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As it was getting late and customers stopped coming by for the night, Seymour and Audrey began to close up shop for the day. Sales have been going great ever since that strange and interesting plant of Seymour’s had gone on display at Mushnik & Son, and neither could really complain. Especially Seymour.
Audrey took a look at the clock while misting some daisies. She’s been at her wit’s end waiting for Orin to pick her up to go to the drive-in uptown.
Going to the arrangement room behind the counter to get her purse and her sweater, Seymour had already been in there, sweeping the floor.
“Oh, hi Audrey. Are you leaving soon?” Seymour felt that he delivered it in a way that made him sound hopeful that she was going go be going soon and mentally cursed himself out for it, but Audrey nodded and began to speak before he could rephrase his question.
“Orin’s taking me out to the drive-in tonight. We’re going to see that horror movie he always talks about,” Audrey answered in an almost heavenly manner, putting on her sweater - somehow not messing up her perfect hair.
Unintentionally cliché, Seymour saw the wonderful woman in front of him in the best pink sweater with yellow dots around the sleeves that made her look even more wonderful.
Audrey’s purse was situated on the shelf behind Seymour, who was currently standing still, holding the broom close to himself and staring at her like he wanted to kiss her so, so badly. Audrey scooted to the side a bit to pick up her purse, turning to Seymour to say goodnight to him before she would routinely sit on the curb outside and talk with the urchins while she waited for Orin - but she wouldn’t be doing that tonight.
She was standing in front of him, face inches away from his.
“Audrey, I..,” Seymour felt like the wind was knocked out of him. He leaned forward, albeit a little scared she wouldn’t accept the kiss, lidding his eyes some. Audrey leaned down to Seymour’s level, her lips grazing his. The silence - apart from car engines and pitter-patters of the outside streets - was interrupted by the loud, suddenly startling “Hey!” coming from the door at the front of the shop, accompanied by a ring.
Seymour and Audrey couldn’t have jolted farther apart and outside of the room than they did.
Greased up hair and a black leather jacket. Raw, dirty. Sure, Seymour had met him before, but he still didn’t talk to him very much even then - mostly due to how intimidating he is.
Easily catching onto what was about to happen as Seymour straightened himself up a little in an attempt to try not to look scared for his life, Orin paced only a few steps over to him. He grabbed him by the collar of his shirt, walking him to the wall outside of the shop accessible from the doors that were on the same wall as the Audrey II.
Audrey watched, deciding she wouldn’t want to see this and went back into the room her and Seymour were in before. She sat on a stool on the other side of the arrangement table in the room, holding her purse in her hands and fixing some of her makeup as she waited. She was more scared for Seymour than herself even though Orin would definitely be getting his point across to her sooner or later, he doesn’t deserve getting talked down to the way he probably is right now, she idly thought to herself.
Seymour went right along with it, letting Orin practically slam him against the wall of brick and weathered, old posters and flyers. He spoke low, voice gravelly. Seymour really missed the hyena-like laughter of Orin’s at this point - something he’s normally glad to not hear - because of how sudden and scary the situation was. But Orin wasn’t using his miniature canister of nitrous oxide this time. He had it in the pocket of his leather jacket, sure, but he wasn’t going to be using it right now.
“Listen, Krelborn. I know what you’re tryin’ and it ain’t gonna work. Take a look at yourself and remind yourself that you don’t live uptown. You don’t own a harley and you aren’t part of a gang. You’re nothin’ to that broad. So try bonin’ her behind my back again and I’ll make sure you remember the consequences that time around, got it?”
Seymour couldn’t even muster the courage to make a full word, closing his eyes tight and mumbling out a mere “mhm,” expecting a punch to the face or a slap, at the very least. It didn’t come, though.
“Hey! Look at me when I talk to you. Do you understand me?” Orin pulled Seymour away from the wall for a split second and shoved him hard back against the wall again to punctuate his words.
“Y-yes,” Seymour spoke under his breath, wide-eyed.
Orin drew closer to him, scowling mouth and predatory eyes inches away from his own face. It felt so much more threatening and not lovey-dovey compared to when Audrey was this close to him not even an hour ago. “‘Yes’ what?” Another shove.
Seymour had little clue as to what else Orin wanted to hear from him, thinking hard about what Orin would always have Audrey call him when he picked her up from work.
“Yes.. doctor,” Seymour sputtered out, the relatively mundane nickname with a somehow more dirty and nasty undertone making him feel more uncomfortable than he had already been throughout this whole ordeal - if even possible.
Orin seemed satisfied with that, finally letting go of Seymour’s button up. He felt his heels touch the ground again. The undershirt was now baggy around the collar and looser, but Seymour didn’t dare move a muscle. Orin slowly stepped back, all of a sudden jerking forward at Seymour as some kind of a threat, that to which Seymour responded by flinching.
He stopped again, taking long strides back into the shop and yelling at Audrey to get outside already. Seymour, still backed against the wall, watched with a looming sense of grief as Orin dragged Audrey along with him, gripping her wrist tightly to his parked motorcycle.
Seymour whispered a goodnight to Audrey as she passed him, but Seymour couldn’t hear her even if she did say anything over the motorcycle purring to life and her having to push it back around well enough for Orin to drive the harley machine back out into the filthy street.
She got up onto the seat behind Orin’s, giving him a glance full of concern before Orin drove the motorcycle out of the alley.
Seymour had a hard time sleeping that night.