Work Text:
With prom season in full-swing, the workload and orders for corsages somehow tripled almost overnight. Allen, with his apron inside-out, could be found glued to the uncomfortable metal stool, leg twitching as his pen rapped against the piled, filled forms all demanding attention. The phone, pressed to his ear for three hours straight now, was propped on his shoulder, free hand twirling the cords to quell his anxiety so his ever-charming voice could continue suavely satisfying impatient customers. Further in the back, Kanda, with his long hair pulled back uncharacteristically into a bun, scowled at the thorns that nicked his fingers and the unruly fabric that made his job outrageously difficult. A mixture of English and Japanese curse words occasionally emanated from where the flowers resided, and the banging sounds—perhaps fists slamming against his work station to soothe his frustrations—almost made Lavi jump every time. The people crowding around in-line at his counter, ready to check-out, also appeared nervous whenever another “God dammit!” followed by Allen’s quip of, “Pipe it down, I can’t hear the phone with your racket!” overrode the rest of the clamor in the tiny store tucked away in some back-street in some little-known downtown district.
“Sorry ‘bout that,” Lavi said with his signature customer-service smile, “here’s your receipt, ma’am. Would you like that boxed? Yes? With or without tissue wrap? If her dress is blue, I’d go with a matching color, or maybe a shade lighter just to compliment it, you know?”
Finding himself standing behind an old counter and greeting people while ignoring his aching feet in a flower shop seemed absurd, given his qualifications. Despite his consistent 4.0 grade-point average in one of the top universities in the states, the quest to pay off student loans and the notable lack of jobs for someone as overqualified as himself in being a history major became paramount. In his desperation, he wound up back in his grandfather’s house, shacking up in the drafty room reclaimed as his own, and integrated himself once more into the small seaside city’s community. The moment a cheap “now hiring” sign plastered itself to the window, Lavi applied, no matter what it was or whether or not he had the skills necessary to perform well.
Eight months and too many flower names he needed to memorize to make eleven-fifty an hour later, Lavi wondered if he would ever use the Chicago format for citations in scholarly work again. He sighed, fingers tapping the counter as the influx of customers finally passed, the late afternoon hours dragging too much for his liking. Since summer still struggled to make its presence known in early May, the lack of tourists made for lazy spring days in downtown, with only the locals stopping by for a quick chat or three. Cars trying to get to their destinations through what they more than likely deemed as unmemorable hurdled by the storefront windows with no intention to stop. Everyone had somewhere to be, some goal to get to—but Lavi felt stuck, like the vehicle pioneering his life stalled, and no matter how many times Lavi turned the keys to get it going again, it refused.
“If you got time for sighing, you got time to fucking help me with these orders.” Kanda intentionally knocked his shoulder hard against Lavi’s, snapping him out of his pondering. Ribbon spools were laid out before him in many different colors. “I need twenty of the white and thirty of the blue, and the measurements are in these orders.” A stack of sickly-yellow paper slapped against the wood.
“Isn’t that Al’s department?”
“Tch.” Kanda’s perpetual scowl deepened. “Like hell I’m going to him for anything. Besides, he’s gone off somewhere for his thirty-minute break—probably with that annoying girl with the glasses or whatever. You’re not doing anything anyways, so quit bitching. Oh, and if the phone rings,” the door to the back room creaked, “answer it for me, or else we’re gonna get a sharp downturn in customer satisfaction. If you need anything, you’re on your own.”
“Gee, thanks, Yuu, for your ever-helpful and winning personality.”
“Don’t fucking call me that.” The door slammed with an extra oomph, and Lavi slumped, pouting at the stack of daunting papers and fussy ribbons. He opened the drawer where the scissors were—or, were supposed to be, but once again, they were removed and never put back. He groaned, brow furrowing in irritation, before hopping and sliding over the counter and poking through the flowers on display.
“I swear, if you have the stupid scissors in those lame oversized pockets of yours again, Al,” he muttered, looking between the colorful vases in the “Roses” section. He disliked how everyone fawned over the roses, always referring to it as a symbol of love, but didn’t know which colors meant what. The white ones were especially popular for all the wrong reasons. Weddings didn’t need any sympathy or innocence tied to them—everyone knew the couple would be getting laid, so how come everyone wanted white roses? Society sometimes baffled him.
No scissors to be found among the roses. He frowned, plucking a lavender rose out of its vase with disinterest, before sighing and calling out, “Yuu, do you have a spare pair of scissors? Al took the front’s again, I’m pretty sure!”
“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” Kanda’s voice still carried its aggravation despite being muffled by the thick door separating them, “did you even bother looking next to the damn register where I put them?”
“You never told me that you put them there!”
“I didn’t think I needed to, because, you know, common fucking sense should have kicked in, even for someone as blind as yourself, but apparently not. I keep forgetting you’re a dumb-ass rabbit.”
“Yuu—”
The little bell over the front door jingled, and Lavi’s protests died in his throat and tapered into a nervous laugh, expecting Allen to be the one walking in. Instead, even his characteristic laugh abruptly ended as he tried not to gawk at the woman who strutted in. She glanced briefly around the interior of the shop and brushed back one of her ponytails over her shoulder before her gaze shifted to Lavi himself. Her high-heeled boots clacked against the floor, her stylish black knee-length dress swishing with each step, before smiling at him and asking, “Excuse me, do you work here?”
That smile horrifically gripped his at his heart and squeezed, turning it to mush by the sheer velocity of adorableness it possessed. The gears in his brain clunked as though molasses had been poured onto them, slowing them to a lull. His mouth opened, closed, then opened again, with words that once easily came to him coming out as a mere, ever-so-eloquent “um” instead. Sweat broke out on his forehead, fortunately covered by his favorite bandana. While he was known as someone who ogled at beautiful women all the time, none of them were capable of rendering him speechless.
“Sir?” She waved a hand in front of his face.
“Oh!” He clicked his tongue and rubbed the back of his head with a forced laugh, followed by a quick clearing of his throat. “Sorry, sorry I—I don’t know what came over—yes, I work—how can I, uh, help you, ma—miss—ma’am?”
Even after clearing his throat, his voice came out in a horrible squeak of its usual self. She appeared confused, eyebrows arching a little, before a reassuring smile quirked her lips. “Don’t worry,” she said, “everyone starts somewhere. I know what it’s like, working at a new job. I was wondering if it was possible to get a bouquet out of these beautiful flowers you have on display.”
She thought he was new—a saving grace, if not a little insulting. Then again, he had never seen her in the store before—maybe she just moved into town? But if she did, he would have heard about it from the gossiping fishermen who liked to prove their intelligence by knowing everyone’s business down by the pier. “Sure thing,” he said, and then added, “what’s it for?”
“My older brother just got a promotion.” Her pride beamed in her eyes, lighting up her whole face. “I wanted to get him a small ‘congratulations’ present, and then I thought flowers would be a nice touch, too. Like a housewarming gift. We just arrived here yesterday, since the lab he now works at is nearby, so we...” She trailed off and tittered, hiding it with her hand. “Sorry,” she said, a bit quieter this time, “you didn’t ask about the why, just the what. I guess I’m just a bit rattled from the move.”
“No, no, it’s okay! It’s okay.” Lavi nodded, then rummaged through his apron’s pocket, pulling out a tacky business card with the shop’s tackier logo emblazoned on it. “Here, since you’re new to town, you should take one of these to remember us by for all your flowery needs. This town is pretty small, so you’ll get familiar with it pretty quick. Where are you guys living?”
“On Rock’s Peak. Second to last house overlooking the water—the, um, purple one.”
“Really? That’s a nice place, has one of the best views of the ocean around here, in my opinion. It’s been for sale for some time now—glad to know it has a new family living in it.” He eased into a smile of his own and gestured to the flowers. “Does your brother have a particular favorite flower or color we can start with, or do you just want to, well, wing it?”
He wasn’t sure when Allen returned and took over Lavi’s cutting-job for him, but he became so absorbed in assisting the lady as much as he could, picking up tidbits of information here and there. Her name was Lenalee, just finished her junior year in college, and majored in some field of science. She lived with only her brother (who influenced her love for science, being a scientist himself), and hoped to get a job somewhere for the summer (she already applied at the local Chinese restaurant upon her brother’s suggestion), and loved the color yellow. Part of him wished their conversation wouldn’t end, but buying flowers never took too long, and customers typically had little reasons to buy flowers for personal reasons.
“Wow,” she said, peering at the bouquet that Allen assisted in decorating it with ribbons and wrapping paper, “it’s perfect. And to think flowers had so many meanings tied to them! You really outdone yourself, um...”
“Lavi,” he said, realizing he forgot his name-tag back home. “My name’s Lavi. It’s been nice meeting you, Lenalee. Oh!” He handed her the lavender rose he carried the entire time with him on accident and winked (which must have looked strange, given his lack of an eye). “This flower’s on the house. Think of it like a ‘welcome to the neighborhood’ kinda thing.”
She accepted the rose and looked it over, smile widening. “Thank you,” she said, taking a sniff and placing it into the bag with the bouquet. “You’ve been nothing but super helpful and kind, Lavi. Wait, before I go—what does this particular rose mean? Do you know off the top of your head, by any chance?”
Her eyes glittered in expectation as Lavi felt his mouth go dry. He did know, but he couldn’t admit it. He couldn’t. His ears burned in embarrassment, but he managed to smile sheepishly, a mask pulled onto his face to hide the realization of, shit, I think I have a crush on her even though we just met.
“You know,” he said, feigning a disbelieved laugh, “for some reason, I can’t seem to remember. I’ll have to look it up and tell you the next time you come in.”
*
Next time came in a flurry of dreams and the tossing and turning throughout Lavi’s sleep. He kicked the blankets off and awoke in a cold sweat, panic clutching at his heart. The last, fuzzy snippets replayed in his head—a walk upon the beach, sweating palms, the gentle crash of ocean waves, the sea winds making her loosened hair flutter over her shoulders. She turned to him, forefinger pressed up against her lips, and whispered something so soft he could barely hear:
“One kiss?”
He exhaled, running a hand through his tangled red locks, before sliding his legs over the edge of the mattress. He shifted his attention to a stack of peculiar books, books that before yesterday, he paid no attention to. Romance, romantic comedies, romantic tragedies, all horrifying, all sweet, none able to prepare him for the sudden affliction running through his veins called “attraction.” At twenty-four, he still boasted himself to be apathetic towards romance, settling with one-night stands and apologies of, “Sorry, I don’t feel the same way.”
He used to tease Allen for stammering a little around Ms. Fa, a blushing damsel of a scientist who worked specifically with lab rats. He joked around with Kanda whenever Alma stopped by the shop, his hands filled with mayonnaise-filled lunches to be shared. Out of the three of them, Lavi remained single, just as he wanted. The less people he interacted with, the more reading he could get done, and a significant other would suck up all his attentions and time he did not have to spare.
Sighing, Lavi rubbed at his temples. Of course, everything had to be dashed to bits by the presence of one girl who appeared like a feverish early summer dream, with a smile as soft as the colors of a setting sun. Thinking about her made his pulse race, prompting him to swallow hard before flopping back onto the bed, groaning aloud. He never asked for this. Besides, it’s not like anything would ever come of it. She would never return to the flower shop—she had no reason to, and poof, just like that, she would go back to school, leaving the seaside town possibly for good.
Dawn crept upon the night, and Lavi forced himself to get up, despite missing a few solid hours of sleep that he much adored. He needed to do something other than think. He opened the curtains, peering up at the fading stars, before turning towards the wilting roses in the vase nearby—the leftovers that nobody wanted, even though they smelled nice. He picked one up with a gentle grip, rotated it, and then inhaled deeply.
(Lavender Rose: symbolically represents love at first sight.)
*
“What the fuck are with these orders?” Kanda rummaged through the boxes, the corner of his upper lip twitching in disgust. “I’ve never seen these ones before. Beansprout! Did you pick up the wrong ones again?”
Allen sighed, shuffling by with the broom and sweeping up fallen petals and leaves that covered the linoleum tiles. “Must I remind you that you have never worked here during prom season? We get much rarer flowers representing love to help facilitate the overall happiness of our customers. Or, in plain-men speak for a simpleton such as yourself—No.” He chuckled a little when Kanda purposefully opened another box too roughly. “Lavi,” he said, turning to the slouched red-haired boy leaning against the counter, mind far from the store itself, “Lavi? Are you in there?”
“Huh?” Lavi jerked out of his thoughts and managed and easy smile. “Oh, totally. What’s up, Al? Anything I can do for you?”
Allen tilted his head, pursing his lips with thought, before saying, “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you have something or someone weighing on your mind. You have been spacey for three days now. Did something happen?”
“Who the fuck even orders acacia blossoms?” Kanda slammed the box onto the counter, interrupting them, and Lavi jumped, scrambling to get out of the peeved man’s warpath. “Since you’re not doing anything, you put these out. I’m going to do something right and start on the corsages. Stupid fucking beansprout,” he muttered, kicking the door open and mumbling all the way to his work station. The other two stared after him, perhaps a little intimidated, before Allen cleared his throat.
“I think he and Alma got into a fight last night,” he said, waving his gloved hand dismissively. “Anyhow, back to the matter at hand—what has gotten into you? You seem... different.”
Lavi picked up the box and wandered down one of the empty aisles, the flowers jostling a little with each step. The white would match a lot of the blue-base orders that increased in demand. He hesitated, feeling Allen stare at him with expectation, and sighed himself. He rubbed the back of his head and began placing the delicate blossoms into their respective vases. “I wouldn’t say different,” Lavi replied, stroking one of the flowers’ buds. “It’s just, it’s more like something unexpected happened, and now I don’t really know what to do. And it doesn’t even make sense!” He threw his hands up in the air. “Like, come on, I saw her all of once and now I can’t seem to stop thinking about her.”
A pause. Allen quirked an eyebrow, a sly grin twitching on his lips. “And just who is this ‘her’ you are referring to, Mr. ‘I-Don’t-Believe-In-Love’ Lavi Bookman? Hmm?” Lavi buried his face in his palms as Allen circled him like a mischievous kitten, the glint in his eyes evident. “That was just a guess, and here you are, acting all embarrassed. So you are in love. Oh, this is going to be fun—who is the lucky lady? Come on, out with it, we can’t just let this remain a mystery around here. Many people have been dying to have a date with you, since everyone in town knows you are single.”
“It’s not like that.”
Allen chortled. “It’s definitely like that, judging by that blush on your face. Now, tell me—who is she? Do I know her? Ah,” he grinned, “it’s Cho, isn’t it?”
“Wh—no!” Lavi shrugged off Allen’s grip as he resumed placing flowers in vases, albeit clumsily and with a flustered disposition. “Chomesuke is like a sister to me, you know that. Don’t be gross. And it doesn’t matter who it is, she’s never gonna come back, anywa—”
The little bell became Lavi’s salvation as it jingled upon the arrival of another customer, both his and Allen’s head turning towards the door. Salvation turned to damnation as Lavi’s heart sputtered to a momentary stop, only to slam on the gas to pound harder against his chest while blood raced to his cheeks. She returned. She returned, and her eyes flitted over the newly-arrived, fresh-cut flowers in their respective aisles. Lenalee. Her name rang in a louder tenor than the bell itself in his head, his heart palpitating from its vibrations.
“Welcome!” Allen’s cheerful customer-service tone pulled Lavi out of his stupor just in time before the box of flowers slipped out of his tingling hands. “How may we help you today?”
“Oh,” she said, and Lavi tore his eye away from her infectious smile, “I really like the flowers you have here, and I thought maybe to start decorating me and my brother’s house a little more. It’s still so bland since we’re still unpacking, and you have so many wonderful colors, so I just... I don’t know.” She laughed. “I just found myself here again, I suppose.”
Lavi focused harder on stuffing the acacias into their spots, feeling the pressing stare Allen gave him along his back. He forced a whistle, coming out coarse from the onslaught of dryness assailing his throat, before breaking into a coughing fit when Allen said, “Well, our associate Lavi has quite the eye for such things more than I do, so asking him for assistance may be best. Lavi?”
“G-gotcha.” Lavi sucked in a deep breath in faux preparation before turning towards her. She wore black again, despite the recent heat, which struck him as odd, but the thought melted away upon seeing her face. Her smile noticeably widened when she saw him, hands clapping together out of recognition.
“It’s you! Lavi, right? Thank you so much for your help last time—my brother absolutely loved it. I was so worried that I wouldn’t find anything, but I’m so glad this store exists.” She tilted her head. “If you don’t mind, could I ask for your help one more time? I’m really bad at decorating by myself, so some opinions would be wonderful.”
“Um,” he managed, purposely averting his gaze from Allen’s curious and meaningful stare, “sure, no, uh, problem. Yeah. Are you decorating the—excuse me, uh,” he coughed again, berating himself to calm down, “where exactly are you decorating? Like, along the walls, or...”
The conversation shifted from the colors of the walls and complementary flower colors (“Oh, these are pretty!” she said, stooping over some tulips and plucking one out before raising it next to Lavi’s head. She giggled. “The color matches completely, too!”) to the upcoming events around town (“Yeah, in about a month, the local library’s hosting this awesome book fair,” Lavi relayed as he looked over the flower-bundle, meticulously fixing and culling out the ones that refused to work together while she leaned against the counter and watched him. “I remember always going as a kid. You and your brother should go, if you have time. They have both new stuff and classics, like Shakespeare. Man, I love Shakespeare. You like Romeo and Juliet at all?”) to other topics that Lavi would have found pointless, but Lenalee’s voice sucked him into a trance, like a melody his fingers worked to as he finished up her requested flower bundles with great care (“I can’t wait to go to that ice cream store—the one near Sandy Beach, do you know where that is? Yes, that one, with the creepy sign. I stopped and read some of their menu—I never heard of ‘Lobster Tracks’ before. Is it any good? ...What do you mean, I should just try it for myself? Don’t tell me it has real lobster in it! It doesn’t, right? Right? Lavi! Why are you laughing? Don’t leave me to guess!”). Time slipped away shared between them much too quickly for his liking as he stepped towards the cash register, their talks dying down into a few unpleasant mechanical sounds produced by the cash till ejecting.
“Your receipt,” he said, handing it to her. “You want a bag?”
Lenalee picked up the bundles of flowers, fingertips brushing against the petals before inhaling deeply. Her eyes closed, as if doing so would help her retain the scent of the plants longer. “No,” she said at last, her smile softening. “I can carry them. It’s a beautiful day, after all.”
Not as beautiful as you, he thought, and he covered his oncoming blush by fanning himself with his hand, looking the other way. “And hot,” he added. “Do you need any water before heading out? Wearing black if you’re walking home might be a bad idea.”
“It’s not too far, but,” she bowed her head, “thank you for your concern. I really appreciate it—and all your help today. It was...” She paused, bringing her fingernails to her lips and lightly nipping them. “I had a lot of fun.”
“Yeah.” Lavi shifted his weight from one foot to the other, staring down at the suddenly-fascinating counter-top as he picked at the skin of his hands from nerves. “Me, too.”
They fell silent for an uncomfortable moment. Lenalee opened her mouth to say something, appeared to think better of it, and closed it again. She hugged the flower bundles close to her chest before turning towards the door. “Well,” she said, “I guess I will head out. Thank you again, Lavi. I’m sure I’ll stop in again soon.”
“Wait, hold on!” He stumbled from behind the counter and onto the shop floor, plucking out one of the delivered acacia blossoms and giving it to her. She blinked, and he continued: “For being a great customer. We just got these ones in this morning, too. If you tuck it behind your ear, it might add a nice splash of something special to your outfit. Or, uh.” He forced a laugh and scratched the back of his head. “Or something like that, if you’re interested at all. Still, keep it. It’s yours.”
A faint wash of pink tinted her cheeks as she accepted the flower while licking her lips. “Thanks,” she said, holding it alongside her orders. Another lingering pause. “They’re very pretty,” she added. Another. “Lavi, I—uh. Just... thank you for being so nice to me all this time. I’m really glad that we met. I... I hope to see you soon.”
She left as he tried to untangle fragments of sentences jammed stuck in his teeth, the little bell ending its jingle by the time he squeezed out a quiet, “You, too.” He groaned, mussing up his own hair, before turning back towards the counter where bright blue eyes and raised eyebrows greeted him.
“I was joking,” Allen said, tone light, “but Lavi, you truly are hopelessly in love with that lady, aren’t you?”
“Shut up.” Lavi slumped on his stool behind the counter, head lightly whacking against the wall. “Shut up. It’s not like I have a chance in hell, anyways. It’ll never happen, not with someone who’s clearly got her life more put-together than I ever will.”
“Never say never.” Allen waggled his forefinger in front of Lavi’s face. “You still have two hours before your break, so be a dear and sort the new order forms, will you?”
“She’s in college to become a doctor, Al! Which means she’s super dedicated.” He picked up the stack of orders and plopped them onto the counter with a groan. “There’s no way I can be on her radar as just some lazy guy from a flower shop, of all things. No offense.”
“None taken. But, all things considered,” Allen opened the door leading into the backroom, where a muttered “tch” reached both their ears, “you two looked pretty cute together. Anyways, thank you for your hard work.”
The door closed behind Allen, muffled yells between him and Kanda barely registering in Lavi’s consciousness. He looked over a few orders, sighed, and leaned against the counter, his head and chest aching. He pressed his face against his hands, peering down at the orders with a heavy sigh. Allen was right. He always was.
Acacia Blossom: symbolically meaning concealed love.
*
Asters. Symbol of love.
Red Carnations. My heart aches for you.
Yellow Tulips. There’s sunshine in your smile.
Daisies...
Every time Lenalee came in, which became a frequent occurrence even if she had no intention of buying anything, Lavi gave her one of their flowers, free of charge, to the point of which he could no longer quite remember which ones he gifted her already. His hopelessness for her affections befuddled even himself, he, who swore that love would be a waste of his resources and time. Yet here he was, devoting his attention to lovestruck thoughts of perhaps asking her out on a date, if it were not for his accursed anxieties and uncertainties preventing him from doing so. Instead, he gave her a flower to represent something, on the off-chance she would ever catch his drift, but as more time passed, the less likely that seemed to be ever happening.
He sighed as the lazy and slow summer afternoon dragged on, like his feet whenever he got up to do some oddball task around the shop. Allen and Kanda squabbled as they finished up cleaning a mess some customer’s kid created towards the front while Lavi counted the money a third time, wondering where the missing five dollars wound up. The local book fair would happen in just three days—an opportune moment for a date, if Lenalee’s ramblings about recent books she had the pleasure to read revealed anything about her love for reading. But how could he bring that up? He had no experience in actually caring about asking someone out. He scowled, closed the till, and scribbled a note for the owner to find about the misplaced five bucks.
Perhaps this was karma biting him in the ass, at long last.
“Did you ever learn how to mop?”Allen’s bitter tone brought Lavi out of his self-defeating thoughts. “What do you do, make Alma do all the cleaning? I pity him.”
“Did you ever learn to shut the fuck up? I’m doing my goddamn best here, which is a damn-sight better than what you’re doing, which is nothing. Why don’t you take your condescending attitude and shove it up your ass? At least then your head will have some company while being filled with shit.”
“Guys, guys,” Lavi said, his exasperation reaching its peak, “it’s hot out, and late. Could you maybe try to be civil to each other through just one shift? ‘Sides, Al’s on break, Yuu, for another ten minutes or so. But you really should stop agitating him, buddy.”
Kanda whipped his head towards Lavi, lifting the broom up and pointing its handle in Lavi’s direction, causing him to squeak. “Let’s see about you calling me that one more damn time, rabbit. Test my patience. Go ahead. Try your lu—”
The force of the front door opening caused the little bell to jingle and fall from its perch, bouncing off the slippery floor and rolling away. A flash of yellow and white came into Lavi’s vision, only for it to fall to the floor, the sound of dress shoes squeaking against the slick linoleum reaching his ears. The dirty water bucket tipped over, its contents sopping the floor even more beneath the rows and rows of flowers. Kanda jerked back, startled, and Allen’s arms raised defensively, eyes wide with alarm. Lavi’s stool clattered to the floor as he jumped to stand, scouring the scene for any explanation for what was going on.
“Ms. Lee,” Allen gasped, hurrying to her side. “I am so sorry, the floors are wet right now. Are you all right? Did you hurt anything?”
Lenalee—hair cropped short, dress a stark bright yellow in comparison to all of her darker outfits—shook her head, though she appeared breathless. Her attention shifted from Allen to Kanda, who looked away, and finally to Lavi, with her lips parting and her eyes frenzied by some unknown force. The color in her face drained, then surged to a bright shade of red as she hurried to stand, some patches of her clothes damp, but quickly drying, from her fall. She brushed aside Lavi’s two coworkers and approached the counter, her bag slipping from her shoulder and pushing it towards him. They locked eyes for a brief moment, comprehension in hers, confusion in his.
“I get it now,” she breathed, still trying to catch her breath. Did she run all the way here?
“Uh,” he managed, glancing down at the bag. “Get what?”
Allen and Kanda exchanged looks and stepped a little closer, but not too close to invade their seemingly-important conversation.
“Open it,” she said, and pushed the bag again.
Lavi hesitated, looking to Allen or Kanda for support, but neither of them gave him any. His fingertips brushed against the zipper with great trepidation before opening it. Lenalee stared down, watching his hands intently as he reached inside, recognizing the feel of a hard-covered book, and then pulled it out to be exposed to the store’s lighting. A cheap journal, one that could be found in probably any retail chain, rested in his palms. He glanced at her, and she nodded towards it, encouraging him to take a look inside.
The covers peeled back to reveal a dried and flattened lavender rose.
Turning the page, an acacia blossom.
An aster...
“I understand now,” she said as he gasped, recognition setting in. “I kept them because I didn’t want them to go to waste, and I invited my friend over, and we looked—we looked together in the book, because she loves flowers and—anyways, and she told me—she told me that whoever kept giving them to me must really—”
“Like you,” he whispered, tracing the very first flower he gave her.
“—like me, because of flower language, and I asked her what they all meant, and when she listed them all off, I needed to know for sure, I needed to hear it from you, I ran without thinking, hoping—what?” She stopped mid-sentence, eyes widening. “Did—did you say something?”
Lavi inhaled, tension lifting his shoulders, before straightening his back. “I,” he said, a little louder, “like you.”
Kanda made a disgusted wretch sound behind them while Allen brought a hand up to his lips, eyebrows raised in anticipation. A small quiet settled over them as Lenalee appeared to stop breathing for a moment, the redness increasing ever so slightly in her face. She looked away, clearing her throat, before reaching towards her own neck. She untied her small white scarf and unhooked the flower ornament clipped to it, her small hands shaking from her apparent oncoming nerves.
“It’s fake. I went on-line to find a flower that would tell you my feelings and found almost nobody carried the one I wanted, so I went to a craft store, and it’s not as pretty as the real thing, but—but my point is...” She pressed the flower against his chest, her cropped short bangs just long enough to hide her eyes as she lowered her head. “My point is, this—this is my answer.”
Its purple (dyed the same color as the recently-repainted second-to-last house up on Rock’s Peak) petals felt plastic at the touch, but that did not matter. He gazed at it for a long moment, his brain cycling through the numerous images of plants he studied so intently when he initially got this job. Flower shops never carried it; no one really demanded it due to its gaudy appearance. However, at that moment, when it finally came to him, it hurdled itself to his favorite flower in the entire world.
Ambrosia: your love is reciprocated.
“If,” she stammered, wringing her hands together, “I am not too late. If I am not reading too much into it. It’s just that, when you spoke to me the first time, you made me feel welcome here, in this town I barely knew. And when we talked, I kept looking forward to it. I came in as much as I could, just to see you again. The flowers, they were all excuses. I just wanted to get to know you even more.” She forced a laugh. “But I didn’t think—I never thought I had a chance. Until... Lavi, do you really—”
“Yes.” He nodded too much, neck nearly snapping from its speed. “Yes, I—yes, Lenalee. Ever since you came in, I’ve been, I mean, I couldn’t stop thinking about you, and I’ve never felt this way before, but you make my heart pound and my hands all sweaty and—”
His sentence ended abruptly with a softness quickly brushing against his lips, making it end in a pathetic squeak as Lenalee grabbed his shirt and pulled him over the counter with a chaste kiss. Kanda gagged, and Allen gasped, but neither of them mattered right now. Right now, all that mattered was something blooming in his chest, something stronger than he ever felt whenever he kissed someone. She drew his breath out of his lungs and planted seeds that grew rapidly into stems that curled around his ribcage, making it hard to breathe.
“Sorry,” she said, withdrawing. “Was that too fast of me? I couldn’t help it for some reason.”
“No, it’s—you’re fine.” His voice sounded much too high in pitch. “Hey, uh—so that book fair I was talking about a month ago, if you remember it at all. Did you, uh, with me, maybe kinda wanna sorta go? Together? Like a—like a, um—”
“Like a date?” she finished.
“Yes. Yeah. Would you?”
She laughed a little before nodding, her smile wide, mirroring the one coming onto his face. “Lavi, I would love to.”
“Really?”
“Really.”
“Really?” he asked again, disbelieving.
“Yes, Lavi.” Her eyes glittered with giddiness. “Really.”
“Ugh,” Kanda interrupted, shuffling by while rolling his eyes and grabbing some paper towels to clean up the water that still resided the floor. “Will you two cut it out? You’re both disgusting. Take it elsewhere and out of my damn store.”
“You know,” Allen interjected, a reassuring smile on his face, “I heard that Bucky’s Ice Cream finally opened for the season, if you still wanted to try out the Lobster Tracks. Lavi is on break for about half an hour, starting now. And,” he added with a wink, “he just got paid last week, if you want to skimp out on the bill.”
The three of them laughed while Lavi came out from behind the counter, standing by Lenalee’s side. Her and Allen kept chattering for a moment, but the conversation became white noise as her fingers nudged lightly against Lavi’s, holding his hand with some hesitation. He squeezed her fingers back, and the two briefly exchanged smiles, blushes still matching and bright on their own faces.
Shakespeare lied, he realized as he watched her face light up. If a rose was called “Lenalee” instead, Lavi believed—Lavi knew, as the two walked out of the flower shop, hand in hand—that it would smell even sweeter.