Flowers in Your Hair

Greta's Greens

The light peering in from the window above the bed stirs you awake. You flip over, burying your face in your pillow for five more minutes before your alarm goes off, blaring through your room and forcing you to finally pull yourself out of bed. Grabbing your phone to stop the alarm, you sit up and swing your feet off of the bed, the cold wooden floor sending a jolt through your body. You rub the sleep out of your eyes and throw your hair up in an attempt to begin the process of getting ready. You made sure to set an early alarm today to give yourself ample time to do everything you needed to. Walking to your closet, you shuffle through the color coded clothing and land on a blue and green tie-dyed sublime shirt. You pair it with some tattered overalls, making sure to roll them slightly at the ankles, and finally added your black platform doc martens. You walk into the bathroom adjoined to your bedroom and turn on your flat iron so that it can begin heating up while you do your makeup. You opted for a nude smoky eye and a small winged liner, pairing this with some chapstick and a little blush to brighten up your cheeks. You reach into the small blue jewelry dish that sat on your porcelain bathroom counter and pulled out a few silver rings and a crystal necklace that had a piece of opal as the pendant. After adjusting all of your jewelry, you remove your hair from the messy bun that sat atop your head and began brushing it out and sectioning it off. Taking each strand, you slightly curl the hair at the bottom, giving you the 70's blow out that you had always been obsessed with, and more often than not opted to do on days you wanted a quick style. You step back after finishing your hair to admire how you'd put yourself together today. Not too fancy, but not too lazy either. You unplug the straightener and turn the lights off in the bathroom and make your way to the kitchen to grab your bag and a granola bar before heading to work.

You always made sure to arrive to work a bit early, as you loved sitting on the small bench outside, taking some time to meditate and sit with nature before starting your day. Today was no different, you were opening the store at nine and had gotten there a little before then. Making your way to the bench, you began shuffling through your playlist to find the right song, eventually landing on "Ragged Wood" by Fleet Foxes. As you sat on the bench, you took some time to admire all of the beautiful scenery around you. When you were younger you couldn't wait until you were finally old enough to leave the little town of Frankenmuth. You had grown up being surrounded by the same people, the same little houses and restaurants that inhibited the small Bavarian town, and you couldn't wait to get out and explore things outside of this. But now at almost twenty one, you couldn't imagine living anywhere but here. You loved this little town and all it had to offer, and thinking back on it, you couldn't imagine why you ever wanted to leave. The cute colorful houses that lined the empty streets, the small parks and restaurants that you had come to love so dearly, you loved the close-knit feeling of the little town and it's inhabitants, and you were content with the life you had made for yourself here.

The time had come to open the small little flower shop you worked at, so you gathered your things and headed to unlock the door. Greta's Greens was a small wooden building located just off of Main Street downtown. The shop was smaller, filled with lots of different plants and flowers with a big bay window at the front displaying the different bouquets and things that were offered. Towards the back, there was a door that led to the larger greenhouse where most of the plants were stored and watered until it was time to bring them to the sales floor. You unlock the big wooden door that led into the shop, and flipped the open sign around that hung in the window. After doing all of the usual opening tasks, you walked over to the wooden table where the cash register was and placed your bag into the small cabinet that was under it. Pulling out your to-do lists for the day, you here your phone buzz and the screen illuminates with a text from your boss.
FROM: Willow
"Hey, just making sure you
made it in okay, I should be
there around 10:30. See
you soon! (: "

After returning Willows text, you walk over to the big window at the front of the shop and begin setting up some smaller arrangements on the tables that were set up. You went for a summery wild flower bouquet to the right, a rose bouquet in the middle, and a Lilly arrangement on the left. You stood back admiring the arrangements with a big smile on your face. This was your favorite job you had ever worked, and had been here for almost a year already. Throughout this year, you had made friends with many of the regular customers that came in, one of them being Danny Wagner, who had moved here your senior year of high school. You guys had never really talked much after the incident at Josh's party, that was until he began frequenting the flower shop, but you had considered yourselves to be acquaintances ever since, asking about the others day or making small talk whenever he would come in. Today was Monday, which meant that he would be coming in to pick up a bouquet for his girlfriend, which was something that he did every week without fail. It was always the same request, a bouquet of white roses with lavender accents and greenery as the fill in. This had remained his usual order ever since you recommended it the first time, and over the weeks you would try and change some minor details, seeing if you could improve on it over time.

It was around ten forty when Willow arrived at the shop, she walked in carrying boxes of new plants to add to the greenhouse. Willow was a shorter woman, standing about eye level with you. She had long flowy strawberry blonde hair and the deepest hazel eyes. She was pale with lots of freckles, and always wore her hair half up-half down to keep the wispy bits out of her face. "Oh my god, y/n, it looks amazing in here!" She says walking over to place the boxes down on the check out counter. She strolls over to admire the new arrangements in the window and you follow behind her, explaining the combinations and why you chose them. "These are amazing, I knew there was a good reason for hiring you." She jokes as she walks back to pick up the boxes and take them to the greenhouse. "I'll be back here if you need me!" She shouts before letting the glass door close behind her.

It was now around twelve when you heard the small chime of the front door ring through the building. A tall slender man with luscious brown hair and chocolate eyes was suddenly standing over you in front of the register. "Hi, welcome into Greta's Greens, here to get your bouquet?" You say smiling up at him. "Yes, how'd you know!" he says with a giggle. Turning around to grab the bouquet out of the small refrigerator behind the counter, you place it down and reach into the small pull out drawer under the register. "Here's this and let me add a little something extra for you." You say with a smile as you grab a small piece of purple ribbon out of the drawer. You carefully wrap it around the vase and tie it in a small bow at the front. "Ta da!" You say, extending your arms in front you, showcasing the final detail. "I like to call this one the Danny special, you're the only one who ever gets this type of arrangement." You say blushing and smiling up at him. "It's perfect, I love it. Thank you. I'm sure Clo will love it too, she's always excited to get it every week." He says reaching into his pocket to dig for his wallet. Clover, or Clo as Danny calls her, was the girl that he had been dating pretty much since he had moved to Frankenmuth. He talked about her all the time and from what you had heard, she sounded like a sweet girl, so you always tried to put your best effort into the bouquets that you would make for her.

"Your total is going to be the normal $15.50." You say as you begin ringing him up on the register. He pulls out a twenty and places it in your hand, slightly grazing his calloused finger against your now sweaty palms. You open the register and begin taking out his change as he lifts his hand. "Don't worry about it, thanks for the bow and extra flowers, it's beautiful." He says smiling down at you, his dimples accentuated a little extra today. "Thanks, I hope she likes them. Clover, I mean." You say as you fumble around at the register, trying to close the drawer and recollect yourself. "I'm sure she will, she always does. Also wanted to tell you I liked your outfit, sublime is one of my favorites." He says tucking his wallet back into his front pocket. "Oh, thanks. It's an old shirt but it's definitely one of my favorites, I like their music too." You say tucking a piece of hair behind your ear and smiling down at the wooden counter in front of you, trying to hide the blush that refused to leave your cheeks. "Oh I was also gonna ask you, I'm playing a gig with some friends at the coffee house down the street tomorrow night, maybe you and Sage could come check it out?" You lift your eyes to meet his, and open your mouth unsure of what to say. Yes, he had a girlfriend, but was he asking you on a date- surely not. "Oh, sure. I'll ask her later but I'm sure she'd love to come. We'll be there." You say with a smile, trying not to make eye contact. "Okay cool, I'll see you guys tomorrow. Clo will be there too, I'm sure she'll want to say hi." He says grabbing the bouquet and exiting the store.