smile, rosemary

four

her

"south, you did a
very good job! capturing
her eyes and simplicity was wonderful."

he beams, overwhelmed
with the attention directed towards him
and he looks at me and grins like a weirdo,
mouthing: thank you, beauty.

i roll my eyes and wait
for my turn to come,
but the teacher goes on
"what do you see,
when you look at her, south?
because we can all see the emotion
poured into this picture."

he gulps and says:
"i see beauty. the most breathtaking kind,
the haunting, magical kind. the one that
might be deadly, because it kills you of heartbreak."

she laughs:
"are you implying that she
broke your heart? or—the opposite?"

south gives me a solemn smile
and says: "it would be a miracle
just to have her make me fall in love with
her, honestly. but to have her be in love with
me as well, ah! it would be a dream come true."

i stiffen, feeling my veins stop
pumping blood, my arteries blocking up
no one has ever said anything so nice
to me, except for him.

he was a rhapsody,
a cup of expensive wine,
with whom i had the pleasure of
falling in love. blue eyes,
blonde curls—he was the opposite
of anything beautiful but gave off
a smell of chocolate cake that
i could never resist.

he was poison.

"you know, rose, you're really hot," he says.
i grin, "am i?" he hums against my neck,
"indeed. not beautiful, just really hot."
"but i want to be beautiful, not hot—"
he pulls away, eyes darkening with the
rage that created my nightmares.

he twists my wrist to a point where
i think it might be broken.
"you are whatever i want you to be,"
he whispers.

"ROSEMARY! wake up, please!"
i am shaken up by south, who is
dangerously close to me
i stare at him and he blubbers:

"you fainted and started breathing really
hard and i got so scared for you, rosemary!
so i brought you outside of the room because
people were staring and i know you hate that.
are you okay?"

lie after lie,
i say the same thing i said
when my friends questioned the bruises
on my arms and legs
"i'm fine."

-

him

she is not okay,
and my pulse is losing its control
because if anything happens to her,
i feel like all the roses in the world
would wilt and wither to nothingness

"don't lie to me, please." i mutter.
"i'm not," she says, "get your hands off me."
i pull my hand off her shoulder and she
is on the verge of tears, crumbling.

the sight of such strength,
looking so weak terrifies me.
because what do you do
when the warrior sobs?

"shit, fuck, shit."
i frown, "don't curse."
"don't tell me what to do."
she blinks, gulps and looks up
"please go away."

she wraps her hands
around her small knees
and looks at a stack of books
i pull out a crumpled tissue
and hand it to her.

"i'm never going away," i reassure.
she glances at me, "never?"
"never. ever. ever. ever."
rosemary puts her hand on mine
and says: "thank you."

those two words seem
beautiful coming out of her.

-

this takes place like  a month after they've met, so calm down guys.