Prompt: Write a romance story which involves a bracelet, 'unicorn', 'you're toast', delinquents, and a happy ending460Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ8PGI1Uu1o
This is the part where I say, I love you.460Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnQAdSsgZeZ
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.460Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBMOs8QpjTu
First of all, it would be far more interesting; after all, stories are rarely as boring as my daily routine.460Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG5qWBuUXEO
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.460Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVNlZ0DraEy
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?460Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlBuMqDcTmU
Thirdly, I should have had a happy ending by now.460Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHeTRoo7Sb4
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.460Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxuCJ3XSjm3
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.460Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw3sOoiSbpq
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.460Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ034Re1RFH6
Day in, day out, this is my life.460Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRTeGd2YRKZ
So when is my story going to start?
This is the part where the boy escapes on a Unicorn.460Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZHK3SgXd6w
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.460Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOcnGr4wOzm
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.460Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5PqBWjo9IS
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.460Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlXAdDRfGYy
'A piece of toast thanks.' He orders.460Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAvhIOSrWCf
'...just toast?' God her voice sounds so soft I could sleep in it.460Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ4VedIc2eR
'Yes. Just. Toast.' His, on the other hand, was so rough I could feel his vocal chords being sanded down as he spoke.460Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNYX9ePrhSv
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?460Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡx8DiNh4q33
ping!460Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZqTegtQiY0
'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.'460Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkvOGHgTtUh
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.'460Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNjnCPKPmd2
A question mark hangs in the air. 'Jonas, what do you mean?' She knows this ugly specimens?460Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTs9bZktI7C
'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.460Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmyzS8WduYM
'Hey! Hey, you!' He stops and turns around at the sound of my call.460Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGCmmkCcyNc
'What do you want?' He snarls.460Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnCo3OJZmJY
'I want you to keep your dirty fingers off that girl!' I snap at him in a feeble attempt at intimidation.460Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfIAJHwuQY8
'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.460Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡi93gU7vSCt
'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.460Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUepHX7mcD9
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.460Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBBXy6q7Rp2
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.460Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMZbfcWxVgR
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.460Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2revFuhAUz
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.460Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡobWL8wBc08
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.460Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2kiT7nRzSY
'Dear me!' She hobbles toward my bathroom, but I stop her -460Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsN13BsqE78
'The flush doesn't work.' I smile.460Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡouwLBZieP3
'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.460Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2nbtpMKofd
'Would you like me to unlock your apartment for you?'460Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1X6PTeF3iy
'Please!'460Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPysexz5RTk
What happened next was unpleasant but necessary. Suffice to say, I retrieved the keys from their storage place, remarkably near my birth place.460Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ1QnZZkwmJ
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.460Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSdtz0ZArv1
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.460Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjGUYZSrTtr
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.460Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEfVQZ87GQI
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.460Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdOmXEf5vzM
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.460Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfi43SvAMtN
I sit, and wait, and watch. Could it be that this might win her heart?460Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlg70uhEacg
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.460Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡba5TtKY08Y
I walk up to the counter.460Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuDIVZxYRJl
'The usual?' Angelic.460Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyNsW2DFR6r
'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.460Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTnqvfhokT5
Forget everything. This is the part where I say, I love you.460Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvOB7QT7M2V
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.460Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrfOxmBbnTd
'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.460Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeOyBWIf2Cg
'If the JONAS JONES isn't good enough for someone, no one is!' He booms.460Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOm6UCE7FHV
'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.'460Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡy2CTS3YFFF
'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.460Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPrIVqUpjLv
'You boys are going to leave Ellie alone. And her gifts.' Upon feeling a twinge of pain, I quickly added 'And me.'460Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyOGaEZwN8x
'Make us.' Rabbit pulls out a knife from his pocket.460Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNuPregby6N
'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.460Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxZW55dYIqV
'WHEEERE IIIIIIS MYYYY CHIIIIIIIIIINAAAAAAAAAAA?!?!?!'460Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeGgTntM5Vg
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.460Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp54Gz9UZML
She looks at the bag in Jonas' hands.460Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGlJfdHZdVR
Jonas looks down at the bag in his hands.460Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWQXd45jCIj
Pug grabs the bag and hides it behind his back.460Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkflPAN4MWt
Mother morphs into her final form and unleashes her rage.460Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG23P44XB40
'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.460Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaf0zP0xiTx
'Ellie.' I say, eyes staring into hers.460Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡawmqulF31R
'Yes?'460Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2dVa94JgRr
This is the part.460Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDhBusRpar0
'I...'460Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡk5RHB1OqW0
'Yes?'460Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1tZQfiTvNo
'Ellie, I luh. I lughhhh. I, I, I lughhhhhhhh - '460Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKaOogQBNWW
'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.460Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUjBHmYqVjK
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.460Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgz2tZxcoc3
I even think that mother might approve.
This, my friend, is the part where you stop reading.
ns 172.69.7.101da2
and then Add to home screen.