come with me for a short while." The shoulders weren't as broad as their counterparts in the movie she had watched with Val. The exposed skin about the mouth and chin, equally tan as the actor's. But the fingers differed, they were the long, slender, beautiful tools of a practiced piano player.

Naomi crossed her arms over her chest, rage bubbling in the cage around her heart. She said, "You don't get to do this. You don't get to show up and disappear whenever you feel like it."

Batman's hand fell. He, or rather, she rubbed her shoe into ground, grimacing. "You don't understand," she said. "I didn't think it would be this hard."

Naomi said, "You didn't think what would be this hard?"

Batman bit her lower lip. "Can't you treat me like a stranger tonight? Like there's no history and we just want to live our best life?"