Flower Petals

*t h r e e*

I take a deep breath and breathe in the cool fall air, refreshed by the silence. The relief ends when another wave of dizziness, this one worse than the last, hits me straight on. I stand up, probably not the smartest of ideas, to get away from the edge of the building. Once I get a safe distance away, I feel my skin go cold as more stars burst out, covering my eyesight. I fall to the floor as the nausea crept from my stomach to my head and the world went black.

~

My eyes crack open, only slightly though, as they test out the brightness levels of the sky. I recognize the cement from the roof and realize that I haven't moved from this morning. I roll onto my back as I look up at the sky. It looks to be about three or four by now, I for sure missed my classes for today. I only had the one at 10:30 and one more around 1. I shut my eyes once more and think about how I have to eat something soon or this will keep happening. I get up and walk back to where my stuff was, on the edge of the building where I usually would be sitting. I pick it up and put my backpack on before making my way downstairs and back into the library.

I ignore the librarian when she tries to talk to me. I walk right past her and out the doors as I make my way to work early. If I'm there early, I can see if I can get something for free to eat. I pick up my pace and I get to the cafe in no time.

I push open the doors and walkthrough, savoring the air conditioning. I see Allie working and I let out a breath walking over to her. "Hey, do you mind if I can eat something? I can work late again tonight to pay it off."

" Yeah, sure but you have to work late tomorrow as well. I have a family thing to go to and you're the only good person who works here other than me." I give her a small smile.

"Thanks, Allie," I say as I order a caesar salad and water. She continues working as I go and sit down at an empty booth in the back. I set my stuff down and start eating.

When I finished, I helped to clean up yet I am still pretty early and they don't need any help. I just go back and sit in the same booth I was in earlier. I grab out the book that I was going to read earlier and started to read, immediately getting sucked into the book.

I read a few pages before I hear someone walking towards me. I ignored it at first because I thought that they were just going to use the bathroom but I looked up when they stopped right in front of my table.

Xander towers over me and as I meet my eyes with this, I can see a sense of worry. "What do you want, Xander?"

He sits down across from me, running a hand through his dark hair. "What happened to you? I show up to the library and your wrists are bruises and your knuckles are wrapped! Add onto that, I waited for you for two hours, waiting for you to come down from the roof and you never did!"

"Nothing, I'm fine Xander, seriously. It's nice to see that someone cares and all but I'm fine. Now I have a job to attend to. Bye," I say and I pack up my bag and walk through the employees only door.

I hang gout in there for a good half an hour before my shift starts. I get changed and walk out to the front. Xander isn't there, but I didn't expect him to be. I've been being rude because I can't get close. Hell, I can barely talk to Allie secretly.

I start working, serving coffee and cleaning up.

~

It's been a slow day at the cafe so I've gotten through all of my homework and I had enough time to email my teachers about my absence. I quickly went back to my backpack and grab my book back out again.

I sat on the stool that I moved so that I could sit and started to read, every now and then people strolled in and I served them.

~

I continued to read until it was almost time to close up. I got up and put the book away around 10, leaving me plenty of time to clean everything and get things back in order. I was wiping down tables when the bell rang. I turn to see, once again, Xander. "What can I get you," I politely ask. Even though I need to stay away and cautious, I can't deny service to anyone at my job. Even if it's him.

"Nothing with a side of answers please," he replied tilting his head. " What happened to you last night?"

"You're never gonna give up, are you?"

"Never, love."

" Huh, well that's unfortunate isn't it?" I continue wiping down counters and tables before moving to the appliances.

"Why won't you tell me?"

"Why would I? First of all, I just met you and second of all, it's none of your business."

"Well, I just met you too and look, I'm nearly completely entranced by you, darling," he said with a smirk lightening up his face.

"Haha, so funny," I roll my eyes at the pet name. I continue wiping down tables as silence follows.

It's nearly closing time and Xander is still here. I walk into the back and get changed back into my normal clothes before grabbing the first aid kit we kept in the kitchen. As I walk past Xander, I can feel his eyes on me. I continue walking towards the bathroom, turning on the lights and going towards the counter. I set the first aid kit down and turn around as I hear the bathroom door open. And of course, in walks Xander.

"Sit down," he said and pointed to the counter.

"You know, it's rude to come into the girls bathro-"

"Sit."

I let out a sigh and mumble, "Fine." I jump up onto the counter as Xander walks closer and opens the kit. I lean my head up against the mirror as he grabs my hand and carefully unwraps it. I wince slightly.

"Sorry." He continues cleaning up my wounds and as I look down at him, I can see him scrutinizing my wounds. "What happened, Flora. Just tell me." He looks up at me with worry and curiosity.

"Just ran into some trouble and punched someone." He raised an eyebrow.

" I thought that you said you were fine walking home."

"I am. I dealt with it didn't I?"

"Sure you did. I'm giving you a ride home, let's go."

I jump off of the counter, "It's really fine, I have no problems walking home."

"Uh-huh, 'you're fine'. You come the next day and you have bruises and a bloody knuckle. I'm giving you a ride."

"Fine," I mumble with a sigh as we walk out of the restaurant, me trailing behind him.

Word count-1224