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New York, New York, New York, the concrete jungle of desolate dreams, Broadway, thousands of smokers, and many other things. Yet no matter where you chose to go, this world was plagued by an incurable disease, and it wasn't lung cancer caused by smoking. It was the epidemic known as Hanahaki. The cause is known but always affecting random people, the cure thankfully known but always hard to obtain, but the signs were obvious.
Well obvious to many unless you constantly visited a flower shop in the corner of Manhattan. The Beatique was a common place for Casey to hang out, it was a place they grew up with, hell it grew up with them. It was named after a certain person in mind.
“Casey?”
There she was… Beatrix LeBeau, her cyan hair, the bandage on her left cheek, the smile, the height, the muscle, the confidence, she was a goddess incarnate. It was hard to not get lost in well… everything. Casey ended up coughing and spitting out a few pink petals into their hand.
“My little camellia…, how many times did I tell you to take it easy?” Beatrix says as she got closer.
“Bea…, Nobody knows, I still feel fine.”
Well nobody but her, you could see her smile quickly turned into a smirk.
“So I’m suddenly a nobody?” She remarked teasingly while she coughed up a few Columbine petals.
“Bea!”
“Don’t worry bout me, a few flowers never hurt nobody.”
“But you know what they do.”
“And we’ve been coughin these dang things up for years, have you been hurtin?”
“Not really…”
“Then we’re good to go, I think…”
Two people with Hanahaki, sounds just as cliche and bad as any bar jokes you’ve ever heard. But it’s true, they’ve had this disease for a long time, Casey’s had them since the moment they met Beatrix. It was dumb too, she bent Casey’s feelings like it was putty, making everything just seem unreal.
“Casey?”
Not again…
“Sorry Bea…”
“It’s fine, you just worry me with all that gazin into the distance, you get real quiet too.”
“Again I’m so sorry, is there anything I can do?”
“Casey, you know I could never ask for nothin.”
“Please, I insist.”
It’s like a lightbulb went off above Beatrix’s head.
“How bout we go out?”
“What do you mean?”
She just sighs in exasperation as she coughs up a few petals of chrysanthemum.
“I mean on a date damn it, fancy place, fancy clothes, one on one, how bout it?” She throws the petals on the ground with that clarification.
“What fancy place?” Casey was doing their best to try and hold themselves together to prevent a nervous breakdown.
“I’ll tell yah when I get home.”
A timer went off on Beatrix’s wrist.
“Gotta get back to work, I’ll see yah soon.”
Casey was left stunned. They have the chance to go out with the most beautiful woman in the world, Casey ran out the store, what do you do for a date? You get them flowers? Bea would like that right? They ended up pulling out their phone typing into the search bar “What flowers show that I love someone.” A lot came up, but the common theme was carnation. Casey ran to another flower shop and bought carnations as soon as possible.
With the speed Casey was going at it was no wonder they were getting stares from everyone. Next thing was to go home and freshen up, looking into the closet were a plethora of baggy sweatpants, sweaters, and shirts with either entities like moth man and bands like Set it off. Eventually Casey found a nice pair of jeans and a snazzy button up collared shirt. Should they wear a tie?
Before that internal question could be answered the door opened, it was probably Bea… All Casey could think of doing is to hide in a corner. Eventually they heard a knocking at the door of their room.
“Casey…, you good?”
They walked up to the door.
“Yeah, just a bit nervous Bea, but I’m all good to go on this end.”
“You sure, if you aren’t up for it we can try again another time?”
“No no, it’s absolutely fine, if we ever agreed with my nerves we’d go nowhere.”
They could hear Bea’s muffled laugh through the door.
“Alright camellia, just take it easy, I’ll tell you when we’re good to go.”
“Wait, where are we going?”
“It’s a surprise, but I’m sure you’ll love it.”
With that footsteps became quieter and quieter, you could hear the shower running, the panicked gathering of clothes. Minutes tolled slowly and steadily, each feeling like eternity. Casey tried scrolling through social media but with the lingering outing in mind. God, stress was not fun…
Eventually another knock was made on the door of Casey’s room. The door opened and it was Beatrix, but her hair was down, a nice yet elegant black dress adorned her, she even had a beautiful necklace along with some subtle makeup.
“Wow…” The two said simultaneously.
They even coughed up a few daisy petals, breaking the brief moment of silence.
“Are you still good to go?” Bea questioned.
“Yeah! And you?”
“Of course.”
Bea was extending her hand, almost as an invitation, One Casey nervously accepted by intertwining their hand with hers.
“Casey…”
“Yeah?”
“I need the keys…” She said a bit quietly.
Oh.
“Course.”
Casey almost let go but Bea held their hand a bit tighter.
“I didn’t say you could let go…”
“Oh.”
Casey fumbled around for a while until finding a way to get the opposite hand into the opposite pocket. Passing the keys to Beatrix.
“Ready?” Bea asked.
“Ready.”
Getting into the car was simple,she always made everything simple. It’s who she was, it’s how she did things. It was always incredible in a vague sense.
“So you still won’t tell me where we’re heading?”
“It won’t be a surprise if you know.” Bea was smiling.
“Fine…”
The car ride went smoothly and they arrived at…
“Cafe Luce?”
“Yeah, you talk about this place all the time, and I’ll be paying.”
“Wow…, thanks Bea.”
Casey was tempted to get on one knee on the spot, but maybe they should at least finish this date before thinking about marriage. Before those thoughts could get deeper they got seated at a table.
“What would you two like to drink?” A server approached the table.
“Just some water please.” Casey said.
“I’ll just have some water as well.”
The server nodded as they went away
It was hard to even talk to Beatrix, every glance was a smaller detail noticed. Every second could be used to see how her eyes shined. Every second could be used to analyze the freckles on her face, to get lost in everything. And it looked like she got lost too, that was always the joke between them, eventually Casey blinks.
“Guess I won this time.” Bea remarked.
“Yup, like always.”
“How long have we been playin this game?”
“Lost count, sorry.”
“It’s fine, I’ve lost count too honestly.”
“Sorry for always being so lost in thought.”
“It ain’t a prob, you got a lot to think about, you still play guitar don’t yah?”
“Yeah, I actually have a gig coming up soon.” Casey took a sip of their water.
“Well I could get some time to go see yah.”
“Oh-, well-, ummm.”
“Um?”
“I wrote this song for somebody…”
Beatrix tilts her head. Before Casey could continue the waiter came back up.
“What will you two be having?”
“The Shrimp Alfredo please.”
“I’ll have the steak with linguine.”
The server nodded as they walked off.
“So what’s the song about?” Beatrix asked.
“Well it’s just about someone, that’s it…”
Beatrix coughed up a few marigold petals.
“Oh, well who’s the lucky person?” Bea said with a slightly weary smile.
Casey stayed quiet while coughing up a red carnation.
“Just someone, I owe them flowers too…”
“That’s all, come on Casey we’ve known each other forever.”
“Well… it’s a secret, and secrets aren’t secret unless they’re known.”
Beatrix just looked at them blankly, did they say something wrong. There was also a hint of something else. What was it, what could it possibly be.
Eventually the server arrived with their food. The conversation made quick recovery with Beatrix opening the floor with some casual conversation.
“What else do you got in mind other than music?” Bea started to eat her meal.
“I mean not much, it’s been my dream since I was a kid.” Casey did too.
“Be known world wide and make music loved by all, right?”
“You still remember?”
“Course! Ain’t a moment goes by without me rememberin little Casey saying what they wanted to be and do.”
“I wasn’t Casey back then though…”
“You were though.”
Casey looked in a state of soft shock.
“You always knew what you wanted.” Beatrix started to mess with the food she ordered. “At the end I’m still wonderin what I wanna do, how far I wanna go…”
“I thought you always wanted a store just like the one you have.”
“It ain’t really mine, just a thing my parents gave, it don’t feel like I earned anything. While everyone else is workin their butts off tryin to achieve their dreams here I am… just whinin about how I want somethin that’s mine. It kinda feels wrong.”
“But it’s not that wrong.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean…, I don’t wanna say the wrong thing, can you promise just to work with what I’m trying to say?”
“Sure.”
Casey takes a moment of silence to prepare themselves, taking a deep breath in.
“Well I don’t think I’d want to be a musician if my parents were musicians, or at least in the same genre. I want my dream but on my own path, so I think I get what you’re saying. I understand, and it’s not wrong to want something that’ll be truly yours.”
Casey nervously reaches for Bea’s hand, which she accepts.
“You deserve so much, I’ve seen how tired you are when you get back home. I know if you put your mind to something you’ll do it. But don’t try to do it alone. I may not know much about plants, but I’ll do my best to help you in any way I can.”
“That’s sweet, thank you. But what about your dreams?”
“I’m still goin for them, you just uh…”
Casey blushes as they stop themself mid sentence.
“I just what?”
“Are you sure you wanna hear it?”
“Casey, I can handle it, it ain’t nothin bad right?”
“It’s not, just… cheesy.”
“I ain’t lactose intolerant, you can tell me when you’re ready.”
Casey sighs.
“You take a lot of priority in my life, cause you mean a lot, happy?”
Casey could feel the roots and flower amalgamation in their chest almost coagulating, but still remaining.
“You mean a lot to me too.” Bea softly smiles.
It may have not been much to say but the effects were almost instant. The flowers within the two cleared in seconds, they both had one last cough, coughing up withered and small remains of roots. They look at one another.
“So we really?” Casey said.
“I thought I made it obvious…” Bea said a bit nervously.
“What now…”
“I guess…”
Beatrix takes Casey’s hand.
“We take on the world, doin whatever we want, as partners. You good with that?”
“Yes, I’d love that.”
With that the two finished their meals, hand in hand ready to take on the future.