DAY 1:
BEEP BEEP BEEP!!!!
Preston jumps at the sudden sounds of his alarm. He springs to his feet turning his alarm off in the process and wiping drool from his mouth. In a panicked state, Preston grabs the nearest flannel to him and starts changing his clothes as he sees its 8:05, "Fuck, I'm late for school!" He thought trying to find the most clean pair of pants on his floor as reality sets in. He is indeed not late for school. It's still the first week of summer break, and the pretty boy he had a dreamt of last night was in fact real and probably starting his shift at Rico's any moment now. Preston continued getting ready now with a new motivation as his eyes scanned over the drawings of the plant boy and his cute face mask.
"Okay today is the day" Preston confidently marches in front of the shop once more passing the brightly lit 'Open' sign on the window. Preston holds his breath as he swings the door open and sees..... no one. Preston looks to the greenhouse area to the left of the shop and! ........no one. Preston decides to check the last place he's allowed, walking past the 'employees only sign' headed into the break room to see Rico making himself a cup of tea.
Rico looks up at Preston as he stirs sugar into his drink, "oh hey Peeps!" Rico warmly smiles as Preston joins him, grunting at the childish nickname. He jumps up to sit on the counter beside his older friend.
"David send you here to check on the parts? You left so fast yesterday we didn't even get to test them", Rico said with a smile.
"'Nah, well that too!", Preston rubbed the back of his neck and looked away as he spoke, "I actually saw that.. you got a new employee! That's.. cool dude.."
Rico chuckled to himself still looking down at his tea, "Yeah, he's pretty cute huh?"
Preston jolted at the statement but tried to keep his composure, "haha yeah, my friends were just wondering his name so......" he glances at Rico who's still focused on his drink, "so?? what.. is his name?" Rico takes the first sip of his tea and smiles, "So that's why you left so fast huh?"
"N-NO!" Preston stammers while waving his hand in front of his face as if it would make him blush any less. He knows he can't lie but still tried, Rico just begins putting his work apron on while continuing, "uh huh. So then how would your friends know about my employees first day hmm? It's okay if you think he's cute, but he's not working today." Preston feels a little defeated after getting himself all hyped up for seemingly no reason. He hops off the counter and goes to leave before being blocked my Rico, "buuuuut you should still try and talk to him yourself! He's working the next few days anyways." Preston perks up at this new information opening his mouth to thank Rico when Rico firmly grabs Preston's shoulder. "As a thank you though, you could definitely help me finish setting up the irrigation parts David sent over yesterday!!", Rico smiled but Preston couldn't help but feel it was more of a threat, "o,, oh right.... that. I can help out"
"Good. Now go put on a spare apron."
Preston stretched and got to work volunteering his time to help around the plant shop. Even though he couldn't do most of the heavy lifting, Preston would help hold pieces steady, tighten valves, and keep Rico company throughout the day. Preston broke free halfway through the work day for a short break. There had been some scratching against the door that leads to the greenhouse , so Preston decided to investigate the noises himself. Preston reached out to the heavy door that's lower half was decorated to match the black fencing surrounding the shop, and in through the gap a small fuzzy blob had immediately found its way into the shop.
