Roses & Heartbeats
It was 9:06 am and Adora already wanted to go home; the flower shop where she worked three days a week had only been open for 6 minutes. She had been there, however, for the last 2 hours trying to set everything up. Moving behind the counter, Adora wasn’t expecting anyone to come in the next three hours. So she was surprised when the bell rang indicating that someone had just arrived.
Turning towards the door, Adora gasped slightly. The customer who’d just entered was the most beautiful person she’d ever seen.
“Uhh hi, c-can I help you? Or are y-you just looking?” she asked, stammering slightly as she stared into the 20-year-old’s light coloured eyes and her soft pink hair.
She shook her head, mentally slapping herself, ‘keep it together, Adora, honestly’.
She didn’t even hear the answer and asked the customer to repeat herself, cringing inside. She was wearing a pastel pink t-shirt, a shade lighter than her hair and a pretty purple skirt that came to just above her knees.
“I’m just looking for some bright, cheery flowers. I’m Glimmer by the way,” Glimmer kicked herself. Why did she do that? Why would the florist care what her name was? Adora smiled; she could literally see her thoughts.
‘Oh my god, that smile, those blue eyes, that hair!’ Glimmer found herself thinking.
“H-hi. Nice to meet you. I’m A-Adora,” she paused for a moment, forgetting about flowers as she rested her elbow on the counter and gazed at Glimmer, “oh, oh! Right! Flowers!” Adora exclaimed and hurriedly made her way to the perfect flowers, nearly tripping in the process making her look, according to Glimmer, adorable.
‘God, I’m such an idiot,’ Adora thought to herself as she went around the shop showing Glimmer all the different kinds of flowers they sold. They kept on stealing glances at each other and Glimmer took her time choosing the flowers just so that she could talk to Adora just a bit longer.
She eventually chose some pretty lavender-coloured roses and walked towards the counter as Adora walked beside her. She couldn’t help noticing that the blonde was glancing at her every few seconds and she felt her stomach flip. Eventually they reached the counter Adora’s heart felt as if it was beating a thousand times a minute.
Handing over the money for the roses Glimmer said, “well, I’ll see you around. I guess. I mean, hopefully.”
‘Glimmer, why?’ she thought, annoyed with herself.
Adora smiled as Glimmer stumbled over her words and she could’ve sworn she saw a hint of a blush creeping onto her checks. The florist watched the pink-haired 20-year-old leave the shop, only coming to her senses when it slammed shut behind her, leaving her alone.
Glimmer thought of the funny, beautiful florist with the pretty blue eyes the whole way home and whispered to herself, “ I’ll definitely be going there again.” she felt felt her stomach flipping at the mere thought of her.
Adora was smiling the whole afternoon, her spirits lifted at the prospects of seeing Glimmer once more and her colleagues and the more regular customers teased her, but her good mood never swayed.
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Glimmer came into the shop a lot more after that; sometimes she bought a few flowers and other times she’d help Adora with a few odd jobs. Eventually, with a lot of stammering on Adora’s part, she managed to ask Glimmer for her phone number.
They went on a date. Both of them were nearly bursting with joy and Adora was so focused on thinking about Glimmer and her bubbly self that she crashed into her bedside table; a lot a swearing ensued. The pink-haired one danced around her bedroom that evening and fell into a peaceful sleep as she dreamed about a certain someone with blue eyes and a heart the size of a planet.
It was Adora who asked and Glimmer who decided where they should go. She wanted to go and watch a movie so Adora took her to see one, bought them both popcorn and Glimmer found herself blushing as she held her hand in hers and the sweet smile she got in return.
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Today was Valentine's day and Glimmer wanted everything to be perfect. She wanted Adora to know just how much she meant to her and to do that it was going to need some preparation. She waited outside the shop at 9 am when it opened to buy some flowers for her. Adora’s shift, she knew, started in 2 hours as she had the later shift and Glimmer wanted to surprise her. Adora finished working at 4:30 pm so that meant that Glimmer had plenty of time to make it perfect.
She walked out of the flower shop with a spring in her step and the flowers for her girlfriend in her hands and thought back to the first day she’d met Adora. She still had the same thumping heart, the same blush, the same feeling of awe whenever she was thinking about her or when she was around her.
By the time Adora arrived at work that day her mind was taken up with what she was going to get for Glimmer. She had already made hand a card for her where she’d drawn both of them holding hands and a single purple rose in the other. It had taken her a week to complete and she couldn’t wait to give it to Glimmer and see her reaction. Adora had drawn her in her soft pink t-shirt and purple skirt.
“Adora? Adora!”
“Right, sorry,” she said, going to the counter where the three customers were waiting to pay as her colleague tended to the flowers.
A while later, Glimmer was at her home getting ready for when Adora came. She was due to arrive at any moment. Glimmer was going to cook for them both. She had set the table nicely with a pale pink tablecloth and the six lavender-coloured roses she’d bought for Adora; six roses for six months of them being together, were in a decorated glass vase at the centre. The food was almost ready and it simmered in the pot on the stove.
Glimmer jumped at the sound of the doorbell ringing signalling her girlfriend's arrival. She smiled at the thought; she’d never get tired of calling Adora her girlfriend. Adora stood outside the door, nerves dancing in her stomach and smiled plastered on her face, her excited anticipation evident on her face. As Glimmer opened the door she wrapped her arms around her immediately and Adora laughed in surprise as she hugged her back.
“Miss me?” she joked, still laughing. She was wearing a mid-purple dress with a pastel blue cardigan on top and Adora looked beautiful and told her so and smiled to herself when Glimmer blushed and told her the same thing. She had tied her blonde hair in two buns on each side with a few strands of hair loose on both sides and wore a crimson red dress.
“Of course I did,” Glimmer answered seriously, smiling as she did so, noticing the bunch of azure blue roses she clutched in her palm and an A4 sized card. Adora kissed her in return and, holding hands, they walked into the sitting room together.
“Wow! You did all of this?” Adora looked from the decorated table to Glimmer and back in absolute awe at the amazing person in front of her.Then she mentally kicked herself, ‘of course she did, you idiot.’ A warmth spread through as she noticed the six lavender-coloured roses in the centre and thought back to when they’d first met last spring.
Glimmer smiled brightly at the soft expression on Adora’s face as she whispered, “the purple roses are yours by the way. Yeah I did, do you like it?” She suddenly seemed nervous as she waited for an answer, drumming her fingers against her thigh.
“Do I like it? Glimmer, I adore it. The roses are lovely, thank you. It’s beautiful. You’re beautiful,” Adora reassured her as they went over to sit on the sofa on the other end of the room.
“Thank you, Adora,”
After that they talked about their day; Adora talked about the few annoying customers that came in fussing about each and every flower in their bouquet and Glimmer talked about her morning at Bright Moon university. She was studying medicine there.
“Oh! I have these for you!” Adora exclaimed as she gave Glimmer the blue roses.
She smiled as she replied, “I was wondering when you’d get ‘round to it. Thank you, they’re really pretty!”
Adora huffed and burst out laughing, “it’s not my fault that my girlfriend is so distracting!” and playfully pushed her shoulder. She felt a flutter in her chest as she saw Glimmer’s expression of adoration for her.
“I have more,” Adora whispered. Suddenly nerves over took her as she watched Glimmer open the envelope and tugged a strand of her loose blonde hair.
“Wow, Adora. Thank you. I-This is… wow,” Glimmer didn’t know what to say as she stared down at the colourful illustration of them both each with a single rose in their hands. Adora felt her pride swell in her chest; she’d finally done it. She’d made Glimmer speechless.
Glimmer, moved by her drawing and not believing how lucky she was, cupped Adora’s cheek and kissed her lips. She kissed her back, her thoughts melting away, concentrating only on the way her lips felt against hers. Adora moved closer and wrapped her arms around her waist fully content and liked the feeling of her girlfriend’s hand on her cheek making soothing circles with her thumb. Glimmer felt Adora’s lips curling into a smile and pulled away slightly to see starry blue eyes and a soft smile.
She reached up and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear as she whispered, “thank you, I adore it.”
“And I adore you,” came Adora’s reply, taking Glimmer’s hand in hers “let’s eat, shall we?”
She laughed in reply and we walked into the kitchen. While Adora found a vase for the roses, Glimmer was busy stressing over serving out the food, getting flustered when she momentarily forgot where the plates were.
‘God, get it together, what are you doing?’
“Glimmer, the plates are here,” she said calmly.
“Oh, right, I knew that,” she paused as she took the plates from the blonde’s outstretched hands. As she served out the food, looking away from Adora, she continued, “sorry. It’s just that I want this to be perfect and I don’t want to mess it up,”
“It is already perfect, Glimmer. I think this the nicest thing that anyone’s done for me. No one’s bought me beautiful roses for me before, that’s for sure,”
After that Glimmer seemed to relax and they ate their dinner while talking about their plans for the future, whether that the events in question were a week from or four years from now.
Lots of laughter and hugs later Glimmer waved to Adora who was backing out of the driveway. As she closed the door behind her, Glimmer stared at the blue roses and smiled.
As she drove away Adora glanced over at the passenger seat at the lavender roses that Glimmer had wrapped up carefully just like she’d seen her do in the flower shop. She couldn’t believe that Glimmer had gone to all that trouble for her. She even cooked her favourite food, spaghetti bolognese and mint chocolate chip ice cream for dessert and she appreciated her so much. Glimmer always went out of her way for her and she adored that about her. When she got home she messaged Glimmer and the thought of visiting the flower shop the next day made her heart flutter, just like the first time she saw her enter with her pastel pink t-shirt and pretty purple skirt.
Back at her home, Glimmer has just tidied up as a ping went off signalling a message coming through on her phone. Seeing Adora’s name popping up on the screen, she beamed.
Thank you for tonight. I love the roses and the food and everything. You looked beautiful as usual <3
Smiling until her cheeks hurt, Glimmer typed out an answer while she daydreamed of her Adora.