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It was a quarter to nine, Aspen's usual closing hour, but it was raining outside.
"Hey Dia, have you seen my—" the florist paused mid-sentence, realization catching up to her. "Ah, sorry. I didn't mean to call you that I—" she fumbles with her words, losing her usual composure out of embarrassment. "—It's just I tend to... give people nicknames sometimes if I'm comfortable around them and—" she continues to ramble on and on, trying to make up a lie that was at the very least, plausible.
"Aspen, calm down." Nadia smiles reassuringly, leaning on the counter as she spoke, slightly confused with the florist's sudden outburst. "I'm fine with nicknames, I really like the sound of Dia, infact!" she beams at the florist, seemingly not bothered in the slightest.
"Wait what?" Aspen asks, sounding quite surprised. "So, you... don't find it weird?" she scratches the nape of her neck, unsure of what to say. After all, she'd just called Nadia by... 'that' name. Not that she knew or anything, but Aspen still felt like it was wrong to call her by that nickname.
"Of course I don't, why would I?" Nadia replies, her tone genuine as she lets out a light chuckle. Aspen smiles subtly at her words, and although she wishes that Nadia knew, so she wouldn't struggle with having to keep this to herself, she's glad she doesn't all the same. "Anyway, what were you about to ask?" she raises a brow, her voice snapping Aspen out of her thoughts.
"My... umbrella," Aspen awkwardly coughs into her fist, slightly muffling her voice. "Have you seen my umbrella?" she figures she might aswell ask, Nadia had came in a couple of hours ago, so maybe she'd seen it?
"Well, no." Nadia ponders for a second, before raising the transparent one she held in her hand. "But you can use mine."
"What? No!" Aspen waves her palms infront of herself before making her way behind the counter and kneeling down to search again. "I don't want you to get drenched and catch a cold or something."
"And I don't want you to get sick either," Nadia shrugs, setting her umbrella down on the countertop as Aspen got to her feet once more. "Plus, my house is like... two blocks away. You need it more than I do, you have a train to catch."
"Are you sure?" Aspen glances at Nadia, uncertainty written all over her face. "I could just run to the train station or something."
"Positive, now take it before I rethink my offer." Nadia gives Aspen a tease-filled grin as she finally, albeit a bit hesitantly, accepts the offered umbrella, a fond smile on her face. "Well, I'll be going now. Have a safe trip home."
"Okay, see you." Aspen waves as Nadia walks out the door, not before also bidding her farewell, and the bell above the door chimes softly, accompanied by the sound of raindrops hitting the windows.
A few moments later, she's out the door with the umbrella in one hand and her keys in the other as she locked the door to the flower shop, before flipping the sign from 'Open' to 'Closed'. It was time to call it a day, and she felt grateful, really. She just hoped Nadia wouldn't catch a cold because of her.