Work Text:
1.
Milly looked at the clock on her nightstand. The red numbers flared back at her, 00:47. She sighed, she should sleep soon. But she stared at her phone screen again, and made her decision. Screw it! She's stayed up later before, and today (well technically, yesterday) was a Friday!
Her screen's brightness was low, blending in with the darkness of the room. But Milly could still easily make out the site in front of her.
"FLOWER MEANINGS: THE LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS
WHAT DOES EACH FLOWER MEAN?"
She scrolled through the list and reminded herself why she was on this page in the first place.
She was finally going to confess to Elliot.
Not directly, of course! That's WAY too embarrassing. The only people who really knew about it Jake and Zoey. And Zoey wasn't even on purpose!
Her plan was simple, give Elliot a flower to plant every week. And, wow! The flowers would just happen to be a romantic message! Elliot was a flower expert, he would totally understand the meanings of the flowers.
-
Elliot apparently didn't understand the meanings of the flowers.
Milly had given him 5 flowers:
White Camellia: You're Adorable
Gardenia: Secret Love
White Clovers: Think of Me
White Jasmine: Sweet Love
Red Chrysanthemum: I Love You
It was the final day, and Milly hoped her plan would work. As she hopped on to the bus, she heard her phone vibrate in her pocket. She checked in instantly, of course.
A text from Elliot! He must've noticed the flowers!
Elliot:
Thank you for the flowers!!!
The arrangement was really pretty, lots of pink, red and white really go with the orchids!! :)
Milly slumped in the bus seat. Despite the warm coloured flower garden, she felt blue. Did Elliot really not get the message at all? Or did he just not say anything? Her mind pondered on that last option for too long. What if he didn't like her and didn't want to be rude? She took matters into her own hands.
Me:
ooo nice!!!!!!!!!
did u notice any messages in them??
bc i heard that flowers are like that but idk any lmao
Elliot:
yeah i did actually!
lots centred on love haha
never took you as a person to be into those sort of things
Milly groaned into her hands, and ignored and of the weird looks she got from other passengers. Man, those flowers were expensive too! Why did Elliot have to be so goddamn oblivious?
2.
Okay, Milly definitely had this now. She took her pen off the paper, and re-read the letter she wrote. She noticed a blank spot at the bottom and realised. She had to sign a name.
She panicked slightly, what could she say that wouldn't immediately give her away? She thought about her nicknames.
Pink-Haired Devil
Nope, basically everyone called her that. Plus, it was mean!
M
Signing off with an intial would be stupid. And there's, like, 3 other M girls in the gardening club.
Orchid
That was it. Elliot always kept her in check with the orchids.
She hastily signed off with the alias and frowned at the thought of licking the envelope seal. Gross. She decided on putting a shiny flower sticker instead.
At lunch the next day she slipped into the hall in search for Elliot's locker. She wandered the halls counting the locker numbers silently in her head. Once she found it, she slipped the letter through the slits in the door, and dashed away.
-
Days later, Milly hadn't noticed Elliot make any remarks on the letter. Maybe he didn't find it? Maybe it was on the floor and got thrown away? Maybe he forgot about it in his backpack?
Like the last time she tried to confess, Elliot hadn't even brought anything up about the meanings of the flowers. So, once again, she'd have to bring it up herself.
"Hey! Elliot!" She said, going up behind the boy with her empty lunch tray gripped tightly.
"Hm? Oh, Milly!" Elliot said. "What's up?"
Milly scratched the back of her head. "Well, y'know! Just wanted to catch up! Heh..." She said a little too quickly. She pat Elliot on the back, cringing when he made a winded breath on impact.
"Actually, something did happen the other day," He started, his eyes trailed to the floor tiles while Milly's lit up. This was it! Maybe he did get the letter!
"I think somebody sent me a love letter a couple of days ago," Elliot confessed. Bingo!
Milly mentally prepared herself for the most intense performance of her life. "Oooooh! Really? What did it say?"
To her surprise, Elliot let out a laugh. "Oh, no, I didn't read it." He chuckled again.
Milly fully turned around, taking a step backwards as the lunch line moved. "What?! Why?" she asked, actually meaning her tone this time.
Her head was split between "No big deal!" and "WHAT IF HE KNOWS AND HE HATES ME?!?!"
"I don't really know," the boy started sheepishly with a smile. "I just think that if that person truly felt something for me, that they'd just tell me straight up, y'know?"
Milly's soul might have just left her body then. "Hm... That's interesting!" she said, holding her lunch tray out, her arms wobbling a bit when the plates got placed onto it.
Well, that plan was a bust, too.
3.
Milly walked down the hall, the plastic bag crinkling in her hands. She knew she was gonna have it this time. She was going to confess to Elliot with home-baked cookies! Sure, she used pre-made dough, but she baked them in her home. So, technically, they're home-baked!
Besides, there was no way in hell she'd just ask Elliot! Even though Sean - who was literally the best guy ever to go to for advice - said that was 'The Best Method'. Milly was determined to find another way. She wandered to the table where Elliot sat.
Elliot turned toward Milly. "Hi, Milly!" he said with a grin. Milly tried to stop herself from blushing, it was a cute grin.
She cleared her throat, "Yeah, uh, Elliot-" she tried to collect her thoughts. "I made these cookies yesterday, just for fun and stuff. Just wondering if you'd like some."
The panic set in once again. Man, she really thought she'd be used to this from the two times she attempted to confess before!
"Oh! Thanks! Are they gluten free?" Elliot asked, fiddling with his fingers.
Milly looked away, trying to remember what the package on the tub of cookie dough said. "N...No?"
"Well," Elliot chuckled, "I'm celiac, sorry I can't eat 'em," he said.
"Oh, okay! My bad. I was gonna give some to Jake anyway, so don't worry about it!" Milly said. She set a mental reminder to look up what the hell celiac was later.
To be fair, when Jake showed up 10 minutes late again for practice, he did really enjoy the cookies.
4.
"Elliot?" Milly said as she stood in the doorway. She was heading the her locker last minute to pick up her math textbook, but had to stop at the club room when she heard soft strums of a guitar.
Elliot adjusted his glasses. "Milly!" he set the guitar down on an empty stand next to him. "Sorry about this."
"You play guitar?!" The girl said, pulling up a seat next to Elliot. She smiled warmly at the thought of her and Elliot having matching instruments.
"Sorta! I've been meaning to pick it up, but I don't have one at home," he started. "So, after school sometimes, I just come in here and play around."
"I could teach you!" Milly exclaimed. "If you want! I mean, mine's electric, but it's basically the same." She walked to the wall, grabbing the red and black guitar off its stand.
Elliot was silent for a moment, and Milly second guessed herself. She was going to apologise before the boy piped up a "That'd be great, thanks!"
-
Before they noticed, an hour had passed. Milly glanced at her phone, checking the time: 4:12. She should be heading home soon.
"So... What, like, made you wanna play guitar?" Milly asked, plucking the strings to the tune of the song she played every lunch time at rehearsals.
She looked at Elliot, who face was slightly red. "Well, it's a bit embarrassing, but you actually!" He gave her a shy smile. "I hear you from outside, and you sound awesome!"
"Ha! Glad you were impressed by my super cool guitar skills!" Milly laughed, strumming the guitar as she spoke. Elliot let out a laugh, and Milly considered something for just a second.
What if she just confessed to Elliot? Like, right here, right now. Milly breathed in, here goes a little bit more than nothing! "Hey Elliot...?"
"Yeah?"
Okay, yeah, nope! As soon as the words left Milly's mouth she immediately regretted them. She stood up quickly, "Ahaha, yeah, I- I gotta go! But, tell me if you want to learn any guitar stuff!"
She turned away to mount the guitar back on the wall as Elliot called out a confused "Bye!"
Milly felt her heating cheeks as she exited the club room. Worst moment of her life, at least gotta be Top 10 material.
-
That night, Milly looked at the messily scribbled list of homework on her wrist. Ugh, the only thing left to do was Math. She dug around her backpack for her textbook to no avail before having a sudden realisation. She left it in her locker!
Oh well, she could always copy off someone else anyway.
+1
"To be honest, it's hard to believe we won," Zander started, "Especially with Jake being so late to 90 percent of our rehearsals!" He turned to Jake, who scratched the back of his neck, embarrassed.
"C'mon guys!" Milly was basically bouncing with excitement. They literally just won the band competition! "We had it in the bag! We're the Music Club, and everyone else were probably just a group of friends trying to make some vague kind of music career in one of their basements." The other members of the club chuckled in response.
Out of the corner of her eye, Milly spotted Elliot. "Hey guys, I'm just gonna talk to Elliot for a sec, BRB!" she said before walking towards the boy.
"Good luck!" Jake called, but Milly didn't know what she'd need good luck for.
"And don't use acronyms verbally!" Zander followed.
Milly saw Elliot's face light as she approached. "Congrats on your win! You were amazing out there," he said.
"Thanks!" Milly responded, she cracked her knuckles and found herself bouncing on her toes. "I dunno, I've been really happy about it! 'Cause Jake's been having some drama with Drew, 'cause he hates us or something. And, it's kinda causing some weird rift between him and Hailey, which sucked because they wanted to do a duet. So I'm really glad that everything's been sorted out, and we were able to perform!" she rambled.
Milly hadn't realised she said so much until she had to take a breath after finishing. "Oh my gosh, sorry," she tacked on quickly. Jeez, she really needed to work on that.
Elliot just gave her a big smile. "Don't worry about it, if I won the contest, I'm sure I'd be just as energetic as you,"
Milly blushed slightly and prayed that Elliot couldn't tell in the dark lighting of the auditorium. She thought back to what Jake said, "Good Luck"?
It hit her then. God, he probably was expecting her to confess now! Which, honestly, is kind of dumb because there's absolutely no way Milly was just gonna ask Elliot. It was so much easier to plan weird schemes than saying "I wanna go out with you".
"You what?" Elliot asked. Milly's eyes widened. Holy shit, did she say that out loud?! If the Guitar Incident™ was Top 10 Worst Moments, this was definitely Number 1.
"Haha, what?" Milly scratched the back of her head. Maybe if she played dumb enough the situation could just breeze over.
Elliot flushed, "You- You said you wanted to go out with me?" Great.
Milly exhaled. "I- Sorry, I was just thinking it, and I didn't mean to say it out loud, but sometimes things just slip and I-" Milly cut herself off. "Sorry," she repeated. Basically a billion things were running rampant in her mind, clouding her head.
She was pulled out her thoughts by Elliot grabbing her hand. "Are you okay?" he asked, there was a tone in his voice Milly never heard before.
"Yeah, I'm just... Sorry about the whole thing. I didn't mean to-"
"Oh, no, it's alright!" Elliot cut her off, letting go of her hand to raise his own in defense. He cleared his throat. "If you meant it... I'd like to go out with you too," He said fiddling with his fingers.
"Really?!" Milly said, straightening up. Before thinking, she pulled him into a hug. She was sure her face was as red as the guitar she performed with not long ago.
Elliot laughed as she let go of his torso. "Yeah, I've been meaning to ask you for a while, but I just couldn't bring it up."
"What?! I've been trying to tell you but nothing's been working," Milly admitted with a sheepish smile as she fidgeted with her fingerless gloves.
She saw Elliot's eyes widen, and his face went red again. "It all makes sense now..." Milly raised an eyebrow in confusion, cuing Elliot to continue.
"I thought you were trying to do something, with the flowers and the guitar lesson, but I don't know, I just didn't think you meant it that way," he looked away, embarrassment clear on his face.
It was Milly's turn to laugh now. How could she not? Moments passed, and Milly took a deep breath. "Sorry, I just think it's funny. This could've been so much easier if we just had the guts to tell each other."
Elliot chuckled, "So... When are you next free?" Milly blinked. Oh right, Milly is going out with Elliot.
"Sunday is good for me, anytime is fine," She said with a face-splitting grin. If you told Milly from, like, two weeks ago that she was going to be here, planning her first date with the boy she's been crushing on for years, she would've never believed you. But this was real.
"I'll meet you at 10:30 in front of the mall? We could go get lunch, or something," Elliot mirrored Milly's smile.
"That'd be awesome!"
-
When Milly went home and laid in bed, she couldn't help but think to move tonight from Top 10 Worst Moments of her life to one of the Top 10 Best ones.