Perfectly Hopeless by Holly Hood

hair.
     
    Maven moved closer, wanting more from their encounter, but to afraid to take it herself. She wanted Henri to make the next move. She pulled away.
     
    “ I always have a nice time when I’m with you.” She sliced through the water with her foot waiting for Henri to get the hint that she liked him. She stared at the water waiting patiently.
     
    Henri pursed his lips. “Anymore it’s the only thing I look forward to with such excitement. It’s almost like nothing else compares.”
     
    Maven completely agreed. “What do you think that means? You said you never get to know many people.” Maven knew she was waiting to hear the words every girl wanted to hear—that the guy that stayed on her mind was totally smitten by her.
     
    “ I don’t know…” Henri said, trailing off until there was a soft silence all around them. They both stared at the water.
     
    Henri liked Maven a lot. But he wasn’t so brave that he could admit it. He was afraid to admit that he liked her—more afraid then most things in his life.
     
     
     
    Hours rolled on. And they sat under the stars sharing the important things in their lives, being open and honest like no other time before. Maven could tell Henri anything. And he loved the way she laughed when he told her stories about his life back home—the good parts. Her laugh was remarkable and always produced a smile on his face.
     
    She loved the way he stroked her arm and listened without judgment about her feelings toward Jake after he hurt her so badly. He loved her honesty and how she wasn’t afraid to admit that she felt crushed.
     
    He wanted to make her happy. He knew she needed to be, she was such a beautiful human being and Henri saw that in her every moment they shared.
     
    She rested her head on his chest counting the stars in the sky. Listening to his voice echo in her ears as he told her old stories that he remembered when he was little, stories about fantasy worlds and things that only someone with a lot of hope could ever believe.
     
    “ Do you really believe in the afterlife?” Maven asked at the end of Henri’s story. She lifted her head from his chest. He closed his eyes.
     
    “ I believe it.” And he did. “There’s got to be more to life than just this.”
     
    “ I think so too.” Maven rested her head and smiled. She liked that Henri believed in the afterlife it almost made her feel better for a moment.
     
    “ If not, then what a cruel joke,” Henri said more to himself, he opened his eyes again counting each luminous star that he saw in the sky, Maven’s giggling returning as they started talking about less serious subjects—like the night he toilet papered his own house on Halloween in Tennessee.
     

 
     
    Horrible Gossip
     
     
     
     
     
    Maven stared up at the bad lighting in the dressing room. She gracelessly shimmied into the first dress she had picked out.
     
    “ How’s it look, Maves?” Her mother called from the other side of the door.
     
    Maven rolled her eyes. She swatted her bangs away staring at herself in the mirror. It was too long—long was never her thing.
     
    The hop wasn’t formal. It was a laidback dance where girls found cute summer dresses to wear and boys wore a nice pair of slacks and a dress shirt. Some wore ties, others kept it simple.
     
    She gave herself a useless smirk and unlatched the door so her mother could invade her space.
     
    “ I don’t really think it’s your color.” Her mom bit her thumbnail as she studied her in the long flowing number. “What about the pink one?”
     
    Maven looked over at Maggie. There she sat in a chair arms crossed, ear buds in, ignoring the whole excursion. “I don’t like pink remember?”
     
    Her mother sighed, shaking her head in exasperation that Maven wanted to dispute the shade. Ever since she could remember Maven refused to wear anything pink. She said it was to girly and made her look too goody goody . She realized it was a lost cause and