A Single Daffodil

On Tuesdays, I usually work a double shift at Jane’s Flowers, meaning I would get there early in the morning, and then close up around eight o’clock. However seeing as I finished all my orders before noon and there were practically no customers coming into the shop, Eloise let me off work five hours early. I planned on going over to Sophia’s to complain even more about the brutish Brit who had me all out of sorts last night, but she was busy doing family things all day so I called up Jayden and decided to accompany him to his daily practice at the track. It didn’t take long for me to start going off about my unfavorable run-in to him. I knew I could trust Jayden to take my side when I relayed the story to him, obviously because he was sane enough to do so. Sophia had a tendency to care less about how I felt in a weird situation, and more about what the boy looked like, if he had bulging biceps, was he single, etc.

“Never liked the Brits.” Jayden declared. “How can they expect us to trust them ever again when they fabricated the biggest lie in history?”

“What lie is that, Jayden?” I asked, kicking another rock in front of me as we walked towards the main motocross racetrack.

Jayden stopped wheeling the dirt bike he was guiding between us, just to give me ‘duh’ look. It was an expression he usually kept for Sophia. “Harry Potter!?”

I threw my head back and laughed. “Still butthurt about not getting the acceptance letter on your 11th birthday?”

“You betch your ass I am.”

“Weren’t they the reason for the famine in Ireland, too?” I thought out loud after spying the cluster of freckles on the tip of his nose.

Jayden released an exaggerated and dramatic sigh. It was loud enough for his Irish ancestry to hear.

“Never liked the Brits.” Jayden concluded again, shaking his head angrily.

We were about to walk out on the empty race track when we heard a car door slam shut and high-pitched yelling in the distance.

We didn’t need to turn around to know it was Sophia yelling after us, but we turned to look anyways. She was a good far bit behind us, undeniably struggling to run through the dirt and rocks in her high heels.

“Espéreme, por favor! Wait, wait!” She was aggressively waving a magazine over her head. She cursed in Spanish every time her ankle bent from the uneven surface. “Vita! We have to talk!-” Her ankle gave out again. “-Ay Cristo, do these people never heard of cement roads?”

“Aren’t you suppose to be at a dinner with your family?” I inquired once Sophia finally reached where Jayden and I were standing.

She was out of breathe. “No-I mean yes, yes! That’s not important.” She raised a J-14 magazine in front of her, still heaving from her battling run. “I was at the family dinner, and I noticed my cousin reading this, yes? I realized something. When we talked about the boy you met with the curly hair on the phone last night, I forgot that One Direction ez also staying at the Four Seasons-”

“How do you even know that?” Jayden questioned, but she ignored him.

“That boy you met. At the Four Seasons. He was British, yes?” Her eyes were wide with excitement, hoping whatever conclusion she came to was true.

“Yeah?” Jayden and I shared a confused look while Sophia violently swiped through the pages of the magazine.

When she settled on the page, she held it up to me. “Ez this him? The boy?”

I grabbed the magazine from her and stared at the page she doggy-eared with absolute terror. It was the British boy. He was standing next to four other guys, three of them I instantly recognized as the ones Sophia freaked out about at the Heat game last Sunday. In a loud hot pink font floating above them, the title read “ONE DIRECTION TELLS ALL! Shocking deetz about flirting, girls, and more!”

I guess my anger got the best of me after seeing his vapid smiling face because I couldn’t stop myself from crumpling up the magazine and slamming it down into the dirt. I stomped my foot down on his face, making sure to mush it into the ground further.

“I think that’s a yes.” Jayden said, watching my mini-tantrum in shock.

“That was him, the little shit!” I exclaimed angrily.

Sophia wasn’t even phased by the fact that I destroyed the magazine. In fact, she was delighted. She started jumping up and down like a giddy schoolgirl, clapping her hands as she did so.

“Ah dios mio! This is amazing!” She cried out. “You talked to Harry Styles from One Direction!”

“Harry Who?” I immediately stopped myself, holding up my hand to Sophia. “No, you know what? Don’t tell me. I don’t care. Whoever he is, he sucks.”

I followed Jayden to the race track and went over to the empty metal benches, with Sophia hot on my trail.

“No, no, no!” Sophia heckled me. “You must talk to him again, Vita. He ez maravilloso. Gorgeous!”

“Sophia.” I said sternly. “The guy thought I was stalking him. He was condescending as fuck. I wanted to rip his curls out.”

“Ah, no. Maybe you caught him on a bad day?” She offered. “Try and see him again!”

“I’d rather eat Haggis covered in dog shit for the rest of my life then to ever talk to that dickhead again.”

Sophia huffed and muttered something in Spanish I couldn’t understand. We stayed quiet while we watched Jayden drive up a hill and jump high in the air with his bike. He was only warming up before he’d start doing the front flips and back flips.

“I’m heading over to the arena in an hour for game two.” I piped up. “Wanna come?”

“No.” She said at first, just out of spite. I could tell she wanted to hold a grudge against me for not caring about meeting a celebrity, but after a second of picking at her nails she let out an aggravated sigh. “Ok fine, yes.”



A ding of the bell and a roar of cheers in the arena was a not so subtle signal that the third quarter had finished, and both teams had ten minutes before the final quarter began. The Chicago Bulls and Miami Heat were tied at 82-82 each. The next fifteen minutes of game time would either make us or break us. I could tell by the look of my father’s face that he was not happy. He liked being in the clear of a winning game.

“I need to re-apply my lipstick.” Sophia announced, standing up and pulling down another one of her skin-tight dresses. “Need anything?”

“Large Dr. Pepper, pretty please.” I smiled at her, standing up as well. Instead of following Sophia up the stairs, I walked over to Dwayne, Lebron, and the other players who were now huddled over my dad, listening in on the next plan of action.

I had to stand up on an empty chair behind them, just so I could be tall enough to lean my elbows on their sweaty shoulders. Lebron momentarily broke game-face when he noticed it was me leaning against him and Dwayne. He grinned, giving me a hard pat against my back (thank God I decided to wear his jersey tonight, or I wouldn’t have heard the end of it). We both knew better not to speak when my dad was giving instructions, so I gave him a nod of acknowledgement and turned back to listen to whatever the hell my dad was talking about.

Somewhere between the Heat Dancers starting their routine on the floor and the water boys passing out Gatorades to the players, my phone started vibrating. I hopped off the chair I was standing on and pulled out my phone from the back pocket of my skinny jeans. ‘Jane’s Flower Shop’ flashed on the screen.

“Hello?” I had to cover my other ear to block out the Missy Elliot song that was blasting through the speakers. In the corner of my eye, I could see the dancers twerking. Yikes.

“Vita! I’m freaking out.” It was Ronnie on the other end. “The Four Seasons just called the store. They need someone to go fix up a display right away.”

“What happened?” I asked loudly into the phone.

“I don’t know, something about a flower display getting messed up!” She replied. “But I’m the only one closing up the shop tonight. I would tell Maggie to go fix it, but I don’t want her to stress out about it.”

I sighed loudly. “Alright, don’t freak out. I’ll be there in 10 minutes, okay?”

“I love you, I love you, I love you!!”

I hung up and puffed out my cheeks with annoyance. It wasn’t entirely abnormal for hotels to call us with emergencies, especially the Four Seasons. They’re too anal about the appearance of their hotel, including every single display that inhabits them. If one flower is out of place, they’d call us in a heartbeat to get it fixed again. It was annoying, especially when they called this late at night.

“What’s up with the pout, mini-Spoelstra?” Chris Bosh caught the tail-end of my bitchface. He sauntered over to me with a towel hanging off his head and a gatorade glued to his lips.

“Gotta leave a quarter too early, Superstar. Work is beckoning, apparently.” I answered.

“You can’t just leave!” He reached up to ruffle my already disarranged mess of blonde curls. I groaned, fighting him off. He knew I hated it. He laughed, then added, “You’re the team’s lucky charm!”

“Yeah, right. You’re your own damn lucky charm. Have you seen your height lately?” I retorted, ducking away from his hand again. I pushed his arm away and walked backwards. “Win the game for me, big guy. And tell dad I’ll catch up with him later! Good luck!”

Just as I was starting up the stairs, I caught Sophia on her way down. She looked at me with confusion while handing me the large cup of Dr. Pepper. “Where are you going!?”

“Work just called me in.” I sighed, gratefully taking a sip of my new drink. “Emergency flower run, or whatever. It won’t take long, I hope.”

“Will you be back before the game ez over?” Sophia asked.

“Hopefully. I’m not sure.” I answered truthfully. “I’ll call you tomorrow if I don’t see you later, alright?”

She nodded and continued making her way down to the court until I stopped her again. “And Sophia? Do not go home with Norris Cole tonight. You both seem to forget he has a girlfriend that he’s been dating for the past seven months.”

She rolled her eyes and waved me off. “Ay, please. It’s not my fault he like what he sees.”

Now I was the one rolling my eyes. “Hussy!” I yelled after her as she continued to walk down the steps. The buzzer went off, acting as a catalyst for the crowds to cheer once more.

She gave me the middle finger before returning to her seat.

I hustled out of the arena as quickly as I could, pulling out my car keys the minute I reached the car parking lot. Thankfully being my father’s daughter, I get to park in the restricted area where all the other basketball players park, so it didn’t take me too long to get out on the main road.

The minute I pulled up to the shop, Ronnie was already waiting by the entrance with a huge basket of flowers and an extremely apologetic expression. It took me an additional five minutes just to convince her I wasn’t one, mad at her, two, angry that she called me for help and three, going to tell Maggie about it.

After finally dismissing her apparent paranoia towards me, I jumped back into my car and sped towards the Four Seasons. If I fixed their flowers quick enough, I might be able to get back to the arena in time for the final minutes of the game and to --hopefully -- celebrate our second win.

As usual, I pulled up to the valet in front of the hotel and rushed into the lobby with the big basket of flowers in one hand, and my large Dr. Pepper in the other. Larry, the employee behind the front desk was quick to wave me over the minute he spotted me amongst the busy reception area (which was still cluttered with young teens pretending they were staying there, by the way. I had to refrain from gagging after realizing they were waiting around for that dumb boy band.). Larry thanked me for coming and directed me towards the elevators, explaining someone tampered with the flower display on the fifteenth floor.

“No worries, I can fix that display, no problem.” I assured Larry just as I stepped into the elevator. “Was there any others I needed to fix?”

“No, just the one.” He replied, still standing outside the elevator. “Pretty strange, right? Must have been a drunk guest staying on that floor or something.”

The minute the doors closed, I frowned. As the elevator rose upwards, I took the time to convince myself that the damaged display on the fifteenth floor had absolutely nothing to do with my unfavorable run-in from last night, and that it was a mere coincidence.

When the elevator doors binged open, I gasped.

Almost all of the flower display was missing! The stems of lavender were completely out of sight and the yellow daffodils were clearly out of place. It looked like someone attempted to sit on top of the vase and smashed all the flowers in. This was a damn floral homicide!

I groaned, walking over to the mess and lifting my basket up to the table. I had no idea where to start. I hope Ronnie packed enough lavender stems.

Just as I started sifting through the flowers Ronnie packed, I heard a door swing open and slam shut. Before I could even lift my head to see where it came from, I saw a figure emerge--boyish shaped--in the corner of my eye.

“Finally!”

I was glaring at what appeared to be, a relieved looking Harry Something. My eyes were immediately drawn to his nose, but didn’t linger too long, when I noticed he had a bunch of MY lavender stems in his hands.

“No!” I almost shouted, slamming my Dr. Pepper onto the table. “Don’t tell me you’re the cause of this ruined mess.”

“‘Course it was me!” He replied, a little too proudly. “How else would I get you up here again so I could apologize?”

I scoffed, immediately looking away from his stupid dumb nose. I just really felt like punching this guy in the dick right now.

“And you thought messing up my flower display was a good way to start an apology!?” I exclaimed. I was seething with anger. “Are you deranged?”

“No, ugh, look.” He sighed heavily, taking another step towards the table. He dumped the lavender in the almost empty vase and ran his hand nervously through his hair. I continued to glare at him, pulling the vase closer to me. “I’m sorry, alright? I’m a right twat for what I said last night.”

I momentarily stopped shoving extra daffodils into the vase and gave him a very pointed look that displayed I wasn’t buying his apology. His eyes were wide and puppy-dog like. It made me want to gag.

“Seriously.” He said again, in his little British accent. I tried to not let it sway my stubborn anger towards him. “It was rude of me to be so presumptuous of why you were up here.”

“You’re damn right it was rude.” I mumbled, quickly re-arranging the flowers to their original position. The quicker I get out of here, the better.

He offered me a sympathetic smile I made sure not to return. “I really am sorry, ye know. I practically lost sleep over it last night.”

“I’m so sure.” I said sarcastically.

“It’s true!” Harry declared.

The flower display was good enough. It wasn’t my best, but I didn’t quite care at the moment. I just wanted to get the hell out of there and away from this kid.

I grabbed my empty basket and Dr. Pepper, narrowed my eyes at Harry one last time and turned towards the elevators.

“Come on, I said I was sorry!” He tried again. “You can’t be that upset over a mistake I made, can ya?”

I jabbed the elevator button and sighed stiffly before turning around to face him. “Ok, it’s fine. I forgive you, or whatever.”

When the elevators binged open -- thank fucking God -- I practically ran inside it and jabbed the ground floor button repeatedly until the doors started closing.

Just as they were about to close shut, however, Harry stuck his arm out to block them. I tried so desperately hard to hide my annoyance. This kid was really rubbing me the wrong way.

“You’re still mad at me, aren’t you?” His right eyebrow was raised, his eyes were narrow.

“No.”

Now he was the one giving the pointed look.

I sighed drastically again, looking up at the ceiling. “Look, it’s whatever, okay? Just forget about it. I really don’t care!”

I pressed the Doors Close button, hoping that would be the end of it, but once the doors started closing, Harry blocked them again. “How about you let me and my “stupid dumb nose” take you out to dinner sometime?”

I stared at him with disbelief. I wasn’t sure what stunned me more: him asking me out to dinner or him imitating an American accent when quoting yours truly.

Probably both.

“Come on.” He persisted. “I’m not that bad once you get to know me. Let me prove it!”

“Sorry.” I said, jabbing the Doors Close button again. “But I have a boyfriend. See ya!”

He blocked the doors from closing a third time. I was never getting out of here.

“Do you really expect me to believe that?” He was smirking. I was not.

“Um, excuse you? As a matter of fact, I do have one.”

“Oh yeah? What’s his name then?” He challenged.

“...Bob.”

“Really?”

“Yes.” I said stubbornly, making sure to look anywhere but his face. I kept my thumb pressed against the Doors Close button for a fourth attempt before looking up at Harry and offering a fake smile. “You have a good night now, alright?”

He stuck his arm out again. The doors beeped in protest, disappearing back into the walls.

“Oh my God, seriously dude!?” I exclaimed out of frustration.

“Come out to dinner with me.”

“No! There’s my answer, alright?” I waved my Dr. Pepper at him angrily. “Will you quit it, already? You’re going to break this thing.”

“I won’t leave you alone until you agree to come out with me.” He confidently announced. Without hesitation, he waltzed into the elevator with me.

I tilted my head back and groaned. “Can you not?”

“Can I not what?” He was trying to be cute, I could tell. His lips were all pouty, and his emerald colored eyes were holding an innocent expression. And don’t even get me started on his nose.

“I have no desire to get dinner with you, let alone stand in this elevator with you.” I scowled in his direction. “So can you just not?”

Before he could respond, the doors thankfully opened to the ground floor. A lightbulb went off in my head when I realized we were about to enter the lobby area.

“One dinner won’t kill yeh.” He hummed, following me out of the elevator.

“Yeah, it will. Peace out, curly top!” I skipped ahead to make sure I was in earshot of the school of piranhas prowling the lobby. I cupped a hand around my mouth and spoke loudly to no one in particular. “Whoa hey, isn’t that that guy from that boy band!?”

It didn’t take long for all the girls to whip around and let out ear-piercing screams when they spotted Harry standing behind me. I made sure to step out of the way when they darted towards him, all thirty-three of them.

He was immediately overwhelmed, and I couldn’t help the immoral and wicked grin that appeared on my lips. When he looked up at me with amazement, I saluted him and strolled out of the hotel with complete gratification, taking yet another sip of my large Dr. Pepper.