The Weight of Her

Shaun looked at himself one last time in the rear view mirror of his car. There wasn’t really much he could do with his mess of red hair so he let it fall lazily around him and got out of the car, slamming the door behind him. His date the previous night had gone disastrous, just as he hoped for. So he was back at the flower shop hoping that Kennadi was working again.

He then froze. What would he even say to her? Would she think he was a total creeper for showing up again? He had to think of an excuse for coming in again. He could see her inside standing behind the counter completely oblivious to him.

He thought maybe he should just leave before he made a fool of himself. He turned back around and began walking towards his car, but stopped and turned around to walk back to the store thinking it was silly of him to run away. He’d face much worse than a girl. But then again, those mountains he’d been through didn’t reject him. He turned back around to his car only to stop himself again and turn around to the store. He wasn’t going to back away from this. The worse she do was reject him, right?

He opened the door to the store and was blasted with the cool air, whereas outside it was disgustingly hot. Music from a small stereo set on a shelf was playing. Shaun looked at Kennadi who remained oblivious to him as she cut the thorns and leaves off the pile of flowers that laid in front of her. Shaun noticed she was now singing to the song that was playing and inched closer trying to hear her better.

“Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, Jolene. I’m begging of you please don't take my man. Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, Jolene. Please don't take him just because you can.” She sang in what Shaun thought to be an amazing voice.

A smile began to etch across his face. This girl was making his stomach do back flips. “Hi,” He said with confidence.

She snapped her head up at him and dropped the flower she was holding. “Oh my god,” She said quietly. She tried to pick up the pile of flowers in front of her, but her hand slipped causing them to accidentally fall to the floor. “Shit,” she said. She ran around to the other side of the counter and began to pick them up. Shaun, being the gentleman he was, bent down to help her.

“Sorry about that,” He said, feeling bad. Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea after all.

“It’s not your fault,” She replied, taking the plants he had picked up from him. “I’m just not as graceful as I would like to think.” They stood back up, with Shaun remaining where he stood, while she walked back behind the counter and set the flowers down an adjacent table.

“Shit,” She muttered again. She held up her finger to her face to examine it closely and Shaun could see the red beginning to drip.

“Are you okay?’ Shaun asked, looking from the blood to her.

She looked at him startled, seeming to forget that he was standing there. “Wha?” She saw him look from her finger then back to her and knew what he meant. “Oh, I do this all the time.” She walked over to the sink and washed the cut then dried it off. She pulled open a drawer and pulled out a band aid and placed it strategically over her finger. She composed herself then walked back and stood in front of Shaun with a smile.

“You sure you’re okay?” Shaun asked, trying to adapt to her lax attitude about it.

“Oh totally,” She shrugged it off as if it were no big thing. And to her it was. “Other than almost being out of Curious George band aids, I’m fine.”

“I can see how that would be a great loss,” He joked.

“Don’t tease,” She mused, smiling back at him. “So what can I help you with? More flowers for your ‘blind date’?” She asked, using air quotes when she said blind date. Then her face fell not knowing for certain if it was okay to ask him about that or any other part of his personal life. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have asked about that. That’s your business.”

“No, no,” He shook his head. “It’s okay. I don’t mind.” He tried to reassure her. “And no, no flowers for her.” Kennadi couldn’t deny the elated feeling she suddenly had, but stopped herself from getting too excited. “That was…disastrous.” He laughed, thinking of how badly it had gone last night.

“Oh,” She laughed with him, hesitantly not wanting to upset him. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be, please.” He held his hand up with the same smile that was making her heart melt.

“So then, if you’re not here for date flowers, what are you here for?” She asked, peering closely at him. Secretly she hoped he was there to ask her out instead. She hadn’t been able to stop thinking about him since he left yesterday.

He suddenly became more nervous as she leaned closer. He could smell the scent of cherries on her, which stuck out like a sore thumb against all the flowers, which was making his mouth water. “I--uh--” He stuttered. “My mom.” He blurted out, thinking of the first thing that came to his mind.

“You’re mom?” She asked, smiling sweetly. “What’s the occasion?”

“Just because.” He shrugged, hoping that answer would suffice.

“That’s really nice.” She replied. “I know just the thing.” She walked over to a shelf and pulled out a vase, and once again Shaun couldn’t help but stare at her bent figure. His hands became sweaty, trying to clean his mind of dirty thoughts. He shook his head as if they would just fall out of his brain and composed himself, thankful she hadn’t noticed. She was too busy putting together a design of various yellow flowers.

Once she was done, she walked back to the counter and show him what she had created. He smiled, impressed at what she had made. “Wow,” He said. “That’s great. She’ll love them.”

“Good,” She replied, silently cursing herself for not thinking of anything more witty. She rang them up and he paid for them. Both staying silent and equally nervous. “Uhm…” She trailed off.

“I guess, I should be going.” Shaun said, trying to hide his disappointment. He wanted to kick himself in the head for not having the courage to ask her out.

“Yeah,” He grabbed the vase and began to walk away calling himself every name in the book for being such a coward. He turned around and she gave him a small wave which he returned before finally walking out of the store.