Following Flora by Natasha Farrant Read Free Book Online Page B

love at first sight. It’s just one of those things you assume must be true because films and books are always going on about it, but Flora is my first real life experience with it, and it’s extremely strange. She’s had about a million crushes and boyfriends before, but this is the first time she has come into my bedroom in the middle of the night to talk about it.
    â€œHe’s so gorgeous,” she said. “I mean, close up. He’s got these amazing brown eyes, and when he smiles his mouth goes up a little bit more on one side than the other, which is adorable, and he has a dimple in his left cheek. And he’s really funny. I apologized about you and your video. I mentioned, you know, the fight thing, and he got all embarrassed and said he didn’t normally go around punching people. He said that song was very personal to him, and it upset him seeing it taken apart like that. He’s so sensitive and artistic. He said he had a lot on his mind, and I said I knew a bit about it through Zoran, but discreetly, you know, like I didn’t mention his witch mother not coming to the concert or anything. I just said very vaguely about his grandfather and how I was sorry, and he was all yeah, well, it was tough but he didn’t want to talk about it, and then it was a tiny bit awkward but he asked if he could see me again!”
    â€œYour face is going red,” I said. “I think the blood must be going to your head.”
    Flora flipped back the right way up and beamed at me.
    â€œDid I tell you he smells delicious? Like lemons. Or maybe limes.”
    â€œThat’s so lovely.”
    â€œI’m going back to bed now.”
    She glided over to the door in a sort of weird improvised ballet and drifted out.
    I have been lying awake for ages. Jake comes home today. I realize that I have absolutely no idea what he smells like.
    Â 
    SUNDAY, DECEMBER 1 (CONT.)
    If I was making a film about me and Jake, I would call it something like
The Saga of Bluebell and Jake
, and it would go like this:

THE SAGA OF BLUEBELL AND JAKE
THE DAY HE CAME HOME
    BLUE, looking casually elegant without her glasses, sits on a park bench gazing wistfully at the duck pond. JAKE appears soundlessly behind her.
    JAKE
    You are even more beautiful than I remembered.
    Â 
    Blue turns toward him with a dainty sob. Jake folds her in his manly arms.
    BLUE
    Jake! How delicious! You smell exactly like cinnamon toast!
    Â 
    Or this: BLUE walks down the street with a group of friends, carefree and laughing, when they run into JAKE, hurrying toward them, carrying a bunch of flowers and a haunted expression.
    JAKE
    (his voice choked with emotion)
    Thank God you’re alive! I’ve been trying to call you every day since your last witty and amusing e-mail to apologize for sharing it with my entire family!
    Â 
    BLUE
    Madame Gilbert confiscated my phone!
    Â 
    JAKE
    (folding her in his manly arms)
    Your eyes are like the ocean on a summer’s day, and your fragrance reminds me of roses.
    Â 
    I know both of these would be super cheesy, but I still think they would be better than what actually did happen today, which was—nothing.
    I waited all day for Jake to call. I don’t even know why I got so worked up about it. Maybe it was Flora last night, like all that head over heels stuff was contagious. Maybe I do like him more than I thought. Or maybe it was just Dodi, turning up at the crack of dawn with her hair curlers and a bag full of makeup, making me feel like it was all a much bigger deal than it was.
    â€œYou have to be dazzling,” she scolded when I tried to resist her makeover. She made me steam and exfoliate my face, then started to turn my dead straight hair into droopy ringlets.
    â€œThey’re pretty and feminine,” she said.
    â€œThey’re hideous,” I retorted, but Dodi said I had to trust her.
    â€œI’m going to leave you the makeup and the curlers,” she said,