Flowergirl

✿✽❀~ three ~❀✽✿

                         w  e  e  k   3  :  t  u  l  i  p  s

To say I had been thinking about flowergirl a lot in the past week would be a gross understatement since she seemed to be just about the only thing on my mind, every single day.

I had seen her three out of the four times she'd come in the past week, and each time I saw her, I got less and less sick of her. I could feel it happening. I had only met her just under three weeks ago and I could feel myself slowly starting to more than just like her, and it scared me.

On Thursday, when she didn't show up, I found myself more upset than I ought to have been. I didn't know why she hadn't shown up that day for she had made it a point to come by every single day (except Sundays of course). I knew this better than anyone because I had taken note of how damn annoying it was, until I met her at least. Now I found myself wishing she would come by two, even three times a day. It wasn't normal, it wasn't and I bloody well knew it.

Now that it was Saturday again, Mum had gone out with Stacy to do God knows what with God knows who, leaving me with the house to myself. I was in the middle of shaving my beard—it was just stubble, but I felt better calling it a beard—when the doorbell rang. I put down my razor and sighed as I looked at myself in the mirror. Half of my chin was cleanly shaven while the other half was lathered in shaving cream, it was too late to do anything about it now though. I wiped my hands on my towel before heading downstairs to the door.

I knew there was a good chance it would be flowergirl since she was the only one with a regular schedule of showing up at our door. It was always between 10:30 and 11:00 AM, and seeing as it was 10:49 AM right now, it was more than likely going to be her. I decided to test my luck anyway though.

I opened the door and, unsurprisingly enough, there she stood, smiling up at me with that small mouth of hers. As I watched her smile, I noticed that her teeth were very round, even her canines, and just like everything else about her, I found them extremely cute. I couldn't help it, everything about her was just so frustratingly endearing, even the way her hair was tied back in a sad looking ponytail—I say sad looking because she didn't have much hair to start with, and so it couldn't have been much of a ponytail if she tried. Her face looked more angular today though, I could see the shape of her cheeks and forehead now that her hair wasn't covering it all. She sort of resembled a chameleon with her hair all out of the way and her eyes so far apart from each other. I couldn't help but smile.

"G'day!" Flowergirl gave me a small wave. "Nice beard by the way, I had a feeling the Santa look would suit you."

I laughed. "Oh, did you now?"

She nodded, "Yep, all you need is a hat to finish off the look. You've already got that belly going." She patted my stomach and I immediately felt self-conscious.

I wasn't fit by a long shot, but the fact that she had noticed it made me want to hide. She, of all people.

She noticed my embarrassed demeanour and quickly covered her mouth with her hands in shock. "Oh no! You know I was joking, right?" She smacked her forehead lightly, now laughing. Whether it was at me or herself, I wasn't sure. "Oh, just ignore me," she said. "My God, I'm such a fruit loop."

"Don't knock yourself, it's alright," I said, surprising myself with how calm I sounded.

She gave me a cautious look before finally nodding. "Okay, so what can I get you today then?" she asked. "How about some nice tulips?" She reached into her trolley and pulled out four pastel pink tulips, tied together on the stems with a ribbon of the same colour.

I looked from the flowers to her smiling face. "How much?" I asked. "Five?"

She gave me a pointed look. "Twelve."

With a sigh, I reached into my pockets and felt a few bills in them, definitely more than twelve. I would have pulled them out and given her the money, but then that would mean she'd need to leave sooner. I pulled out my hands empty and shrugged. "Sorry, no money."

If it had been that easy to get rid of her though, she wouldn't still have been coming by our house. She folded her arms across her chest. "I gave you a deposit," she said, trying her very best to look menacing. "Now where's my business?"

I pointed across the road to our neighbours, "Over at the next house I think."

"I already sold to them," she said. "I want your business now."

And as she said that, looking at me with hopeful eyes, I really hated myself. I hated myself more than I thought I could. I hated myself for every single day she stood outside the door knocking, just waiting for someone to open it and I sat on the couch, laughing. I hated myself for allowing my mum to buy flowers from her almost every day and not stopping by to see. I hated myself for waiting so long to open the door to what could possibly be the best thing that would ever happen to me.

As I got lost in my thoughts, she must have thought I didn't want to answer her because she bit on the inside of her cheeks, making her jaw even sharper—if that was possible—as she scowled at me. "Okay, fine, have it for ten."

I narrowed my eyes in amusement. "Were you...overcharging me?" I asked.

She pursed her lips, looking down at the ground as she rocked back and forth on her feet. She looked like a five year old that got caught in the cookie jar before eating their veggies.

I gasped. "You were!"

She looked up at me, handing me the flowers. "You know what, just take them," she muttered.

I took them from her, smiling proudly as I tucked them under my arm and she looked at them with a frown on her lips. She looked like she had to force herself to frown though, as if it was something unnatural and foreign to her.

I rolled my eyes, reaching into my pocket and pulling out the money. "I have twelve," I said, handing it to her.

Her jaw dropped and she smacked my arm with a force I'm sure she thought was hard, but to me felt like nothing more than the wind. "You're such a dag!" she exclaimed.

I laughed as she looked at me in disbelief, shaking her head to herself. "I'm so sorry, I had to," I said, still chuckling under my breath.

She held out her hand, a frown still on her mouth but a smile in her eyes. I handed her the money and she put it in her fanny pack, zipping it up and then patting it as if it were a baby. "Well, I should be on my way. More people to sell to."

"You mean people to cheat?"

She shrugged. "It's not cheating them if they know what they're buying and are happy with it. Everyone knows the relative cost of flowers, I have to charge a little more than these cost, or else how can I make any profit?" She smiled. "I charge for the product and the experience."

And what an experience it was.

🌷 🌷 🌷