It's a bad habit, and she knows it, but she can't help it when there's no customers in her shop. She glances at the clock above the blender. Two-twenty. The dead hours, just after lunch and just before schools get out. Nobody's supposed to be in here at this time. Nobody's supposed to be anywhere, really. But when her shop has no customers, out comes the hair twirling, the counting of the money in the cash register, making sure she was at least on par to break even that day.
She breaks from her trance as the door opens, the sound of a jingling bell startling her and snapping a few strands of hair in half – she'd need to wash her hands before handling any food for sure. She stands up to greet the customer.
"Well, if it isn't Miss Bookworm. Here for the usual I take it?" Weiss asks. The woman on the other side of the counter just gives a nod and a smile. "You always come during the down hours Penny, is it because you like to chat, or because you hate people?"
"Oh, I don't hate people," Penny says. She unslings a purple purse from her shoulder and reaches into it, placing a ten on the counter, "I just like to talk to you. I feel bad when there are lots of other customers, it feels like I'm distracting you."
"Well you're always welcome here. I like the company." Weiss takes the ten and places it atop the register, grabbing a tea bag with her other hand. The water that has been near piping for an hour goes into a cup, then the tea bag, and then Weiss provides her specialty. She opens a small glass cupboard beneath the pastry display and picks a few rose petals from her flower collection. She feels bad, this was one of the best-looking ones from her garden at home, but all must serve the shop eventually. She drops the petals into the tea and covers it with a thin paper towel.
"Anything besides the tea? You gave me much more than it costs." Weiss asks, picking the bill up once more.
"Nope! Unless you want to drink something too, I can buy that for you as well. I just found it on the way here and decided you'd appreciate the extra change," Penny beamed a smile at Weiss. "Anyways, I have an odd topic to talk about today."
"Let me get this made then we can sit in the comfy chairs out front."
Weiss picks the paper towel off of the cup and places it in the garbage bag below the register. From between the bag and the register she produces a pair of tongs, and slowly picks the rose petals from the tea and places them into the bag as well, before wiping the tongs off with yet another paper towel. This one she keeps by the register instead. She hands the tea to Penny, who smiles widely and walks over to her favorite seat – a plush, mahogany chair that Weiss got for half price – the guy she bought it from said it was uncomfortable, but what he meant was it wasn't stiff enough for him. Penny, however, sank into the chair and sighed with content as the pillows surrounded her in a velvety hug.
Weiss sat down across from Penny. "So, what is this odd topic you have?"
"Bees."
Weiss raised an eyebrow. "As in the animal, the letter, or something I've never had?"
"Oh Weiss, you look perfect. Don't even," Penny pouted, "And the animal. A friend of mine wants to make honey, but she needs this weird box thing that I don't know how to pronounce, and she needs to attract bees to it."
"Well, does she have this 'weird box thing' yet? Also, I think I know what you're talking about, sort of like a wooden beehive?"
"Yeah! I think it's pronounced app-yarry."
Weiss stared at Penny. "I'm sorry, a what?"
"An app-yarry. A-p-i-a-r-y. App-yarry."
"Penny, that's an apiary. Ape-ee-yay-ry."
"Bee box." Penny says.
Weiss sighs. "Yes, a bee box. Now, why do they want honey? That's my question." Weiss reclines into her chair, immediately trying to forget about the app-yarry.
"Something about the potluck that's gonna happen in a few months, I think. I don't remember exactly, but I want to help them get it. I owe them like, three at this point." Penny sips her tea before continuing. "Plus, I know that flowers attract bees, and you like gardening, so maybe you could give me some pointers to give her."
"Wouldn't the bees need to be in the apiary though? And why would you need extra flowers in Apis Mellifera of all places?"
"Well the bees have to live in the app- no, apiary. I'd imagine if there are a lot of flowers around the apee... bee box, then they'd want to make a hive close to them, right? Then they'd live in the bee box!"
"Your logic is sound, but they'd need more than just flowers to attract them there. They'd need to see the apiary as a valid place to call home, right?" Weiss asked.
"Yeah, that's where I'm stumped. Blake said she'd figure it out, but I can't stop thinking about it."
Blake. Why did that name sound so familiar to Weiss? Blake, Blake, Blake – Blake Belladonna? The daughter of the mayor of Apis Mellifera? She'd only seen her once or twice, and one of them was with...
"Yang." Weiss said.
"Huh? What about Yang?"
"Nothing, just thinking aloud."
As Penny goes back to her tea, which no longer scalds her mouth, Weiss loses herself in thought. Penny wants to help Blake. Blake came here on a date with Yang – no, a "not date", which definitely means a date. Yang lives in Apis Mellifera now, along with...
"Penny, I can help. I need to visit Yang and Ruby though. See which flowers would be best for the landscape. Can't have invasive species of plants there choking up the ground and ruining everything."
Penny leaps up from her seat. "You mean it? Thank you Weiss! I knew I could count on you!" She drags Weiss up from her own seat and pulls her into a crushing hug. But Weiss isn't bothered. She isn't going for the flowers, not for the honey, either. She's there for one person and one person alone – Ruby Rose, the one that got away.
YOU ARE READING
Honeycomb Hearts
Fanfiction"Now come on, what could possibly be in there that you don't already know about anyways?" After Yang's life comes crashing down when a freak earthquake destroys both her home and right arm, she finds that only one box miraculously survived the trage...
