Flowers and Footballs

Part 3-February 14th: Friendship

"Happy Valentine's Day!" Piper said, as she entered the shop.

Hazel jumped three feet in the air.

"Pipes! Don't do that!" Hazel exclaimed, recovering.

"Sorry," Piper replied, blushing. "What are you doing anyway?"

"Balloons," Hazel said flatly.

"Oh. I got you a gift," Piper said, holding out a box of heart shaped chocolates.

"Thanks," Hazel said. "Today's an important day for you, right? Your parents anniversary?"

"Yeah," Piper replied.

They both did their work in silence, Hazel setting up balloons and Piper checking to make sure the orders were right.

"Done," they both said at the same time.

They sat at the counter, eating chocolate, and waiting for the customers to come and get their orders.

"Shoot!" Piper said, looking up from her phone. "I just got a text from Annabeth. Apparently, Frank was in a game yesterday, and was knocked unconscious."

"Oh," Hazel replied softly.

"They took him to the hospital," Piper continued. "And the doctors said that he's in a coma."

"Oh, that's not good."

"We should go see him," Piper said, grabbing her coat.

"Uh, hello?" Hazel replied. "I'm all for caring, but remember, we have, like, a hundred orders to give out."

"Okay, then we'll just go later," Piper said, putting her coat back.

The two gave out the orders all day, but Hazel kept on thinking about her meeting with Frank, how flustered he was when she had bumped into him, and how he had acted so shy.

"Okay. We're done," Piper said, taking Hazel out of her thoughts.

"No, there's still one more," Hazel said, pointing to one last bouquet. It was probably the prettiest of them all, with blue and and red dahlias. Tied with the ribbon was a small, white teddy bear that said, You Make Me Smile.

"Oh, um, that's for me," Piper reassured her. Hazel wasn't sure, but Piper's voice was quite convincing.

Piper grabbed the bouquet, and headed out the door. Hazel was about to follow, when she saw the yellow roses in a vase on the counter. She picked one up and followed after Piper, the two making their way towards the Lenox Hill Hospital. When they reached the hospital, they found the room that Frank was staying in. The girls got in the elevator and headed to the second floor.

"Piper, I definitely want to see Frank, but isn't this a little weird?" Hazel asked. "I mean, I don't even know him."

"Relax," Piper told her, as they exited the elevator and began to look for the correct room. "First, you're a friend of mine. Second, a lot of people are coming to see him. He is the best player on the team, you know."

"Right," Hazel replied.

They entered the room. If Piper had said that a lot of people were coming to see him, boy was she wrong. The tiny hospital room was packed with people, whispering or just staring at him. Some of them she knew, like Annabeth Chase, their friend, and Jason Grace, Piper's "friend."

"Hey guys," Annabeth said, coming toward them. "Glad you could make it."

"Yeah," Piper replied. "No problem. We have to go soon, but we figured we'd drop by."

Annabeth nodded her head, and they made their way through the crowd of people to the bed where an unconscious Frank lay. There was a bandage on his forehead, and his entire hand was heavily wrapped in another bandage.

"Wow," Hazel whispered.

The three stood there in silence, just looking at Frank. After about ten minutes, someone bumped Hazel's shoulder. She turned around and saw that it was just Jason Grace.

"Oh, hey Hazel," Jason said.

Hazel smiled, but Annabeth said, "Hey Jason."

Piper looked at him. Jason noticed and gave her a kind smile.

Jason started to say something, but Piper cut him off.

"Um, Hazel we have to go."

"Go where?" Hazel asked, unsure.

"Let's go," Piper replied through gritted teeth.

Puzzled by her friend's strange behavior, Hazel followed Piper, the rose clutched in her hand.

"What are you doing, Piper?" she asked.

"Look, Hazel, I have to tell you something," Piper replied.

"Is it really that urgent?"

"Yeah. Well, sort of. Hazel, these flowers aren't for me, they're for you," Piper said, as if that cleared everything up.

"So?"

"So," Piper continued. "The only person's order that we had left was Frank's. Hazel, Frank got those flowers for you."

Realization spread across Hazel's face. She dropped the yellow rose on the floor, the symbol of friendship she had brought with her.