god thats a lot of flowers

ngl probs my fav chapter out of this

Zoe insisted that she was brought along on the trip to this flower store that Connor hated so much. Or perhaps he didn't hate it- His eyes flickered in excitement when she started talking about going there again, but it faded away pretty quickly. She tried to interrogate Connor, pecking at him curiously with questions and such.

The walk was silent. Not comfortable silence, but not quite awkward. She didn't know what to take from it. It just was a walk. The sister tried to ask him certain things, but Connor would either respond with a boring, unsatisfying answer or shoot it down immediately.

Wearing her dirty blonde hair down and a flowery, loose outfit, Zoe always looked weird in the tattoo studio. Her parents wouldn't let her get any tattoos, much less give them to others, so she was stuck with just helping customers out. Lucky Connor, getting to inflict pain on others without being punished.

"Is this it?" Her voice broke the silence just as they were about to pass the flower shop, which proved they both were not paying attention at all to their surroundings. Her brother nodded, then started to walk towards the door before remembering his previous encounter with Evan. He paused, allowing Zoe to walk in first, who gave him a strange look before plastering on a smile and breathing in the beautifully scented air of different smells combined.

Connor followed her, trying to look as cool as he could, like he was dragged here by his sister, when he noticed two employees- Not just one.

The different one was a girl, with her black, dreaded hair pulled back into a low ponytail. She was sitting in front of the counter, talking to Evan who looked relieved that he didn't have to actually talk, and it was mostly just the girl saying something about bees and the different ways people are trying to help them. Also about something with Cheerios? Giving out free seeds? Well, her apron was yellow, a light, pastel yellow, and her name tag read...

Well, it was hard to read, but after staring a while, (which looking back was just Connor staring at her boob) it read something like "ALANA BECK".

Alana better back off his man. His man meaning Evan, of course. Who... Didn't know he was his man yet.

That's a work-in-progress.

"Hi, how may I help you?" Alana started, aiming the question towards Zoe. Right. Connor was practically invisible.

Maybe not, though. His eyes wandered around the store, slowly locking with Evan's. He probably should just go and die now. No. This is for his dignity. If he had any left. He must share eye contact.

Evan was freaking out. Badly. It was him. The dude who hated flowers and then ran off. Was he here to laugh at him? Who was this girl? She looked like him, was he her brother? Why did he bring his sister? Does she hate him too?

"Yo."

Connor didn't know how red he was until Zoe laughed at him when they left the store.

Yo? Who the hell says 'yo' anymore? Connor is the worst. That's fact.

"Is that- He.. why..." Zoe's voice trailed off into chuckles as she looked back at the tattoo artist. "You... Didn't want to come back?"

"Psh, no." He growled, and if Zoe even thought of it-

"You... You like him! Just look at your face! Haha, your gay ass chose a flower boy and you are so in love." Dammit.

"Fuck you, Zoe."

"Love you too, bro."

And the day dragged on until Connor and Zoe's shifts were over (Which took a lot of convincing Lauren to allow them to have the same schedule, so that they could take one trip there and back, despite most of the time, the two did not want to see each other at all).