loveless // haylor au

chapter four

"there's an art to life's distractions,
to somehow escape the burning weight"

~

chapter four
the sundress problem

July 7th

I'd decided to not let Wes' decisions affect my life.

He was still my best mate. Even if his choices in women were really fucking terrible.

I had my own life to live. I could make my own bad choices on my own, believe it or not.

I flew to Bristol at the beginning of the month for not one, but two weddings, and I was there till the fifth. Al accompanied me, and we had a great few days. I was so tired, but genuinely happy to be working again.

Admittedly, it was good to get my mind of some things. Which, I wasn't going to mention. But yeah, it was great.

Coming back to Manchester was the hard part, so I threw myself into planning my business; practically locking myself in my room and sketching, editing, and replying to emails. Was I avoiding Wes? A little bit. Why? I was exactly sure. I was pretty sure he was avoiding me too, though, so I didn't feel too bad.

On the seventh day of July, I met with a realtor in the city to look at an empty commercial space. It was really nice, and exactly what I envisioned. I could see my office, I could picture the company name on the wall. It was beyond perfect. Al came along and nodded a lot, pretending to be interested in what the realtor was offering.

I pretended to think about the offer, then sat down, and I signed some papers; I was officially leasing a small office space. My dream of running a photography company was finally happening. After years of saving; I'd finally actually progressed.

I was beyond ecstatic. Nothing could bring me down.

After just staring at my empty office for about two hours, I started heading back to the flat to prepare for a date I had, when I noticed a girl, working as a florist, bent down to organise a piece out the front of the shop.

She had the nicest legs I think I'd ever seen on anybody, and I found myself strolling towards her; like she was some kind of magnet.

She disappeared into the flower shop, which was called Aurora Bouquet, and I followed, desperate to know who this hot mystery florist in the sundress was.

I walked into the well lit shop, admiring the colours from the flowers around me. It was a nice little shop; shiny floorboards, fake marble walls, airy and light.
But I wasn't here to get design inspiration, I was here to spot my girl in the yellow sundress.

She must've been in the back room, behind the counter. I was more than happy to wait till she reappeared. So I stood
for a few minutes pretending to admire a bouquet of hydrangeas and bellflowers, when an American voice caught my attention, 'Hi! Can I help you?'

Was that...

I turned on my heel, and was met with my hot girl in the yellow sundress. God, fucking damn...

'Taylor?

She had been smiling, but it disappeared as soon as she realised who I was. I shuttered, feeling like an absolute fucking idiot. Since when had Taylor been a florist?