Open Love is flower like; Friendship is like a sheltering tree

[Rowan Baros]

Rowan looked at the list of people she had to deliver to and grinned. She knew a few names on the list thankfully. She looked up as she almost walked into someone and laughed. "Oh, Alice! I'm glad I ran into you, I have a rose with your name on it!" She said quickly brandishing the rose to the other girl.​

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@Alice Holland yellow rose​

 

[Alice Holland]

Alice felt a headache coming on, and she still had plenty of roses to deliver. Never before had she been this unenthusiastic about the process, but she knew it was important to many people, so she just had to power through. She was trying to search for the next person on her list, when she nearly walked into someone. Alice apologized hurriedly before recognizing the person as her classmate Rowan. To her surprise, Rowan seemed to have a rose for her. She had almost forgotten she was likely to get a few, though she was painfully reminded that there wouldn't be any from Blake. She quickly forced a smile. "Oh, wow, really? Thanks!" She said, taking the rose from the Gryffindor.

 

[Rowan Baros]

Rowan smiled at Alice. Rowan was excited to be getting her own roses too, she couldn't wait. She knew Elio wouldn't forget. She hoped Alice was feeling better after what happened at the Yule Ball too, but she didn't want to bring it up, since she didn't really know Alice that well, it was all mostly from Elio. "I have a note too, sorry, hold on," she said, fetching the note from the box and handing it to her.​

Spoiler

ty 4 bein my bff & bein tha best 4eva. wish tha world appreciated u 4 how amazin u r. ur time will come so stay strong & keep bein ur beautiful self
LUV EMILY

 

[Alice Holland]

Alice took the yellow rose from her classmate, waiting for the rose. She opened it and smiled at the message, a more genuine smile at the sweet words of her best friend. Emily must know she needed something to keep her going on this day. "Thanks, Rowan." She said, folding up the note. "Have you gotten anything yet?"

 

[Rowan Baros]

Rowan grinned, glad the rose seemed to have made Alice happy. "No, not yet, but I will," she said, thinking about the rose she'd sent to Elio. They'd been so up and down for months that finally settling had been a huge weight off of her shoulders. "I know you've gotten this one, but are you expecting any others?" She asked, completely not thinking about what had happened at the yule ball for a moment and then frowning as soon as she'd asked the question. "Oh, sh!t, sorry..."​

 

[Alice Holland]

Alice smiles. "You know that for sure?" She asked teasingly. Alice shrugged in response to Rowan's next question, about to answer that she wasn't entirely sure. But then winced as Rowan seemed to remember the stuff with Blake, making it a little awkward. "I don't know, I expect some of my friends might have sent me one." She said lightly, trying to gloss over the Blake thing. "I suppose I'll see."

 

[Rowan Baros]

Rowan grinned at Alice. "Of course, Elio will have sent me one," she said, though seeing as this was not the first time she'd been asked, about it, she couldn't help but wonder if they knew something she didn't. "Sorry, I didn't even think," she said, wishing she could have taken back her question. "I'm sure you will get plenty, you have a lot of friends," there were times Rowan was jealous of Alice, both because of Elio and because she had so many more friends that Rowan really had that she could rely on. People like Elena were convenient, Chrys was funny, but they weren't people she could have conversations with. Not real ones like she could with Elsie and Elio. "I best be going, I hope you... feel better?" How did you even address something like that? She shook her head. "Bye Alice."​

 

[Alice Holland]

Alice had just been joking, she knew that Rowan was likely to get one from her friends, and she knew Elio was close to her. The girl's comment made her think she hadn't quite understood Alice's joking tone, but it felt a little strange to point it out now. She winced when Rowan acknowledged the Blake thing again, and even the comment about her having a lot of friends felt a little forced, like she was just trying to make her feel better. Alice forced a smile. "I think so too." She said, attempting to sound confident. "And I'll be too busy delivering to really notice, anyway." She added lightly, adding a laugh. "Oh, I feel absolutely fine." She assured Rowan, even if it was a lie. "Bye, have a nice day!" She was glad this conversation was over, it had made her feel a lot worse than she wanted to admit. It was easier to pretend the Blake thing had never happened if other people did as well, the reminder that everyone likely knew about it made her feel anxious all over again.