Colours

1.

"Good morning Kristen!" The bell chimed, signalling the entrance of a customer. I could recognise this voice anywhere.

"Morning, Aunt Emily!" I beamed as the jolly lady walked to the counter. Aunt Emily came to my shop everyday to buy flowers. I never knew what she did with them but she was very nice.

"What do you have today?"

"I have some roses that just bloomed yesterday," I smiled, leading her to the roses hidden in a little corner of the shop.

"Oh, these are lovely!" Aunt Emily squealed. "I'll get a few!" She said.

As I collected the money from Aunt Emily, the familiar sound of the bell chimed again. As I lifted my gaze to the door, I saw a man with black tousled hair walking into the shop. His eyes were pitch black but had a mischievous sparkle to it. The man's lips were quite full and he was probably around 21 or 22, my age. There was something extremely familiar about him that I couldn't pinpoint. He felt like home...but so distant at the same time.

I may or may not have stared for a while when the sudden clearing of a throat brought me back to what I was doing. Aunt Emily gave me a tiny smirk after seeing me stare at that mysterious customer.

"I'll just take my flowers and leave," she chuckled as I felt heat rising to my cheeks.

"Have a good day, Aunt Emily," I sheepishly smiled and waved a small goodbye to her.

I looked around after Aunt Emily left to see where that man had gone but I couldn't see him anywhere. I shook my head and decided to wall to the other side of the shop, the place I bought was pretty big so there were two parts and a tiny connector in between.

As I was walking, I felt a tap on my shoulder and heart skipped a bit. It wasn't that I got scared easily but it was a habit of mine when I get taken by surprise.

I turned around and saw the mysterious man smiling at me. I blinked for a few seconds before realising how close we were to each other.

Eyes widening, I backstepped a little before asking,"What do you need, sir?" I gave a small nervous smile as I tried to be that friendly.

"I was wondering if you have any flowers that are great for giving to a girlfriend?" he asked, giving me that same smile that made me space out. But this time, it didn't work on me.

"Girlfriend?" I repeated unconsciously.

He gave a light laugh that was like music to my ears along with his raspy voice. "Yes, girlfriend."

I blinked and nodded quickly before walking to the rose section I brought Aunt Emily to just now. Of course he has a girlfriend, I thought. He's cute, he's kind, he has a nice smile. My thoughts went on until I heard the man talking to me.

"Did you just roll your eyes? Did I do something?" he asked as he furrowed his eyebrows, confused. Heat rose to my cheeks as I realised I had been rolling my eyes at myself unconsciously.

"Oh, no no. You didn't do anything. I was just...thinking about something embarrassing from earlier today," I said with a nervous laugh, wringing my hands in the process.

The man gave me an unsure smile as he nodded his head.

Oh no. This is so awkward.

I cleared my throat and patted the wall beside me. "What about roses for your girlfriend? They just bloomed yesterday and after all, roses symbolise love," the words flowed out of my mouth so rapidly I was surprised the man caught everything.

He stared at the flowers for a while before nodding. "I'll take all of them."

I nodded my head as I took the flowers to the cashier. While I was wrapping the flowers into a bouquet, the man started striking a conversation with me.

"So, your name's Kristen Faye?" he asked, pointing to my name tag on my shirt.

I nodded, not really wanting to talk to him.

"That name sounds awfully familiar...I think my ex girlfriend was called that too," he said thoughtfully, putting a finger on his lips.

I widened my eyes. No. No way. He looked so familiar to my ex-boyfriend too. Not only an ex, but also my first love. His name was Joshua White. He had dark hair and eyes like this man and the exact same voice. But his features were a little different from the Joshua I knew.

And the Joshua I knew didn't dress like that. He liked to wear hoodies and jeans. He liked to wear sneakers and often had a sketchbook with him in his backpack.

This man in front of me wore a fitting white shirt and black pants. He wore shoes the Joshua I knew would never want to wear and in his hands a black jacket that looked like it was meant for office work.

I gulped. "W-what's your name then?"

"Joshua. Joshua White."