Moana Waialiki was having a very average day. Currently, she was putting together an arrangement for a wedding that was taking place this weekend. She carefully put each flower in place to make it look as beautiful as possible, while watching the time tick by.
When suddenly an artist from the tattoo place next door, Maui, greeted her at the front desk.
"Can I ask you a favor?" Maui asked.
"Sure!"
"I have a client who wants me to do a large floral piece on her side, but I am not good at drawing flowers. I figured since you have a lot of flowers in here, and you're so close that maybe you'd say yes." Maui looked nervous when he talked, like he thought she was going to she was going to shoot the idea down as soon as he asked.
"So basically you want to come and draw flowers in here?" she inquired.
"Yeah, I won't take anything or even touch them, I just need the visuals while I practice drawing them. I understand if you say no." For being a very large, heavily tattooed, intimidating man he sure seemed unsure of himself asking a tiny little florist for a favor.
His face lit up when she said yes, and they agreed that he could come in and draw when he needs to, as long as he doesn't interrupt any of the customers. He thanked her, and said that he would be back the following morning because he didn't have anything booked until noon.
The rest of the day she couldn't help but wonder why she had butterflies. Even though she tried not to be excited, she couldn't wait to come to work tomorrow morning.
Everything was quite. It was the blissful time at work before opening, where all Moana has to do was prepare the store for the day ahead. The phone wasn't ringing yet, the customers weren't rummaging their way around, and she could take her time taking care of what needed to be done. It was peaceful.
The clock hit nine, she unlocked the doors, turned on the open sign, and went back to the boutiques she was preparing.
Five minutes after opening Maui walks in the door sketchbook and two coffees in hand. She was surprised by how early he was. She didn't expect him to come until a little later in the morning
He walked up to the desk and said, "good morning curly. I brought you this as a thank you for letting me do this."
Taken aback by the new nickname Moana's face automatically flushed and all she could manage to get out was a simple "good morning Maui." She couldn't believe how much more comfortable he was today than he was yesterday. It was like he was a totally different person: however, this personality seemed to suit him much better.
Then she realized she didn't thank him for the coffee and instead was staring at him like an idiot. She broke the silence and said, "thank you for the coffee."
He smiled again and said, "you're welcome. I didn't know what kind of coffee you would like so I got you a caramel latte."
She absolutely loved lattes, but she didn't get them often because she wasn't a big coffee drinker. "How'd you guess my favorite drink?" she asked.
"You just strike me as a latte kind of gal."
"Well, what did you get?"
"A large black cold press," he proceeded to shake his drink and she could her the ice rustling around the cup. It sounded almost empty already.
Eventually he asked her for a chair and settled in right in front of the large glass wall, looking in on the refrigerated room with all the flowers in it.
Moana attempted to go back to work but she couldn't help watching Maui work. He looked so focused on his art. It seemed like the shop could catch on fire and he wouldn't even notice. She also found herself studying his tattoos. He had beautiful traditional Polynesian tattoos all down his arms, and she could see some more artwork peeking out from his shirt collar.
It wasn't like she had never seen before, after all she opened her store 3 years ago and the tattoo parlor was already there when she moved in. She introduced herself to most of the people in the plaza when she opened for business, and any time before now when they saw each other they politely said hello. But it was almost like she had never really seen him before now. She never realized how, well, beautiful Maui was. He was almost twice her size and he was incredibly muscular. He was also very tan, even for a Polynesian man. And that hair, it was long and flowing and…
"Enjoying the view curly?" Maui asked.
Ripped from her thoughts she realized she hadn't touched her flowers in minutes and she was intensely staring at him. He had also noticed this, and decided to get a rise out of her.
She stammered, "no I was just.. Um.. I was just looking off into space that's all!"
"Mmm I'm sure that's it," teasing her he winks then adds, "I can see the drool from here."
Moana had never been more mortified in her life. Not only was she staring him down, but her noticed, and called her out on it! He probably thought she was a total weirdo. Although he wasn't acting weirded out.
"It's okay, not many people are as beautiful as me, although you give me a run for my money," he said.
Her blush deepened and she was speechless, completely, utterly, speechless.
Maui just laughed and then went back to working. For the rest of the time he was there Moana did not look away from her work. She was doing everything in her power not to think of the stupid hunk sitting in her shop even though that's all her brain could think of.
Quarter before noon Maui silently stood up and brought the chair back to behind the desk. He thanked Moana for letting him be there, and then slipped a folded up piece of paper on the desk, flashed her a winning smile, and went to his own store.
She unfolded the paper and it red, "Thanks a lot curly, dinner on me? -Maui" he listed his phone number at the bottom of the page along with a doodle of a certain curly haired florist.