Pass me the meadowsweet

Jason

Jason's POV

The last bell rings and I gather my stuff and head out to my bike. As I turn onto the sidewalk I pedal as fast as I can to the little shopping center a 1/4 mile near school. I look up at the little homemade sign and enter "Blooms and Bulbs". The bell rings, announcing my presence and I walk over to the counter to throw on my apron. "JESS? IM HERE!" I shout to Jessica, the 65 year old owner of the shop. "JASON JUST RUN THE FRONT DESK FOR 3 HOURS, I HAVE TO HEAD OUT!" She shouts back. I chuckle and yell, "OKAY HAVE FUN!" She pops her head in from the back of the store and smiles at me, "Will do, you be good, okay?" I nod my head and watch her red-gray ponytail swing out the door.

Fifteen minutes later, a girl comes storming into the shop, her blonde hair streaming behind her and a bored look slapped on her face. I can tell she's pissed but trying to mask it. "Hey! Welcome to Blooms and Bulbs, what can I do for you today?" I ask trying to calm her down. She hesitates, chuckles to herself and slaps down 15$ onto the table. Her kaleidoscopic eyes meet mine as she sarcastically asks, "How do I passive-aggressively say, f- you, in flower?" I blink missing out on her sarcasm completely, "I guess - I mean- well I suppose you'd need a bouquet of geraniums, foxgloves, meadowsweet, yellow carnations, and orange lilies?"
She laughs and her real smile shows off her dimples. "I was just kidding," she pauses, "Does that combination look good?" I attempt to suppress a laugh and fail miserably. "Oh god" she sighs, "I'm a total mess aren't I". I think for a minute then cheekily reply, "hah well from what I can tell you're not that screwed up".

"Hm, well at least I know one person thinks so" she mutters under her breath. I chuckle and begin to search around the shop to see if we have the flowers she requested.

"Well," she starts with humor in her voice, "what made a young man such as yourself work at a "Blooms and Bulbs"?" I turn back to answer her and find her leaning over the counter, eyes gleaming like fresh grass sprinkled with dew.

I mentally file through my list of traditional excuses, I'm saving up to buy a convertible, I'm saving for college, debts to friends, I was coerced into buying a really expensive neck pillow by a mall kiosk guy, anything but the real reason. No one needs to know, and so no one does. Besides it wouldn't make my dad any less of an asshole and it definitely won't bring my sister back. So I'll settle for pretending I'm a self obsessed jerk who only cares about himself.

I open my mouth to tell her this. What's one more lie, especially to this random girl. But then upon closer look I realize something. I didn't see it before, but her cheeks are tear stained and her eyes are swollen. What happened to her?

"Well I," I chuckle, trying to get into the lying mood, "it's a dumb story but I owed my friend a crap ton of gas money and just kinda wound up working here part time."

She stares at me.

And stares.

And stares.

I push my curls up, in a futile attempt for something to do with my hands.

It doesn't work.

I look stupid.

But thankfully she's too absorbed in her thoughts and snaps back to reality. "So is that cash or check?"

"Hey that's my question!" I quip back. Her eyes light up and she tilts her head back, letting out way too much laughter given the jokes actual comedic prowess. But her laughter is just so infectious that I can't help chuckling along.

She takes out her wallet and puts down 15$ "is that enough?" I laugh, and remind her she already slapped down the money when she came in. She blushes bright red and I write down the transaction in our logbook.

I turn back around to face the register and, see an YHS keychain on her keys.

"You go to Yelter too?"

She smiles and nods, "Yeah I'm a junior, what about you?"

"Same, and your name is...?"

"Oh my goodness, I'm so sorry, I'm Lilac Andrews, and you're Jason..?"

"Phelps" I supply with a quick smile "Give me a minute and I'll wrap the bouquet for you."

"Alrighty"

My legs carry me slowly to the wrapping station but my mind is whirling. I have never met this girl before. Never. I've gone to school with her for at least 3 years and I've never even spoken to her. I begin to wrap her bouquet in a translucent paper and tie a bow around it with a yellow ribbon.

"Here you go" my hand shakes a little as I extend the flowers to Lilac. "Well, I must say, that is the prettiest f-you I've ever seen" she giggles.

She turns around with the door open and my heart picks up, "Thank you for doing this so quickly, I really appreciate it" and then just as fast as she came, she's gone.

Once she's out of view and had driven off i plop down and run my hands through my hair. Who is this Lilac chick?

Fancy boy Jason being all cute and fun

So I wrote another chapter... yay me!!

And you stayed for a chapter... yay you!!

I'm really tired and have back pain from writing this on the floor so I hope you like the story so far and stuck around :)

I'll always like to hear from y'all and if you have any comments or suggestions I'd love to hear them! So don't be afraid to message me and stuff.

Have a great day/night <3
-Hannah