Signs of Light (l.s.)

Chapter iv

As soon as Louis slipped out the door, Harry felt a tap on his shoulder. His blond coworker, Niall, had a knowing smile on his face.

"So that's the guy who gave you flowers, yeah??" He said a little too loudly.
Harry nudged his arm and told him to "Hush", before Niall took the hint and started signing to Harry behind the espresso machine.

So he is the flower guy, yeah?

Yeah, Ni. He is. Harry shook his head with a small laugh.

He comes in like every day, he totally fancies you. You've seen him look back at you. Haz, he totally fancies you! Niall signed out in a rush.

Harry blushed and signed back Ya know, I hope so. I may have asked him to dinner while I was on break.

Niall's jaw dropped. You did not! Look at you Haz, dinner with the flower boy!
Niall teased him and poked his stomach.
Harry giggled and signed Yeah, yeah. We'll see how it goes.

You know it'll go well, Haz. You fancy him, he fancies you. He brought you your favourite flower for Christ's sake.

Harry blushed with a huge smile, looking down at his feet, before he turned back to the till to help the next customer.
He and Niall made goofy faces at each other the rest of his shift, and once the end of Harry's shift at 2:00 came around, Niall rushed him out the door with a cheeky "Have fun with flower boy, Haz!"
Harry laughed as he got out the front door of the shop, and he pulled up a patio seat to wait for Louis. He took his hearing aids out, popped in his earbuds, turned Yiruma to the highest volume, and laid his head back with closed eyes and a smile on his face while he waited.

Louis shuffled around the little flower shop filling call-in orders and sweeping fallen leaves and petals off the floor. Georgia was back in her office taking a large floral order for a wedding next month. Louis loved working at Georgia, he loved the smell of all the flowers, he loved the customers, he loved how they were always looking for 'what flower would make him/her happiest?', it was a place of beauty.
As Georgia came back up front, Louis was humming Talk Show Host by Radiohead. She joined his humming and gave him a cheeky pat on his bum before turning back to the till.

"Hey, G?"

"Yes, love?"

"Do you think you could start teaching me how to make the floral arrangements? I'd love to learn how to make the flowers I care for look so beautiful like you do."

Georgia's eyes lit up at his question."Of course, Lou! Oh, I'd love to."
Georgia had been a florist for years, she and her wife had opened this shop together when she had decided that teaching wasn't for her. Georgia and Charlotte had both left their jobs to pursue their passions, and the flower shop and Charlotte's bakery were doing extraordinarily well.

Louis loved working for someone who was so passionate about their work. He had decided about six months into working at Georgia, that he wanted to be a florist for a very long time, maybe one day even open his own shop.
Georgia stepped away from the till and slipped into the flower cooler. Louis watched her rummage around through flower bins for a few minutes before she came back to the counter with a handful of pastel blossoms.

"I didn't mean right now" Louis laughed.

"No time like the present, love."
Georgia handed him the bunch of flowers and ran to the stock room to grab a vase. She came back quickly with a clear short vase.

"Alright, Lou. Set the flowers down by type, yeah?"
Louis laid the flowers out on the counter by variety, careful not to smash any petals.

"Right, now take the Juliet roses there and snip the stems to this length." She held the sheers out for Louis to cut the rose stems.
"Now tuck those in the vase and move onto these here."  She watched as Louis tucked the flowers into the little vase strategically.
Georgia made a small noise of approval. "Lovely."
She stepped away from the counter and ducked back into the flower cooler, appearing moments later with something behind her back.
As Louis was finishing up tucking small greenery into the spaces between flowers, Georgia pulled the flower from behind her back and handed Louis the pure white peony.