Flowers on Her Doorstep

Chapter Two

So you may want a bit of background on why I hate flowers so much and maybe even what my past is (if you really like me).

I'm quite introverted, which you probably gathered. My family is a disaster, and has been for years. My younger brothers, Niall and Calum, don't make the best decisions but are amazingly smart. They were born just 10 months apart, and Calum is older. My twin brother, Luke, and I don't really get along, but we can tolerate each other. My older brother, Louis, is our father figure and makes sure we don't get into much trouble. He's very protective of me but I don't mind. My mother is working 3 jobs in order to support us. My father disappeared about 5 years ago and stranded my entire family with nothing. Luke is sweet, but I hate his friends and they're over all the time.

My best friend, Harry, is quite possibly my savior. He understands me and can bring out a somewhat extroverted part of me. He can make me show my feelings when I didn't think I could. We are absolutely inseparable, and he understand why flowers make me cringe.

Flowers. They're beautiful, don't get me wrong. But my father, the day he left us for dead, sent my mother and I each a dozen roses and told us why he loved us so much. My brothers got nothing, for some reason, which almost made him leaving easier for them.

My poor mother never sees her children in order to keep them fed and clothed, but I still love her more than anyone. I see her about once every two weeks, and our bond has shriveled. In fact, she hardly knows any of her kids anymore. She doesn't know that Louis has a pretty serious girlfriend and is contemplating marrying her or that Luke is graduating high school with all AP Credits. But most of all, she doesn't know how much I need her and miss her.

Harry has filled that gap to some extent, but I still, for some reason, blame the flowers for ruining my mother and I's relationship. I blame the flowers for causing me pain and missing my father more than anything. The flowers reminded me of the severing of everyone's bonds with each other for weeks and ruined my life.

But as of now, those flowers that the boy gave me, as immortal as they are, have stolen my heart and a spot on my nightstand.

••••••

Louis' loud knuckles rap on my door and I take my headphones out.

"Yeah?" I say, tapping my pencil on my math homework.

He opens up the door and leans up against the frame. "What's up?" he says, shrugging.

"Not much, I guess. School's kinda taken over my life..." I say, laughing a little bit. He steps into my room and closes the door. "Is everything okay?" I ask, searching for some type of emotion.

"Yeah, everything's good. I'm just thinking about Julie. Possibly spending the rest of my life with her has me in my head a lot," he says, wandering to my bed and sitting down on it.

"You haven't told Mom yet, still, have you?" I shake my head. "Louis-"

"I just feel horrible for Mom and don't want to stress her out. I'm going to keep quiet for as long as possible."

"You are 26. She probably won't be too worried."

"I hope not. Look, that's not what I wanted to ask you. I have two questions."

"Fire away," I say, sounding kind of confident.

"Will you try to talk to Calum about changing his attitude toward life? He thinks everything is stupid and beneath him. He thinks he's literally too cool for school and is skipping now. You seem to be able to get in his head easily."

"Of course. That shouldn't be too hard," I say, shrugging. My phone buzzes and I turn it off.

"Second, I noticed those flowers. What are those about?"

I freeze, unable to know how to explain.