flower girl // hiatus

{three}

jack's attempts at talking to flora on monday ultimately failed. sort of.

at first, he tried to talk to her during lunch. however, she was not in sight. next, he tried to talk to her when he saw her walking to the restroom during math, but his teacher wouldn't allow him to "use the restroom" (the teacher was not aware that he actually wanted to talk to flora - the lesson was just really important). the last chance jack had to talk to flora came at the end of the day.

"hey! flora!" jack said as he ran through his school's front doors. she was grabbing her light blue bike from the bike rack. upon hearing jack shouting, she met his gaze. it was clear from her expression that she was not looking forward to talk with jack.

"look, the note wasn't exactly meant for you..." flora said, curling her lips in. jack's face fell, but only someone who was paying very close attention would be able to tell.

"look, the note wasn't exactly meant for you..." flora said. she folded her hands behind her back, studying jack very carefully. his face fell very slightly, but the difference in his expression was very minimal. it made her heart hurt. he began to fiddle with the strings on his hoodie.

oh god, he's gonna cry, flora thought. i'm so sorry, jack.

"i mean, i'd love to be your friend," she said quickly. she smiled brightly and jack smiled a little bit in return.

"yeah, i think i'd like to be friends," he replied quietly. flora patted his shoulder, but what she really wanted to do was hug him.

"i'll see you around then, yeah?" she said. she hopped on her bike quickly after jack nodded a little and then she rode away.

jack watched as flora rode away on her bike, her hair falling out of her bun. he ran his hands through his hair and locked them behind his head. just like that, flower girl was gone. he had let her get away. then again, he now knew that he never had her in the first place.

"what's wrong?" someone, presumably kyle, said from behind him.

"she gave the note to the wrong person," jack replied, closing his eyes.

"aw, i'm sorry, man."

"whatever," jack said, sighing.

that was the thing - flora was unique. she was beautiful and special and kind and extraordinary. jack was just normal. if life was a movie, he was an extra - no credit, no significance, just there to fill the background. flora was the main character, and main characters don't fall in love with people in the background. 

jack opened his eyes, hoping that he would see flora, but he knew that was improbable. she was not there, just as he had expected.

she would never be there.

"aunt cam? are you here?" flora shouted when she got home. after there was no reply, she assumed that her aunt was still not home. on occasion, her aunt cam would stop by and drop off take-out food. today was not one of those days.

flora went to her room and dumped her backpack on the floor. she had no intention of starting her homework. suddenly, her phone began to buzz in her back pocket. she grabbed it and answered it without much thought. 

"hello?" she said, plopping down onto her bed.

"flora? hey, this is jack rivers. i wanted to... talk, i guess. i would've texted, but i figured it would be more appropriate to call."

"oh, hey... listen, i'm really sorry," flora replied. jack was quiet for what seemed like an eternity.

"it's okay," he finally said, his voice sounding heavy.

"i don't think it is," flora said, trying to decide whether or not to tell jack the truth.

"well, i guess you're sort of right."

"it's just that... i was sort of lying. i felt really embarrassed and nervous. it was never my intention to make you feel bad. in fact, i was trying to avoid making myself feel bad, y'know?"

"actually, i don't," jack said. flora could picture the smile on his face, the hope in his eyes...

"jack, the flower and the note were for you."

"jack, the flower and the note were for you."

he couldn't believe it.

"whoa. okay. well, let me just... whoa. wow. uh, yeah, that's pretty... awesome," jack said, flustered. 

"yup," flora replied. neither one of them spoke for a while. jack eventually broke the silence.

"just, out of curiosity, why me?"

"what do you mean?"

"well, you are very unique and beautiful. overall, you're... extraordinary. i, on the other hand, am quite ordinary. i'm not really significant. you deserve someone amazing. it's not that i'm not good or whatever, but i'm not the kind of guy who dates girls like you. wait, that sounded bad. sorry, um--"

"listen. you're not ordinary. you're so much more than you make yourself out to be. you're... incredible. amazing. handsome. extraordinary," flora said. her voice was sure.

"thank you," jack said very quietly, looking down at his shoes.

just as jack had finished speaking, flora heard the front door opening. her aunt shouted to see if flora was home.

"listen, i have to go. i'll talk to you tomorrow, okay?" she said into her phone.

"sure, okay. bye, flora."

"bye."

flora put her phone on her side table and ran out of her room to greet cam. 

"hey, honey. i'm gonna have to leave in a little while and i won't be home until late, so i grabbed you some tacos from maria's," cam said, her purse resting on her shoulder and a plastic bag in her hand. flora grabbed the plastic bag and walked to the kitchen to set it down.

"cool. so, how's your day been?"

"well, i learned that warren's gonna be home in a few weeks," cam said with a smile, sliding her sunglasses off of her face.

"oh my god! that's great!" flora said, throwing her arms around her aunt. warren was flora's uncle. he was serving overseas for the army and wasn't supposed to be home for another 2 months. 

"it really is great," cam said, probably to herself. she missed her husband dearly and worried about him all the time, so one could imagine the happiness she was experiencing. 

"okay, so i have to go change, but then i have to leave," cam said.

"well, alright. i love you."

"love you too, hun. i'll see you later, okay?"

"okay," flora replied. she gave her aunt a quick peck on the cheek before heading back to her room.

as flora grabbed her binder from her bag to begin her homework, she felt an extreme sense of happiness.

today was a good day.