Flora. {Credence Barebone}

Chapter Thirteen.

"Flora!" Tina called the young blonde as she entered the kitchen one morning, dressed and ready for work.

"Morning." Flora smiled at the older witch, reaching for some fruit off the table to eat. Moving to grab her coat from the coat stand, Flora was stopped by the gentle grab of her arm.

"You're always rushing in the morning, why don't you walk with me today?"

"Walk.. with you?" Flora asked, slightly stunned. "Where's Queenie?" She asked,
looking around her as if the spunky blonde would pop up somewhere with her sing-song voice and some strudel.

"She went on ahead," Tina replied. "Come on, put down that apple. Let's get some hotdogs!"

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"So," Tina spoke as she and Flora made their way down the busy city's streets. "How's the flower stand going?"

"Huh?"

Tina's question startled Flora, who had been lost in her thoughts. She usually spent her walk to the Senator's office looking forward to the time she would spend with Credence that evening, and that was exactly what she had been doing before Tina had spoken to her; not that she would admit it.

Glancing around, Flora realised that they were on 8th avenue, blocks from where she was supposed to be.

"Sorry Tina, I didn't hear what you said," Flora smiled sheepishly up towards Tina, but not without looking at her watch with a sinking feeling when she realised she was going to be late.

"Well I was asking you about your flowers, but it seems like there's a lot on your mind," Tina narrowed her eyes with a slight smile and laughed when she took in Flora's nervous expression.

"Don't worry, I can't suddenly read minds, I'll leave that to Queenie."

Flora heaved a sigh of relief before looking to Tina with a sheepish smile. She couldn't help but wonder why Tina was being so nice to her. It wasn't like she never was; Tina had been friendly and welcoming to Flora since she had arrived at the Goldstein's flat. But she had also been a little bit interrogative of her, treating her like a new case she had yet to figure out.

However, she had never been so open with her, never invited her to walk with her before. Come to think of it, Flora had never really spent time with Tina without Queenie.

"You know Flora, if there's something on your mind, you can talk to me about it," Tina spoke softly, looking down at the shorter witch with a comforting smile.

Since finding out about how Flora's well-off father had treated her, Tina found herself constantly thinking about the mild-tempered girl. She never had much time for her before, and now felt guilty for not looking beyond the misleading surface of wealth and faux happiness.

"No, no, I-uh," Flora gushed. "I'm fine.. Look, there's some of those hot dogs you were talking about." Flora pointed at the No-Maj selling food at a steamy stall, hoping that Tina wouldn't question her further.

Tina merely narrowed her eyes at the girl before taking her arm and pulling her towards the stand.

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"I can't believe you've never had a hot dog before." Tina tried to stop herself from laughing as she looked down at Flora, who now had mustard covered lips and fingers.