White Carnations
Lynn didn’t really plan to go to the flower shop that evening. She had been there a couple times, mostly in the morning, to get flowers for her apartment or to give to her mother. But on that Tuesday afternoon, she just wanted to get out of the rain that started while she walked home from rehearsal with her band. Lynn thought it probably looked weird to stand in the store and not buy anything, especially because her black clothes and partially shaved head stood out among the pastel blossoms and gentle fairy lights of the shop. So she sifted through piles of flowers, eventually settling on a small bouquet of white carnations.
By the time she found them in one of the buckets displayed in the window, the rain was down to a light drizzle. The counter was all the way in the back of the crowded little shop, and Lynn couldn’t see it for all the flowers in the room. She ventured to the back of the shop, where a beautiful girl with long blue hair sat behind the counter, wearing a white dress and a backwards baseball cap. She had headphones on and was focused on looking at some sort of map. Lynn cleared her throat quietly and set her flowers on the counter.
The girl pulled out her headphones and Lynn could hear the strains of her music like radio static. “Sorry! I was just… Never mind. I’m Ashley, how can I help you?” Ashley smiled, and Lynn handed her the flowers to ring up.
“So, you have a date tonight?” Ashley asked. She didn’t sound nosy, just genuinely curious.
“No, is there a reason I should?” Lynn replied. She hadn’t talked to a girl in a while, not since she broke up with her last girlfriend. She had focused on her art, her music, and her work since then. She just wasn’t ready for another heartbreak.
“White carnations. They mean love. I just kinda figured.” Ashley shrugged apologetically. Lynn smiled, thanked Ashley, and left the store, cursing herself for being so awkward. That probably could have gone worse, but it definitely could have gone a lot better. She walked back to her apartment in the light rain and the fog that had set in. The flowers went into her one good glass vase on the kitchen table, where she’d see them after she finished showering and be reminded of the pretty girl surrounded by blossoms.