Growing On Me

Chapter One - The Florist and a Strange Customer

The day had been normal before he burst into the flower shop. The week had been normal before he burst into the flower shop. Hell, the last month had been normal before the guy with the mullet burst into the flower shop.

Lance had been tending to the roses when the guy rushed in. Lance was confused, because for the most part, customers at the local florist were quite calm. But no, this dude was way different.

"What flower combination would I have to buy that would mean 'fuck you'?" He asked, running up to Lance, a fierce look in his eyes.

"Umm-excuse me?" Lance stuttered. The guy now was grabbing Lance's shoulders, making Lance unsteady and confused.

"I said, what combination of flowers would I use to say-"

"Yeah I got it." Lance cut him off.

Lance watched the guy for a moment longer, noticing little details. He had purple eyes. The purple kind that were just so aesthetic, Lance saw them sometimes on mood boards on the internet. Under the eyes, however, it wasn't so nice looking. The guy had enormous dark icicles under his eyes, like he never slept. He had a mullet. When Lance thought he was already appalled by the guy, there was another reason to be. He had a light layer of freckles, only noticeable if you looked closely. Lance loved looking closely at everything. Intricate details were his specialty, and one of the reasons he was running a flower shop was because he loved unique things.

The guy's expression turned to confusion, Lance realizing that he was spacing out.

"Uh- well, sir, orange lilies are for hatred," Lance stammered, backing up and leading the man to the selected flowers, picking out a few. "Yellow carnations, for disappointment," Lance led the man over to the yellow flowers. "And, geraniums for stupidity." Lance picked out the flowers and arranged them in a bouquet. He looked up at the guy again. "What's your name?"

"Keith." He grunted.

"Okay, Keith. Can I ask why you're using flower language to passive-aggressively say uh, 'F' you?"

"I just bought my own apartment after I figured out my parents were homophobic, so I'm leaving this as a nice parting gift."

"Okay then." Lance muttered, wrapping the bouquet with ribbon. "Well, that'll be fifteen." He looked up to see Keith rummaging through his pockets.

"Shit- I only brought ten!" He muttered. Lance sighed. Something about this guy intrigued Lance.

"It's alright." He sighed. "I'll put the rest on the house."

"Huh?" Keith asked. "Seriously?" A sad thought passed through Lance's head. why was he so surprised by the kindness? was he not normally treated with kindness?

"On one condition. If- you visit me." Lance added. What was he thinking? It just slipped out of his mouth! Keith gave him a weird look, but nodded and put the bill on the counter. Lance handed the bouquet to the guy.

"See you around then, I guess." Keith murmured, glancing at Lance's name tag. "Lance." Lance made finger guns. How dumb looking could he get?

"See ya mullet." Lance said, groaning to himself when Keith was out of the door. He slapped his forehead. Mullet??? Seriously Lance??? He looked up to make sure nobody was watching. Thankfully, he was alone.

Lance was genuinely surprised when Keith came back. I thought i had scared the guy off he thought to himself.

"So, why did you want me to come back again?" Keith asked. It had been about a week and a half since the 'parent's parting gift' episode.