Purple and Blue

"I think she's awake now."

"But is she like, here?"

"How should I know?'

Mia's eyes were in narrow slits as they darted between the faces of her roommates and the walls of her bedroom. A low groan rose in her throat as her hand reached up, clutching at her throbbing head. As she did so, her shoulder blades ached, as well as almost any other muscle she tried to move.

"Do you remember anything about last night?" Blaire asked, sitting beside her on the bed and clutching her hand. That question alone gave Mia a weird feeling.

"Yeah…We went to a theatre party, it was lame…why, did I drink too much?" She never drank so much that she forgot things. In fact, she usually didn't even get properly drunk, only tipsy. But as her groggy brain went over the events, she realized she could only recall up to a certain point�"she didn't remember how the night ended, or how she got home. "Oh god. What happened?"

The other two glanced between each other, the tension so thick one could almost cut it with a knife, before Noah just blurted it out.

"We think you got roofied."

Blaire smacked him on the shoulder. "S**t, Noah! We said we'd break it to her gently!"

"Sorry, I couldn't hold it in any longer�""

"Wait, wait, I was drugged?!"Mia's stomach dropped, wide eyes flitting back and forth between her friends. This wasn't happening, this had to be some sort of sick joke they were playing…

"Yeah, but nothing happened! We got you home, safe and sound, see?" Noah assured her, gesturing to the room around her.

"No one touched you. We're sure of that," Blaire backed him up. Swallowing, Mia felt a little less panicked knowing she wasn't violated, but the fact remained that she'd somehow taken something that obliterated her memory.

"I still want to know exactly what happened."

The blonde shrugged. "There's not much to say, really….Tiffany said you were looking for me, then you apparently fell on the stairs. She tried to ask if you were alright, but you weren't talking. So she went to get me. You wouldn't talk to me either, or move, but you had your eyes open. You were kind of like a zombie. I found Noah and we carried you out to the car and brought you home."

"Now when you got home, you started talking and moving a lot…" Noah interjected. "You jumped out of the car and locked yourself into the bathroom and started crying about how 'the man' was going to get you…"

"What man?"

"Dude, I don't know, and you probably didn't either. It was right before you were talking about how the aliens were coming and they needed you to assassinate the president, so…"

Noticing the embarrassed look on Mia's face, Blaire assured her, "He's exaggerating. You were speaking nonsense, but it was mostly mumbling and sobbing. But it's over now."

Yes, it was over, but it had still happened, and it made her sick to her stomach. She wasn't going to just let it go like some mildly embarrassing incident. "I grabbed a drink…I don't think it was mine…it was blue, I had hunch punch…do any drugs turn drinks blue?"

The others looked at each other quizzically. "Not that I know of," Blaire finally answered with a shrug. "You probably took a drink that was meant for someone else."

She nodded, seeing the rationality behind that, but she couldn't shake this eerie feeling.

"There was this guy at the party…he said he was in my English Lit class, but I don't remember him. He was coming on really strong and…"

The other two became more alert as spoke, leaning in closer. "What guy?"

"I don't think he introduced himself, he was kind of short, had long blonde hair and glasses…"

"I think you're talking about Chance," Noah said. At that look on his face, Mia could see he'd doubt her if she accused a friend of his.

"Never mind, sorry, I'm being paranoid. He didn't even get close to my drink. I probably just grabbed the wrong cup."

He nodded slowly, then put his hand over hers. "Just to make sure, I'll ask around if anyone there saw anything suspicious. I'll let you know if anyone tells me something even slightly sketchy."

---

Throughout the first day, Mia mostly slept off what was left of the drug's effects, nursing her migraine with a steady dose of ibuprofen and tea. The few times she got up for water or more pills, her stomach churned and her bones creaked together like the branches of a withered tree.

The next day was better. It still took her longer than usual to drag herself out of bed, but finding that she could move around without pain, all that was left to heal was her mental state. It had barely been more than twenty-four hours, and realistically, she couldn't expect to find out who had drugged her so soon-if at all. The idea of never knowing was the most disturbing thought of all. Despite knowing the futility of these thoughts, they continued to bounce around in her mind even as she tried to focus on the soothing tones of a guided meditation video. Ironically, her frazzled state of mind only found a moment of peace when Noah interrupted her, approaching with an iPad and a determined look.

"I need your help. Or Blaire's. Any woman who's willing to help me."

Unfolding herself from her crosslegged position, she tilted her head, brow raised. "Mm, I don't know if I'm willing to sell what you're looking for..."

"Since when were you such a pervert?" The mattress bounced as he plopped down beside her. "I mean I need help with my girl characters, in this play…"

"You're writing a play?"

"Yeah, for the first time since Luscombe that I've written a play…"

She smiled faintly at his mention of the theatre competition, mind going back to her duets with him and other classmates. She'd never won a single medal, but he'd come in third place for best one-act play.

"It's a mystery, and I wanted to make it diverse and female-friendly, you know?" he went on. "I just wanted to let a girl read it first to see if it's uh…accurate, you know?"

After skimming over the first paragraph of the manuscript, she slowly started to realize that this two-act was set during the Victorian era. That would change things a bit. As she skimmed over it, mostly focusing on the conversations between the women in the family, she started noticing a trend.

"Lilliana is way too focused on her suitors."

Noah bit his lip. "Oh."

"Like it's good, your writing is great, but to make her believable�"and to pass the Bechdel test�"she should have some other hopes and dreams."

"But it's like, the 1800's…."

"Yes, but that doesn't mean she has to have no other thoughts. Her mother, for example, could be more traditional. But maybe the daughter wants to be a scientist or a writer or something, you know? Those did exist back then…"

"Yeah, I'm just thinking of how to work that in…"

She gave a shrug. "Pick a quieter moment. Maybe somewhere in the beginning, so that subplot doesn't clash with the main plot-like her being the murderer."

Noah's jaw went slack as he turned sharply to her. "How did you know?"

"She's the least likely suspect," Mia shrugged, thinking it obvious.

Noah's fingers started to type away at light speed, only slowing when he started glancing over to her every few seconds or so. "Speaking of suspects….Alright, so Jamie, Elijah, Ashley, and Alex all said they saw someone at the party that they didn't recognize�""

Her lips parted just before he continued on to answer her unspoken question.

"�"but look, I saw people I didn't recognize, too. Everyone did. Plus-ones, bored randos, who knows? It was a big party. All the descriptions they gave me were different and no one mentioned stood out. Other than that, they had nothing to report aside from having a good time."

As her face fell, he sighed and gave an apologetic look. "I'm sorry. There's no way to find out who did it, or if it was even meant for you. I mean…I guess just be more careful next time…?"

Her eyes shot up to his with a harsh glare. "I was being careful," she replied tightly, tempted to say he sounded like Trevor when she was suddenly distracted by Blaire's voice.

"Mia, there's something outside for you!"

Her brows furrowed at this announcement as she and Noah went to the door to see what it was. She'd ordered a backpack a few days ago, but she hardly expected it to come this early.

"It's a bouquet!" Noah chirped, picking up a magnificent display of roses that made Mia's jaw drop. The ultraviolet and cobalt petals were so vibrant it nearly hurt her eyes to stare at them for too long.

"There has to be a mistake. I don't know anyone who'd give me flowers, especially ones like that…. How do you even know they're for me?"

Noah pointed to a note, attached to a black ribbon tied around the stems of the flowers. Lo and behold, there was her name, spelled out in clumsy cursive.

"Doesn't say anything else," Noah continued with a shrug, turning the paper over. "Just that."

She didn't move any closer to the bouquet even as Noah held them out for her to take.

"What, you don't want them?"

Her head shook back and forth quickly. After some hesitation, he just shrugged and lifted it up to his nose, taking a deep breath until Mia's voice suddenly cut through the air.

"Don't!"

Noah jumped back, startled by her sudden outburst. "What the hell? They're just flowers."

"Yeah, flowers sent from some creepy anonymous person, and lately, I've had a lot of problems with those."

He wrinkled his nose, brows askew in a bewildered expression. "Are you talking about that little troll online? What, do you think hesent these? If he did then damn, he's got to be rich…" he trailed off, again awing over the vibrant petals.

She hesitated before giving a weak shrug, though her eyes were pleading. "I don't know who else would send me anything without at least attaching a name. And if they're from him, they could be…I don't know�""

"Poisoned? Like if I smell them I'll drop dead?" Noah cut her off, hand on his hip. When she didn't immediately respond, his eyes almost rolled to the back of his head as he scoffed. "Poisoned bouquets, honestly…Girl, you watch way too much T.V. The guy that was bothering you has no way of knowing where you live, unless you were dumb enough to put your address online somewhere�""

"I didn't!"

"Then what's there to worry about? They can't possibly be from him."

"You don't know that, he could be like, a hacker or something…"

He turned back to her with an exasperated look. "Are you hearing yourself? One guy finding your public profiles is hardly hacker-level cyber skills. Anyone can find your Facebook just by searching your name."

She crossed her arms, eyes narrowed. "And the others? They don't have my full name anywhere on them."

"Then he probably then reverse-image searched your Facebook pictures until he found another website where you posted the same photo. It's not really that clever."

Blaire decided to finally chime in as she walked past them towards the refrigerator. "The fact that you know that is creepier than this dude you guys keep talking about."

Mia's eyes darted between them, a frustrated sigh escaping her. "So Noah, you don't think any of what's happened to me lately could possibly be related to the messages, but you still told Blaire about them?"

The other girl gave her a strange look. "Did you want to keep it secret from me or something?"

"It's not that, I just find it odd that he'd mention it to you when he seems to think it doesn't matter…"

Noah paid them no heed, now carrying the vase of flowers from one window to the next, seeming indecisive about where to put them. Finally, he set them down on the kitchen table, where the most sunlight poured in�"and where they could be seen from the street. Mia bit her lip, arms crossed tightly around herself.

"Noah, seriously. I don't think we should keep them…"

"Look, if you're going to worry about anything involving your supposed stalker, I think you should forget these beautiful flowers�"which are now mine, by the way�"and worry about this car that keeps parking outside our house."

"What?!" Mia's eyes flew wide open, anxiety spiking even higher with this new information, but Blaire glanced out the window with a scoff.

"What are you talking about, Noah? There's no one out there."

"Well yeah, it's never here during the day," Noah explained, still preoccupied with arranging the roses. "But it's always parking in front of our place by around ten o'clock or so. I started noticing it there whenever I come home late from rehearsal. Kind of weird…"

"So?" Blaire continued, still skeptical. "We aren't the only people who live around here. It could be a neighbor, or someone's visitor or something. If you're trying to scare her, that's a really s****y thing to do."

"I'm not trying to scare her! It's just what I saw."

Mia stepped in front of him with a dead serious expression. "Did you see anyone inside the car?"

"Well, no…It was dark and I didn't want to try and peek in the windows in case someone was in there and I'd risk pissing him off�""

"You're both being paranoid," the blonde insisted. "Parking on a public street isn't a crime. I'm sure none of us would even be talking about this if it weren't for those stupid messages. It's just a coincidence."

The other two went quiet for a moment, as a wary expression started to form on Noah's features. Mia could practically hear the wheels turning in his head before he spoke.

"Maybe it is nothing. Maybe it isn't. I don't know. But I do know that saying 'It's just a coincidence' always precedes s**t hitting the fan, my friends."

Before Blaire could berate him and change his mind back, Mia jumped to speak. "Shouldn't we go to at least go see if someone's in the car? And if there is, figure out what he's doing?"

Blaire sighed and gave a careless shrug. "We don't know if it's a him, but sure, we can all go out and ask whoever it is what they're doing if it'll make you feel better."

A sense of unease hung over Mia's head as the day dragged on. The sun didn't even set for another several hours, and even then, it wasn't close to the time that the mystery car would arrive. Noah and Mia distracted themselves on the couch with a pirated German musical, while Blaire agonized over engineering homework nearby. Eventually, Noah noticed the time, and went to look out the window, only to sulk back to the couch as if in disappointment.

Finally, about an hour later, their ears picked up on the low sound of tires against pavement. With wide eyes, the two jumped from the couch and scrambled into the kitchen to go look. Blaire followed behind with less urgency, craning over them to try and see out the window.

"Well, f**k me," she whispered in amazement. "There it is."

Lo and behold, a car was parked just across the street. But no matter how much either of them squinted, it was too dark outside to tell the exact make and model, at least not from inside the house. All they could tell was that it looked like some sort of sports car, painted a dark color. Blaire immediately reached for the front door knob, but before she could even step outside, an engine kicked on with a roar, and the vehicle peeled off down the street at break-neck speed.

The screeching of tires continued in a low echo for a few more moments, and then all was silent as the three stared at each other. Finally, Noah spoke in a nervous whisper.

"That…wasn't suspicious at all…"

---

The roses remained just as vivid and full of life for days on end, bringing up strange feelings in the pit of Mia's stomach whenever she passed by them in the kitchen. Normally, she loved flowers, especially when they were so unusual and breathtaking as these. But she couldn't forget where they came from. Even if Noah denied it and insisted it was likely a delivery mix-up with some other girl named Mia Wick, she knew better.

Out of curiosity, she looked up the meaning behind this 'gift'. Her mother, with her extensive collection of plants both on the front porch and the deck back home, had taught her the uses and meanings of all sorts of herbs and flowers. Violets represented loyalty, daisies stood for innocence and cheerfulness, but the meaning of roses depended heavily on the color. Red roses typically symbolized a deep, true love.

It seemed even her delusional 'admirer' recognized that meaning did not apply for the two of them. Typing the description into the search app on her phone, Mia squinted slightly as she skimmed through the first website that came up, scrolling until she got to what she was looking for.

Purple roses represent enchantment and fascination. They are meant to convey that the giver has fallen in love with the receiver at first sight.

So there was one meaning, which was disturbing on its own. Love at first sight, really? But that apparently wasn't enough of a message. The sender had to add an even more unnatural color to the bouquet as well.

Blue roses, as they do not occur in nature, symbolize the unattainable. With their mystery, they are the perfect flowers to use as a 'secret admirer'.

Mia snorted aloud at this. This wasn't just some rich a*****e who sent the most expensive bouquet he could possibly find; it was the type of person who actually looked up the meaning of flowers.

Like me, she thought before she could stop herself, then cringed and closed the app. Whoever he is, we are not the same. In any way. And whatever he feels sure as hell isn't love.

Pacing back into the kitchen, she glared at the bouquet for several moments before reaching forward and grabbing it by the stems. Water from the vase dripped along the tile behind her as she took it to the garbage can outside.

Noah will just have to deal with it. They were delivered to me, and they're mine to throw away. I'm not letting my 'secret admirer' think that I'm flattered by this, she thought venomously as she tossed the flowers in the bin. A small part of her cried out inside, feeling it was such a waste, but she was quick to shove that feeling down.

Flowers aren't some rare commodity. I can get some more, ones I can choose for myself. Her lips curved in a small smile, her mood lifting at the empowering thought. Maybe I can even send a message right back. Is there a flower that means 'go away, a*****e'?

As it turned out, there was. Well, maybe not in such rude terms, but there was a particular kind of bloom that symbolized refusal. If this guy was the kind to look up meanings for the bouquets he sent, and routinely drove by her house, it wasn't too much of a stretch to think he'd figure out her message.

The clear sound of a bell rang through the shop as she stepped inside, immediately overtaken by the sweet floral scent that permeated the air. There were plenty of roses that took over an entire wall of the boutique, in a rainbow assortment that only excluded the unnatural shade of blue�"but Mia didn't want any of those.

It wasn't long before she found the carnations, and scanned her gaze over them. All the ones in plain sight were solid colors. Frowning a bit, she bent down to one of the lower shelves, pushing back some yellow blossoms until she saw it. A red and white striped bundle. A wicked grin spread over her features as she pulled it out, looking over the petals thoughtfully. It seemed as if someone had taken pure white carnations and dipped them in blood.

Painting the roses red, she thought with amusement, carrying the bouquet back up to the counter.

As expected, Noah was not too pleased when he returned home that day.

"What in the name of all that is tasteful are these?" he cried out from the kitchen. "Did you get these from the 99 cent store? Where did the roses go?"

Mia didn't even look up as she continued flipping through her book, that smug sense of self-satisfaction returning to her all over again. "He sent me a message, so this is my reply."