Elijah pulled a sleepy Nicholas out onto the field. Nicholas glared at the back of Elijah's head, cursing the day he was born for waking Nicholas up at the ungodly hour of eight. The sunlight irritated Nicholas's eyes and he wished it would begin to rain, hating the warmth he was feeling when on the inside he felt nothing.

It was too early for this.

"Nick, could you not be a vampire? I get that you're as pale as a wall, but being a blood sucker is getting you nowhere in life," grinned Elijah.

"You have some nerve talking to me like that, you ass," he scowled.

Elijah tsked, wagging a finger in his face. "Now, Nicholas, is that any way to treat your elders?"

"Can I go home now?"

"Absolutely not," scoffed Elijah as he continued dragging a stubborn Nicholas.

Nicholas planted his foot firmly on the ground, halting his steps. He refused to follow Elijah deeper into the fields, there was no point. All Nicholas wanted was his soft bed and his comfy pillow, nothing less and nothing more.

Today was his day off from work, although he was disappointed, he figured Dina wouldn't even show up. That alone was enough to ruin his mood. She had slowly become a major part of his life. He was distracted without her, she was the breath of air that he needed to survive.

Elijah tried pulling his arm harder, but Nicholas would not budge, he was firmly rooted to his spot. That didn't stop his ambitious best friend. Instead, Elijah mustered up all the strength he had in his skinny figure, grabbing Nicholas's arms, and pulling with an even greater force than he did before. Nicholas strained his muscles to stay still, to not move an inch even though his grip on the ground beneath was slipping.

"You're making this more difficult than it has to be, Nick," Elijah forced out.

Nicholas shook his head. "I don't care. I'm not going," he replied, pulling in the opposite direction. "Stop playing tug-a-war with my arm and release me!"

"Never!"

The two young adults kept tugging at each other, one forcing his friend and the other trying to escape. They made an unlikely pair of best friends. People walked by, whispering to one another as they tried to stifle their laughter.

Their words meant nothing to Nicholas, a couple of snide remarks from strangers never bothered him, it was from the people he loved that it hurt the most.

"Elijah," strained Nicholas, feeling his muscles start to weaken by the second. I can't keep this up any longer.

"Surrender to the festival," demanded Elijah.

"Do you have any idea how demonic you sound?"

Elijah ignored him. "Surrender!" he yelled.

Tired of fighting, Nicholas stopped struggling, making Elijah fall over. Nicholas watched his friend slide against the floor before landing on his bottom with a slight groan at the impact. A smile grazed the corner of Nicholas's lips. He felt a little bad, so he offered his hand to Elijah, who graciously took it as Nicholas pulled him back on his feet.

"A little warning next time would be much appreciated," remarked Elijah.

Nicholas shrugged, "I thought you'd get the memo."

"Let's go. You've done enough."

Chuckling, Nicholas followed his friend, who led them to the center of the baseball field. Couples had started to gather around, holding hands and sharing passionate kisses, which Nicholas cringed at. Anthony and his group of immature friends stood on the sidelines, flexing for a couple of googly-eyed girls, who simply giggled.

"Explain to me why we're here again?" asked Nicholas, rolling his eyes as he passed Anthony's group.

"We're here because of the legend."

Nicholas scoffed, "What kind of a legend starts this early in the morning?"

"Get over yourself. You've been up for a while now."

"Not by will," he retorted.

"Anyway," emphasized Elijah, "the helicopters are suppose to drop thousands of roses in a couple minutes."

"Your point?"

Elijah face palmed, mumbling incoherently to himself. "The legend states that if a person catches a rose they will find love in the same year," continued Elijah, ignoring Nicholas's bored attitude.

"Sounds delightful," muttered Nicholas, sarcastically. He realized that Elijah had already found his love. It didn't make sense for him to participate if he already found a girl he was head-over-heels for. "Wait, you have a girlfriend. Why the hell are we here?"

Elijah scratched the back of his neck, awkwardly, shifting from one foot to the other. "I wanted to make sure it would stay that way," he smiled, bashfully.

Nicholas tilted his head at Elijah.

"I just want to make sure she's really mine," he sighed.

"And you think a couple of roses falling will determine that?"

Elijah scowled, crossing his arms over his chest. "Very funny, Nick. The Rose Festival is just for fun," he shrugged.

"Fun? You woke me up for catching roses, dude. I think you need to reevaluate your definition of fun," Nicholas flatly replied.

"For all you know, I could have brought you here to rekindle your romance with the Muslim chick," winked Elijah.

Nicholas felt his face go red as a tomato at the mere mention of her. He averted his gaze away from Elijah's wiggling eyebrows, pretending not to see him. "I have n-no idea what you're talking about," he stuttered.

"What's her name?"

"No clue."

"Liar."

"I'm not lying, you're lying."

Elijah chuckled, "Oh man. This must be a serious crush if you've resorted to my type of comebacks."

He was right. Nicholas was finding it hard to deny his attraction to Dina. It was like a magnet was pulling him to her, wherever she went, Nicholas seemed to follow. She didn't even realize the effect she had on him, which Nicholas found amusing. If only she could hear his thoughts, then perhaps she could accept him.

A loud sound emerged from above them, scaring Nicholas until he realized that it was just the helicopter. The obnoxious flying machine flew over them, people began to stand as they carefully watched, anxiously waiting for the roses to fall.

Nicholas rolled his eyes, how lame. He had never been one to be into hopeless romance, in fact love wasn't a word in his personal dictionary. Never had Nicholas felt the joys of love. Most normal people felt it from their parents, but not him. Nicholas wasn't normal and he knew that.

"Nick, look!" exclaimed Elijah as he eagerly stared up at the sky.

"I'm telling you that it's-"

He was cut off by the screams of the youth, their arms flailing around to catch a rose. Nicholas noticed people stumbling over each other, and he found it amusing. Dozens of red petals were scattered around him, flying into the atmosphere as a gust of wind blew them away. For a moment, Nicholas relished the beauty of thousands of petals falling around him, unconsciously reaching out for one.

A smooth stem slipped into his fingers, the deep red glistening with water droplets. Up close, the rose didn't seem as terrible. It was comforting, erupting an odd feeling through him, and instantly he thought of Dina. She would have liked it here, he thought with a smile.

He lifted his blue eyes, hearing Elijah call for him, but instead of finding Elijah, Nicholas found a certain Muslim girl. He froze as her warm brown eyes met his, shining her perfect smile at him. He looked around, wondering if she was really looking at him until he heard her soft giggle.

Bringing his eyes back to her laughing form, he caught sight of the rose that she gripped tightly into the palm of her hands. They had both caught it.

Destiny was something he never believed in. However, at that moment, Nicholas would believe anything if it all had the same ending. There was no demons, no fears, no anxiety. There was only the blossoming of a romance that was only told through books. There was only Nicholas and Dina.

----

School did not murder me! I'm still alive! My grade won homecoming decorations though. LET US ALL ADMIRE THE FROZONE AND INCREDIBLES.

Y'all admiring? I know I am.

Back to the story, Dina is literally everywhere and I love it! Basically Just screaming fate.

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