Give Me A Reason To Fall In Love

Chapter IX

"Are you sure you're okay, Bonnie? That's the second flower pot you've broken today," Sensei asked, concern evident in his frown.

Bonnie looked up from the pile of soil and shattered pottery that he had swept up and offered a polite smile. " Yeah, everything's fine. Why?"

Sensei casually approached the younger man, worry showing on his face, and Chica eyed them both carefully. Of course, they wouldn't buy that pathetic lie. They could read Bonnie like an open book; sometimes it was a good thing, and other times, it just felt like punishment.

Once Sensei was standing before the smaller florist, he placed his large hand on Bonnie's shoulder and gave it a firm squeeze. "Is this because we got onto you about cleaning up after your guests? We didn't mean to upset you..."

"No, no... I'm not upset about it. I swear I was going to clean up after them," Bonnie admitted, keeping his eyes trained on the ground and sweeping at nothing. "I just fell asleep by accident."

His words were followed by an eerie silence, and he shuffled his feet uncomfortably. After a few more seconds of the awkward silence, Sensei finally eased his hand away from Bonnie's shoulder and offered him a warm smile.

"It's okay. I'm just glad you're getting along so well with our neighbors. It shows me how much you've grown during these past months," Sensei praised him, grinning a bit wider when Bonnie returned a meek, little smile of his own.

"Alright, I'll let you finish cleaning, then."

As Sensei walked away, he gave the smaller man a hefty pat on the back and went back to tending the large section of colroful petunias, and Bonnie sluggishly swept the mess of soil onto the dust pan before tossing it out.

His brain felt like it would explode any moment now if he didn't take it easy. He completely forgot about how terrible hangovers could be since he usually drank in moderation, and now, he was regretting every single drop of alcohol he had ingested the night before. The florist wasn't even sure if the headache medicine he took an hour ago was actually taking any effect at all.

But he had a job to do, and he was trying to convince Sensei and Chica that nothing was wrong with him. The biggest and fattest lie he's ever told...

Heading back to the front of the shop to finish rearranging some of the flowers, Bonnie saw the door open out of the corner of his eye and heard the bell jingle at the sudden entrance. A massive figure took a few steps into the building, and it was none other than the menacing tattoo parlor owner Spring who was looming over Bonnie's smaller frame in a matter of seconds.

A few greetings were granted across the shop by Chica and Sensei, which Spring politely greeted them back, but he soon turned his attention back to Bonnie. The pale florist stopped what he was doing and turned to face his neighbor with sleep-deprived eyes and a tired smile.

"Foxy's pretty fucked up, you know... What did you two do last night, anyways?" Spring didn't bother to spare the florist any kind of greeting, but it wasn't surprising.

"Oh, that... That's not something I really want to talk about in front of..." Bonnie kept his voice low as he glanced at the two older flowershop owners watching them warily. "It's kind of embarrassing, too. I don't think Foxy really understands what happened."

The taller man hummed in response and nodded his head a couple of times. "That's funny because he's been moping around all morning saying everything was his fault. He won't even tell us what he did, and it's annoying the crap out of me. Which is why I came over here..."

Bonnie grimaced at the thought Foxy blaming himself, and he felt like hundreds of fire ants were biting his skin, making his flesh burn in agony, especially as he started to scratch it. Noticing that Spring was staring at his unusual antic, the scraggly florist forced his hand down to his side to fidget with the crinkles of his pants.