We Only Breathe For So Long

“I’m truly sorry for your flowers,” he said.

“It’s okay, the flower shop is right over there. Do you want me to play along and say how it’s not necessary for you to buy me new ones or are you just going to buy it?” I asked with a jokingly smile pressed to my lips.

He laughed while he stroked his hair and replied, “Begging my way to buy a pretty girl flowers doesn’t seem bad but I would rather take the second option.”

“Alright then,” I said after taking the first initiative while walking towards the flower shop. I could hear his boots echoing on the ground with every step he took. I was completely aware of his presence and it made me nothing but nervous.

“Hello sir,” he opened his mouth to greet the elderly man who was behind the counter, “May I please have a bouquet of Tulips, Lavenders and Roses,” he ordered as he reached his hand to the back pocket of his jeans and grabbed open his wallet, pulling some cash out of it.

“Your lady is either a flowers lover or you really pissed her off,” the elderly man said with a sweet smile.

I laughed. And so did the elderly man. It was a long and honest laugh. After I managed to control and recompose myself, I opened my eyes to find the lanky guy’s eyes on me.

“What?” I asked with a little worry behind my voice, “that was a very good joke, you have to give the old man that!” I chuckled by remembering the joke that the elderly man had just told.

After looking at me for a moment, the guy dropped his gaze to the floor and chuckled at himself. At that moment, I was sure that he probably thought I was a weirdo of some sort.

The elderly man handed the fresh bouquets to the lanky guy, who turned to me and stretched out his hands.

“Here you go. The Roses are an apology gift.”

I took the bouquets out of his hand and held them against my chest to make sure that they wouldn’t escape my hands until I got home.

“Thank you, John.”

I said his name as clearly as I could so that I wouldn’t forget the name to the face. He paused for a moment before saying, “Goodbye Kylie.”

He turned around and walked towards an old pickup truck, similar to my dad’s in so many ways. On his way, he pulled out a pack of smokes and lighted a cigarette before entering his ride. I just watched him. Tried to remember him and all of the details about him because he was nice and deserved to be remembered by his kind gesture. I smiled to myself and continued walking towards the mini-supermarket.

At the end of the day, I gladly found the markers and that made me feel accomplished with myself since it seemed like such a hard thing to find. As soon as I did, I called Greg. After three rings, he picked up the phone.

“Hello?” His voice echoed through the phone.

“Hi Greg, it’s Kylie. But you probably knew that because there’s something called Caller ID,” I said.

He laughed and commented, “My nerdy ways are rubbing off on you!” he said contently.

I chuckled, “apparently yes. Listen, I found the markers so you can totally stop worrying about it right about now and scratch that off your list,” a smile submerged on my lips.

“Ah, thanks Kylie! You saved me a few grey hairs. Eric called me a couple of minutes before you did and he’s throwing a party tonight. I really don’t want to go alone so, would you please come with me?” he kindly asked, “but it’s not a date or anything. I mean, you’re not my date, we’re just…” he trailed off trying to explain himself.

“Greg, shut up. And yes, I’ll go with you.”

“Awesome!” he shouted enthusiastically, “I’ll pick you up at 8pm, ok?”

“That’s perfect, thanks for the invite. See you later,” I said before hanging up on him.

I looked at my watch and the pointers indicated it was 18:37. Good. There was enough time for me to try and find my way back home and get ready in time to get a ride with Greg to the party.

Gladly, I didn’t get lost and managed to find my way back home. Once I did, I noticed nobody was home yet. I decided to call Angela and Ronnie to let them know I was going out and I would probably come home late. They gave me the thumbs up and I started getting ready.