Flora glided in the student lounge with flair.

We had agreed to meet after school again on Monday, and after waiting for almost twenty minutes she finally showed up. Her long dark hair was pulled back in a high ponytail, showing off the large bronze earrings that dangled from her ears. The faint sparkle of the crystal immediately brought me back to last Christmas when we were still together. Flashbacks of laughing in the snow, hand-holding in the ice-skating rink and drinking endless mugs of hot chocolate piled on top one by one.

"Nice earrings," I said.

"Yes," she said, her tone matching my Christmas memories. Frozen. "Someone who used to matter gave it to me."

Ouch. I glanced at her outfit, which was a dress several inches too short and closer to cocktail party than studying session. She was probably going on a date again later, with someone who mattered more than me, which was of course none of my business. I don't care.

"Are you going somewhere after this?"

"No, I'm all yours." She pulled out a chair next to me. The end of her hair swung in front of my face as she sat down.

I inched away. I was a sucker for long glossy hair and I didn't want to be distracted. "Janet said you studied at her place last night."

"That's right. I was so afraid of wasting your time. I wouldn't dream of disappointing you." She dumped the folder she had been holding in her hand on the table with an angry thud, then she took out a typed document and shoved it in my face. "Here, have a read."

It was several pages long. She had typed out the outline of our paper, completed with footnotes and references. Some of the paragraphs had been highlighted. It looked like something that would take hours to complete.

"Wow, this is really impressive. You did this in one night?" Flora could be amazing if she wanted to. She was usually very laid-back, but if provoked she got all competitive. I thought she was charming that way. "I hope you didn't stay up too late for this."

"What do you care? The point is, I come fully prepared this time and I can hold a discussion properly, so you can quit acting like you're my tutor or something."

She seemed really mad. I should just apologize. "I'm sorry if I offended you yesterday."

"You offended me, all right. I just thought we can discuss what to do first, and I can focus my energy on studying about stuff that we'll actually use, but you treated me like a parasite." Her hazel eyes flashed with malice. "And by the way, history is not rocket science, it's not even hard. I don't know how you can be so arrogant."

"I was just really tired yesterday, and I don't function well in the morning without coffee. I'm sorry I said some stupid things." I chose my words carefully.

"You were practically sexist. You basically said all I can do is party, date and wear something hot." She pulled my history textbook over to her side and flipped it open. I knew Flora always had the ridiculous paranoia of me viewing her as a pretty airhead.

"Come on, that was taken out of context. You know I don't really think that. I'm really sorry."

"Whatever." She shrugged, flipping through the pages until she found what she wanted. She dove her nose in the book and ignored me. I tried reading the document she handed to me, but it was hard, knowing she was sulking.

I jabbed at her forearm lightly with the end of my pen.

"Are you going to forgive me? With that much hostility directed at me, I really can't read anything," I said in a low voice. "Don't be mad. Please?"

She burst into quiet laughter. "Fine. Stop jabbing me."

I breathed a silent sigh of relief. We were going to work on this for many more days to come and I didn't want to fight every time.

"But you can't laugh at my suggestions or make me feel stupid again," she warned.

"Of course. I promise."

Flora seemed to brighten in an instant. She snapped my textbook shut and leaned toward me. "Okay, listen, I have some pretty good ideas about how we can do our presentation."

"Let's hear it."

"I think we should do a play," she announced with a smug smile.

"A play?"

"Yeah, you know, like a skit. Instead of reading to the class, we can act a year in medieval times. We can be a peasant, a noble or crusaders, and show what life was all about. The plights that we faced. How famine, plague and war affected us. Depends on what aspect we want to focus on the most."

I bit back the first snide remark that came to my mind. It sounded like the description on the back cover of an RPG game, minus the quest to locate hidden treasures and conquest the seven seas. I stalled for time, trying to come up with a rejection line that didn't sound like rejection.

"I don't know...Mr. Goleman doesn't strike me as someone with a sense of humor. I seriously doubt that he'll like it that way."

"I don't care what Mr. Goleman thinks. I'm not going to do a fifteen-minute presentation by reading out the contents in our paper and bore everybody's brains out," she said. "Flora Morgan cannot give a boring presentation."

Do you get paid for entertaining people? "I thought we could just do it with PowerPoint."

"Well, but now we have a better idea," she said, her voice dripping with authority. She narrowed her eyes at me. "Unless you're saying I can't decide how we do our presentation."

"No, of course you can decide. But can we go through this carefully? I mean, it seems like a lot to cover in fifteen minutes, and-"

"I don't care," Flora said stubbornly. "You can have your way on the contents of the paper we're handing in, but I'm standing my ground on the presentation. I think as long as the paper is good Mr. Goleman won't mind having a little fun."

A play? Seriously? I felt maneuvered. She knew I couldn't just flat out deny her suggestion after her little tantrum earlier, although it was truly the most absurd idea I had ever heard.

"I...can I at least think it over?"

"It's like gift-wrapping or advertising, really. We sell the same product, but we just do it with a backstory. We can add loads of historic fact into the construct of a play, you know? Imagine how boring TV commercials would be if people just did it with PowerPoint."

"Well, unless I'm selling a medieval castle here, I don't see how that's relevant."

Flora glared at me. "I knew you'd act like this. As a matter of fact Jan and I had quite a laugh talking over it."

I was so going to kill Janet for not talking her out of her craziness firsthand.

"Hey, I got an even better idea." Her voice dropped dramatically, and I just knew it meant trouble. "You can play the part of the knight, and I can play the part of the girl who mysteriously dropped out of the sky."

I stared at her. "What mysterious girl?"

"I'm from the modern city, and for some reason I'm sucked into the sky and land again in medieval times. You know time travel is so hot right now. And anyway, I can be so unaccustomed to ancient life, and the difference between now and then will be significant."

"Seriously, Flora, I think you did drop out of the sky." This nightmare was becoming more vivid by the minute. "If anyone needs a play in order to see the difference between now and then, perhaps that person should just drop history altogether."

"Think about it! Open your mind, Sean."

"Hmmm...maybe we can even fall in love in the end and you decide that you're throwing everything away just to stay with me, and we can happily feed ourselves on soup-stew and rye bread for the rest of our lives," I put in sarcastically.

Flora's hazel eyes shone. "Yeah! Like in that Meg Ryan film." She nodded wildly. "We have to add this part."

I felt like banging my head on the history textbook. "I just can't win with you, can I?"

***

As time went on I had to admit Flora's idea wasn't all bad. She gave me a decent plot and it was educational as well as entertaining, and although I didn't want to boost her ego any further, I couldn't keep the smile off my face when she tossed me lines from her play.

I had forgotten how fun it was when we were not enemies. It was better than fun. It was addictive.

When we were done for the day, it almost felt too soon. I offered to do the typing and Flora didn't fight over the privilege. She collected her things and turned to me suddenly with a bright smile on her face. "Hey, I'm hungry. Do you want to have dinner together?"

"Sure," I agreed without thinking. "If you're not doing anything later."

As soon as the words were out I regretted it. I knew I wanted to spend more time alone with her, but that was pushing it a bit far. We already survived an afternoon together without tearing each other's eyes out, and I really should quit while I was ahead.

"Great! I'm starved," she said. "And no, I told you I have nothing else planned."

"You look really dressed-up, that's all."

She smiled. "I really just threw these on. Come on, let's go."

We walked together to the parking lot, neither of us speaking. I knew this was a huge step between us, an almost-date to me and just food to her, and I had no idea how to act. I told myself it was no big deal, as if having casual dinner with my ex-girlfriend was something I did regularly.

I held the door open for her. "Where do you want to go?"

"I'm dying for some raw dead fish," she told me. "I want to go to that new Japanese restaurant near the park."

"Sure." I started the car and stared straight ahead, but I was well-aware of Flora sitting on the passenger side. It was awkward. I thought I was annoyed with her on Sunday, but now I bounced right back to being mildly attracted to her. I shouldn't nurture this attraction. Her perfume gnawed at me, and crammed inside my car with her was enough to send me in a claustrophobic attack.

Up until this afternoon, the conversations we shared were usually strained, if not outright hostile, that I had forgotten how to socialize properly. Luckily Flora was chatty enough for both of us.

"How's Linda adapting to high school life?"

"Pretty good, I guess," I said. "She doesn't tell me anything but she seems really giddy these days."

Flora nodded. "That's because she has a boyfriend now."

"Already?"

"Yes. What can I say? You can't fight true love. That's her words, by the way."

"Who is it?"

"His name is Ray." Oh God I hate him already. "Ray Sandler, I think. He's in her English class. Pretty cute for a freshman, but nothing that screams true love."

At least she was dating someone her age. "Do you know him?"

"Not really, but you should probably get to know him. After all, Linda has announced that she'll be marrying him as soon as high school ends."

I scoffed. "Linda is unbelievable. She'll forget him at the next party she goes to."

"I wouldn't be so sure about that. She seems head-over-heels, Sean. She has already started on knitting a scarf for him as a Christmas gift, and she wants to celebrate her birthday with him by cooking a five-course meal together. It's a recipe for disaster, if you ask me."

"I'm sure Linda's knitting and cooking will be disastrous, but at least she's taking her future husband seriously."

"No...when you pour your heart out to a guy this madly this early, nothing good will come out of it," Flora said wisely, like she was giving out advice in a weekly column. "Linda's affection seems one-sided. As Sandy would say, let the guy do some work and make him sweat a little, or he'll never cherish you."

"I hope you don't really believe that." As far as I knew Flora didn't play hard-to-get and I really liked that about her.

"I actually think there's a lot of truth to it, but that's just in theory. I have trouble applying it myself. When I like a guy I just can't shut up about it."

I remembered how Flora had repeatedly said she liked me and how flattering that was. I had no problem with girls who were aggressive and spoke their minds, and the feeling of no longer being the object of Flora's affection left me with a sense of loss. "Thanks for looking out for Linda, though. She's really lucky to have you as a friend."

"You don't need to thank me. I'm not doing it for your sake."

"I know, but why? I can't imagine what Linda can offer you."

"I've always wanted to have a little sister who I can pamper and dress up," Flora said. "And in a way she kind of reminds me of myself. When I first started high school I was really clueless too, and I had my fair share of boyfriends who didn't cherish me." She glanced at me. I hoped she didn't mean me.

I pulled up in front of the restaurant. I just wanted to have fast food and get it over with, but Flora looked too nicely-dressed for fries so I agreed to sushi. I knew it'd take longer to eat here and I welcomed the idea, regardless of how much of a suicidal move it was.

I hadn't been to a lot of Japanese restaurants and I let Flora order for me, and she was incredibly bossy about dining etiquette and table manners. She acted like she grew up in Tokyo just because she could say Arigato. I found her self-righteousness amusing.

"I feel like I'm watching a horror movie." She openly scoffed at the way I hold my chopsticks. "Here, let me show you."

She picked up her pair and demonstrated how to pick up a small slice of cucumber. From my perspective she looked pretty clumsy herself.

"I'm not sure I want to learn from you."

"You just don't want to admit I'm better at this than you are," she said haughtily. "You have to put your index finger here." She reached across the table and grabbed my right hand, adjusting my fingers to the right position. Her touch was cool and smooth, but my heartbeat escalated immediately. I withdrew my hand as subtly as I could and picked up the instruction from the table.

"I can be self-taught," I said.

"Let's just see how that works out." She leaned back in her chair and gloated over my attempts. I practiced for a while, and when she tried picking up another cucumber shakily, I briskly snatched it away with my chopsticks.

She looked at me in astonishment.

"You don't have to be so arrogant, Flora," I said. "It's not rocket science, it's not even hard."

Flora shook her head in mock anger. "You have awful table manners, Sean."

***

For a while Flora was too engrossed in her food to talk to me. She was always willing to try exotic food, and this evening she was happy with the grilled eels over rice she ordered. For someone who was born rich and had seen everything, Flora wasn't at all jaded. She had a child-like innocence, like she was amazed by life and all the wonders it brought.

"I never know eels can taste like this," she said, shaking her head. "It's like they're caramelized with soy sauce. I love it! Do you want some?"

"Only if you're too full to finish it."

"I am, actually. You'd be doing me a favor." She pushed over her plate. "I remember how you hate wasting food."

Back then I used to polish off all her leftovers. Flora would order anything that intrigued her, taking a few bites to taste the flavor, knowing that I would be there to finish the rest.

I accepted her grilled eels even though I wasn't hungry anymore. Old habits die hard.

She watched me eat, and an amused sparkle came into her eyes. It was like she was watching a dolphin feeding show at SeaWorld.

"What? Do I have something on my face?"

"No. It's just that...I don't know how you do it, but when you're eating, you make the food look super delicious. You look so contented."

"Is that a good thing?"

Her lips curled up. "Of course."

I ate the rest of my dinner with my ex-girlfriend smiling at me, filling my cup with Japanese green tea and the air between us with her nonstop chatter. It was awkward but also sort of...nice. We ended up staying much longer than I anticipated, and I enjoyed Flora's company a little too much. I knew if I let myself be alone with her it was just something waiting to happen.

I really shouldn't do anything this stupid again. Next time she suggested dinner I'd head straight to McDonald's drive-through and toss her a Big Mac.

On the way back, Flora announced she wanted to close her eyes and doze off.

"I'm sorry. I'm just really tired."

"No problem. I'll wake you up when we get to your place."

"Okay. How do I adjust the car seat? I want to lean back a little."

"There's a handle to your right."

Flora fumbled around for a while, then she turned to face me. "I can't do it."

"It's the same as every car."

"No, the seat adjuster is remote-controlled in my car. Can you do it for me?"

She looked completely innocent, but I had a truckload of dirty thoughts in my head. It was impossible to adjust the car seat without touching her, and as I leaned over to work the adjuster, we were so close I could almost feel her breath on my face.

Flora was like the sirens in Odysseus's tale or Salome in New Testament. I had so little self-restraint around her it was ridiculous.

"Is this better?" I pulled back and asked.

"Thanks, Sean." She smiled with her eyes closed. I turned the music down and drove in silence, my mind a jumble of thoughts. It was probably better that Flora wasn't talking to me, however her presence was still palpable.

I stopped at a red light, and I reached around to grab a spare jacket on the backseat. I placed it on her gently, careful not to disturb her.

She didn't even stir. I liked that she seemed so trusting and at ease beside me.

When I pulled up in front of her building, she was still sleeping. I indulged myself in gazing at her face for a few seconds more. I would never have the chance to stare at her like this again. She was so beautiful. For a very brief second I wondered why we weren't together anymore.

"Thank you. I had fun tonight," Flora said lazily, still not opening her eyes.

I tore my gaze hastily away. "Yeah, me too. We're here."

"Okay." She raised her arms over her head and stretched, sitting up. She smiled at me as she handed my jacket back to me, sending a faint cloud of her perfume along with it. "Thanks. You're very sweet."

"No problem."

"Well, see you tomorrow," she said. Our eyes locked for a second. My heart rate had picked up speed again. Flora leaned toward me and squeezed me on the shoulder, smoothly, playfully, before she turned to open the door.

It was with just the right amount of strength, enough to keep me guessing and torturing myself with confused thoughts. She got out of the car and walked up the flight of stairs to her door.

.