Strawberry Island (girlxgirl)

Quality Time

Florence yawned as she rubbed her under eyes, the sun had only broken the horizon a few hours ago making this the earliest Florence had woken up so far on the island. She subconsciously applied mascara to her dark eyelashes before throwing on her Burberry quarter-zip and fur lined white denim jacket. Strawberry Island often had a chilly breeze before noon even in the summer time, then again Florence always felt cold; she only ever felt hot when she had a fever. She looked at her reflection in the mirror, trying to waste as much time as she could before meeting up with the outsider.

Clara waited on the white wood swing that hung from an old oak tree. She ran her hand through her hair which was still wavy from the braids Evangeline had given her the previous night. She turned her head to the sound of the front door of Mulberry slamming shut. Down the steps came Florence had a tired expression on her face as she made her way past Clara and towards her car. Clara hopped off the swing and followed close behind her, pushing a loose strand of blonde hair behind her own ear. 

Florence hopped in the drivers seat of her Porsche and groaned at Clara who tapped on the window indicating that the passenger door was locked. Clara ran her fingers over the spotless cherry red leather interior in awe of the luxury. "Seatbelt." Florence ordered as she eyed the un-clicked buckle. "Isn't the speed limit here like three miles per hour?" Clara retorted, letting out a small laugh. Florence clenched her jaw and reached across Clara's body, swiftly tugging the seatbelt into place. "Your Uber review is definitely not getting five stars." Clara scoffed while shaking her head jokingly as she continued to admire the sleekness of the interior. 

The two girls sat in silence for the entire car ride into town, Florence continuously adjusting the AC dial trying to find the perfect temperature to keep her from shivering. Clara furrowed her eyebrows out of perplexity, assuming that Florence had some sort of compulsion. Clara was not off put by it, she was pretty confident that every rich person had a weird quality, like gluten allergies or not liking dogs. 

Downtown was only made up of a few old brick buildings. "What's that building?" Clara pointed at the grey building with big windows lined at the front. "The resale store." Florence answered as she parallel parked. "Oh, like Goodwill?"Clara nodded as she could just barely make out the racks of clothing through the windows from across the street. "What?" Florence scoffed to herself confused. "A thrift store..." Clara turned her head away from her with widened eyes out of mere shock at the fact that Florence didn't know what Goodwill was. She wondered how someone could be so out of touch. "Whatever." Florence responded as they got out of the car. 

"And this building?" Clara asked as she directed Florence's attention to the brick red structure that stood in front of them. "Can you not read?" She inquired but not rhetorically, she genuinely wanted to receive an answer. "Why would I need the ability to read when I have my very own tour guide?" Clara shrugged with a soft smile, the sun making her perfect tan skin glow. "It's the town market, and our first stop." She stretched her arms, letting out one final yawn as she swung open the clear glass door. The ringing of the overhead bell faded once the two girls made their way deeper into the market. 

"You sure are up and at em' pretty early aren't ya today, Florie?" A warm yet slight high pitched voice from behind the register called out making Florence shift her attention to the young store worker. "Don't remind me, Logan." She took a deep inhale as she surveyed the shelves standing behind him. "-And don't call me 'Florie', that's the worst nickname I've ever heard." She added as she watched Logan chuckle, unknowingly making his shaggy hair sway back and forth. "You know I'm just trying to shake things up a bit." He dusted off his white apron and leaned against the back corner, amused. 

"Anyways, is your dad in the back at the pharmacy?" She redirected the topic, Florence didn't feel like having a full on conversation with Logan at the moment, she was at the market for a specific item. "Yep, you're all clear to head on back." He nodded in the general direction of the back of the store. "-hey, wait are you going to introduce me to your friend?" He finally noticed the blonde girl who was looking over the map of the island that hung on a bulletin board. "No." She responded sternly while turning to the pharmaceutical section of the market.