RomCom Cliché

Chapter Twenty-Three

March passed by quickly as the weather rapidly warmed, the days becoming stiflingly muggy and still somewhat overcast, and Rebecca painstakingly filling out legal forms and collating evidence for the impending lawsuit she'd been slapped with. 

It had put her in a mild place of brooding, her attention prone to wandering as she spent the majority of her time sitting out the back, drinking wine in the shade and drafting up responses to Dawson's lawyers that he was putting on the case. 

One of them was West, and after a particularly heated exchange, Rebecca had thrown her phone in the pool so she didn't have to deal with it anymore.

Towards the end of the month was Freen's dad's birthday, and Rebecca resolved to have a day free from anything related to lawsuits and legal battles in any sort of way. 

She called Irin that morning and went for coffee with Nam, who was only just starting to show if she pulled her clothes taut around her stomach, yet milked it for all it was worth to convince Rebecca to try out a new spa that had opened up with her.

Once she'd gotten home, she turned off her phone and changed into the clothes she'd sent off for pressing the day before, wanting to look good for her trip to the cemetery. 

Maybe it was odd, maybe some people would have thought that she had lost her mind, but Rebecca believed in making an effort, so she put on her favourite lipstick and one of the perfumes she reserved for important occasions, deliberated over which light coat to put over the top and which shoes to go with her handbag before picking through her jewellery for matching earrings and rings.

Satisfied that she would have made a good first impression if she was meeting them in life, Rebecca grabbed her car keys and made her way out into the garage, driving herself to the florist to pick up the pre-ordered bouquets. 

They took up the back seat and filled the interior of the car with their musky smell and she drove carefully so the fragile petals didn't crumple on the way to Freen's.

It was warm out and she'd blasted the AC on the drive over, fearing the flowers might wilt prematurely, stopping outside Freen's place and gathering them up and carrying the armful upstairs. Tapping the door with her foot, she waited for her to answer and gave her a crooked smile as the door opened.

"Hi," Rebecca murmured, leaning in to kiss her.

Freen had to lean over the flowers to kiss her back, the crinkling of the cellophane making her draw back and look down. Rebecca gave her a sheepish look and raised the armful, getting a better grip on them.

"Can I put these in water while you finish getting ready? Otherwise, they'll wilt like mad, even in this weather."

"Jesus, what'd you do, buy the whole florist?"

Rebecca paused, arching an eyebrow. "Aren't you supposed to take flowers?"

"Yeah, but, I mean... they're big bouquets. I normally just take one for them all these days." 

"Oh. Well... good impressions and all that," Rebecca shrugged, giving her a quick smile as she brushed past to the sink.

Running the tap as she put the plug in to let the bouquets drink, she plucked one bouquet from the midst of the others. Turning, she raised her eyebrows slightly and held it aloft.

"This one's for you."

"For me?" Freen echoed with surprise.

"Mhm. A mix of everyone's."

"Sunflowers," Freen murmured, a sad smile curling the corners of her mouth as she took the flowers from Rebecca. "You remembered."

Catching her hand, Rebecca gave her a pained smile as she tried to stamp down the guilt, the confusion.