At a mere eleven years of age, Sia knows she’s too young to say her heart’s been broken. Still, she’s fairly sure that it’s at least cracked, just a little bit.
She’s supposed to be packing for Spain. She’d been excited for the trip, where she’d see some muggle family members and practice her Spanish. Her family always traveled during the summer, and Sia loved every part of the process of traveling. Including packing her bags.
Her suitcase is open on the floor, holding some shirts and skirts, waiting for Sia to continue her task. She’d been packing as usual, happily looking forward to the trip, until she found her pouch. And there, she’d found a small bottle of soft pink nail polish.
Sia lies curled up on her bed, nail polish in hand. Lotus is there with her, looking at Sia with her black eyes from her spot by Sia’s knees. The girl strokes her beloved bunny’s head with a single finger, not quite frowning, but definitely not smiling either.
“Have you ever had a crush, Lotus?” Sia whispers. She sighs at her own choice of words. A crush. Is that even what this is? Because maybe it’s just a strong desire for a friendship. But Sia has never felt such warmth in any of her friendships. But then again, none of Sia’s friends were like him. No one came close to it.
No one had ever let her in just to push her away right afterwards. So maybe it’s a matter of wanting what she couldn’t have. Or to know him better to understand him, making it a simple feeling of curiosity. But it isn’t just that. Sia knows it. Less than wanting the unobtainable, or even wanting something new, it’s wanting more of something good.
It had been a good feeling. She knows that much. She’d been happy in the moment, even if it left her with a heartbeat faster than it’d ever been in her young life. Now, she still feels a sting of rejection, but she also really, really feels an inexplicable yearning.
She wants to try again. Although the plain thought of approaching him is enough to make her palms sweat and her stomach get butterflies and her heart speed up its beating - all of which could be attributed to nervousness at the possibility of being rejected again, or something else that she’d really rather not think of - she wants to try again.
Lotus has no words to offer. She only gives Sia a slow twitch of her tiny nose as a reply. Giggling, Sia glances back at the nail polish in her hand. It reminded her of the better part of their encounter. When he’d been nice, and gave her a pillow, and touched her curls, and squeezed her hands. She can almost feel that warmth again. She wants to feel it again.
She looks into Lotus’s dark eyes. Dark eyes like his. Sia feels her cheeks blushing, and she smiles unashamedly at her bunny, like a bubbly little girl with a piece of candy.
“I think it’s a crush.”
