Secret Daises

“What if she finds out?” Jo overhears this as she walks past the library. She pauses in her tracks and scans the room for the voice. She recognizes it. Who is it? Her classmate? Teammate? Oh…she finds him. Standing against the back bookshelf talking to someone just out of sight. Jo, now filled with curiosity finds herself walking closer to her boyfriend and this mysterious person. But the other voice speaks, and she abruptly stops.

“She won’t, don’t worry. The only people who know are you and me. And you can trust that I won’t tell a soul.” A girl? Is Luke talking to another girl? No, no way, Jo proceeds in her path towards the conversation and stops again against her will when her fears are confirmed. Luke, her loving, loyal, kind boyfriend is talking secretly to another girl in the back of the library. Jo sees Luke about to speak again, but her stomach can’t handle it, and she runs away not caring about the impact her retreat makes around her.

“What was that?” Luke turns in the direction where Jo was just at.

“Don’t worry about it, come on focus, I have class in ten.”

“Right, right. So how much will it be for the flowers?”

Jo couldn’t make it through the rest of the day without getting distracted about what she’d just overheard. How could he? And right near Valentines Day? Jo thought they were fine, no better than fine, good. Great! She felt secure… but then why did he—

“Miss. May?”

“Uh, yes…” Jo’s back in reality, she looks around and realizes something is off, why is everyone staring at her? Why does Ms. Jone’s face look like that. Probably because she’s sad and alone and will never find someone. Just like how Jo’s going to be in a few hours when she talks to Luke about what she just witnessed—

“I am going to ask you one more time, what was the answer to number five?” Number five? Oh right, the homework! Jo scrambles through her notes. “Miss. May, we’ve been going over this sheet for the past half hour, why don’t you have it out?”

Jo feels sick. Why can’t she find the homework? Wait, what did Ms. Jone’s say, “Um, I’m sorry, but I don’t feel well, at all, could I go to the nurse?”

Her teacher sighs and waves her hand toward the door, Jo takes the invitation and rushes out, but not fast enough as she overhears what her calculus teacher mumbles as she passes, “Kids these days. Always ‘sick’ when they’re just lazy.” Jo’s head is spinning to fast to care. She exits and heads towards the nurse. When she arrives the kind lady takes one look at Jo’s frighten state and immediately lets her go home. Jo thanks her, and heads towards her car.

When she leaves the building she feels the late winter breeze brush past her, and on a normal day this would’ve been the perfect weather for a walk. A walk with her and Luke. They loved walks. It allowed them to really connect and feel the fresh air. Jo’s almost at her car not even noticing the nice weather when she hears his voice again.

“Are you sure she won’t know?”

Where is he? She follows the voice to the side of the school in between an alley way. Her heart drops when she sees who’s with him, “You worry to much. She won’t know, I promise.” Jo sees this girl touch her man’s hand like she’s giving him a handshake. Why even pretend to be mature when everyone knows what you two have been up to. Jo wants to flee again before she witnesses the acts her boyfriend and this girl are going to partake in, but her legs stop her when Luke speaks.

“Okay, I just don’t want to ruin this moment. And keeping it a secret is the best way.” The girl, then, reaches into her bag, probably full of condoms. Jo knows that’s what’s in there and knows this is her chance to leave. She turns and sprints to her car like there was a hoard of zombies chasing her. All of a sudden, the cool breeze turns freezing for Jo, she’s shivering. Her eyes are getting blurry before she even reaches her car. Once she’s in, she starts driving.

The girl pulls the flowers from her backpack and hands them to Luke, “What you’re doing is good. She’ll love these and remember what I said—”

“Right, right, first the card, then the story, then the flowers.” The girls nods, “Oh man, I’m so excited, Jo is going to die!”

Why would he do this? Luke told Jo he loved her not even four hours ago. Why did he lie straight to her face? Jo hates lairs. She unconsciously starts pressing the gas harder as these thoughts pass through her spiraling brain. Who is this other girl anyway? Jo didn’t recognize her. She’s probably a prostitute. Jo never would’ve taken the boy for liking those type of women, but then again, she never thought he’d cheat on her right on school grounds, so anything is possible at this point. She looks out the side window, the buildings are speeding past her, way faster than they should be on this residential road. She then turns towards the passenger seat. She can’t help but get the frustrating lump in her throat again as she imagines all of the memories her and Luke had here in this very car. Jo’s not mad for a moment. She wants to curl up in a ball and sob into oblivion.

When the past image of Luke disappears, she spots the gift she got him for Valentines Day. A small scrap book, full of all the memories they shared together. Their first date, kiss, trip, everything was in this book. Her heart was in it. She feels red filling her soul again and grabs the book and starts to roll down her window. She throws the memories out, her heart out. Once it’s gone, and the book has left her hand, her world, her mind, she realizes how fast she’s traveling. But when she finally turns to face the road, she knows it’s too late. She’s in the wrong lane. There’s a semi-truck honking right at her gaining size by the second. She closes her eyes and swerves the best she can before feeling the impact and stopping.

Luke leaves the school feeling like a little boy leaving a candy store. He’s holding the daisies in his right hand while spinning his keys in the other. Jo loves daisies. But the only way he could get them from the florist was during the school day. He decided skipping was good, because Valentine’s Day is tomorrow, and Jo deserves the flowers she loves for the day of love.

He hops in his truck and when he turns on the ignition a cheeky love song starts, and he can’t help but nod along. Once he leaves the parking lot, though, he immediately realizes the traffic. There shouldn’t be any traffic, the school day doesn’t end for another hour. As he slowly pulls behind the car in front of him, he naturally looks out the window. Every time he moves forward a few feet he then goes back to daydreaming when he stops. After a few minutes he’s pulled out of his daze when he sees something on the side of the road. A book. At first, he thinks nothing of it, litter is common around this area, it’s sad but true. But after a double take, he brakes his car to a full stop. His name is on it, and not just that it’s in Jo’s handwriting. He jumps out of his car and goes to retrieve it. He picks up the book and starts to flip the pages, noticing all of the fun memories that are in it. His heart warms and he starts to blush, this must be her gift to him, but why is it on the side of the road.

Before he can think of reasons, he hears the vehicles behind his truck start honking at him and he turns around apologizing, but just as he starts to head to his car, he sees what’s holding up the line. A car and a truck turned sideways. The car seems familiar. He stops moving and breathing. The book of his memories and heart falls to the ground. He follows soon after. He hears nothing but his heart beating realizing that hers isn’t.