Prompt: Write a romance story which involves a bracelet, 'unicorn', 'you're toast', delinquents, and a happy ending550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzf22OSJj5B
This is the part where I say, I love you.550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuCg4iH3L7w
I open my mouth, draw in a deep breath, and am promptly knocked unconscious by a delicate china coffee cup disagreeing with my temple. I'm not sure which one shattered first.
Sometimes, I wonder what my life would be like if it were a story.550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRCfUR0pvXT
First of all, it would be far more interesting; after all, stories are rarely as boring as my daily routine.550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMQrAHBnE9k
It goes a bit like this: I wake up at six, I brush my teeth, make breakfast (usually cereal, leftovers from takeaway the night before, or Gladys'), catch an update on the radio, and - oh, stuff it. Even I don't want to hear about that.550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7IyZHnz5IS
Secondly, I wouldn't always be so bloody miserable. Protagonists in books are hardly ever miserable, and I hope that someday I could amount to something more than the minor character 'annoyed guy across the street', no?550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAQIvNh5Y5z
Thirdly, I should have had a happy ending by now.550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡS1nDdLwLbt
I mean, seriously, I'm twenty-nine. And as everyone knows, the age of thirty is practically death. I live alone in a small apartment, have a crummy office job, and really not much else. Oh - I'm also in love. But since when has that turned out well in stories? Like, look at that Romeo guy. I think he dies or something.550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGt3Rm9f4Te
So honestly, I don't have much going for me, for my life. All my friends (ha! friends) guilt trip me about how lucky I am, but to be blunt I can't help feel every morning and every night that I'm on the short end of the straw. You know, the short side of the bendy straw that gets chewed on and spat out.550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwSyLIa3fX4
My mum unfortunately knows this too. She moved into the apartment next to mine to 'keep an eye' on me, to 'lend a hand if you need'. Now in the evenings I'm serenaded by the sweet sounds of her explosive diarrhoea. I'll be filing a thin wall complaint when I get the chance.550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSJ6WNQ4fFK
Day in, day out, this is my life.550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYwWlyJQfxr
So when is my story going to start?
This is the part where the boy escapes on a Unicorn.550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgceyJJv3iZ
My favorite haunt is a tidy little coffee shop on the corner between work and home called Gladys'. The food is good, the coffee is great, and the service is stunning, thanks to a magnificent woman by the name of Ellie. I've memorized her time schedule and make sure to check in when she's around, which is why I'm an hour late to work every Monday and Thursday. Gorgeous brown eyes, little chocolate beads they are, and hair like a preened horse mane, which I assure you is a compliment of the highest degree. Her voice is just heavenly, although I do admit I've only ever heard her say 'The usual? Coming right up!'. She wears a lovely china bracelet too, little swirls of blue on white that she fiddles with constantly. I find it rather endearing.550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgbXhvjHz1b
It was a fine Saturday - of course it had to be a Saturday that was ruined. You see, I always like to watch Ellie make my coffee - I assume it's because I become slightly mentally unhinged when I am around her. This time, however, I could not enjoy my morning drink due to a particularly disturbing young man.550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡubomWW2WRJ
Now, he was clearly a criminal of some sort, despite looking no older than nineteen. Heavy leather jacket, metal studded jeans, and a swagger that exuded sheer unjustified arrogance. I noticed him approaching the counter just as I was taking the first sip of my extra hot coffee.550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8aPmJSj8AE
'A piece of toast thanks.' He orders.550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGiI13yANps
'...just toast?' God her voice sounds so soft I could sleep in it.550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLdawlLqXB1
'Yes. Just. Toast.' His, on the other hand, was so rough I could feel his vocal chords being sanded down as he spoke.550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzeRCJUSNCP
I watch Ellie as she slips the slice of bread into the toaster, the way her curved finger pushes down the lever. The way she drums her fingers nervously as she waits. Why nervously?550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn9JGDGi6J3
ping!550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQDYMsqspCt
'Here you are.' She doesn't look him in the eye as she hands over a plate with a single slice of toast. 'Your toast.'550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7imoj2GCCw
He doesn't touch it. 'No, Ellie, I've been thinking about those things you said to me - about how I'm too young, how I'm too, what, immature and irresponsible - and I've decided that no, you're toast.'550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlbhPaL7N1X
A question mark hangs in the air. 'Jonas, what do you mean?' She knows this ugly specimens?550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg8QadbQeqe
'Look.' He picks up the toast, and in one gloved hand, crumbles it into dust that falls meekly onto the counter. 'That's what I'm going to do to you for breaking my heart.' He storms out of Gladys', and, angered by the look of upset on Ellie's pretty face, I make quick pursuit with my coffee in hand.550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlx5NKXzhaJ
'Hey! Hey, you!' He stops and turns around at the sound of my call.550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrHsgWkcfW4
'What do you want?' He snarls.550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXDmkLhwTiy
'I want you to keep your dirty fingers off that girl!' I snap at him in a feeble attempt at intimidation.550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ448OxWvPkz
'No no no. That's not how it works. A girl turns down the Jonas Jones on a date, they pay the price.' An infuriating sneer, one clearly tempting me to make a move - and that is an offer I'm not going to turn down. I put my extra hot coffee to better use and throw the entire thing into his face, spoon and all.550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQt21oAq8F5
'AIEEEE! You're crazy, man!' His shocked eyes stare at me in disbelief, the attack having startled him enough to turn and flee. I watch as he rounds the corner and clambers onto his motorcycle - a painfully pink hunk of metal with the word Unicorn plastered on the side in blue and white.550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlRkkUnV4dG
Smooth.
This is the part where I try Robin Hood on my mother, an adventurous position to put myself in which involves feeling around the front of her dress.550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkurcEXuRuz
My obsession with dear Ellie grows, as does my need to see her happy, after the strange encounter with Jonas Jones. I brainstorm gift ideas - she seems awfully fond of the unconventional china bracelet.550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡI8ZkM4BOmL
My own mother happens to be quite the china connoisseur - her collection of bits and bobs all on display in an IKEA cabinet in her apartment.550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfVF13PN1ca
Now, my average job of tedium was never going to pay for such dainty things, nor, I suppose, will Ellie's, so I felt no moral wrongness in the notion of pulling a Robin Hood on my mum and donating some china pieces to someone who no doubt needs them more. Ahem.
The heist begins with inviting my mum one meter down the corridor to have a 'life chat' with me, a strange ritual which she usually enforces on me once a month. Five laxative pills dissolved into the hot chocolate I've made so lovingly for her.550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYjmUA3dp4m
I bear through the grueling first few minutes of the talk in which she tells me to 'assess where I want to be in three years' but, much to my pleasure, the rant is prematurely interrupted by a rather rude anatomical sound which I won't indulge with a description.550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlWnCoFD2vd
'Dear me!' She hobbles toward my bathroom, but I stop her -550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjRcZ0OYMsM
'The flush doesn't work.' I smile.550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGBa8CQ7slR
'Oh, dear, dear, dear!' She's hunched over, and she can't reach into the front pocket of her dress - in which lie her room keys.550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnheOnVASj8
'Would you like me to unlock your apartment for you?'550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBkQWjf5Ipd
'Please!'550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeLLreHbmoP
What happened next was unpleasant but necessary. Suffice to say, I retrieved the keys from their storage place, remarkably near my birth place.550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvHwIgFRLLC
The moment the door to her room was open, she hurried into the bathroom and locked the door - without thinking to show me out first.550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2Q6rgfHg9U
I collect in a bag the nicest of her china collection - IKEA cabinets don't have much security. An assortment of cups and plates and animals, carefully picked to match the color scheme of Ellie's bracelet. Lovely.550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN7duGRykg7
I leave the keys on dear mother's bedside table, and quickly desert the premises. The unfortunate woman's bowel structure combined with the help I had given to her digestive system meant that she should be occupied for a while.
This is the part where I abandon my preconceptions of love, abandon my apartment, and abandon my sanity in general.550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡy8qZVKqR6m
I decided I would not return to the apartment. Mum would surely kill me, or worse. So instead, it being a Monday morning, I headed down to Gladys' with a bag going chinkle chinkle tied in red ribbon and a notetag with 'For Ellie' in my finest cursive. Which isn't very fine, mind you, but it's the thought that counts.550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQwC3yiURXn
Gladys' was not the most active of places, and it was not difficult to wait for a moment when no one was looking to place the bag on the counter.550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKMrDoYvLS2
I sit, and wait, and watch. Could it be that this might win her heart?550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGFKc6xcgZa
She sees the bag, looks around confusedly, and opens it there on the counter. She gasps, looks around confusedly again, and closes the bag before placing it on the shelf beside her.550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKjx6Hb75CX
I walk up to the counter.550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8LBLWLCHZA
'The usual?' Angelic.550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ73ICppW6ei
'Not quite.' I say. In fact, I decide to abandon all of the usual. I wouldn't be showing up to work today, I wouldn't be doing anything of the sort I usually do.550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVIyiOZnv0D
Forget everything. This is the part where I say, I love you.550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp4DDoQ6QTX
I open my mouth, draw in a deep breath, and am promptly knocked unconscious by a delicate china coffee cup disagreeing with my temple. I'm not sure which one shattered first.
This is the part where I emerge victorious from a deathly battle against cute fluffy creatures.550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdAnTpsFUvG
'owwwww...' I rise from the floor with a grunt. Above me stands Jonas Jones, and his band of delinquents. I note the bag of china in his hands - the bloody nerve of him.550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv9TdX03EqO
'If the JONAS JONES isn't good enough for someone, no one is!' He booms.550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLQqCDQb0vd
'Leave her out of this!' I protest, noticing Ellie cowering in the corner of the cafe, the few other people inside watching the course of events with an excited but strangely detached interest. 'Let's take this outside.'550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxErJHFvvt5
'Let's go, big boy.' He cracks his knuckles.
RABBIT. UNICORN. PUG. They stand by their named motorcycles, Jonas in the center. 'Rabbit' was a tall and scrawny pimply fellow, whereas 'Pug' was a much more rotund beast, but just as unattractive as the former. To be honest, I couldn't catch the resemblance between Jonas and a unicorn, though.550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvEdoH8fgsg
'You boys are going to leave Ellie alone. And her gifts.' Upon feeling a twinge of pain, I quickly added 'And me.'550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2QzzpgoJqq
'Make us.' Rabbit pulls out a knife from his pocket.550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEY7LcDpZcJ
'Now now, let's play fair - ' but my protest is cut off halfway through by a scream that made the windows of the cafe shake dangerously, threatening to shatter.550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJE4hvfSlqV
'WHEEERE IIIIIIS MYYYY CHIIIIIIIIIINAAAAAAAAAAA?!?!?!'550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn1oH6DZfIS
I run into the shop, but the gang is stunned still - and I watch as my mother appears over the horizon, face inflamed red like a microwaving tomato ready to burst.550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtLbjoKqS7H
She looks at the bag in Jonas' hands.550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJvnhFpPQQW
Jonas looks down at the bag in his hands.550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡB7BUQdGz7v
Pug grabs the bag and hides it behind his back.550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXaDqaoLZG2
Mother morphs into her final form and unleashes her rage.550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡREX7yN1bIp
'AIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!' I can't tell among the carnage who the sound is coming from, but I don't care - I turn around to face Ellie, and I grab her hands.550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgUV4zOF1dn
'Ellie.' I say, eyes staring into hers.550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG0ajoer4BI
'Yes?'550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmUvhNIIsTL
This is the part.550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEi8LXTQibT
'I...'550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFoUQenCEEU
'Yes?'550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmsrZxZ1Bcc
'Ellie, I luh. I lughhhh. I, I, I lughhhhhhhh - '550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyEHSeG0UM8
'Oh, shut up.' She lunges forwards and places her lips on mine, and the people in the cafe cheer, drowning out the noise of the scene outside.550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVj38NwjZ5Y
And so it is, that my story ends here for you, and just begins for me, with an unexpected kiss and a declaration of love.550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYSes14OPRY
I even think that mother might approve.
This, my friend, is the part where you stop reading.
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