~Tears~

"Ugh!" I screamed as I slammed the front door shut, and took off for nowhere. I just had to get away. Sometimes he just makes me so mad. I had to go somewhere quiet. I had to calm down and pull myself together.

Why does he have to be so arrogant sometimes? Why can't he just admit to the fact that he's wrong and I'm right? Why does he think that he always has to be right? Why do we have to continue to argue and fight about it?

I tugged and pulled at my hair, forcing it to fall from its' once beautiful French braid.

 I didn't feel pretty anymore. I wanted to fall apart and disappear.

In the woods, I found a small place to sit alone and cry. I hate when this happens. It always hurts more when you argue with someone you love. I pulled my knees up to my chest and wept heavy sobs. I can't handle it anymore... the yelling and arguing.

I held on to my depressing thoughts, as if somehow my anger would dull the pain, telling myself over and over, I am right, he is wrong, why can’t he see that? Why can’t he see that? 

I don’t know how long I was sitting there in my misery before I heard his footsteps approaching. 

"Hey sweetie," Leo whispered, "I thought I'd find you here."

"Great, you found me." I choked down my next sob and buried my head in my knees, "Now can you please... just leave me alone."  I don’t know why, but after a long fight and tremendous pain, we resent being comforted, his gracious whisper only made my anger grow. I wasn’t mad at him anymore, and I wanted to be, so I was mad at myself for not being mad at him, and mad at him for treating me once again with love and kindness.

I heard him crawl down on his knees and quietly sit next to me.

In the silence between us, I sniffled and he took a deep breath.

 "Actually," He spoke calmly, "I didn't come here to fight."

I tried to ignore him, my heart still feeling cold. I know, I thought, that’s what makes me mad!

"...I'm sorry," he confessed honestly. Why do you have to be so nice? I’m ugly my hair’s messed up, my eyes are red, I was mean, and I’m mad.

Being careful not to startle me as if I was a nervous horse, he reached out. One hand on mine and the other brushing away my frazzled hair from my face, he said. "I don't like to see you upset."

Yeah, well I don’t like you to see me upset either, so why don’t you just go away? It was obvious he wasn’t just going to go away. Knowing this, I looked up, I wasn’t quite ready to forgive him, but I knew we had to start somewhere; after all, you can’t stay mad forever. What I saw shocked me, he had been crying too! I was also struck by how unfair it was, he was still beautiful.

"Hello," He smiled, eyes glistening, rims still red, "I don't believe we've met. What's your name?"

Streaked in tears with red puffy eyes, my face cracked into a grin, weakly I replied “You, you know what my name is you jerk.” Again I smiled, it was good to be communicating, and he was really trying to make amends.

"Oh yeah," he looked away as if remembering, he knew I didn’t mean it, "it was something like, Polly Wants a Cracker, or was it Curious Gorge the Monkey... so does that make me the Man in the Yellow Hat?"

“Shut up.” I laughed and punched him in the shoulder, then wiping away my wet cheeks I was again aware of my far inferior appearance, I was a mess. Oh, but he loved me anyway, that was plain.

"Nah," He poked me in response to my punch, "I'm just kidding with you."

"Obviously," I poked him back.

"So, do you forgive me?"

Our argument felt so far away now, I don't even remember how it started or what it was about, "Yeah, I guess." He took a deep breath as if a cloud of heavy tension had left him, then I asked, "Can you forgive me?"

He smiled warmly, "Of course I do." His fingers began gently brushing through my tangled hair. I closed my eyes, and in our new found silence of peace, I didn't try to stop him. As he worked out the knots, it was almost as if he could've been untangling my heart. A heart that had been broken to pieces only moments ago. I felt him attempt to divide my hair into three sections, and I smiled realizing he was trying to mend the French braid I had ruined. Like mending the wounds that had hurt my heart. He's trying to show how much he cares... how much he loves me.  Taking the divided sections, he crossed them over, adding more and crossing over. We sat for a while, in silence, his fingers in my hair attempting to pull it back up to its former glory. Though I'm not sure how capable he was of re-creating a french braid, the fact he was trying was more than enough.

"There." He said, "All better?"

I reached back to touch it and was surprised to find the braid felt right. I turned to smile at him, "Yes, it's perfect. I feel much better. Thank you."

"You're welcome," He hesitated, "Oh, wait! Don't go anywhere." I watched him as he got up and ventured over to a small grove of wild flowers. Leo took a close look at each of them before he picked any, and soon he came back holding a variety of flowers as if they were a prized possession. "Ok, turn around," He spun his finger at me, a signal to turn away.

He knelt down behind me, and carefully weaved the radiant flowers into the braid he fixed for me.

Is this the same man I had argued with? A moment ago I wanted to shrivel up and die, but now I felt beautiful. An apology was nice, but this felt even better. He had made me feel beautiful again.

"There," He sighed, putting the last flower in place, "Now, it's done, and you look like the queen of the forest."

Facing him again I blushed, "Really? You think so?" I couldn't possibly smile any brighter, "Thank you."

He pulled me into a hug and whispered in my ear, "I love you,"

"I love you too," I whispered back.

"Well," He exclaimed, pulling out of our embrace, "Now that's all cleared up, I'd love to stay and chat, but it looks like rain. Do you feel like you could come back to the house with me? I'll make it up to you... we can pick out a movie, snuggle on the couch and eat popcorn."

He gave me his most brilliant smile, he knew I could never resist snuggling for a movie, especially where there was popcorn involved.  "Okay, as long as I get to pick the movie."

"Deal," He shook my hand, "But wait!"

"What?"

He started frantically searching for something, "I'm missing my yellow hat!"

Written By~Ally Elaine, Edited By~Madge   

~Ice Cream Kisses~

"Would you pick one already!"

"Ohhhh, I don't know.... they all look so good."

Leo stood anxiously next to me, "I could get you a double scoop and then you could pick out two flavors. How does that sound?"

"Well," I attempted to narrow down my choices, "Ohh, I still don't know."

 He pointed to the other side of the cold glass, "Look, I see Chocolate, Mint, Sherbet... they even have a berry mix." He smiled hopefully back at me, "You like berry flavors right?"

I gave it a hesitant thought, "Yeeaahhh...."

"Fine. If you don't pick something I will do it for you."

"No-no, no, I can pick one." I stared into the long counter holding a delicious display of ice cream. "Uhhh..."

"Okay, Sherbet it is." Leo declared.

"What??? No! I did not say I wanted Sherbet!"

"Yes you did. I heard you."

"When?"

"Just now."

"But I don't want Sherbet... I want Chocolate!"

"There you go!" Pinching me playfully, he smiled happily with himself, "See, I'm an expert at tricking decisions out of you."

"You're so mean!" Still, I couldn't help myself from smiling.

"What? No," He folded his arms in defense, "That's not called being mean. It's called, 'We need to get going, so I'm helping you make a decision,' kind of thing, " He paused, "It worked didn't it?!?"

"Fine," I breathed out a sigh, "You win, I guess I want Chocolate then."

"You sure?"

I glanced back at the ice cream flavors, "Well..."

"O-k-a-y!" He steered me away from the glass counter nearly chuckling, "Let's just stick with Chocolate shall we. Or else we're gonna be here for another half hour!"

"Na'uh!" I objected, "We haven't been here for half an hour!"

"Fine, 15 minutes, whatever. Close enough." He handed me his car keys, "Can you start the car and wait for me?"

"Okay." I took the keys and teased him, "I'll try not to leave without you."

Leo laughed at the idea, "We've been married for a while now, I know you better than that... especially since I haven't gotten the ice cream yet." He winked at me, and I flashed back a wink of my own. We were ridiculous, and a giggled escaped me realizing that I loved it. With Leo, you're never too old to be your crazy self.

* * * * *

"Here you go." Leo handed me an icecream cone as he slid into the drivers' seat.

"Thanks." I gave the cold substance a test lick as he shut his door. Yes, I did want Chocolate. Feeding my tongue, I consumed more of the delicious flavor, and asked, "Um, so where's yours?"

He looked over at me and smiled, "You're holding it."

"Oh, sorry." I stopped, feeling guilty for diving in so fast, "Then where's mine?"

"You're holding it."

I sputtered out a surprised laugh, "What? You mean you want us to share just one?"

"Yeah, why not?"

"I don't know," I tried to think up an excuse, "isn't that gonna get a little messy?"

Leo looked at me as if  he had been rehearsing something a million times over in his imagination. It reminded me of just how much affection I had for him. Maybe it was something in his eyes, or the delight in his smile...? Whatever it was, I was caught in a beautiful moment of some sorts and I wasn't about to question it.

Lowering his voice to a pleasant tone, he leaned in to touch me, "Actually, I was hoping the ice-cream wasn't all that was going to get messy," Ignoring the small divider between our front seats, he pulled me closer, and surprised my lips with a kiss.

Every possible thought flew out the car window like fireworks, all I wanted was more of his sweet chocolate flavored kisses.

 Written By~Ally Elaine, Edited By~Madge