Several Hours To Love

Chapter 1 : August 1, 2018

I WAS WATERING THE HYDRANGEA
plants for Tatiana, my boss and older friend, when a customer walked in, asking about lilies and what their meaning was.

Lily, symbolizing humility and devotion. Lilies are the 30th anniversary flower - while lilies of the valley are the 2nd wedding anniversary flower. As the flowers most often associated with funerals, lilies symbolize that the soul of the departed has received restored innocence after death.

It was one of the most popular flower recommendations in the shop. Usually people ask for them on their way to either a funeral, or to a grave.
Either way, I provide the information needed, and send them back on their journey of, more than likely, sorrow.

Tatiana walked into the room as the customer left. She gave me a raised brow, almost questioning if I had done the routine 'give little knowledge, charge lot for flower' speech that I had heard about a million times now. I gave her a pointed look and she backed off, shrugging her shoulders and walking back into out personal garden in the back. Another customer walked in.

This one looked strange, almost foreign. Male, about 6 feet tall, lean, yet masculine. His body rittled with tattoos of who knows what, mainly covered by the black cloth of his shirt. Very handsome, I must say. There was a sort of charm to him, with being someone I had never seen in this shop the 2 years I've worked here. Though I feel like I have seen him around town.

I walked around to get behind the counter. The guy followed me and stood infront of me. His striking blue eyes bore into mine. We both just stared at each other for what had seemed like forever, until he smirked and I looked away, blushing. He placed both of his fore arms along the counter, leaning onto it. He was still smirking at me, as I pushed my glasses up the bridge of my nose.

"How, uh, how can I help you, um, help you today?" I managed to get out to him. He chuckled lowly, the sound resonating in my ears. His stone cold eyes were still boring into mine, as I tried to look in any direction other than his. Until he finally opened his mouth to let me hear that beautiful sound come from.

"I came here to know what the meaning of a sunflower is." A sunflower? I didn't expect him to say that. Maybe roses, or hydrangeas even, not sunflowers.

"Sunflowers. My personal favorite flower. Gifts of radiant warmth, sunflowers are the happiest of flowers, and their meanings include loyalty and longevity. They are unique in their ability to provide energy in the form of nourishment and vibrance, an attribute which mirrors the sun and the energy provided by its heat and light." They may be taller than I am, but they always make me want to stretch towards the sky.

"Really?" He asked me. I must have said that last part out loud.

"Yeah. Sunflowers are my favorite. They are one of the only flowers that can give hope and inspiration to me, by just standing tall. They're beautifully stereotyped." I explain. He was staring at me again. I stared back at him, moving my hand to my face to see if there was anything on it. Why has he staring so intensely?

"Is, is there something on me?"I ask, highly confused on why he was still staring at me. Maybe he was waiting for Sunflowers? That must be it! He was waiting for the flowers!

I went around the counter again, still feeling his eyes on me. I grabbed a total of 6 Sunflowers and wrapped them in olive green ribbon. He was watching me wrap the flowers and put his hand over mine to stop me from scanning. My heart beat started to speed up a bit at the connection of our hands. What was happening? Did I do something wrong?

"I only need 2 now, if you don't mind" he spoke in such a slow tempo, the sound as if a piano was playing a sad tune. I unwrapped 4 of the the flowers from the ribbon and handed him the 2 after scanning.

"I'm Blake, I work at the Tattoo Parlor across the road." He told me. That's where I've seen him! He works at 'Piercings and Tats Galore', where I got my piercings and majority of my tattoos. I'm pretty sure he has done one of them, too.

"So that's why you look familiar. I think you did one of my tattoos last year." I explained. His eyes seemed to light up, and then go darker, as if he had gotten a sour taste in his mouth. He tried to cover it up by speaking again, but I noticed how his eyes no longer looked into mine.

"Yeah, you came in with your girlfriend to get the 'Veni, Vidi, Amavi' tattooed on the back of your left arm. I saw it when I walked in." He said to me, his eyes still not meeting mine. That was the tattoo I got when Ali and I were still together.

"We broke up about 5 months ago. So its not really a big deal." I told him. His head jerked up, almost looking confused about what I had said. Then his face went from confused to happy again in the matter of a few seconds.

"Nice to meet you Natalie." He said, after a short pause, proceeding out the door with his flowers.

I looked down at my uniform to see if I was wearing my name tag.

I wasn't.