"This is what she had become."
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Cleopatra Banks' last week in the small town of New Chelsea is nothing like she would have imagined it, but nothing could have prepared her for the stinging betrayal she's faced with and suddenly the prospect of...
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"Ooh I'm so sorry!" I exclaim, getting down on my knees in order to scoop up the large chunks of clay from the floor amidst a pile of soil.
The boy in front of me pushes my hand back and gives me a gentle smile. "You don't have to do that, I'll sweep it up and I should be the one apologizing to you. I'm the one who wasn't looking where I was going," he apologizes and I nod, seeing that he's wearing a sweater with the shop's logo on it.
He disappears for a minute and comes back later with a broom and dust pan to sweep up the mess. I observe him keenly, trying to figure out where I've seen him before and I can't exactly remember what his name is. Maybe I named him something else in my head? He definitely doesn't go to our school though.
"You don't remember me do you?" he asks with a shy smile. I shake my head. So he also recognizes me. "It's not that I don't remember you it's just that I forgot your name," I tell him and after disposing of the wasted plant he comes back to stand in front of me with his hands buried in his pants pockets.
"Charles? Maybe you remember me as Charlie?" he says and the lightbulb flicks on. "Yeah, from the coffee shop. Do you work here now?" I ask excitedly. He gives me a light chuckle and nods. "The one and only, I don't think I've seen you around these parts since that day, what happened?" he asks. I shrug my shoulder "Not really much to do this side, I live in Greendale but my mother has this thing with a coffee shop," I inform him, eventually letting him know why I showed up today.
"That's pretty cool, let me know when it opens and I'll swing by," he informs me. We end up exchanging numbers because I'm useless when it comes to social media.
"You know, your boyfriend comes here a lot I'm surprised he hasn't popped in today," Charlie tells me and I squint my eyes, trying to decipher if he's indirectly asking me whether I'm single or not. Lexi reckons it's a guy thing.
"My boyfriend?" I ask and he nods. "Yeah, Ethan. He comes here a lot to buy a peony every once in a while," he says. "What?" I ask, finding this very hard to believe. Ethan doesn't even like flower shops.
"Yeah, you're Cleopatra right?" he asks. "Mmhm," I reply, curious as to what Ethan does here on a regular basis buying flowers. "You guys are together right?" he asks, seemingly unsure of himself.
"No, no we're not," I look down at the floor wishing Charlie was right in randomly assuming that Ethan and I were a thing.
"Oh," he says awkwardly.
"Uh, it was nice bumping into you today Cleopatra. My aunt will have my head if she sees me slacking so I have to go help out in the back now," he says with a grimace on his face. A thought pops into my head that exact minute and I stop him from leaving. "Charlie, before you go can you just show me which flowers he gets when he comes here?" I ask the boy nervously. Maybe that might shed some light on what Ethan's been up to lately.
