Blooming Romance

Maddy sat at a small flower cover table, her hair in a beautiful long braid. She sighed as she scrolls through her feed of possible matches; she never enjoyed online dating, but she's done it because whenever she's alone, she feels so empty that all her demons fill her head. She stopped at this one profile of this Navy man. Usually she wouldn't even give military men a second glance since she grew up in such a broken family mostly due to the military, but there was just something about him she couldn't pin to just one word. Maddy hovered over the app for a solid three minutes just debating if she should hit the like button; she flipped through the pictures on his profile. Half the people on this site don't actually talk to all their matches, she thought, so she decided to go with the flow and hit the like button, and by that time, it was time for her to start her shift, so she put her phone away and went to work.

The workday was long and busy at the flower shop that day. It was a week before all the high schools had their prom, so it made sense why the only customers were guys. As each one entered and left, she found herself comparing each one to the Navy man on the website as if she actually knew him. She realized it was a foolish thing to get her hopes up on a younger man from a dating website, for all she knew he was only looking for a toy rather than a girl. However, that didn't stop her overly creative mind from flowing. Once she was off, she instantly checked to see if he had messaged her; to her surprise, he actually did he sent a cute pickup line that made her crooked smile go right across her face. She responded with an equally as flirty response and they talked for the rest of the night before he actually got her number. Maddy went to bed with a whole zoo in her tummy. She wondered if he felt the same at all or if he was just the typical male on dating sights who was just there for the chase.

The next morning, Justin sent her this sweet little good morning message and it set her day off right and in a great mood. She went downstairs to get something to eat before she had to head to work. Her roommate and best friend Tony was sitting downstairs and questioned the morning person she saw in front of her. She never liked mornings, so Tony knew something was up. Justin didn't stop texting Maddy; in fact, she got in trouble at work for how often her phone went off that day. He kept trying to convince her to let him pick her up after work.

When she finally let in, his obvious pride was shining through the text. Maddy was eager to finish her shift so she could finally meet the man who made her giggle all day and night. She went into the staff bathroom, put on a light layer of makeup and let down her golden blonde hair but pinned her bangs back. She sat at the floral table that she usually did and looked out for cars that may have been his. Justin pulled up in what looked like a beat-up work truck that had pallets in the back. He wore a red flannel and a blue undershirt with a nice pair of jeans. Maddy smiled as she shamelessly checked the man out; his brown hair gelled back and his hazel-green eyes shined in the sun, and a cheeky smirk appeared on his face when his eyes met Maddy's.

"You look more beautiful in person, Maddy, those pictures didn't do you justice, and they were stunning." He spoke softly like a brand new baby's blanket.

"Thank you, Justin, I tried," she said with a shy giggle she wondered if she was trying too hard

"I have a place I want to show you. Up for an adventure?" he asked, his smirk turning to a full smile. Maddy couldn't help but notice how white and perfect his smile was.

They got into the truck and he was playing a playlist of Eminem songs. She pretended to not know all of the lyrics so he could continue to try to show off as he sang alone offbeat. Maddy found herself laughing harder than she had in years; all they were doing was driving at that point. Justin let her pick the next playlist and she of course put on sappy love songs that matched exactly how she felt in the moment. She wasn't great at communication, but she always found a way to speak through music. Justin found that beautiful, but never spoke up about it; he kept his cheeky feelings to himself.

"So it's either up this road or the one right there, we will find out," he said with a grin and continued to drive. "Oh, its not that way, let me back up and turn around," he explained. Looking over his shoulder, he couldn't see out of the back because of the pallets in the back, so he hadn't noticed that he was backing up right into a ditch. The truck toppled over and Maddy held on for dear life. When the truck stopped moving, Justin anxiously asked if Maddy was alright.

"Besides the fact that I'm sideways in a ditch and if this rocks to my side anymore my head would be in a rock, I'm good," she said with a laugh. "I thought you said you were a good driver," she teased, and Justin chuckled.

Justin popped open his door, hung out the side of the truck and reached out his hand to Maddy. She was hesitant but did it anyway; it is not like her door would open. As he pulled her up and out of the truck, their weight shifted the truck back over so it was partly on the road. Justin made a joke about how convenient that was as he hopped over onto the road. He then checked to make sure she was okay. Maddy sat there laughing; she was fine, a little shaken up, but that was it. Justin called one of his friends to see if they would drive down to help them out of the ditch. Before the friend had answered, his boss had driven by. He stopped and talked with the couple for a minute or two. He teased Justin for getting her in this situation, but he didn't have the equipment to pull them out, so he waited with them. Five minutes later, a young man in a Jeep pulled up and asked if they needed help they all said yes and he began to pull the truck out of the ditch. Once they were all out of the sticky situation, they went to this little camp-like spot that had a few rocks and a fire pit. Justin unloaded the pallets and smiled over at Maddy.

"Tomorrow night, a few friends and I are having a fire here. If you still want to talk to me you should come," he invited as he got back into the truck. "Man, car accidents make me hungry, how about you beautiful?"

"I could eat," Maddy nodded and ignored the Noah's ark in her stomach.

They drove back into the city and pulled into one of the higher-end restaurants Maddy said she had never been to. Neither of them were dressed the part, Maddy in her work jeans and a sweater and his dirt-covered blue shirt and jeans. After a waitress showed them their seat, they each got a glass of water. Maddy couldn't help but notice how shaky he was, so she asked if he was okay.

His glass of water shaking and spilling slightly onto the table. "I think what just happened is just hitting me now. I'm a little shaken."

"Well if you want we could just get this food to go and watch a movie," she suggested. "That is a little more chill and we won't be as out of place," she said glancing around the room of people who were all dressed to the nines.

They ordered their food and got back into his truck. Justin made a joke about how he knew she was a ride or die type girl, and she laughed more than she really should have. As they pulled up to his apartment building, she tried not to notice the condition of the property,. Obviously, the landlord didn't live there or just didn't care about that building. The parking lot was small and filled with potholes, the doors looked like they should have been replaced ten years ago, and the stairs looked like they came straight out of a haunted house. Justin apologized and promised his apartment looked better than the building, which was completely true; he had a homemade bar, nice lights, a few plants and a big flat screen TV with a balcony with two chairs with a matching bbq and a large grey couch in the living room. The whole apartment looked like an IKEA catalog. Maddy loved it so much she had to compliment him on it. They sat down to put on some romantic comedy she was too distracted by him to pay attention to. She sat there and counted the different shades in his eyes and noticed how stunning he was when he smiled or laughed. She knew right then that once he said goodbye, it would hurt more than her tattoos.

Regardless, Maddy ignored her red flag waving angel on her shoulder. Blindly, she followed Justin and let him eventually move into her apartment attached to her work. When they were good, they felt like comfort and Sunset Future. Unfortunately, that would lead to super-glued heroes and nights neither of them wants to remember. We are told all the time that you can't have a rainbow without a little rain, but when they were bad, it was full-blown East coast hurricanes. Maddy crying herself to sleep but waking up to roses and apologies just like the medicine she didn't know how to swallow. Maddy found peace in the eyes of the Lord; she had a best friend who had a bad habit of bending over backward for everyone and a group of people a family at church that cared and loved her. She fought for as long as she could for Justin, but for some people, everything isn't enough for them. You can try to love a narcissist, but at the end of the day, he can't love you half as much as he loves himself. Maddy came to her senses and burnt the bridges she had, but she knew she would never be in love the same way. For the first time, she knew that and was completely okay with it; she came to the realization of missing something but not wanting it back, a realization we all come to.

Always care too much

While they don't care at all.

They say it's just a crush.

I need to learn to not fall

Just like adrenaline