Work Text:
Linh Song loved flowers.
That’s probably why one of the first things she did when she moved out was buy a flower shop. She loved helping the people who wandered into her shop. Some of them were looking for a specific message to convey with the flowers. Others couldn’t care less about what they meant and picked them for aesthetic purposes only.
Marella was one of those people. Linh remembered the first time she’d wandered into the little shop that Linh resided in. And she remembered how she was trimming the roses when the petite blonde had opened the door.
She’d been distracted by the way the sun reflected on the girl’s rosy face. She even stabbed herself with a thorn.
She hissed quietly before approaching the other girl. “How can I help you today?” She asked, gripping her hand.
The other girl looked up, her ice-blue eyes making Linh’s heart stop. “I’m just looking around.” She stated with a small smile.
“O-oh okay. Just, uh, holler if you need me.” Linh responded.
The girl nodded and turned to look at some tiger lilies.
Linh turned around and bolted to the back room. She grabbed a paper towel to stop the bleeding on her hand and plopped down onto a stool with a heavy sigh. What was wrong with her?
She was never this caught off guard by a customer, ever. Not even the rude, or frankly, good looking ones.
None of them compared to this girl.
She sighed again before dismissing those stupid thoughts with a shake of her head. She stood up and went out to the counter, where she saw the girl moving towards the register.
Perfect timing.
The girl was checking out with calla lilies, cornflower, and orchids. She started ringing the girl up and decided to start a light conversation.
“Just coming through this part of town?”
The girl nodded. “Yeah, a couple of my friends have a dress rehearsal downtown tonight, so I came down here to kill some time. A flower shop seemed like a perfect place to stop by.” She added with a small smile.
Linh’s stomach did a weird sort of fluttery thing.
She cleared her throat. “A dress rehearsal, like a play?”
“Actually, they’re doing a musical.”
Linh’s eyebrows shot up. “Really? Which one?”
“Les Mis.”
“Wow, I love that musical! That’s so cool that they’re talented enough to play parts in it.”
The girl smiled and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “Yeah, one of them even landed a lead role.”
Linh grinned. “That’s great!”
She was still cutting the flowers’ stems when the conversation faded. She was determined to keep her eyes focused on the flowers instead of the beautiful blonde.
“What made you want to open a flower shop?” Linh looked up to meet the other girl’s eyes.
Dammit. She promised herself she wouldn’t do that.
“I-I’ve always loved flowers. Even when I was younger. So, as soon as I graduated, I knew that I wanted to pursue that as a career.” Linh responded, her eyes darting back down to the stems she was trying to even out.
The other girl nodded before pulling out a piece of paper and a pen from her purse. She scribbled something down before handing it to Linh.
“My friends are in town for another couple nights, so if you maybe wanted to go to a show with me? I think I could get us backstage passes for opening night.” She added quickly, as Linh read the paper.
The Carolina Theatre
309 W Morgan St.
123-456-7890
Marella Redek
Linh looked up to see Marella looking at her feet with pink dusting her face. “Of course, only if you want to.”
Linh smiled. “I’d love to.”
And with that, she let Marella pay for her flowers and watched her leave, only one thought in her head.
What had just happened?
-
“She invited you to go on a date, dumbass.” Tam said, with a sip of his coffee.
The twins had met in a bustling café a few blocks away from Linh’s flower shop. She rolled her eyes.
“Tam, there’s no way she’s into girls. Especially a girl she just me-”
“Hold on,” He interrupted. “Let me get this straight, or, gay, not the point. A girl came into your shop, bought some flowers, gave you her number, and invited you to go hang out with her. Someone you’ve never met and have no established common interests that she’d befriend you over.”
Linh blushed and looked away. “Maybe I just got the events wrong. Because there was nothing -nothing-” She insisted when Tam gave her a look. “That could have been taken in more than a friendly manner.”
She took a sip of her tea, silently daring Tam to challenge her. He shrugged, seeming to drop the subject, which Linh was grateful for.
“Are you going to go?” He asked.
“What?”
“Are you going to go to the show?” He clarified, rolling his eyes.
She thought for a second. “Yeah. I think I will.”
He nodded. “Well, you better text her then. I have to go anyways, I can only trust Keefe with the shop for so long.”
He stood up, taking his coffee with him. “Good luck with your girl problems.”
She opened her mouth to protest, but he was gone before she could even say anything.
She sighed and took another sip of her drink before begrudgingly deciding to listen to him. She took out her phone and hovered over Marella’s number for a minute or so.
Linh steeled her nerves and clicked on the contact.
Linh: Hey, I’d love to take you up on that offer.
Her breath caught as she watched those dreaded three little dots on the screen.
Marella: Awesome! I had my friend talk to the director, and he was fine with it. So, do you want to meet at your shop before the show?
Linh: Sure! What time does the show start?
Marella: It starts at 6:30, but we have to be there at 4:15.
Linh: Okay, do you want to meet me at my shop at around 3:30? That should give me enough time to close up.
Marella: Sounds good.
Linh: Also, completely unrelated but, what’s your favorite animal?
Marella: Hmm… That’s hard, but I’d say a dolphin. Any reason why?
Linh clicked out of her messages and searched up pictures of dolphins, screenshotting one and saving it as Marella’s contact photo and sending her a picture.
Linh: Screenshot_2_35_32
Linh: I give everyone contacts of their favorite animals.
Marella: Aww, that’s really cute.
Linh: Well, I’ll see you tomorrow!
She quickly turned off her phone as her face heated up. Yeah, she was definitely regretting drinking tea. She slid out of the booth, recycling her cup on the way out.
She pushed her way outside, welcoming the brisk evening air. She shoved her hands in her pockets, lost in thought as she weaved her way through the busy streets.
Marella thought she was cute?
For some reason, her brain was stuck on that. She tried to shove the thought away with logic. No, she just thought that the dolphin, or the action itself was cute. But her stupid brain wouldn’t listen.
She thinks you’re cute. She thinks you’re cute. Shethinksyou’recute.Shethinksyou’recute.
She made a final turn into her apartment building and laughed to herself. She was seriously falling for a girl that she had just met.
Linh walked into the apartment, and unfortunately, Biana was waiting for her. She didn’t say that because she didn’t like Biana, quite the opposite really. They had been childhood best friends, and that meant that she knew Linh almost as well as she knew herself.
So, when Linh stumbled into their apartment, still starstruck and remnants of a blush on her face, Biana took her in, and with her hands on her hips, said one word,
“Spill.”
-
“She invited you to go to a show with her?!” Biana squealed.
Linh nodded, the back of her neck prickling with embarrassment.
“Which one?”
“Uh, Les Mis.”
“What?!”
Linh closed her eyes for longer than a second. Biana was a huge Broadway nerd, and the only reason Linh knew anything about Les Mis was because Biana had pretty much forced her to listen to some of the songs. And to her singing some of the songs. And to her ranting about the songs.
She knew the whole plot but had never seen the whole musical before.
Biana flopped back on the bed with a groan. “I’ve been trying to drop Sophie hints for weeks now, and a literal stranger is taking you to the opening night of Les Mis.”
Linh chuckled, scratching the back of her neck. “She also got us backstage passes.”
“SHE WHAT?!” Biana yelled.
Linh couldn’t hold herself together anymore and started cracking up as Biana groaned louder.
Biana took one look at Linh, almost at the verge of crying, and started laughing too.
After a few minutes of the two of them losing their shit, they both finally calmed down.
“I’m expecting pictures, and autographs.” Biana demanded, poking Linh in the chest.
Linh nodded and mock-saluted. “Yes Ma’am.”
Biana sighed. “Well, you have an exciting day ahead of you. I’ll go and sulk in my bedroom.”
Linh laughed. “Goodnight, Bi.”
Biana smiled. “‘Night, Linh. You have to show me where you find your choice in women.”
Linh buried her face in her hands and uttered a muffled “Shut up.”
With that, Biana left, leaving Linh alone in the dark. She rolled over and let the lulling darkness pull her away. Dreams of ice-blue eyes welcomed her.
-
Linh paced back and forth, her anxiety growing as the clock ticked slowly closer to 3:30. She had closed the shop at 2:45 to prepare herself physically and mentally for a night with Marella.
She’d decided to wear dress clothes, nothing too overly formal, but not casual either. She also had a cardigan because Biana said that theatres get cold.
She’d thought about bringing Marella flowers, but decided against it, as she was pretty sure that Tam and Biana were just getting in her head. Finally, when she thought that she was going to die from anticipation, she heard the welcome bell ring and bolted into the main part of the store.
There Marella stood, small braids still woven in her hair with a confident expression and two backstage passes clutched in her hand. She flicked her hair over her shoulder, and Linh felt those stupid butterflies when her beautiful eyes locked with her own.
Marella strode forward to meet Linh halfway.
“I was thinking we could walk to the theater from here.” She stated as she handed Linh her pass.
Linh nodded. “That sounds good.”
“Oh, and those friends that I was talking about? We were planning on getting some food after the show’s over, and I was wondering if you wanted to come with us? If not that’s totally fine, I have my car parked over by the theater so I could drop you off afterwards.”
Linh blinked. “Where would we go?”
“This place a couple blocks away, uh, Black Swan Pizza, I think.”
A vague memory of Biana’s takeout with a swan logo filled her mind. She remembered that she had said they had really good pizza.
She bit her lip before deciding, screw it, she needed more human interaction. “Sure.”
“It’s totally fine if you aren’t comfortable or don’t want to. I’m sorry I kind of sprung it on you last minute, that was a total jerk move on my-”
“Marella, it’s fine.” Linh interrupted. Offering the girl a small smile. “I’d say no if I wasn’t comfortable, and I kind of want to meet these friends.”
Marella nodded and looked down at her feet. “We should probably get headed before the streets get too crowded.”
Linh grinned. “Lead the way.”
-
As it turns out, stages are much bigger than Linh thought they were. She, Marella, and a couple other people were getting a backstage tour of how everything worked, and soon they’d get to meet some of the actors. She noticed Marella’s eyes scanning the different parts of the stage, watching closely for her friends.
Linh watched as her eyes locked on a target, and noticeably softened. She had a strange feeling in her gut but pushed it away and followed Marella’s gaze. She felt a blush rise up her face. In front of her was one of the most beautiful women she had ever seen. Her dark, thick hair had been braided, and put into a neat bun on the top of her head. Her earthy brown skin shone in the spotlights and- Linh tore her gaze away from the actor. She tried to tune into the tour guide’s words.
“Les Misérables is one of the longest running musicals that still tours and was based on a novel-” The words were going in one ear and out another. She tried to listen no she didn’t, but her brain was too caught up in the fact that there was another pretty girl.
What was happening to her?
Don’t get her wrong, growing up she always found girls to be attractive, but had never truly fallen in love before. Was that what this was? Love?
It couldn’t be. You couldn’t love a person you’d barely met. Let alone two.
A soft nudge broke her out of her bubble of anxious thoughts.
“Hey,” Marella whispered. “Are you okay?” She pulled back and fixed Linh with a concerned look.
“You look like you’re trying to figure out how to solve world hunger over there.”
Linh cleared her throat. “Y-yeah. I’m fine.”
Marella looked unimpressed.
“I’ve just- I’ve never really been into a theater before, so being backstage is a little overwhelming.” She winced at the little half-truth. She couldn’t tell Marella what she was really thinking about.
“Sorry, I had no idea.”
“No-no it’s good! Well not that- the idea itself was great! I just, I get overwhelmed by being in public, but this is cool, hanging out with you. Or, doing cool things also with you, it’s not like I-” She closed her mouth.
“I’m going to stop talking now.”
Marella laughed. “It’s fine, I get it. Words are hard.”
Linh nodded. “Agreed.”
They both turned back to the tour guide, who was introducing a few of the actors. The one who Linh made a fool of herself looking at was one of them.
“This is Maruca Chebota,” The tour guide introduced. “She’ll be playing Cosette.”
The girl waved. “As Elwin was saying, I’m playing Cosette. It’s thrilling to be cast as her, since growing up and listening to Les Mis, she was my all-time favorite character.”
Marella raised her hand, and Maruca turned to call on her.
“Is it because she’s your type?” Marella asked lightly.
Maruca straightened. Luckily, the tour guide, or Elwin, as Maruca called him, had led most of the group away. However, the tech team was right next to them, so the question brought a bunch of snickers.
The girl raised her hand and made a particularly crude gesture at a specific strawberry blond.
“Shut up, Dex.”
She turned back to Marella. “I’m not the one who had a crush on Angelica Schuyler.”
Marella gasped and mockingly put a hand on her heart. “You dare expose me in this horrible way!”
Maruca opened her mouth to say something but before she could, Marella dragged Linh into the conversation.
“Maruca, this is Linh. Linh, Maruca.”
Linh felt her heartbeat quicken as the other girl’s honey gaze rested on her. She was able to choke out a “nice to meet you” before Maruca was dragged away by a brunette.
She silently thanked the universe.
They ran back up to where Elwin was telling everyone to go to their seats, and that the show was starting.
Marella, in all her glory, had gotten them some pretty damn good seats for opening night, and although they weren’t in the front row, they could see the stage perfectly.
There was a quiet buzz as the lights started to dim, but it quieted when a voice came on, telling everyone to quiet their cellphones.
She got herself comfortable, and out of the corner of her eye saw Marella do the same.
-
Linh was much more interested in a musical taking place during the French Revolution than she thought she would be. But she still couldn’t find Marella’s other friend.
Of course, it was entirely possible that they had already been on stage, but Marella still seemed to be anticipating something. They were already most of the way through Act I.
Finally, after revealing that the main character was going to go pick up Cosette from her home, Linh felt her face flush.
What.
Was.
Going.
On?
Another girl walked out from the house with the other two foster parents, and Linh felt her heart leap. Her beautiful curly hair bounced on her shoulders as she strode across the stage. Admittedly, her character was a jerk to Maruca. But the two of them had this dynamic that she just couldn’t explain. The way that they played off one another’s lines with the seriousness that they did, it was enamoring to watch.
She settled down again to watch the play, but this time she wasn’t as relaxed. She could feel prickles down her back as she watched the show go on.
-
Finally, the whole cast came from backstage and bowed. Linh, along with the rest of the audience, jumped to her feet to give them a standing ovation. She had tears in her eyes at the bittersweet ending of the play and had thoroughly enjoyed the whole thing.
She was totally going to rub this in Biana’s face later.
At the moment however, she was too focused on following Marella backstage. The blonde girl turned around and realized that Linh was having trouble keeping up with her. So, she stopped until Linh caught up and grabbed her hand before half-dragging Linh through the now-dispersing crowd.
Before she knew it, the two were backstage, where all the actors were winding down from their performance. To Linh’s dismay, Marella let go of her hand and led the way to where Maruca and the curly-haired girl from before were waiting.
“Guys, that was amazing!” Marella gushed as soon as they were in earshot.
The two girls whipped their heads to the sound of Marella’s voice.
The curly-haired girl smirked. “I’m glad you liked it. Who’s this?” She asked, referring to Linh.
Marella rolled her eyes. “I’m getting there. Stina, this is Linh, she’s the one I bought the flowers from.”
Stina’s eyes lit up. “Oh, those calla lilies were beautiful.”
Linh blushed. “Yeah, they’re one of my favorites.”
Maruca nodded in agreement. “Listen, I really don’t mean to be rude in the slightest, but I am starving. Could we talk about this when we get food?”
Marella snorted.
Stina stood up and nudged her, grabbing a coat. “Yeah, you try to stand on stage in front of thousands of people for two hours. We’ll see how you feel.”
Linh smiled and followed the three out the backstage door, wondering what chaos was about to ensue.
-
Unfortunately, Linh was right about the chaos. Luckily, it was chaos she could get behind.
“I hate when people say that cats are better than dogs, or vise versa. They’re both great animals and I would take cuddles from both all of the time.” Marella noted.
Stina rolled her eyes. “Horses are the best animals ever. That’s why there’s so many mythical creatures based off them.”
Maruca and Linh were in the back of the car, watching as this argument escalated further. Maruca scooted over closer to Linh.
“Stina had a My Little Pony phase.” She stage whispered.
“You shut up Maruca! You’ve been a theatre nerd your whole life.” Stina huffed.
Marella laughed, her shoulders shaking as she turned into a small parking lot.
“Yeah, and look at where that got me.” Maruca shot back.
Marella pulled herself together, but still had a grin on her face. “That isn’t really a good comeback, since you just, you know, finished acting in a Broadway musical.”
Stina just shifted in her seat and crossed her arms over her chest.
“So, uh, where are you all from?” Linh worked up the courage to ask.
Marella finally found a good place to park, and as she was busy Maruca answered.
“Marella and I are both actually from Michigan. Stina’s not too far from Chapel Hill. We all went to Furman together.”
Linh nodded. “That’s cool. How are you guys doing with North Carolina weather conditions?”
Marella waited until she’d gotten out of the car, and matched Linh’s pace.
“It’s been a little different.” She admitted.
Maruca snorted.
They made their way to the restaurant, exchanging small talk on the way. When they rounded the last block Marella turned to Stina.
“C’mon, don’t be grumpy just because we made fun of your horse girl ways.”
Stina stayed silent.
Maruca leaned over to study Stina from Linh’s left side. “She’s just hangry, and honestly, I am too. Are we almost there yet?”
Marella sighed. “What are you, five?”
Linh smiled at her. “Yeah, that’s it, just up there.”
Maruca grinned. “Race you there, last one has to pay!”
She took off down the street with Stina right behind her. Marella and Linh shared a glance before simultaneously breaking into a sprint.
Linh managed to pull ahead of Marella and laughed when the other girl stuck her tongue out at her. When she made it into Black Swan Pizza, she realized something.
She hadn’t enjoyed herself this much in, well, ever.
Her childhood was a bust, and no offense to Biana or Tam, but these three had a certain, energy about them that Linh loved. More than she’d like to admit.
She held the door open for Marella, both of their faces were dusted pink, and they were both breathing heavily.
Stina and Maruca seemed to be in the same shape, but they were both focused on the menus in front of them. Marella and Linh joined them, sliding in on each bench, Linh next to Maruca, and Marella with Stina.
She opened her menu and looked over the options. After deciding on what she wanted, she closed her menu and waited.
By the time the waitress had come, they had all calmed down considerably and were making light conversation.
Linh gathered all of their menus and turned toward the waitress. “Could I get a- Sophie?” She asked, her brow creasing in confusion.
Sophie smiled. “Oh, hi Linh!”
Linh handed her the menus. “I had no idea you worked here.”
“Did Biana not mention it?”
No, she didn’t, but all of the takeout made a lot more sense.
“Well, what can I get you guys today?”
They all took turns ordering, and after the blonde walked away, she saw the rest of the table looking at her, clearly curious.
“Oh, she’s my roommate’s girlfriend.”
“That makes sense.”
“Yeah, she’s cute.”
Stina elbowed Marella. “Did you not just hear Linh say she had a girlfriend?”
“So? She’s pretty, what’s wrong with that?”
-
They spent the rest of the time laughing and joking around, and Linh felt like she had known these girls her whole life.
And soon, they were all piled into the car again, Linh giving Marella directions on how to get to her apartment. Either Linh wasn’t good at giving directions, or Marella was bad at following them. Either way, Marella was too prideful to use google maps, no matter how many times Maruca and Stina insisted.
It took a lot longer than it should’ve to find her apartment complex, but that was okay with Linh. She was dreading having to leave this group and pretend like nothing happened when, well, everything did.
Finally, it was time to go, but she hesitated before closing the door. “Would you guys want to, uh, hang out again before you all have to leave?”
“Yeah!”
“That’d be awesome!”
“We totally should.”
With that small promise, Linh got enough gumption to close the door and wave at the car before turning to head into her apartment.
She made her way into the living room to find Biana reading a book, clearly waiting for her to get back. She looked up when she noticed Linh hovering in the doorway.
“How was it?” She asked, gently laying her book down to meet her at the doorway.
“Better than anything I could have wished for.”