purple orchids/ dreamnotfound

4

recap: george and clay made it to the cemetery

they both walked up to the tombstone, clay allowing george to sit down first.

"come sit" george said patting the ground next to him. clay gave in and sat criss cross not wanting to intrude on george's time with his best friend.

"hey alex" george smiled. his finger ran along the name that he loved so dearly.

clay felt really bad for george. he had no one else. clay didn't want to say it but he wanted to be george's new alex but he didn't want george to think he's trying to replace him.

"why did you want to come with me to visit my dead friend. kinda weird don't you think?" george said trying to make a joke out of the situation.

"just being a good friend" clay said smiling at the boy. they sat there for a few moments in silence liking the peace.

"this might seem weird but it's so relaxing here" clay laughed. "totally. we are sitting above a dead person right now" george joked.

"well when you put it like that" clay said.

suddenly, clouds began to cover the sky, hiding the sun. "it looks like it's about to rain" george said looking up at the sky.

then, rain began to start pouring down onto the boys. where they were was a bit far from the car so they quickly got up leaving the orchids behind.

they began laughing and giggling at how they were soaked. they closed the car doors out of breath with smiles on their face. ever since george met clay, he's been smiling a lot more.

"holy shit" clay laughed. both of their hairs were messy and wet. "thank god you have leather seats" clay said.

they caught their breaths accidentally locking eyes. george felt a weird feeling in his stomach.

butterflies maybe?

clay felt the same way except this time was different for him. "okay let's go" george said flustered. he broke the eye contact scared of what would come next.

he turned the key to start the car and began to back up into the main road.

they drove in silence. the only sound was the rain pouring over the car and the sound of the windshield wipers going back and forth.

then, clays phone began to ring. he took it out of his pocket seeing it was techno calling.

"hello?" clay said casually.

"clay! i need you and george to get your asses here to the shop now. there was a robbery and they left. the cops are here now but get your ass here now!" techno screamed through the phone.

even though it wasn't on speaker phone, george could hear technos frantic voice. then he hung up leaving clay shook.

"my flower shop just got robbed" clay said not knowing what else to say. george slowly and carefully pushed the gas pedal a little more running a red light. thank god no one was here.

they turned the corner to the shop and saw a ton of cars and police lights.

clay ran out along with george. clay ran to techno who was walking back and forth.

george stopped in his tracks as he saw the police lights flashing.

all he could think of is what the police lights looked like at alex's crashed car. the next day, he died.

——

"george get down to highway 25 now! alex was in a wreck and it's pretty bad! hurry george!" Karl's voice screamed over the phone.

george was on his way from getting fast food for a game nigh with alex when he got the call.

george heart dropped. karl didn't even get a chance to george to respond without hanging up.

he quickly made a u turn and turned over to the highway.

barely any cars were passing as he saw the flashing red and blue lights. he got out of the car and ran over to karl.

"what the hell happened?" george asked frantically to Karl who's eyes were tearing up. "he got in a hit and run. we don't know about him" karl said.

george's eyes began to water not knowing if it was from the rain or the thought of his best friend not making it. he shouldered through the cops and witnesses wanting to see his best friend.

he then saw alex being put into an ambulance. blood covered his body as he had a neck brace in along with blankets over his body.

"alex!"george screamed. alex very weakly reached his hand out waving to george before they closed the doors.

he stood in his tracks as the last thing he saw was flashing police lights.

——

"george are you coming?" clay asked. george snapped out of his thoughts and ran over to the two brothers. "clay i'm sorry. he had a gun and i didn't know what to do. there were people in here and they said they wouldn't hurt them if i gave them money." techno said.

"techno it's not your fault" clay reassured him. clay pushed through the people seeing but stopped by a police officer.

"woah man i cant have you here. please walk away and mind your business"the officer said.

"this is my god damn shop" clay said. the officer backed off going to the police who were inspecting the inside.

"what happened? is everyone okay?" he questioned. "woah woah calm down son. listen, it was a robbery and they didn't take anything but the money" one of them explained.

clay threw his hands above his head resting them frustrated. "oh my god" he said dragging out the o.

the cops left still on the loo for any suspicious activity. for the rest of the night, they closed down the shop.

all three men stood in the empty shop. "this is fucking crazy" techno said biting his nails.

clay sat on the counter with his hands holding his face as george leaned in the wall.

"what now?" clay asked to himself desperately wanting any answer.

"we wait. we get business back and running and we try to get enough money to continue the shop" george said.

"george they took every penny in the register. they even found the billing/supplies money that we need. there's no way to pay the bills here nor restock anything" clay said frustrated.

they all stood in silence. "i guess i'll just close down the shop for now" clay said scratching the back of his neck.

it was 9:36 pm by the time clay called their supply company and billing places to let them know that they are closing for a while.

before they left, clay took one deep breath before officially locking up the shop

"uh thanks for coming with me to the cemetery" george said. "yeah no problem" clay smiled before waving goodbye. all three of them got into their own car all heading separate directions.