The Shop

By Natasha Conley

Andrew opened the swinging glass doors of a barren building. Well, almost barren. Andrew observed the plain white laminate covering bare floors. White walls, just freshly painted. He couldn't help but chuckle when he heard the whistling and humming echoing loudly enough to be heard from the back room.

"Darien?" Andrew yelled. When he got no answer he stepped forward, creeping closer and closer to the back door. "Darien, you back there?"

The musical sounds from the background stopped. Andrew heard the clomp clomp of Darien's shoes, and watched, baffled as Darien poked his head through the door. "Hey, Andrew! What brings you here?"

Andrew reached for his friend, grabbing Darien's shoulders. He breathed in the smell of fresh paint, which nearly made him want to gag. Finally, after a cough into his shoulder, Andrew responded. "I got your message."

"Well, that's clear." Darien reached for a stencil on a tiny makeshift table he had made from a plastic chair. "After all, you wouldn't know where I was otherwise."

"Yes, but...Darien...we've got to talk about this!" Andrew exclaimed, concern written all over his face.

Darien swat Andrew's hands away, now examining the shape and size of his stencil before drawing the design out on a piece of cardboard paper with a pencil.

"What is there to talk about? I think it's a great idea." Darien grabbed a large piece of foam, and proceeded to use a cardboard cutter to make a sponge in the shape of his stencil.

"No, it's a crazy idea, Darien!" Andrew said. "Think about it! Opening a flower shop? Why would you even need to do that? Don't you have family money?"

"It's not crazy." Darien answered. "I need to buy Serena a wedding ring and still have money leftover for the wedding itself. This was the perfect solution."

"You don't know anything about flowers!" Andrew yelled in frustration. HIs voice echoed all over the building, repeating the sentence again and again.

"I know enough. Trust me."

"Where are you even going to get enough flowers to run a shop?"

"I'll grow them myself."

Andrew put his head into his hands. The one thing he wanted for his friend was to do something he would be successful at. How could he honestly believe that opening up a shop selling flowers would be lucrative for him? "Darien, why don't you just get a job?"

"No one's hiring."

Darien walked out of the storage room of the building with his stencil and red paint. On closer observation, Andrew admired what looked like a rose replica dipped into the paint. Darien squished the foam stencil into the wall, creating the first rose out of the hundreds to decorate the boring white surfaces.

"What about modeling?" Andrew suggested. "You did that in high school, didn't you?"

Darien sighed. Clearly his friend was not going to let up. He thought carefully before responding. "Rita's back from Africa isn't she?"

Andrew was confused. What did Rita have to do with anything? "Yeah, why?"

"Would you like to be my first customer?" Darien asked. "I'll let you in on a secret, if you promise to keep quiet about it."

Darien never relinquished his secrets to Andrew anymore. Over the years they had seemed to fade apart. It seemed as though Darien was hiding so much, something Darien never used to do before. Andrew was intrigued. He had to know more.

"Sure. I guess. How much?" Andrew pulled his wallet out, ready to pay for roses that were no where in the building. "You'll deliver them later right?"

Darien smirked. "I'll deliver right now for free."

Andrew rolled his eyes. There was no way that Darien was going to make any delivery at this moment. "Alright, I want two dozen roses. Since they're free after all."

Darien put his paint supplies down and rubbed his hands together. His eyes glistened with excitement. He knew he could trust Andrew with this secret. After all, Andrew would probably think it was a trick anyways.

Darien reached into his inside jacket pocket and pulled out a dark red, long-stemmed rose. He placed the rose into Andrew's hands, and reached for another, and another.

"Wha-?" Andrew asked, his eyes widening, his mind going wild.

Darien shoved another rose into his hand, then the next one, and the next, and the seventh.

"How are you doing this?" Andrew asked, surprise written all over his face as the twelfth rose piled on top of the others in his hands.

"Magic." Darien remarked, as he continued the trick he'd learned as Tuxedo Mask over the years, eventually mastering it in his civilian form.

Andrew watched as the eighteenth rose went into his hands. "No, seriously, what the hell man?!"

Darien laughed. "I told you, I know a thing or two about flowers. Well, only roses really… I'm only go to sell roses. But you can choose the color if you want."

Andrew was stunned into silence. Darien wasn't kidding when he said he knew a thing or two about flowers. When he had all twenty-four roses, he walked out of the store astonished and freaked out.

Darien thought nothing of it. After all, it was just flowers.

A month later, and "Darien's Rose Shop" was a booming business. A busy shop that carried all different colors of roses. Darien had so much work that he had hired Lita to make bouquets with different flowers growing in her garden and adding them to his roses. Darien simply delivered the bouquets.

And Andrew? He invested in Darien's company, and never doubted Darien's business planning again. After all, Darien's business was nearly one hundred percent profit!

The End

So this is a short inspired by my husband. He was ranting about Darien and about how he's useless. That basically the only thing he would be good for was delivering roses to people so he could at least make money with his uselessness. It gave me a good little laugh. Please, kindly review, and let me know what you think of Darien owning a flower shop. I sure think it's funny. Love ya guys! xoxoxo Natasha