Sick of Losing Soulmates

05

Watch How a Cold Broken Teen Will Desperately Lean On a Superglued Human of Proof

Loud raindrops hit the windows of the empty flower shop that Maribel worked at as she barely payed attention to Lilliana's rambling on the phone. No one had stepped into the shop for hours so she was happy for the distraction, but her best friend had talked for a good thirty minutes about every single detail of her Thanksgiving break. Lilliana had also rambled on and on about Aiden, which was getting too annoying for Maribel. But she remained a loyal best friend and kept quiet about, knowing this boy made her friend very happy.

"I actually have something really important to tell you, Maribel," Lilliana said, the change in her tone catching Maribel's attention. "It's about Aiden." At this, she rolled her eyes. Of course it was about Aiden.

"What happened?" Maribel asked, trying not to let the disinterest show.

"Well," Lilliana said. She cleared her throat, then went quiet for a moment. "He was acting kind of weird on Thanksgiving."

"Was he mean to your family?" Maribel instantly questioned, anger peeping through. Lilliana's family had adopted her as one of their own, so the thought of anyone disrespecting them made her angry.

"No!" Lilliana defended him. "He was very nice and all of my family really loved him."

"Then?"

"I don't know," she sighed into the phone. "He was just... weird."

"Care to elaborate?"

"Well, he kinda said something-"

Right when Lilliana was about to start speaking, the bell above the door rung, signaling that someone had decided to grace the flower shop with their presence.

"Hey, Lils, I have to go, but I'll call you later, okay?" Maribel said before hanging up, not even giving Lilliana a chance to say goodbye.

Maribel looked up from behind the counter and spotted a girl who looked like she had been attacked by the rain. The girl was wandering around aimlessly, as if she didn't know exactly what she was looking for. While the girl walked around the shop, Maribel took a moment to take in her appearance. The girl looked as if she were a little shorter than her, and she was wearing a bright yellow raincoat with matching boots. She had dark brown, straight hair that was currently wet. She looked to be of east asian descent, and her skin tone fair. Maribel noted that she was beautiful. Maribel averted her eyes quickly as she realized the very pretty girl was walking towards her.

"Excuse me," the stranger said. "Could you help me pick out flowers? They're for my mother's birthday."

"Oh, yes. Of course," Maribel said, her shyness making her voice come off as just a whisper. She got out from behind the counter and started walking around the shop. "What type of flowers does your mother like?"

"I think she said that lilies are her favorite. I can't really remember," the girl said sheepishly.

Maribel laughed quietly. "Don't worry. Honestly, you can never go wrong with a bouquet of roses. What's her favorite color?"

"This one I know!" The girl exclaimed. "It's pink."

"So, pink roses it'll be," Maribel said, starting to arrange the bouquet. It was silent for a minute before the stranger spoke again.

"So, what's your favorite flower?"

Maribel was taken aback by the question. No customer had ever shown that much interest in her. They just picked the flowers, bought them, and left. She cleared her throat before speaking. "Well, I have many types of flowers that I really love. But, I'd have to say that forget-me-nots are my all time favorite."

The girl looked confused. "Forget-me-nots? Which one are those?"

Maribel laughed again. She gestured for the girl to follow her. She led her to the small area where blue forget-me-nots were. "These are forget-me-nots. They're often forgotten even though they're name is to help people remember them. That's why I love them so much."

The girl smiled and touched one of the pots of the pretty blue flowers. "Then I guess I'll buy a pot of these, too."

Maribel looked surprised but smiled back at the pretty stranger. She led her back to the counter where she rang her up. Maribel worked in silence while she felt the girl staring at her. "Um, would you like to write a note for your mother?" She started to get flustered.

"Oh, yeah, that would be great," she replied. "Put 'Happy Birthday Mom! Have fun Over the Hills! Love, Gracie.'"

"Gracie," Maribel repeated the pretty stranger's name. "That's such a beautiful name."

"Thank you," Gracie said, smiling. "Well, I think it's only fair that I get to know your name since you know mine."

"I'm Maribel," she said, offering a smile back. "It's nice to meet you."

"Likewise," Gracie grinned even wider, showing off two tiny dimples by the corners of her mouth. She cleared her throat before speaking again. "Um, I was wondering if we could exchange numbers. So you could tell me more about your favorite flowers or something."

Maribel had never been so grateful for her tan skin because otherwise Gracie would have known that she was blushing just as hard as she was. "Oh, yeah. Of course, sure." The girls exchanged numbers and Gracie rushed out of the store with a quick goodbye, trying not to blush any more than she already was. Afterwards, Maribel sighed in contentment. No one had ever taken interest in her because she was closed off and she seemed rude at first. So the fact that a very pretty girl had taken interest in her and her love for flowers made her so happy that she continued on with the rest of her shift, humming along to the songs playing on the radio and completely forgetting about calling back Lilliana.

~~~~~

Later that night, Maribel was in her dorm room rewriting her anatomy notes when her phone buzzed, signaling that someone had texted her. Fuck, I forgot to call Lilliana back earlier, Maribel thought, grabbing her phone and getting ready to type out an apology. What she was not expecting was a text from an unknown number.

Unknown Number
Hey! It's Gracie from the flower shop.

Maribel's stomach filled felt as if rhinoceros' were stomping around inside it. She didn't expect to actually be texting her, but here she was.

Maribel
Hi :)
Maribel
I honestly didn't expect you to text me lol

She felt nervous after sending the second text, but immediately felt happy when she got an instant reply.

Gracie
Lol why?

Maribel
Because it seemed too good to be true

Gracie
Well, it's true. I think you're a cool person and I wanna get to know you :)

Maribel felt like throwing up from the all the butterflies. She and Gracie kept on talking back and forth for awhile. Maribel was surprised at how easy it was to open up and talk about her life to her. The only person she had ever opened up to like that was her best friend. Maribel told Gracie all about her family problems and her school problems. She even told her the one thing she hadn't been able to talk to Lilliana about: her best friend's boyfriend.

Maribel
Yeah my life's kind of a mess.
Maribel
I guess you could call me a cold broken teen

Maribel sighed. After all the complaining she had done, she was sure that Gracie wasn't going to be interested anymore. She heard the buzz of her phone and opened the message, scared of what it would say.

Gracie
Well, I guess that'll make me your superglued human of proof to lean on then

Maribel's heart fluttered as she locked her phone and put it down. She looked at her clock and realized she had been talking to Gracie for the past hour or so. Her anatomy notes were long forgotten, but for once, Maribel didn't care. She was happy. She fell asleep with the thought of the pretty stranger she had met that day.

This one has a really long title lol oops. Enjoy.