I'm sitting in the living room waiting for Vincent my foot taps to ease the anxiety from the wait. The soft gurgle of the fish tank and the low melody of a lo-fi playlist drown out my thoughts. My phone turns on with a text alert from Vince saying he's at the door.
"Hey bro got your snacks. Sorry you had to wait a while, what's the problem?" he handed me a bag of chips and let himself in, "bro you got them lo-fi vibes goin? Niiiice"
"Not the point but yeah, nice vibes, listen. I just coughed up a flower petal and I have it right here bro" I took a deep breath and pulled it out"it's so weird like, I haven't even touched a flower after eating one in third grade." I took another breath in hesitation, "this is just mad weird man" my voice went soft. Vincent watched me with concern, with his back tensed.
"Oh bro that's kinda gross" he slouched a bit, getting comfortable on the couch, "I'd say it's just there to remind you of third grade, you know to taunt you? A real question is, did it taste good? Like you didn't even do it as a dare" he opened a bag of Crunch bites™ and shoved a handful into his mouth. "It was rather unprecedented of you"
"If you choke i'm not gonna revive you bro. It'll be the number one in r/GamingFails" it may come off as a joke but it has happened before. "Also when did you get so eloquently spoken?"
Vince nodded, "alright grandma geez i'll slow down" he laughed a bit and rubbed my hair, "ah yes, a personal towel!" Chocolate mixed with my hair, we both laughed at that as I shoved his hand off my head. He ignored my question.
"You jerk! Pft now I gotta take a shower again." I responded through gritted teeth with a few more laughs escaping. Vincent went tense and shot out of his comfortable position, "hey where you off to lil man?" he bee-lined to the restroom down the hall, "rude. distracting me then leaving me with my thoughts." I grumbled out.
In case it's a serious thing, I let his sudden departure hang in the air, only for a moment before following him to the bathroom. I put my ear up to the door after knocking, "are you ok bro? That was really sudden" i heard shuffling then the sound of gagging.
"Yeah, yeah i'm good" came the response after, his voice was weak, "just give me a moment i'll be out soon."
I gave him some space and set off to make him tea, got to have some hospitality right? After setting up a pull out table, i put the cup of tea i prepped on it and moved the tv remote next to the cup. I stopped the music for a bit as i waited for him. After a few more minutes of waiting he came back, his hair was somewhat disheveled from his bun and he had slight tear tracks following his jaw line, "oh hey, i made you some tea, do you uh, feel ok?" it took an awkward silence before an eventual answer as he took his seat besides me.
"..uh yeah, im good, guess dinner didn't really sit right?" he gave a slight chuckle his voice raspy, he took a sip of the tea, "we should figure out what you got now, uh, can i see the petal?" it was still awkward now, no noise other than the sound of raindrops hitting the windows and the slight bubble of the aquarium. I placed the petal on the table, it was yellow with a slight frill to the ends of it.
"Have at it bro, flowers have meaning to them right? Still don't know why I would cough one out but maybe it would come up with a search too?" we both pulled out our phones and got to looking. The disease was easy to find since all you have to do is look up 'i coughed up a flower' to get a fast result, something called Hanahaki Disease. It seemed rather rare and with very few treatments and only one possible way to go away naturally. Since it appears with unrequited romantic feelings, you have to get the person from which they arose to like you the same way.
"It uhh, the site i found says..its from unrequited love..and that there are treatments. and for it to go away naturally would mean the person you like, likes you back."
he nods, "i found the flower meaning, uhm. how do i say this?" he passed me his phone instead.
"rejection or disappointment?" seeing the words bolded on the the screen kind of made it hurt more. i looked up to pity on his face. as much as the pity disgusted me, if felt i needed it at this point.
