I'm not good with words

The flower boy

Bradley woke up in his bed, with his cat lying next to his face.

He slowly got up, having an extra half hour to do what he wanted.

Bradley poured himself orange juice and started eating an apple.

He started reading the daily news on his phone, but he just wasn't present in his head.

He was thinking of the boy from the flower store. That is when Bradley got up, got dressed, and went out. He went over to the only person he knew how to deal with what he was feeling.

He knocked quickly on the door and Maverick quickly opened it. He had a plain white shirt with pair of jeans starting to rip at the knees. He was holding his jacket over his forearm and was pushing Jake out of the doorway.

"Tom's still asleep! Why are you here? We don't meet until seven-thirty!"

They started walking down the street, slowly.

"Why are you coming here so early? My boyfriend is still asleep at this time!"

"I met someone-"

"Oh My God! You bring me out here to tell me you've fallen in love? I can't believe you."

"I have not fallen in love with them! I just met them yesterday and they want to try some tattoo ideas."

"Okay, okay. Why'd you need to talk to me then?"

"They said they work at a flower shop?"

Maverick stopped and turned to look at him.

"Flower shop?"

"Yeah," Bradley kept walking, not noticing that Maverick stopped.

"I wanna ask what his ideas were so I can start to sketch them out."

Maverick started walking again, but only to catch up with Bradley.

"I know where it is, but it opens at nine, so you have tons of time to just go prepare the store okay? I have a few errands to run, but I'll see you soon."

To Bradley, you could say nine o'clock doesn't come soon enough.

But when it does, Bradley is ecstatic.

He walks down the street, looking over all the stores and cafes littered around, places he hopes he'll remember to visit.

Once he gets there, he starts second guessing himself.

"Oh come on, Bradley." He angrily whispers to himself.

Bradley pushes the door and enters slowly. He doesn't see Jake, but gets distracted by everything in the store itself.

There are not only flowers, but small cacti in pots. The smell was a lot, but also not enough.

Bradley started walking down the aisles when he heard someone behind him.

"Good morning Bradley."

Bradley sighed with a smile across his face.

"Good morning, Ice. How are you?"

"You woke me up this morning, I'll be fine. If you are looking for Jake, which I'm sure you are, he'll be back soon. He was delivering some flowers to elderly home nearby."

Bradley smiled as Ice walked away, and continued looking at the flowers. There were loads here that would be amazing for tattoo ideas.

Bradley soon heard a bell ring, but was too in his head to get out.

"Rooster?"

"Hm?" Bradley turned his head in the direction his name was spoken.

"Hangman, right?" Jake nodded. "Great! Can we talk?"

"Yeah, as long as we can walk? I need to check on some of the plants."

Bradley nodded and they started walking down the aisle.

"Right, so, uh, yesterday, you said you had some ideas for tattoos?"

"Oh yeah, what about it?"

"I was wondering if I could hear them? I wanna create some sketches so that you aren't waiting too long."

Jake smiled.

"I'll be right back."

Jake walks further into the store, leaving Bradley. Bradley slips his hands into his pockets and just stares at the flowers.

He soon hears footsteps and tunes back into reality.

"I was kinda hoping to get this. Just part of it though. Come with me to the counter."

Jake is holding a pot of purple flowers, Bradley doesn't know what kind, with only one arm, his other is just dangling by his side.

Bradley is tempted, very tempted to grab his hand.

Bradley shook his head slightly.

You just met the guy. At least take him out to dinner first.

Jake gently places the pot onto the counter and starts looking for something.

Bradley takes the time to observe the flower, soon realizing that there is a tag on the pot.

PURPLE LILAC BLOOMS

Best grown in the spring and summer.

Full or at least part exposure to the sun.

"Found them!"

Jake jumps up, holding a pair of scissors.

Jake walks over to the plant, and cuts off a small part.

"Here." Jake says as he hands over the small branch. "I think it would look best on my forearm."

Bradley chuckles.

"Seems like you put a lot of thought into this."

"I woke up early, and I didn't have anything better to do."

Bradley chuckles again, slightly louder. "Me too."

Bradley looks at Jake, and he can feel his smile widening.

"Can I have your phone for a moment?"

Jake nods, and does his password, handing it over to Bradley.

Bradley quickly types his number in, adding his contact name as 'Rooster.'

He hands the phone back to Jake and takes the flower.

He looks at the flower as he leaves the store.

Bradley trudged into tattoo store. As he entered, Maverick looked up, confused.

"They gave you a flower? I think it's obvious enough."

"For thier tattoo design, Maverick. They want it on their forearm and I wanna sketch it."

Maverick rolled his eyes and went back to working on, whatever he was working on.

Bradley went to the back of the store. It had two desks, each with a cheap office swivel chair.

On top of the desks was a small stack of paper, three pencils, and an eraser.

Bradley gently placed the flower on his desk as he sat down and grabbed a piece of paper.

He sketched out a rough idea of the flowers shape, with the small branches and leaves.

Once finished, he turned back to the flowers, and he couldn't turn away from them.

Hangman... Jake...