Chisscember - 2021

day 4 - au

Flower Boy

The doorbell rang softly as Eli opened the door of the small building. He walked in, the smell hitting him immediately. He sighed happily, it was like a second home for him.

He worked in a small flower shop, just like he always wanted. He loved flowers ever since he was a child. Especially the yellow ones. Those always made him feel happy.

He put on his denim blue apron and stood behind the till, as a woman walked into the shop and started looking around. After a couple of minutes she picked up a bouquet of roses, and placed them on a counter after she had smelled them. Eli picked them up, scanning them, while asking the woman if she wanted a bag. She shook her head. Eli nodded. Maybe next time.

Eli then carried on with his usual dialogue, telling her the price. She nodded and handed him the notes with a gleeful smile. Eli waved goodbye, as the woman smiled and left without saying anything.

From then on his day was slowly passing, with an unusually small amount of customers. The shop wasn't a busy place anyway, but it seemed to be even less visited on that day. He was about to fall asleep on the counter when his coworker and best friend, Karyn finally showed up. She was a reoccurring character in Eli's plans and took her job very light-heartedly. She always joked about how a man so seriously liked flowers, and even though Eli was starting to get bored of it, he always smiled at the thought, that she was almost like a broken record, repeating the same thing again and again.

Regardless, Eli enjoyed her company, as she was standing around, waiting for a customer to turn up and buy something.

Karyn stepped away from the till as it was finally lunch break. She took her apron off, and hung it up on the hanger. Eli looked at her, anticipation on his face.

"Want a coffee, Vanto?"

Eli laughed. "Thought you'd never ask."

"You know I always ask. This is how it goes," she replied, giving a friendly smile. "The usual?"

Eli nodded. "You know me."

"One coffee coming right up, sir!" Karyn laughed, imitating a salute, and turned around.

Eli watched as she walked out of the shop with a smile on his face. The nearest coffee shop wasn't far away, so he knew it wouldn't take her long.

He stood up, deciding to stretch a little and walk around the store until a new customer would arrive, but he tripped and nearly fell at the first step. He looked down to see his shoelaces had untied. He bendt down to fix them, whilst still behind the counter, immediately hearing the bell signalling someone entering.

He continued tying his shoelaces, looking down. He heard the customer's feet shuffle around the shop, an overwhelming feeling of unprofessionalism washed over him.

"Hello?" he heared the customer call out.

"Hey!" Eli jumped up from behind the counter, looking directly into the man's eyes.

"Oh. Hello," he replied, slightly confused as to why Eli was on the floor.

"Yeah, um... sorry about that! What can I do for you?" Eli asked nervously.

God, this man. He was tall, a lot taller than Eli, his black hair carefully brushed back. However, he looked a little lost.

"I'll just... I'll just have a look around, if that's okay."

"Yeah, sure!" Eli nodded. "Go ahead. Let me know if you need anything."

"Thanks... Eli?" the customer said, looking down at Eli's name tag and then back up at his face. He smiled.