“Thank you for tonight,” said Daisy to Marigold.
“Any excuse to spend time with you is a good one,” Marigold
replied as he pulled his date closer to him.
Her skin was soft as petals.
Daisy’s eyes drifted to the small, metallic circle at Marigold’s
right temple, and her smile wilted.
She looked away, and he felt the chasm between them.
Hesitantly, Daisy spoke, “You know… I haven’t wanted to
push, but it’s been a while now… You say that you love me, but I’d
really like to see it for myself.”
She turned her face to his, a delicate blossom searching for
the light.
Hurt, Marigold responded, “Haven’t I been good to you?
Don’t you trust me?”
“You can’t keep me in the dark forever,” she insisted, thornier
than before, “I’ve been open with you, I want a partner who can do
the same.”
He could see the resolution, clear as day on her face. The
colors of determination and courage radiated from her own metallic
circle at her right temple.
His face burned as echoes of his father’s voice reverberated
through his mind. Lock that thing down. Real men don’t make a
spectacle of their feelings.
“Marigold, please, I need to know that you love me.”
“Daisy…”
“Am I a game to you? Are you just playing with me??”
“No! Of course not, you’re the most important person in my-”
“Then show me!”
The wind was cold…
The blazing red of her Mood Ring softened, deepened,
tinged with colors of pain and sadness. She explained herself, “If I’m
just something to pass the time… I need to know. Please, Marigold.”
Once he showed her, she would see everything. She might
not want him anymore, damaged as he was.
“Ok, but… Please don’t hate me.”
He pressed a clammy finger to the metal in his temple.
She gasped and stepped back, hand flying to her mouth in
shock. Tears welled in her eyes and what must have been a dozen
emotions played over her features in a dazzling array of color.
He knew the deep purple of fear all too well, shifting into
teal confusion, into the warm tones of sympathy and compassion,
into tenderness, and was that love coming through? He could hardly
believe his eyes.
“I didn’t want to burden you with this. I’m sor-”
She lunged forward, arms outstretched.
He flinched but could not escape her loving embrace.
The literary magazine of Hagerstown Community College