Chapter XXVIII: Enlighten Me

I walk to his direction and sat on the blanket in front of him. He gave me the bouquet which I accepted but later on placed on the blanket just right by my side. "Why aren’t you smiling?" "Why did you want to see me? Haven’t you heard the news? The news said that it’ll rain today." I asked but he grinned "We’ll be staying here for a while. For five minutes?" he said unsure of his answer I stared at him preparing our food. Then, a sudden realization hit me. "Why are you acting like this all of a sudden?" I blurted out then he stopped "Isn’t it still clear to you?" "That you love or like me?" After his friends gave me those balloons that stated the words ’I love you’, I knew what was happening. I wasn’t that dumb not to catch up on things. Carl was acting strange these past few days and his actions just gave me the idea. "Why? Is it not necessary to like you? I love you and it’s true" he said and I rolled my eyes "That’s not a great joke, Carl. Love isn’t a subject we should take lightly." "Piper......" "Look Carl Marvin Chua, I don’t have time for such nonsense. Get to the point already." He then let go of the food he was holding and put it back on the picnic basket beside him. Maybe he realized that I wasn’t that happy about this whole thing. I’m neither happy nor sad about this. I’m confused. "Can’t I sing a song for you first?" "Singing a song won’t make the atmosphere lighten up." "Yeah, you’re right. But don’t you want to hear me sing?" "Look, Carl. This wasn’t the exact thing I expected when I turned the doorknob of the rooftop." Carl then smiled awkwardly. He looked just like a naive boy confessing to the girl he likes for years. But Carl was far from naive. And if he planned on confessing his feelings to me he should’ve planned it out very well. "Piper, I know this is kind of awkward----" "It’s not, Carl. It’s not awkward." I corrected him when he said those words I looked at him with a poker face and sighed deeply before blurting out the words I wanted to say to him. He was there waiting for the continuation of the sentences I started to say. "It’s confusing." "W-what?" he looked surprised about what I just said and stuttered while asking me to say it again "This. This whole thing is confusing Carl and I don’t want to be drowning in confusion right here." "Oh sure. Let me explain it to you clearly and slowly, Piper." he said and smiled at me before telling me what he feels "So you know, love? Love is----" "Not that Carl. I know what you feel clearly." "Then what’s confusing you?" I breathed in and out before murmuring the words he needed to hear. "I’m confused why you left without telling me before. Why do you got to disappear and appear as if nothing happened. Enlighten me, Carl. Enlighten me because I’m downright confused."