PetTheKitten- eee thank you very much darling! /w\

Zeke899- ooo exciting! ouo and oh dear that makes me happy to hear omg sjhf and gosh i wasnt even thinking when i posted it so thank you very much for telling me sweetie!

Hitomi65- ahh thank you hun! ouo

Our gazes met, and I swear it felt like he was staring straight into my soul.

For a moment, I believed that he wasn't going to say a word. I thought he was just going to stare at me, act as if I wasn't there, or if he hadn't heard me (and maybe, he didn't, but I had a feeling he did), and overall: make me feel stupid. Now that he was this close up, I could see that his eyes were in fact a beautiful blue, but they had a swirl of silver in them, adding on to it all.

His black hair was parted, and looked soft to the touch. The suit he was wearing didn't look like it had any wrinkles in it whatsoever, and his tie wasn't out of place and looked ... nice.

It wasn't too long before the silence between us was broken, my train of thought (and looking over the man) broken as well, by an answer of, "I need flowers."

I would've never guessed.

As if it wasn't obvious that he needed flowers. He came to a flower shop, for crying out loud. Yeah, I'm here for a big mac, with extra cheese and no pickles. And can you make sure there's extra ketchup on it? Wait, what do you mean you don't fucking sell big macs. He didn't even look like the type to eat out. "Right," I nodded, taking a quick glance around at the flowers in plain sight. It would've been easier if he told me what the occasion was, or if he had a specific kind in mind - but, you just can't get everything in life you want. "What's the occasion?"

The man stared at me in return. I couldn't tell what the silent message he was giving me said, because all it looked like was that he was staring at me with an un-amused face, a little frown turning his lips downwards. He really didn't look like a very sociable type of person, and from the looks of it, my attempts at trying to figure out what kind of flower would do best wasn't making him very happy.

When he didn't answer me, I proposed more questions, "Like, is it a wedding? Or are you giving them to your significant other? Is it your mom's birthday? Maybe your sister's or a friend's? Did someone graduate from college or high school or-"

"What does it matter?" he snapped, effectively cutting me off.

"Uh." Was it that big of a deal that he just told me why he was getting flowers? Was it personal, or something? It couldn't be that personal to where he couldn't tell me the reason he was getting them, now, could it? And why didn't he just answer with one of the possibilities I named off, or told me it wasn't one of those? "It doesn't? It'll just help with picking out the flowers."

Now it was very clear that the man was starting to get aggravated with me.

"It's just for a good friend of mine, and she likes flowers anyway," was all I got, with a slightly confused looking gaze, even while his lips were curling downwards. It wasn't of much help, like, at all, but it was going to have to do because I was afraid if I asked anymore questions the man might bite my head. He didn't scare me though, he was a shortie and couldn't be taller than 5'3".

I sighed, scanning the flowers one last time before holding up a finger and told him, "Be right back." I slipped away, going to the back room where the rest of the flowers were located.

Just a friend that likes flowers.

There were lilies, roses, marigolds, magnolias, all types of flowers. And yet, none of them were really giving me anything. Lilies wouldn't do, roses would be better if he was giving them to someone he was dating or married to, sweet peas were more for goodbyes and I didn't think he was saying goodbye to his friend and zinnias-

I groaned, covering my face with my hands. This was difficult, and it really shouldn't be this difficult.

I wanted the flowers to mean something though, and not just be a random bouquet he got without thinking about it. The guy didn't really seem to care though, so why should I even care what flowers I gave him, if he liked them? As long as they were pretty, they'd probably do the trick. I mean, not everyone cared about the meaning of flowers.

But that's not what my mom would've done.

My mother would've pried out why the customer was here for flowers, what the occasion was, who it was for, or if they just wanted a new bouquet to give their house a little more life to it; a more happy atmosphere. She would've asked every single one, and I've witnessed it happen before. My mother would've never settled for the answer I just did, even if she started to aggravate the customer by how much she was prying into their life (which, really wasn't much. All she was looking for was why they were here for flowers, just so she could give them the perfect kind).

There were times, though, when they wouldn't really give much, and she wouldn't pry any further. She would disappear to the back room, and it wouldn't take her too long, before she came out with a bouquet ready to go. Even if she didn't have much to go off of, the customer would still be happy, and I always believed that the flowers she picked out were the perfect kind.

She wouldn't want me to just bring out a random bouquet and shove them into the customer's face. She took pride in her flowers, and always treated her customers kindly, even if they were being major assholes. And, this guy wasn't, at least, not yet.

I scanned the room again, going over all the possibilities; roses, carnations, irises, daisies, tulips, violets-

Then, it came to me; the perfect flower.

I left the room and went back out front, noticing that the man was still there. At the noise, he looked up, confusion clear in his eyes when I returned with nothing. He looked as if he was going to say something, but if he was, nothing ever came. He let me walk past him, and let me pluck out a flower that was resting in a vase, like some of the other flowers were.

If this flower didn't do the trick, I wasn't sure what would.

I walked back up to him, slipping behind the counter and held the flower out to show him. "What about this?"

He stared at it for a moment, eyes growing a bit wide, as had mine when I first saw this flower. Quite frankly, it was my favorite, and could be given to three kinds of people, depending upon what they meant to you, and how you thought of them. His gaze soon flickered back up to mine, and I stared to tell him about it, but didn't get very far, "It's a bluebir-"

"No."

I blinked, confused now. He didn't even let me tell him what its name was, or the meaning of it and he just, turned it down? I know not everyone enjoyed listening to me ranting about the meaning of flowers, but the least he could've let me done was tell him what its name was. "No?"

"No means no, didn't your mother ever teach you its meaning?" he countered, the frown back on his face, a crease appearing between his eyebrows. "Can I just have a bouquet of carnations?"

That would've been so much easier if he just said he wanted carnations in the first place. "Sure thing, jackass," I mumbled the last word underneath my breath as quietly as I could, hoping that he wouldn't hear it.

His eyebrows rose up, "What did you just call me, brat?"

"Nothing, sir," I set the flower back in a vase filled with camellias, not bothering to walk it back to its own vase. "What color?"

"Excuse me?"

"The color of the carnation. What color do you want it to be in?"

"I don't fucking know." He paused. "Surprise me."

"Alright, I'll be right back then," I said, giving a roll of my eyes before slipping away to the back room again.

There were times where I just wanted to be as rude to a customer as I could, especially if they were rude in return (which was about the only time I ever felt like that). And there was one time, where I was rude to a "customer", with Mikasa and my mom there. But it was just Jean.

He was making things so difficult I wanted to punch him in the face. But even getting angry with him made my mom upset. She gave me a long lecture of how, no matter how rude or difficult a customer was, you couldn't be mean or rude to them in return. It would give your business a bad reputation, and she wasn't going to risk that.

Jean had been there the whole time she was giving me this lecture, and the next day at school, he brought it up and laughed. I swear, I hate that asshole with every bone in my body multiplied by seven. He laughed at me every time the opportunity came up in high school. Thankfully, he doesn't do it as much nowadays, but he still does it, just not as often. And I still hate him, just not as much.

He said surprise me, so I grabbed six white carnations and went through the routine again; tying them together, putting the plastic around them and then tying the plastic to make sure it stays in place. I wasn't sure if he wanted a little card along with it, but I clipped one to one of the flowers just in case he did.

Walking back out to the front, I saw he was looking at the vase of flowers holding the camellias and the lone flower I offered him earlier. He looked curious, almost, but his facial expression never changed from the one when he first walked in the door. He looked away though, and I wasn't sure why he did.

"Well, here's your flowers." I held them out for him to take once behind the counter again, and, he didn't at first. His gaze met mine again, and held it for a few seconds. I got that feeling again, the feeling where he was staring straight through me and could see straight into my soul, and I really, really, did not like the feeling. But like before, it didn't last long.

He never took the flowers first. Instead, he pulled out his wallet, opening it and grabbed a twenty dollar bill. I never told him how much it costed (only twelve dollars, but, it wasn't like he knew that), but he still held it out, now waiting for me to take it. "Here."

"Sir, it's only twelve dollars."

He looked as if he was going to say, "it's called change, idiot, look it up" and I thought he was going to, but he never did, and instead told me to just take it. I did, swapping with him the flowers. And when I was going to put it in the cash register and pull out his change, he stopped me by saying, "Just keep it."

It was obvious I was confused, but he waved a hand before turning on his heel as I heard the back door close. "Well, uh, thank you! And have a nice day!"

I got no answer in return, only the closing of the front door and a sight of his back as he walked away.

"Hey kid, I'm back!" Hannes called.

I was still staring at the front door when Hannes came up to me, the rustling of his coat being taken off the only sound that gave him away. "Hey, took you long enough to get here," I replied, pulling my gaze away from the door and directing it to Hannes. He was hanging up his coat with a grin, and I could tell he was rolling his eyes in a playful manner.

"You're a big boy, Eren," he teased, and I couldn't help the smile that appeared on my face. "How many customers did you get while I was out?"

"Three." Not many, but we didn't get a big flood of customers every single day anyway. "The last one was a jackass."

"Were they?" he asked as I opened the cash register, stuffing the bill in there. Later, I was going to have to fix it, because it was in the five dollar bill spot, and that would've drove my mother nuts if the twenty was over the fives, but right now, I really didn't care. It was going to have to do.

"He wasn't a major jackpass, but he still sorta was," I shrugged, turning around and hopping up on the counter. "He just, wouldn't really give me much to work off of, and in the end, he just told me to get him some carnations."

In the end, Hannes ended up being victim to my ranting about the mystery customer. Whenever Mikasa wasn't here, he always had to listen to my ranting if there was a rude customer, and though this guy wasn't that rude, he was still rude in a way. I mean, I wanted to give him a flower that had meaning, and something that the friend he was giving it to might actually like and I thought I hit the jackpot, but then he turns me down and tells me to get him some carnations?

Hannes only started laughing at me because of how I was making such a big deal out of this, and eventually, I just gave up. Hannes went to go water some of the plants in the back room, even after I told him I already watered most of them, but he insisted, and left me alone in the front just in case a customer came in while he was back there.

"Hey," Hannes called out, the sound of the empty water sprinkler dropping echoing throughout the shop. "How 'bout we close up now, and I can drive you up to go see your mom?"

"Alright, sounds good to me," I jumped off the counter and began removing my apron as Hannes reemerged from the back room. His apron was already off, and he already had his coat on, with mine in hand, as if he knew I was going to say yes. "What flowers should we bring up?"

"Your call, kid," he grinned, throwing my coat in my direction. "Grab some while I lock up."

I caught it, throwing my apron to him in return before shrugging the material on, also going through the possible flowers I could bring up to my mom. I could just bring up lilies, since those were her favorite, but she enjoyed the meanings more, not which ones she thought were the prettiest. And forget-me-nots were out of the question since Mikasa already brought those up to her.

Jasmines were pretty, but they meant "grace and elegance". My mother was clumsy, and rarely graceful; so it wouldn't make much sense to bring her up some jasmines. I still made a note to bring them up to her sometime with some other type of flower along with it.

But, larkspurs would be nice. They were pretty, and also meant "beautiful spirit" - and I believed that my mother had one of the most beautiful spirits of them all (no matter how cheesy that may sound). She was always trying her best and pushing through whatever she could, no matter how difficult it may be. Like, now, how she was trying to push through her sickness, and when dad left us too; she was still trying, and never gave up.

Larkspurs it is.

I grabbed eight larkspurs before joining Hannes again, who was standing by the back door, waiting for me to go. "These okay?" I asked. I didn't really need Hannes' opinion, and if he said no, I wasn't going to go back and look for a different kind; he was going to have to deal with it.

"Yeah, I think your mother will love 'em."

Hannes unlocked his car and told me to hop in while he closed the back door. I did, being careful of the flowers as I pulled my seat belt on and closed the door. Typically, I wouldn't wear a seat belt, but I learned to wear one whenever I was in the car with either my mother, Hannes, Mikasa or Armin because they would always get on me if I didn't put it on. And, now that I think of it, those were about the only people I was ever in a car with. Even if Jean was picking me up for something (which was extremely rare), Armin was normally there, and he would know if I didn't put it on.

It didn't take long for Hannes to join me and pull his own seat belt on before starting up the car. A song came on, one I've never heard before, and I commented on it, because Hannes listened to the weirdest shit the human race has been "graced" with. And he turned it around on me, saying that the stuff I listened to was pretty weird, weirder than what he listened to. It took up a good eight minutes or the ride to the hospital, whereas silence filled the car, besides the music, for the rest of it.

I looked out the window once the conversation died off, watching the trees and buildings pass by, letting my mind wander off.

My mother and I, whenever we went somewhere together, would either chat each other's ears off, or not utter a single word to one another, and it wasn't because we were upset, or had a fight recently - which, rarely happened, and whenever it did, it was bad. The times when we didn't speak, there would be soft music playing, normally my mother's choice, and I would watch the trees pass by. I felt more connected to my mother that way; when we didn't talk, but could still enjoy one another's company and smile at random times, as if one of us said something funny. My father thought it was crazy, that we would just start laughing randomly even after not talking to one another for a good half hour, but, it wasn't really, even if Mikasa thought it was a little odd to (that was before we started getting close, though).

I also couldn't help but wonder where my father ran off to, even if I was pissed with him beyond belief (but not as much as Mikasa). There was always that nagging little voice in the back of my head that said he never wanted anything to do with us anyway, and finally couldn't take it and just left. I knew he cared about my mother, though, if anything. Maybe he just couldn't take living with just me and Mikasa alone.

My phone stated to buzz in my pocket, interrupting my thoughts. I pulled it out, noticing it was a text message from Mikasa.

From: Mikasa

When are you coming up? I told Mom you were, and now she's starting to wonder.

I smiled; typical mom.

To: Mikasa

i'm on my way up now, hannes is giving me a ride so expect him too

"Who's that?"

I glanced over to Hannes, seeing that he was motioning to my phone. "Oh, it's just Mikasa. She was wondering when I was coming up, because Mom's now asking her when and stuff."

"Carla never was very patient."

I chuckled and couldn't agree with him more. My mother was probably one of the least patient people in the world, and I've witnessed it many times, as has Hannes and Mikasa.

My phone soon vibrated again, alerting me of Mikasa's reply.

From: Mikasa

Alright, see you soon.

There was a time when Mikasa's name in my phone had been "Mi Casa", but, I had to change it when she saw it. She wasn't angry, per say, she just punched me in the arm and told me to change it, or else she would throw the device out. I knew it was an empty threat, but you never wanted to test Mikasa's boundaries. It wasn't even fair, I had seen that my name in her phone was "Baby Bro", and it angered me. I didn't like when she called me her baby brother, and having that as my contact name in her phone made it much worse, in my opinion. And all she was in my phone was "Mikasa".

It would change eventually, once I thought of something.

It only took fifteen more minutes until Hannes was pulling into the hospital's parking lot, and in the span of fifteen minutes, my mind had began to wander off again, more precisely, to the last customer of the day.

I don't know why he bothered me so much, but he did. His blue eyes bothered me, his hair bothered me, his suit bothered me, the way his tie complimented his eyes bothered me, his attitude bothered me -

Overall, he bothered me.

But, as I got out of the car with Hannes once he parked, I came to the conclusion that I would never have to see him ever again, so it didn't matter; I could simply forget about him and move on with my life, because I never had to see his face ever again.

But I was wrong, I was so very, very wrong.

whoo this chapter was difficult to get flowing, it just wouldn't work with me so I hope it turned out okay ;;

~ Lovely Kacey Faith