Dear Florence,

ONE: Americani

❀Florence

"Eh dai!" (oh cmon!) — I hear my father stomp down the stairs. He opens the front door and sees what all the noise is about.

I follow him down the stairs to see that the new neighbors are still bringing stuff into there home. There are movers everywhere - going in and out of the house for the past 3 hours.

"How much stuff do they have?" Papá is a cranky man. He's a teacher and since summer is his only break before school starts, he'll take any chance he gets to sleep in. And right now he's not happy.

"Julian!" Papá yells across the street. One of the movers looks up and smiles.

"Ah! Mattia!"

"Smettila di fare così tanto rumore!" (stop making so much noise!) — He says before shutting the door.

"Just go back to sleep, Papá." I pat his shoulder. He rubs his face and mopes up the stairs and into his bedroom.

Good thing my mom decided to go to work early today or else she would kill him for talking to someone like that.

I go to the kitchen and make myself some breakfast. Todays gonna be a good day. I can feel it.

After eating my breakfast and changing into my sun dress, I go down the stairs to put on my sandals. I walk out to the porch and close the door.

I love summer in Italy.

I get on my bike and head straight to my moms flower shop.

"Eccoti!" (there you are!) — My mom comes up to me as I get off of my bike. She kisses both my cheeks and smiles, "Today is gonna be busy, hm? Lots of tourists coming." She claps.

I smile and park my bike right in front of the shop so I can see it through the window.

-

"Flor, it's 5, could you pick up our dinner?" Mamá asks me.

"Yes, mamá." I nod and water the last of the first floors plants. It took 6 hours to water the down stairs. You would be thinking of a small flower shop but no, it's a three story one.

Mamá owns Fiorituras Flower Shop. It's the most popular flower shop in Rome.
A couple more customers come in and mom helps them. I put the water away, about to get ready to leave when I hear someone come up behind me.

"Uh... excuse me?" American? I turn around and see a woman around Mamás age, "You understand English?" She says hopefully. I nod and smile.

"Yes." I answer her question.

"Oh thank god. I just moved here and this is my first time getting out of the house. I was afraid no one would understand me!" She laughs.

"Don't worry," I tell her, "Lots of Americans here you'll see."

"Okay good," she smiles, "I'm trying to get some flowers for the new house and I need some help. Could you help me?"

"Of course, what kind of flowers are you look for?" I'm really hoping my English isn't bad. I can't tell if it's good either.

"Definitely not Daisys," she comes to me a little closer, "My son hates Daisys." She whispers and points behind her. I watch where she's pointing and that's where I see a tall boy with dark brown hair. I didn't know a boy could hate a flower.

I look back at her and smile.

"Don't worry I got you." I say and tell her to follow me upstairs.

An hour has passed by and all I got was her name and no decision on what kind of flower she wants. She still can't find the perfect flowers for her new home.

We have over 400 types of flowers Anna!

"Just get the damn daisys." I hear a low grunt from behind. I turn around and see the boy from earlier.

From the facial expression and the tone in this boys voice, I can just tell he doesn't want to be here.

Rude.

I narrow my eyes at him.

"Cretino." I mumble under my breath. The boy gives me the most dirtiest glare I have ever gotten in my life.

"Don't call me that." His tone gets angrier by the second. Did he just understand that I called him a jerk? I underestimate these Americans.

"Enough!" Anna says to her son, "We're in Italy so go explore it if you don't want to be here with your mother." She rolls her eyes and turns back to look at the other flower options.

The boy looks at me one last time and walks away.

"I apologize for... him." Anna refers to her son, "He's been a bit on edge since we moved here."

"It's okay," I look up to another shelf full of flowers and spot Hibscus', "How about these?" I show her. Her eyes light up at the sight of the beautiful color.

"Yes." She says without hesitation, "I'm gonna need multiple bouquets of these please." She smiles.

As I finish up with her flowers she says, "What's your name, honey?"

"Florence" I tell her. I put the last of the flowers in a vase and put the vase in a box, "You want these delivered, yes?"

"Definitely. I wouldn't have to do that if my son wasn't so grumpy and would just help me." She chuckles, "Again, so sorry for his manners."

"It's okay." I tell her. It's actually not okay. I'm very sensitive and am trying to be professional as possible but right now I want to cry because he's mean, "You're all set!"

As she's finishing up her payment she's says, "Florence, you're a life saver. You have a new customer who will be coming here often. Ciao!" I wave bye to her and sigh.

"Le mie ragazze!" (My girls!) — I hear Papás voice as he comes through the door. He's holding up a pizza box.

Shoot. I forgot about dinner.

"Sorry, Mamá..." I bite my lip, "The customer was very picky with her flowers and I-"

"Va bene, Flor!" (It's okay, Flor!) — She shushes me, "It's your job. That's why I called Papá to just get it for us." She tucks a strand of hair behind my ear and smiles.

"Voila!" Papá opens the box with the pizza on it, "Let's eat."