purple orchids/ dreamnotfound

3

recap- george is sitting in the kitchen staring at the stool alex would sit in every morning for breakfast

3 days later

clay woke up bright and early. he went to his room to get ready. today, it would only be him working in the shop since alyssa is with a friend for the week.

he thought it was for the night but he assumed wrong.

he unlocked his shop doing his daily routine to get everything ready.

within the first hour, clay had 73 customers since today was none other than valentine's day. he knew that there would be tons of people.

sweat dripped down his head as he tried he best to attend every customer. then, even in the crowd of people, clay saw one boy walk in. it was george.

"george!" clay exclaimed. "hi clay" the boy smiled. "just came to pick up some-" "purple orchids?" clay said finishing his sentence.

"hah, yeah. but you seem busy so i might come back later." george said looking at the tens of people.

"yeah okay that sounds good" clay smiled. clay turned to help a customer asking where the daisies were until george had an idea.

he had nothing else to do throughout the day and he felt bad that clay had to work by himself.

"hey clay?" he asked following the blonde through the crowd of people. "yeah george?" he answered.

"mind if i help you. i have some experience with flowers although i'm not really good with colors, i can show people where stuff is" george asked.

"oh yes please thank you so much george!" clay said without thinking. "here go in the back and grab and apron" clay said pointing to a white door behind the register.

george did as told and grabbed a dark green apron.

he put the apron on and went to an old lady that looked confused.

"can you tell me where the purple orchids are young man" she smiled. even though george was colorblind, he knew which ones were purple orchids. "that's a great choice ma'am. follow me please" he said leading her.

4 hours later

it was now 1 in the after noon and they both knew by 5, the store would be 10x as busy than this morning. at this time, there was very few people browsing the flowers.

sweaty and out of breath, the two boys leaned against the counter. "thanks again george you have no clue how much you helped" clay said.

"it's no problem. i had nothing better to do anyway then visit alex" george said looking at his hands.

"mind if i come with? it's okay if you don't want me to" clay said. "actually yeah that would be nice" george said smiling at him.

they both locked eyes for a second before their attention turned toward the loud bell that was louder than expected because of the force of the door opening.

"my brother!" a man with heavy boots and pink hair tips said. "hey techno!" clay said going in for a hug.

"man it feels good to be back in florida! oh who's this?". techno asked noticing george.

"techno, this is george, my new friend and george this is techno, my brother" clay greeted them.

"hi george!" techno smiled. "hello techno" george smiled. "well i guess i missed the sugar rush of people coming and buying flowers" he said looking around.

"no you haven't. just wait until happy hour" clay warned. "are you staying for that george?" techno asked.

"i mean if it's alright with clay" he said looking at him. "no it's totally fine. techno never really works anyway" clay said crossing his arms.

"he always gets caught up with old people's stories. one minute an old person could be buying flowers and the next, they would be there for an hour just listening to one another telling stories like they had all the time in the world" clay laughed.

"old people fascinate me clay! they have seen so much" techno defended.

"ok well go put an apron on and get a hand towel ready because the air conditioner is broke so it's going to be hot in here" clay said.

techno jumped over the counter, like literally jumped over it, and went into the back.

"he's so.." clay said trying to find the right word to describe his brother. "extra?" george suggested.

"exactly!" clay laughed.

techno came back, this time actually going around the counter. "so how much are you getting paid to hang out with this loser?" techno asked george.

"i'm not getting paid actually. just thought i could help" he smiled. "damn. i would have to get paid a fortune" techno joked.

"shut up" clay said nudging his shoulder.

after a few hours, many people came and went until it hit 5 pm.

multiple people would walk in at the same time looking around for flowers. like clay said, the air conditioner was broken so all three boys were covered in sweat using a hand towel every few minutes.

it felt like a race. all three of them helping as many people as they can. "times like these clay you should really get another register!" techno yelled over the talking of people as they were both digging in the money for change.

"guys i need a five dollar bill!" george said walking up behind them. techno handed him the money then going back to search for more.

3 hours later

"god damn that was a workout" techno said laying down of the bare floor. george sat on the counter as clay leaned on the shelves.

"it's already 8:14 i have to get going" george said taking the apron off. he ruffled his sweaty hair causing it to be a mess. he walked over to grab the last bouquet of purple orchids and took out his money.

"oh no no. you don't have to pay. those are free. for your help" clay said. "oh really?thanks!" george said being grateful.

"oh yeah do you still want me to go with you?" clay asked hoping he would say yes.

"you still want to?" he said laying the apron on the counter. "sure why not. can you attend the shop techno?" clay asked look at his brother.

"sure thing. have fun doing whatever you're gonna do" he said still laying on the floor.

"okay are you gonna get up?" clay laughed. "yeah yeah. gimme a second. it feels nice and cool down here" he said closing his eyes.

"ok bye techno" george laughed as he walked over technos body behind clay. "bye bye" he said out of breath.

they walked out of the shop feeling a cool breeze. "wow that feels good" clay said taking a deep breath.

they drove off in george's car to the cemetery. they got out and walked to the tombstone and as expected, the other flowers were gone.