He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not

Tick sat at the bottom of the stairs outside of their apartment building and looked down at a pure white daisy.

He had heard a little girl say that if you wanted to know if someone was in love with you, all you needed to do was pick a flower, say a certain rhyme, and when you got to the last petal, you would know.

So, as Tick sat down on the bottom step, he thought of Arthur as he began to say the rhyme. He wanted to see how much Arthur loved him.

"He loves me, he loves me not," he began as he slowly made his way around the flower.

Arthur was walking down the sidewalk holding the groceries when he spotted Tick sitting on the bottom step.

As he got closer, he saw that Tick was crying.

A worried frown came across his face as he began to move faster. When he got to the stairs, he put down the bags of groceries and sat next to Tick.

Arthur placed a gentle hand on Tick's blue shoulder as he asked what was wrong.

Tick sniffled and brushed his blue sleeve across his nose.

He refused to look at Arthur, and instead continued staring at the now depetaled flower.

"You don't love me anymore." He said as he once more wiped his nose against his sleeve.

Arthur sat there with a look of confusion on his face.

"Tick, how can you say such a thing when I told you just this morning how much I loved you."

Tick showed him the stem of the flower as he said, "The flower doesn't lie Arthur."

Arthur asked heatedly, "What do you mean, the flower doesn't lie?"

Tick showed Arthur the fallen petals as he explained, "The petals always tell the truth, Arthur." He then showed him the last of the fallen petals. "This one tells me that you don't love me anymore. Why Arthur?" Tick softly asked. "Why don't you love me anymore?"

Arthur looked from Tick to the fallen petals and then back at Tick as he slowly began to realize what Tick was talking about.

Slowly, Arthur bent down and picked up the fallen flower petals. He then opened Tick's hand and began to drop them there.

"I love you, Tick." He whispered softly with each drop of a petal. "I will always love you, no matter what a flower petal may say, or a rhyme or anything else. I will always love you." As he finished, he looked up into Tick's blue eyes.

Tick tearfully smiled as Arthur moved in closer for a kiss.

Tick smiled softly as he said, "I love you too, Arthur, and I am sorry I doubted you."

Arthur lovingly smiled up at him as he put his arms around Tick and pulled him down for a kiss filled with love and passion.