Whatever It Takes

Flowers

"Eddie, you're wasting all of the baby's breath!" I giggled, snatching it away from him before he could put another sprig in his hair. He pouted, sighing heavily.

"But how will I be the prettiest girl at the party?" he whined, making me laugh more. He smiled brightly, picking up one of the corsages we had made earlier to wrap a ribbon around it.

We were sprawled out in the Wheeler living room, surrounded by throngs of fake flowers. Since so much of the wedding was to be done by hand, Nancy wanted her flowers to look exactly like she pictured in her mind, and she wanted to make sure they wouldn't die before the big day. She had tasked Eddie and I with getting the corsages and bouquets done.

Eddie was laying on his stomach, propped up on his elbows as he helped me. He had not stopped making me laugh since we started, something I was getting more and more used to. He would still sometimes cross the line and say the wrong thing, offending me in the process, but then Nancy or Jonathan would swoop in and translate to what he actually meant.

"Why is Nancy having us do this four days before the wedding?" Eddie asked. I smiled and took a blue, silk flower that he had offered to me. I set it in the bouquet I was working on.

"So, we don't have to do them the morning of the wedding," I teased. He furrowed his brows.

"Aren't they going to die before then?" he questioned. I cocked my head to the side, furrowing my brows.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, don't flowers die after a couple of days?" he pushed. I shook my head, even more confused.

"Live ones do," I answered. He looked at me like I was an idiot.

"Yeah, Bird, obviously – so, like I said, won't all of these die in a couple of days?" he repeated. I felt my face break into a smile as I suddenly understood what was happening.

"These are fake flowers," I explained, trying not to laugh. He turned bright red and looked down at his hands.

"Well, that's embarrassing," he finally admitted. I started laughing, and he finally joined in, covering his face with his hands. "I have, admittedly, had little experience with live flowers."

I smiled at him, my stomach flipping when he looked up and grinned at me.

"You had to have bought flowers for one of the many girls you brought around all these years," I joked.

I felt a twinge in my heart – I wanted the answer to this desperately for some reason. And, strangely enough, I was hoping that the answer was "no". Eddie scoffed, sitting up from the floor and scooting next to me and picking up another silk flower. He leaned into me before handing it to me.

"You met those girls," he started. I looked up at him as I continued to build the bouquet. He got close to my face. "Would you buy them flowers?"

I started belly-laughing again, and Eddie was beaming with pride at how much he made me laugh. We continued to work together, Eddie wondering aloud how he could have ever thought the flowers were alive. I held out the largest bouquet, leaning into him like I had been for the last two weeks.

"What do you think?" I asked.

I looked up at him, and my heart almost stopped from how he was watching me. His eyes were crinkled, kind and warm as he looked at me. I suddenly felt like I was the only person in the world with him, and my chest tightened.

"I think they're perfect," he replied, his mouth twitching into a smile. I cleared my throat.

"You didn't really look," I stammered, holding it up and fluffing the flowers. I looked back up at him, and his smile was so kind and inviting. It was almost like he could see through me.