Waterloo-9

Chapter 2

    Anniken dropped her sister off at school, just for the novelty of the action if nothing else, then called Astrid to see if she wanted to hang out that day since they didn't have anything better to do.

    "I'm at Brigid's shop." The Dane answered her. "You can come over and help if you want."

    "Alright." Anniken replied. "I'll see you in a few minutes."

    "Yep! Bye!"
   
    Anniken made her way over to her district's transport station and got on the transport heading towards the base's center. Brigid's job really was interesting, since because there wasn't any natural sunlight on the base, special grow-rooms had been set up so citizens could buy flowers.

    She had always loved flowers. She had faint memories from when she was little of laying in fields of them back on Earth with her mother and Lilja. They were little white flowers, she recalled. But she couldn't remember if the grass between the flowers was green or not. Her mother always said that before humans moved to the Bases, the Earth had been starting to dry up and die because it was too warm. She had heard stories of when her mother was little and where she had lived, Iceland, was cold for most of the year, and that where her father had grown up,—and Anniken had been born—Norway, had a cool climate too when he was little.

    But by the time Anniken and her sister were born, their parents said, Norway was warm for most of the year, and places further south, like Spain and Italy, had become almost too warm for people to live there, which is why everyone had moved to the Bases.

    Anniken got off the transport at the central station and started towards Brigid's flower store. Once there, she found Astrid manning the desk while Brigid stared towards a nearby bakery.

    "What's she doing?" Anniken asked her friend.

    "She has a huge crush on the girl who works at the bakery." The redhead explained. "I think that's why she asked me to help her at work, so she could work up the courage to go say hi."

    Anniken half-nodded. "I see." She looked at her friend. "So basically we're doing her job?"
   
    Astrid shrugged nonchalantly. "Pretty much."

    "Well... Want me to do anything?"

    "Um." Astrid thought a moment. "Maybe you could check inventory and see we have enough of every flower?"

    "You've never actually done this before, have you?" The Dane shook her head. Sighing, Anniken went to the shelves where the bouquets for sale were kept. "Astrid, there aren't individual flowers to take inventory of. They're all mixed bouquets."

    "What does that mean?"

    Anniken sighed again, exasperated. "Never mind. I'm going to just restock the shelves."

    "Okay Anni, you do that."

    "Brigid, you might just want to go over there before you scare the girl too much to have a chance." Anniken advised as she passed the Swede on her way to the supply room.

    The older girl was brought out of her trance. "What?"

    Her sister laughed. "She said you should go say hi to the bakery girl before you intimidate her too much."

    Brigid blushed, looking like she'd been caught with her hand in the cookie jar. "You think so?"

    "Yeah, do it! You'll just end up psyching yourself out of doing it if you wait too long." The redhead urged.

    Brigid gave her sister a reluctant look, then got up from her leaning position on the desk and crossed the corridor to the bakery. The tall blonde waited at the counter nervously until the baker came back to the desk.

    "Anni look I got Brig to go say hi!" Astrid yelled.

    Anniken poked her head out of the supply room, where she was making more bouquets. "That's great. Now be productive?"

    Astrid gave her friend a look that said do I really have to? Anniken responded by raising her eyebrows, and Astrid dejectedly began cleaning the shop.

      While sweeping soil from the floor around the shelves where the flowers were kept, Astrid snuck a glance at her step-sister and the girl at the bakery. The girl was short, though most anyone was short compared to Brigid, and plump. She seemed very sweet and friendly, judging by the expressive gestures she used when speaking, but also edgy, as even from 50 feet away, Astrid could see she had tattoos and piercings. Astrid decided she liked this girl, and consequently wouldn't have to beat her up like she thought she might when Brigid first brought her up in conversation early that day.

         Anniken emerged from the storage room with a large basket full of the bouquets she had made to replenish the inventory. She found her friend leaning on the broom watching her sister flirt with the baker, with a stupidly blissful expression on her face.

        The blonde shook her head. "Astrid I thought you were cleaning."

        Her condescension brought the Dane out of her trance. "I am!" She protested defensively.

        "Mhm." Anniken replied, placing the bouquets on the shelf. "Hey, what time is it?" She asked after a moment's silence.

        "Almost 2:30. Why?"

        "I have to pick up Lille at 3:30."

        "Dude, we need to eat lunch."

        "Oh yeah we do..." Anniken thought for a moment. "How about we clean up and close the shop for a little bit, get lunch at the bakery, and leave Brigid to finish work while we pick up my sister?"

        Astrid nodded. "That sounds like a good plan."

        Anniken picked up the basket once more and started towards the storage room. "Get sweepin' sunshine!" She taunted.

        Astrid blushed and stuck out her tongue, picking up the broom, which she had dropped. Quickly, she started sweeping the soil off the floor again.

       Anniken had finished cleaning the storage room by the time Astrid had finished sweeping, and together they cleaned the counters before leaving for the bakery. Astrid flipped the sign on the counter to Closed on their way out.

       The baker greeted them as they approached, and Brigid turned to see who it was.

       The two younger girls ordered sandwiches to-go, as it was now three o'clock, and headed towards the transport station.

       Anniken explained to Astrid the plan for that afternoon between bites of turkey-and-cheese on rye. Astrid nodded every so often to show she was listening, and ate her smoked salmon sandwich. While doing so, occasionally piping up with a question or comment, not seeming to notice or mind if her mouth was full or not while she spoke (though usually it was, it seemed).