Pretty Flowers For A Pretty Girl

[Jimmy Halloway]

No, Jimmy didn’t get it wrong. He was indeed in the girl-only part of the dormitories. You’d think they had separate parts for boys and girls to prevent something like that, yet it had been very easy for the young boy to make his way here. He didn’t even hide or anything, just put one foot in front of the other. Jimmy didn’t even consider whether his actions were good or bad. Earlier, he had a bit of doubt, but the boys who sent him cleared that out long ago. It was not like Jimmy was here to spy on the girls or on a mission to steal some panties. He had a far more legitimate reason, albeit not his.

It all started when Jimmy caught a conversation some boys had. One of them had flowers in his hands he wanted to give a girl but she seemed to take her sweet time coming down. Plus, he apparently was a bit shy to deliver them in person. But she was in the girl part of the dorms and he wondered how he should go there. Jimmy, who was in the student lounge, savouring a yogurt beverage while trying to read all the words from his comic book, heard them and thought he should help by pointing out the girl’s dorm was on the second. Despite this being a true answer, it was not the one the boys wanted to hear. Because none of them, including the one who held the bouquet and wanted to deliver it with such desire, was not willing to deal with the detention that would likely follow should he get caught or a girl chose to tell a teacher. “Because boys must not be in the girl’s dormitory?” Jimmy asked. It was one of the rules, and Jimmy always tried to follow the rules, when he remembered them. His youthful naivety gave the boys an idea and it was how he ended up in the girl’s dorms.

At first, he too feared the detention, but they soon appeased his worries. He didn’t want to do something bad but he wanted people to be happy and it made the boy happy to have someone sending those flowers and he assured Jimmy the girl would be happy too. They gave him excuses he could give, but Jimmy forgot them all. His brain had been too busy trying to remember the room number to keep anything else in mind. As such, the fact that no excuse could be tolerated did not strike his mind. Anyway, as one of them said, he could still get away with it because Jimmy was Jimmy. Stupidity was sometimes a good thing. He didn’t get how, but the other boys seemed to think so. None of that mattered though. Someone was asking for his help. His] help! He eventually agreed with a smile.

And so Jimmy was on the second floor of the dorms, a small bouquet in hand. He hesitated for a moment. Which door was it again? He might have a good memory, but only for things he saw, not things he heard. He stopped at a door. He was pretty sure it was the right one. One digit was right at least. Bouquet in hand and partially covering his face, he used his other one to knock three times on the door. Then he waited, for about four or five seconds. Without an answer, Jimmy knocked again. Endlessly.

TAG: Victoria Verlinden

[Victoria Verlinden]

Victoria was yawning, she was in the middle of editing a video for her YouTube channel, it was just another makeup tutorial, she had done a lot of those, they were easy enough to get out. He had added the voice-over and some music, the video turned out nicely, but the editing was still like a chore to her, sure her dad had paid for some nice equipment and video editing software for her computer that made it easier, but she did still wish she could just hire somebody to do it for her.

She had just posted the video when somebody knocked on the dorm door, she groaned a little, she needed to get dressed! The video only showed her from the chest and up, so she hadn’t really bothered getting properly dressed yet. She quickly headed to the mirror, oh great, pink stain on her white top, probably from her lipgloss, how had that gotten there? She heard knocking again, wow could whoever it was not wait? “Hold on!” She yelled.

She got dressed and had a look in the mirror, yup she was totally cute. She headed over to the door and opened it “Hello?” She looked at the boy standing there and the flowers, she looked a little confused “Are those for me? They are really pretty” She said, trying to sound nice, she thought they looked really cheap, but the boy was cute, so she was willing to hear him out. She studied his face with interest, boys could be so stupid, but this was really sweet, how often did cute boys even think to give her flowers? She would obviously prefer a diamond necklace over flowers, but where did you even get a diamond necklace in Montana?

She grabbed the flowers to smell, it wasn’t impressing her at all, it all would come down to what the boy was like. She looked out in the hallway, nobody was there “Come in, so you don’t get in trouble, boys aren’t allowed here but it’s fine as long as nobody sees you” She grabbed his arm and pulled at him to make him step inside before she closed the door.

[Jimmy Halloway]

Jimmy heard a voice from the other side of the door but it made him stop knocking only for a few seconds before he did it again. Much like a dog who could not believe its master was fine on the other side until the door was open, Jimmy couldn’t get the girl was there until he could see her. He didn’t consider how he should be quiet and not alert every girl in the dorm right now. If one was to come out now, he could be in trouble. But he didn’t get that. He was supposed to give away those flowers and that was all he could think about. He even no longer worried whether he got the right door or not. He heard a voice, which meant there was someone who could still take over if he got it wrong.

Jimmy nearly hit the girl when she opened the door, since he was still knocking. Luckily for her, he stopped his movement before his fist hit anything. “Hello,” he repeated. She said something about the flowers but all he did was stand there with the bouquet in front of him. Was it for her? It was not like he knew. There ought to be a card or something, but that too was not something he knew. He kept looking at her. He didn’t see young or pretty, he was just scanning her face to see whether or not he had seen her before. He’d remember for sure if he did.

He flinched when she took the flowers. He forgot he was supposed to give them to her. Then she was grabbing him. Jimmy offered no resistance as she had him step inside the room. He looked around. So that was what a girl’s dorm looked like? He didn’t see why he was no allowed in then. There were a lot of stuff he didn’t know about though and he started moving around to look at those. There were just so many stuffs! The blonde girl might as well not exist anymore.

[Victoria Verlinden]

Victoria held the flowers and was starting to wonder what she was going to do with them, she actually didn’t have a vase, of course she would throw the flowers away as soon as he was gone anyway, but it would be rude to not put them in something. For now she put them on the table “Sorry, I don’t have a vase yet, I’ll one soon I’m sure” she picked up the card attached to the flowers and read it out loud “Beautiful flowers for a beautiful girl” She smiled and blushed a little, okay that was adorable.

She was about to hug him when she realized that the boy was very bust studying the stuff in her room. Mostly it was clothes, makeup, other girly beauty tools and then there was her camera and her computer. She frowned a little “So, who are you?” She asked, trying to get his attention “I have never seen you around? How did you know I was here? Are you a fan of my channel or something?” Her following wasn’t huge, most of them were just people from her old school who wanted to hear her gossip about others in school or get mad over her talking about them, but there were a few others from other places.

“The flowers were really sweet” She flashed him her sweetest smile, was he going to ask her out or something? She might consider it, he was really cute and she could see him totally being her type. She was pretty much waiting for some sort of explanation at this point, she wasn’t past asking specifically if he was interested in her, but he was the boy so he should make the first move.

[Jimmy Halloway]

Jimmy blinked as she mentioned a vase. He looked through his pockets, as though he could have been carrying something like that to help her out. But, obviously, no vase could be found there. He looked back at her after his inspection in what was meant to be a sorry expression but probably looked pretty blank for her. Jimmy didn’t really know what ‘sorry’ was supposed to look like.

She then read the card, a card Jimmy didn’t read let along write. He heard her say something but his attention was all to her things. His mother had stuff like that, like that makeup, only not that color. He didn’t own stuff like that. The closest was his water colors but his mother said it didn’t go on the face so it was not the same thing at all. He knew what the computer was. Everyone had one. Jimmy had one too but he barely used it. He wasn’t very good with it.

She was trying to get his attention and asked for his name. It was then that he realised how he forgot about that rule his mother taught him saying that he should introduced himself to new friends. “I’m Jimmy.” He never used the name James. His parents always called him Jimmy and so he always called himself that. Calling him James had a good chance he wouldn’t answer.

He blinked though as she asked other questions. He didn’t have answers to them. After all, he didn’t know she was here and he had no idea she had a channel. He was not even sure what a channel was. “What’s a channel?” he asked, actually curious. She was then smiling to him as she mentioned the flowers again. He smiled back, just as brightly. Sadly for her, it was all her compliment got as reply. Jimmy only delivered them but didn’t know he was supposed to say that. Wouldn’t the card mention the sender? Either way, it was not his fault if there was a misunderstanding here.

[Victoria Verlinden]

Vicky crossed her arms a bit impatiently, the boy might be cute but he was very quiet, maybe he was nervous? Did he crush on her so badly and that made him really shy around her? That would be so cute if that was the case, he was probably just kinda shy around pretty girls, Vicky felt like she understood him much better with this logic, it totally made sense.

Why was he looking at her makeup? Most boys wouldn’t at all be interested in that stuff, shouldn’t he be telling her about his crush and ask her out by now? Well okay, maybe telling her about his crush would be a bit embarrassing, she wasn’t sure if she would do that if she crushed on somebody, but asking her out should be fine right?

“Nice to meet you Jimmy” She stepped in front of him as he was looking around, she wanted his attention, enough looking at her things! The question about what a channel was confused her a bit “Umm.. You know, YouTube? I have a blog too” She explained “I’m pretty popular on YouTube, if you haven’t seen my videos, you should totally check them out sometime, just search for Victoria’s Life and you’ll find me there.”

So the boy was not a fan, maybe he had just seen her around then? If he was this shy, there would be a problem, she felt like if anything was going to happen here, she would have to get him to say it “So, was there anything you wanted to tell me? I mean, do you like me and want to go on a date or something?” She was blushing a little, this was awkward and this was Jimmy’s job, but that was her only explanation as to why he was here with flowers and if he couldn’t ask her himself she figured she’d have to do it herself “I mean, if you want to go out with me, that’s totally okay, I don’t have a boyfriend.”

[Jimmy Halloway]

She wouldn’t be the first person uncomfortable around Jimmy. The first meeting, before knowing what things were, was always the weirdest one. After that, it all depended how well you could adjust to him. Poor Jimmy was generally unaware that he could make people feel awkward in his presence. If he was told about it, he would put the blame on the fact he was stupid and try to reassure the nervous person by pointing it out and say it was fine. Anyway, he wouldn’t stay stupid forever. He was at Bellefonte Academy and he’d get smart by the time he leaves.

The fact she moved caught his eye and he put his gaze on her, as she wanted. Only Jimmy didn’t know that. Now that he told her his name, he expected to hear hers, but she didn’t introduce herself. She only said she was happy to meet him so he smiled at that. Jimmy didn’t really know YouTube. He had been showed videos by other people but he rarely used the computer on his own. It was not wise. Anyway, he wouldn’t know how to go through YouTube without getting lost in it so it was best not to even try. But she told him to. Something called Victoria’s Life. “Vic... You’re Victoria?” Well, at least he got her name in the end if that was the case.

She was talking of dates. He gave her a puzzled look. Did she want him to give her the date? No, she wanted to go on a date. But how were you supposed to do that? He wouldn’t mind going out with her though. It could be fun. Then she mentioned boyfriend. He was not sure what she meant but he was a boy and at the mention of friend, he grinned. “I can be your friend.” Jimmy always loved having friends and he’d love to be hers too if that was what she meant.

[Victoria Verlinden]

She looked at him with a bit of a puzzled look “Yes? I’m Victoria, didn’t you know?” What was up with this boy? He probably just saw her somewhere and thought she was cute, that would make sense actually “It’s okay, I get it” she was smiling again, though the boy was awfully quiet, how could she get him to open up? While he was cute, she wouldn’t really enjoy being around somebody who wouldn’t talk to her.

“Friend?” She frowned, what the heck? Here he came to her room with flowers being all sweet and stuff, then he saying friend? Unless he just wanted to get to know her and see where it went from there? She felt like she had to do a lot of thinking and trying to figure him out since he wasn’t really saying much. “Sure, it’s a good idea to start as friends and then see what happens” she said, figuring she was agreeing with what he meant, it sounded like it made a lot of sense to her.

“Um.. So I can’t really leave the school” she had just gotten here and of course they wouldn’t let her go to town until she had better control over her powers, so the date would have to be in school somewhere. “I guess we could have our date in the cafeteria?” She didn’t have a lot of better suggestions, outside was too cold at this time of year and they could get in trouble if they kept meeting up in the dorms “When do you want to meet? You should totally bring more flowers, I thought that was really cute.”

[Jimmy Halloway]

No, Jimmy didn’t know her name. It was not a surprise, as he didn’t really see her before. He didn’t even realise the mistake going on here. It was not as though he meant to cheat the other guy by stealing the girl he was crushing on. He didn't even know she thought those flowers were from him. He was only the delivery boy. The conversation just didn’t take a turn that would allow Jimmy to understand the situation and correct it by saying what he was really doing here. For now, all he knew was that Victoria was a nice girl who loved flowers.

His smile faltered as he saw the frown. Uh-oh. Frowns weren’t good. He learned so much. “Are you angry?” he asked her. Jimmy was terrible at reading people’s emotions and found it just as hard to do something about them but he knew he could ask. She was not yelling so she was not too angry, he thought he’d be safe asking. He didn’t want to get slapped for saying yet another thing he shouldn’t. He dared not move, in case she’d go angry on him. But she ultimately said it was fine for them to be friends and any worry he might have had washed away as quickly as it appeared, bringing the smile back to his face. He didn’t quite get what she meant with the ‘then see what happens’ part but he understood friends and he decided to focus on that only.

“It’s ok. I don’t leave the school too,” he assured her. It was not a good idea for him to go out alone. He didn’t know the town well enough to get around and couldn’t read the street signs very well so he listened to the staff and stayed there. Once again, she mentioned date and Jimmy was not sure what she meant by that. But he knew where the cafeteria was so he got a part of what she said. He just didn’t quite understand what a date had to do with the cafeteria. Was she questioning about the menus? “I know where it is.” Then there was this question of meeting that once again left him puzzled. And then flowers. Chewing the inside of his cheek, he looked at the flowers, wondering where he could find them. Maybe the greenhouses, he knew there were some. He would have to check if there were any like that in there.

[Victoria Verlinden]

Did she seem angry? She didn’t feel like she had come across as angry or anything “No! I’m not angry at all! You’re totally cute, but...” she blushed a little after calling him cute. What she did feel as a bit of awkwardness and confusion, neither were feeling she really enjoyed, the boy didn’t talk enough and while some shyness could be cute, there were limits “You’re very quiet, are you like really shy?”.

She nodded as he said he couldn’t leave either, that made sense, they were both probably pretty new, most people their age hadn’t been at the school that long. “Yeah, we eat there like every day” he really had stated the obvious, who didn’t know where the cafeteria were? She looked at him for a moment, she felt like she was giving her a bit too much of a chance, but he was the first and only cute guy to show any interest here so far and it could be fun “So, if we’re going on this date, we should go when there’s not a lot of people there, so just any weekday evening or something? Can you cook? Or we could just bring food or maybe order something.. Hmm this might require some planning.”

She studied his face and his body language, what was up with this boy? He seemed a bit strange to her, was he just shy or was it something else? If he had the courage to bring her flowers, he should also have the courage to actually speak to her and ask her out if that was his intentions right? She felt like she had to take a bit too much control over the conversation.

[Jimmy Halloway]

Jimmy was immediately relieved when she said she was not angry. He always found it difficult to understand complex emotions. He couldn’t even understand them when he was the one feeling them. It just left him very confused and looking for someone to explain them to him. In this case however, there was no one else, so he had to ask Victoria herself, hoping he didn’t do or say anything to upset her. She called him cute but added a but. He was not really affected by the cute and more apprehensive about this but. Normally, it meant he was stupid. It turned out it was his silence that was the problem. He shook his head at her question. No, he was not shy. “I don’t speak if I have nothing to say,” he explained. Wasn’t that basic logic? He figured he could also justify this by telling her he was stupid but he didn’t quite see how his intelligence was related to his quietness.

“They make good food,” Jimmy said with enthusiasm. The food really tasted good and the personnel was usually kind to him, taking care of him as he picked his food. He knew he was treated often like a kid much younger than his age but he saw no problem in it. It was quite the contrary, he appreciated their kindness. Here she was with the date thing again. She didn’t want to go when there were a lot of people. Why? Maybe she was the shy one. It was possible. He tilted his head as she asked if he could cook. He couldn’t, but wasn’t the point in going to the cafeteria not to cook? He didn’t get how this could require some planning. “You go when you’re hungry. We can go now,” he suggested. He didn’t see why it was so complicated to go to the cafeteria, unless they didn’t know where it was, but it seemed like they both knew its location, so Jimmy really didn’t understand the problem here.