The Art Of Sending Flowers

g l a d i o l i

Gladiolus - The flower of remembrance.

-

The hustle and bustle of people in and out of the shop was dizzying. The aroma of expensive perfume and flowers combined was starting to make Elnora feel nauseous.

It was that dreaded month again; February. The time for lovesick teens and demanding adults. Elnora didn't really mind it because come on, business is more than good during the Valentine's season. But her accumulating headache was persistent into transforming itself to a full blown migraine.

She was starting to get sloppy at her job and even pricked her fingers with thorns. Elnora hated roses and in February, they seemed to be the only flowers that her customers wanted to buy.

While Elnora was attending to a twenty something year old male, Archer entered the shop looking unsure. The voice of her customer was starting to drone out as she stared at him. There was just something about gazing at people who didn't know they were be watched.

When he spotted her, he smiled the smile Elnora grew to adore; the one where his eyes crinkled at the corners. Elnora was sure that her heart stopped beating. Or her heart was beating so fast that she couldn't feel it anymore.

"... so what do you think I should get?" Came the voice of her customer and Elnora was suddenly brought back to reality. She cleared her throat and randomly pointed at the flowers in front of them.

"Roses are common and totally predictable." Elnora said with a wave of her hand as if she never zoned out of the conversation in the first place . "Go for these... umm tulips?" She scrutinised the flowers with a frown. "Yeah they're tulips."

One of his eyebrows rose in question. "You seem unsure."

Elnora chuckled at him. "Trust me, I'm sure about this. Your girlfriend is going to love these." Even with her headache still forming, she managed to give him a friendly pat.

The guys face went blank as he said,"They're for my mom."

Her hand stopped mid-pat and she retracted it.

"Exactly what I said."

"No. You said girlfriend."

"I'm pretty sure you heard wrong." She argued. "But tulips though, perfect for anyone!"

She gathered a bunch of tulips and a few other flowers and started wrapping them. "Since you were such a nice customer, I decided to add some extra flowers for free. Here you go. Thank you for buying from Edens Flower Garden. We hope to see you again." With a warm smile, Elnora walked him out of the shop. 

"Did you just kick someone out?" Archer asked while he stood in front of Elnora with a sly smirk as if he wasn't the cause of her earlier distraction.

"No I didn't." She denied smoothly. "Busy fellow, that guy." With a sigh Elnora massaged her throbbing temples. She couldn't wait to go home and sleep till her hearts content.

"You alright there?"

Her eyes searched the store for her co-worker and Elnora sighed in relief when she saw that Tory was down  to the last customer in the shop. Thank God. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just a headache is all. It's been a busy day you know with Valentine's day is coming up."