The Summer to my Fall

1:

Ian's POV

I tapped on the steering wheel waiting for the signal to turn green, "Why are we listening to Lana del Rey? She's good but can we do Chase Atlantic right now?", I ask glancing at Kai. He pouted, "No if we change, let's do something common. How about Lorde or Halsey?", he asked.

I hummed and replied, "Always Never", right when the signal turns green and I began to drive again, "Okay!", he happily replied and disconnected his phone from Bluetooth and used my phone instead, "When did you buy this new cover? It is so..."

"Foody?", I finished the sentence for him, "It's a pair. I bought both. It looks really good right?"

"A pair? Who did you give the other one to?", Kai insinuated with his so-called innocence, "Shut up or I'll throw you out of the car. You can take the other one if you want. 20 bucks. What say?", I gave him a look raising my eyebrows with a smirk, "What a scam! I don't need your precious phone case anyways! I have a pretty one already!", he pouted showing off his nature styled case. Contradicting, "But you are the chef", I replied.

He sighed, "And you are the foodie. This tiny watermelon popsicle looks pretty cute though", he admired my phone case. I smiled and stayed focused on driving when I noticed a florist shop, "Kai! A florist! Maybe they have the orange Christmas cactus I have been looking for a while now. Can we stop and check?", I asked rather enthusiastically. He glanced at the shop and nodded, "Okay! Maybe we can find something else pretty too. And there is a candy shop beside, we could buy something there after".

I quickly pulled over and parked the car near the store. As we get out of the car I noticed a strikingly expensive black Mercedes Benz parked right outside the candy store. I had no idea about the model, just the brand; I was a motorcycle whiz after all, but it was looking damn expensive, "Why is an expensive car parked at a simple candy store?", I whispered as I join Kai on the sidewalk, "Not all expensive people like expensive stuff", he replied.

I let out a laugh, "We are in California my baby brother. We're not in Europe", I sass and wrap my arms around his shoulder as we walked into the florist shop. We both were lit up looking at the wide array of colors we are hit with. It was peak summer and there are a lot of tropical and spring flowers and plants snaking the store. I let Kai wander around as I approached the florist. I couldn't help but smile when I noticed him.

His black hair was slightly messy and he looked a little tired but had this charming smile painted on his face, his striking blue eyes glistening faintly and he looked somewhat at ease amongst his plants, "Good afternoon sir! How may I help you?", he asked politely in a gentle British accent. Wow did that accent throw me off guard for a second there?

"Hello! I hope you are having a good day! I am here looking for a specific plant. Christmas cactus. But specifically, the orange variant".

He beamed at that, "That's a very good choice indeed! And yes, we do have it. I have it at the back in the greenhouse. Let me get it for you sir. You may look around the store in the meantime".

I smiled, "That would be amazing! Thank you!", I replied. He gave me a smile in return and quickly headed back. I turned back to check on Kai when I am left baffled by a tiny boy standing in front of me looking right at me. I let out a silent gasp and looked around to see if anyone accompanied the kid but was left concerned to notice no one around except Kai who was at the end of the store looking at some plants.

I realized my stern expression and immediately switched it to not frighten the boy. I smiled widely at the boy and bent down carefully aware to maintain distance just in case I came off as scary to the little boy, "Hello", I whispered never risking a faltering in my smile. He eyed me curiously but thankfully didn't look intimidated by my presence. But then he shouldn't have probably stayed this comfortable around a stranger, "Buddy, where are your parents?", I looked around and was growing increasingly concerned.