A true story

There was once a high school girl who loved theater. Her class asked her to direct the class play, a musical based on one of Shakespeare's more famous works.

There was once a high school boy who fell in love with the girl. He was quiet and shy and had nothing to do with theater. But to win the girl's heart, he decided to change that. For the first time, he auditioned for a play in his school--the same play the girl was directing for her class. He won a part and invited the girl to watch. The girl, having no interest in the boy but wanting to make him feel better for his efforts, went to watch him onstage.

During the performance, the boy appeared onstage with a bouquet of flowers and stopped the scene by crossing over to the audience and handing the flowers to the girl. Although she considered what he did the sweetest thing anyone ever did for her--not just the gesture but going through weeks of rehearsal just so that she would see him--she never changed her mind about him. From then on, she hated flowers because they reminded her of the boy. She asked other boys not to give her flowers. But the girl and the boy remained friends and stayed in touch through the years.

More than 10 years later, the girl missed theater and decided to audition for a play. She got a part and invited the boy to watch. The play was in his school, with the same theater group he performed with and in the same theater where he performed and gave her the flowers.

The boy had no interest in the girl anymore, but watched the play as a friend.

At curtain call, the girl received a bouquet. It was not from the boy, but that did not matter. It could have come from anyone, could have been bought by a friend, an admirer or a total stranger and the reaction of surprise would have been the same as that night more than a decage ago. But something had changed, perhaps because so much time had gone by. Holding the bouquet in her hands, the girl realized one thing: she did not hate flowers anymore.

[UPDATE: The girl told the boy about this post. He read this and sent the girl a long email that made her teary-eyed every time she read it.]