Fablehaven flowershop au

Flowershop pt.1

Prom season was in full swing, which meant that the little flower shop on Main Street was busier than usual, but mostly with online or telephonic orders; foot traffic was somewhat light. Bracken primarily spent the days of prom season by putting together boutonnières and corsages while listening to some random radio station in the background that his mother liked. The work wasn’t exactly difficult, per se, but it was fulfilling. He enjoyed creating beautiful works of art out of flowers, and always tried to put a little something special into even the smallest of his projects.

This day, at around lunch hour (and after Bracken’s mother had stepped out of the shop in search of food), a visibly furious young woman yanked open the front door, which caused the bells hanging from the top of the door to jangle more loudly than normal. Bracken looked up from his work and greeted her. “Hello,” he said. Then, taken aback at the redness in her face and the puffiness in her eyes, he asked, “Are you alright?”

She slammed some money onto the countertop in front of Bracken, and he jumped a little at the abruptness of her actions. “You know flowers?” she asked.

“Um. Yes?” he replied, quite bewildered.

“I want to buy the prettiest ‘fuck you’ bouquet the world has ever seen, and I want to shove it right up inside this asshole’s, well... asshole,” she stated. Venom laced every single one of her words.

He blinked a few times before humor sank in. Bracken laughed a little, his customer’s face flushed a bit in some sort of reaction - whether embarrassment or anger, he couldn’t tell - and he immediately tried to quash the chortles in his throat. With as straight of a face as he could possibly manage, he said, “This person must’ve done something pretty terrible.”

She sent him a deadpan look. “Can you make the bouquet or not?”

Bracken quickly sobered and nodded. “I can, but we don’t carry all of the right flowers here.” He gestured at the various buckets and containers which held a healthy variety of blooms. “I’m sure I can find them around town, though. When do you need it?”

“Is Saturday afternoon doable?” she asked.

It was Tuesday at present, and he knew exactly where to find the rest of the flowers he’d need. “I can have it for you by Thursday if you’d like.”

Her hand waved in the air. “Saturday would be perfect, if that’s okay. I’m supposed to go on a date with him that night. I’d love to drop the flowers off on his doorstep beforehand and ghost him. Don’t want to give him any time to get a refund, or another date, for those ‘expensive’ concert tickets he’s been babbling about for months.”

“Wow. He really must’ve done something awful.” Bracken’s interest had been captured.

“He deserves it,” she said as she slid her money over the countertop toward Bracken. “Will this be enough to cover it?”

Plenty. “It’s too much,” he said. “Take these bills back.”

She thanked him for his help, reiterated that she wanted the bouquet ready by Saturday afternoon, and turned to leave the shop.

“Hang on,” Bracken called to her. “Can I get your name and phone number for your order? That way I can send you a message to let you know when it’s ready to be picked up.”

“My name is Kendra,” she said. “I’d rather not give out my phone number.”

“I promise not to share it, or use it for purposes other than to contact you regarding your order,” he tried to assure her. “Your email address would work, too, if you’d prefer that.”

A strained smile crossed her face, but she relented and tendered her email address. He again promised only to use her contact information for business purposes. She thanked him and walked out the door with much less angry energy than when she had walked in only a few minutes before.

What a strange encounter. His mother would need to hear about this when she returned from lunch; he was sure she’d find it highly entertaining. After all, how often did the opportunity to create and deliver a spiteful and angry collection of flowers come around?

Not nearly often enough, if you asked him.

Here is the link to the original pt.1
https://www.tumblr.com/aerinsfables/649667430944292864/part-2-is-here