Hi everyone! Just wanted to let you know that this is Julie's POV from my first work, "Don't you know that Hades wears sleeveless shirts?" So you should read that first before reading this.

Enjoy!

I

I've seen the world, done it all, had my cake now

There's someone watching her.

She knows that actually there's a bunch of people watching her because that's what usually happens when someone's on a stage performing for an audience, but this isn't like that. This isn't the typical focus on a performer, because she's played for other people before and it hasn't felt like this. She gets it that's been a long time but if there's something she's certain is that there's someone in the crowd looking at her very intensely and she needs to find out who this person is.

She's very lucky that she's not that rusty about performing so she's able to compartmentalize; which allows her to look for this person in the audience while still seeming like she's focused on playing and singing. Normally she wouldn't even bother but there's something pushing her to do it and so, she scans the room as she sings the chorus of 'Wake up' hoping to identify this person whose intense staring is making her feel…

Well, she doesn't know how to describe exactly how she is feeling at the moment, at least not accurately as she's already occupied doing too many things at once. Later she'll revise what and how that intense staring is making her feel.

Her priorities right now are not fucking up the end of the song and find this person before said song ends.

And boy does she pull that off.

The person who is looking at her with such intensity ends up being a guy that's standing at the back of the venue, close to the bar. He must have arrived recently because she didn't spot him there at the beginning of the song and she definitely didn't feel like this when she started singing which is great because it's a lot to take in. He's surrounded by two other guys who are clearly enjoying her performance but not on the same level that this particular guy is because is looking at her in a way…

Damnit, she's going to have to let the thought roam freely through his mind, there's no escaping it.

This guy is looking at her in the same way her dad used to look at her mom when she performed for them. She knows it sounds insane because not only it's been ages since she's seen that look but also there's the detail that she was ten when her dad last looked at her mom that way.

Whatever okay? It might have been ages ago when she last saw that look but it doesn't matter, she knows. It's practically tattooed in her memory and that's why there's something inside her that's telling her that's the way Ray used to look at Rose.

Deep down she knows, because even if it wasn't tattooed, even if this might be her memory tricking her; she knows there's no tricking her heart.

And even if there's a slight chance she's wrong and her brain is indeed messing up with her, the way this (very cute) guy is looking at her is something remarkable because even in the middle of a sea of people watching her, he was able to stand out and that's something, alright? Especially when she's an expert in different types of looks.

It's just a side knowledge she gains from her work.

She's been working with other people for as long as she can remember and she loves it. There's something about working directly with customers throughout her life that has allowed her to gain experience about the different types of looks one can experience while dealing with others. Even if some encounters are awful, she's found that the good days outweigh the bad ones because there's something about seeing happiness bloom in someone's eyes as they take a bite of a really good bread or the look of gratitude someone gives when appreciating one of her floral arrangements.

Because of the nature of her job, throughout her life she's been at the receiving end of a lot of looks and glances but no one has ever looked at her like this. She's seen it all: happiness, surprise, gratefulness, bother, anxiousness and even amazement but nothing really can compare to the way she's been looked at right now mostly because she's not in front of a customer brainstorming ideas or showing her arrangements but also because the level of gratitude or awe she's been at the receiving end in some circumstances do not come close to this stranger's face. Because this guy is looking at her the same way she looks at her flowers when she's inspired while doing an arrangement, he's looking at her the same way she looks at a really gorgeous piece of art, he's looking at her the same way dad used to look at mom when she played or sang for them…

Okay, she might be willing to admit that she might be projecting but there's no denying that this guy is looking at her without hiding his complete and utter admiration for her performance and it's too much, it's simultaneously hitting too close to home for her while also taking her straight into an unexplored territory.

Maybe that's what possesses her to send a smile his way as she plays the last notes on her keyboard. But she suspects it's because it's the least she could do when he's already watching her like she's something otherworldly. She also knows the intense staring is making her feel a little bit flustered but she doesn't let herself entertain that thought for long.

When she gets down from the stage she rushes to thank Caleb for the opportunity before getting out the back door and taking a deep breath. Her heart is beating like crazy and she knows that's not a consequence of performing just now but rather a direct consequence of the way she was being looked at by those insanely pretty green eyes.

She needs to know who the hell is this guy and why the hell was she looking at her like that.

And she knows the only way to find out is to march right back inside and look for him. But she also knows she might sound like an insane woman if she does that, especially because the stranger might let her know everything is a product of her imagination.

She doubts it, but she's conscious enough to know that that's a (very slim) possibility.

She knows she drank a beer before going up on stage and she's been told that when she creates a world she really lives in it but she doubts what she's feeling is a product of her overactive imagination or even alcohol, especially because she might be able to create wild scenarios in her head but those scenarios do not tend to include strangers who gawk at her with that level of intensity, making her feel agitated. She's not that narcissistic.

Speaking of feelings, is that how she's going to catalogue how she's really feeling? She needs to tackle that if she wants to put this situation behind her, she knows herself too well to know she's capable of ruminating forever if something bothers her.

Taking another deep breath and squaring her shoulders, she gets ready to go home, hoping that maybe the walk and the fresh air will help her with all the describing she has to do. She knows that she's Julie Molina and she should go back inside and at least try to find the guy, but the intensity of his stare won't leave her head and she feels she really should try to get her shit together before doing anything else. She'll come back in a week and try to find him if she feels like it after all the thinking she has ahead of her.

So, she starts walking home and she starts delving into what happened, trying very hard to leave aside the memory of her parents because she wants to be as objective as possible.

Even with keeping in mind she wants to be objective, she comes to the conclusion that this guy intense staring was very flattering, because unlike the rest of the audience he was on another level, he was really looking at her as if she was something else and was completely captivated by her voice which is something she cannot know for sure without asking but the fact that he seemingly didn't blink, moved or maybe even breathed were dead giveaways. He simply stood there and did nothing other than listen and look at her with this look that will probably haunt her forever.

She knows that her brain will obsess over it not only because of how it made her feel and what she remembered as a result of his eyes but also because the guy seemed very honest and open, in a very vulnerable way. He was staring at her without hiding the astonishment he experienced due to what he was listening and seeing.

She lives in Los Angeles, in the twenty first century where everything seems to be dominated by putting a mask and disguising real feelings (and sometimes real selves), even if her store seems to be a safe haven where people can be honest about who are they buying flowers for, she knows the reality is that people her age are busy trying to find their significant others by playing a game that's rigged because no one really puts themselves out there.

And now this random dude is doing the exact opposite by looking at her without shame, without hiding that every inch of his face was contorted into a way that shows admiration and amazement directed solely to her.

That's what allows her to admit that he also made her feel very flustered but she doesn't want to go over that because she doesn't know who he is and a part of her still wants to go over the element that her dad used to look at her mom with the same awe this guy had in his incredibly attractive eyes.

How fucking dare him, she went out to have a nice Friday night and now she's feeling very attacked. Maybe this is why she doesn't go out as much.

As she reaches the front door of the store she lets herself take another deep breath; the night was already too much with the performance and now she has this added component that she knows won't leave her alone or even let her sleep in peace because now the memory of her mother is inside her head as well.

It's been thirteen years since she lost her mother but not a day goes by where Julie doesn't think about Rose, right now she's just overwhelmed by the fact that tonight she just was more present than other days.

The truth is Julie loves to think about her mom.

Even if it still breaks her heart a little bit.

Even if it comes with the painful reminder that she performed and Rose wasn't on the audience cheering on her.

Even if right now she cannot tell her about this stranger, who looked at her in a way no one's ever looked at her before.

She wonders what her mom would've said about the above. She knows she could call her dad or her tía or even Carrie for all that matters but it won't be the same.

So, she does the best thing she can do right now, she goes to the back of her store, picks a couple of dahlias and goes upstairs, where Carlos is happy to welcome her home.

"Hey sweetie!" She kneels to be able to pet him, not only as a greeting but also as a thank you because ever since Ray gave it to her, the cat has never failed to put a smile on her face. "Let me get ready for bed and I'll cuddle you while I'll tell you about my night." She knows Carlos doesn't understand her in the least, but there's something about being able to talk freely that makes her happy.

After putting the dahlias in a vase, she quickly gets ready for bed, mostly because she wants to feel comfortable as she talks to the flowers she picked up, which are the closest thing she'll get to talking to her mom right now. Once she's in bed and Carlos has curled up on top of her like the king he thinks he is, she's as ready as she'll ever be.

"I performed today. I sang 'Wake up' at Caleb's place and it was fantastic, it really was. Every time I perform I remember why sometimes people are better than plants, even if it's really nice seeing them grow it's also very nice to get some actual feedback by performing for humans." She laughs, recognizing that this is an ironic thing to be saying while literally talking to flowers. "I wish you could've been there. I miss performing together and singing with you…"

One of Julie's earliest memories is composed of her and her mom in front of a piano in her childhood's home garage, the place where Rose used to spend most of her time when she was alive. They would just always be there, from the second Julie came home from school until Ray called them to have dinner; it was her mom's sanctuary. It's the place she often goes when she feels extra sad, it's the place she goes and often performs new songs just to feel like her mother is there whispering encouraging words in her ears.

Without realizing it, she falls asleep without telling the dahlias or Carlos about the stranger with the very intense eyes. Instead, as she curls up with her cat she ends up reminiscing about her childhood. Her thoughts that night are not plagued by green eyes but instead are full about that time in her life before sadness came and she had to grow up and leave her happy childhood behind.

But do not misinterpret things, she's happy now and she's pretty content with her life, she just wishes her mom was there with her instead of looking down on her from heaven. That's why dreaming and remembering her childhood is equal parts bitter and sweet.

Just as her childhood was equal parts music, food and love. She always thought it was fitting because of the way her parents met, which was definitely one of her favorite bedtime stories and even now that she's a grown-up she still enjoys from time to time.

"Mija, remember that saying that goes 'You catch more flies with honey'? Well I changed it to 'You catch beautiful Roses with really good bread!'" That's the way her father would always start the story, making Rose laugh and Julie's smile triple in size because even as a young girl she knew that what her parents had was love, real love. "I was working at another bakery, remember that this was before we opened our own and I was freshly out of school which meant that I was excited to work on my own creations but you know that can be a little hard when you're working for someone else. So, anyways, I was working there and one day I was there super early in the morning and the most beautiful girl I've ever seen walks through the door. She was…"

"¡Mami!" A small Julie would always interrupt in that same bit of the story but both her parents would simply nod and kiss her cheeks before Ray resumes.

"Yes, your mami. She looked just like she does now, incredibly beautiful; but back then she didn't smile at me, she actually was a little upset about the way we were treating the flour and how we were making all the bread. She was very scary Julie." Her dad would whisper in her ears, making her giggle because her mom would never be scary for her.

"Your dad is exaggerating mija. I just know my way around crops, seeds, wheat and flour and what they were doing in that bakery was horrible, let me tell you." Her mom would always hijack the story at that point, telling her side of the story. "And your dad would be the first to admit that my suggestions made their baked goods better. You know what I also made better that day?"

"Papi's life!" Julie would announce, just as excited as if they were reading a Grimm's fairy tale story to her. But Julie knew this was better, this was her parents love story and the way she would catch them looking at each other when she pronounced those words settled it for her because she could completely see the adoration and love in their faces.

"Yes! And ever since that day your father and I became inseparable. I convinced him to leave that horrible place and open our own bakery where we would work with people who treated the crops in the best possible way so that the wheat and flour we use it's the best of the best. That's what we need to bake the most delicious breads and other goodies." By now little Julie's eyelids were winning the battle against sleep which is something that both her parents now but they are well aware that they need to finish the story or Julie won't let herself fall asleep. "But you know the most perfect and our favorite baked good? You mija, you're our favorite thing that we ever created together."

"And more delicious than any mallorca." Would add her dad before kissing her forehead and turning on her night lamp. "Good night Julie. Sweet dreams."

Since forever food, music and love were intertwined, it was only as a grown up that flowers and plants joined the mix.

Sometimes she wishes her love and passion for flowers was something her mother could witness. She wishes her mother was there to accompany her through life, guide her through the trials and tribulations of adolescence and then give her advice and hugs as she became a young adult.

She knows her mother would've been the first to advise her against going to culinary school; Rose would've known that the place that shaped her father would not do the same for her. But because Julie didn't have her mother and Ray was fiercely supportive of any of Julie's endeavors, so she went to culinary school… to fail.

Turns out being the daughter of a baker and enjoying baked goods did not make her a good prospect of culinary school. And while Julie desperately wanted her mother to hug her and tell her the future wasn't going to be super scary two good things came out of her failed attempt of becoming a baker;

One: she used her time and feelings into songwriting.

Two: she started to make arrangements and upload photos to her social media accounts.

The rest was history.

Or twenty first century history as her tía likes to say, because there's no denying that the last couple of years of Julie's life have definitely been shaped by the power of social media.

She understood that nowadays anyone could go viral and that a lot of people could become rich and somewhat well-known because of Twitter, Instagram or TikTok but she never expected it to happen to her. Till this day that seems like a wild dream that she needs to wake up from but tía Victoria is always quick to point out that 'Coming up Roses' is not a dream, is a real place which makes her a small business owner.

Julie gets it but, still.

No description or recounting of the way every single one of her profiles on social media became floored with messages of people wanting to buy her arrangements or asking for her to be in charge of the flower bouquets for a bridal party. To say that Julie didn't know what to do was an understatement. To say that Julie was thankful tía Victoria knew her way around business was an understatement. To say that even her tía and dad helped her she wanted her mom's guidance and love was an understatement.

But with or without Rose life continued and after a couple of years of being popular on social media and gaining sponsorships she decided to open up her own store, a place where her love for flowers could become available for everyone but also a place where she could honor her mother's memory. 'Coming up Roses' was her biggest achievement and her wildest dream come true and even today, a year and a half after opening it still was something she had a hard time believing.

She really never expected her life to be turned upside down because of the 'magic' of social media; she always thought she would be a baker or a musician but after Rose's sudden death by an aneurysm when she was barely ten years old her relationship with music became strained for a period of her life; it wasn't until she reached her late teenage years when she decided her relationship with her mother would outweigh the sadness that playing, singing and writing would bring her. But still, teenage Julie did the bare minimum of music playing, despite her dad's and tía's words of encouragement.

Once again, flowers were the thing that made her feel closer to her mother.

(Just like flowers where the bridge that connected her with everyone that would eventually change her life forever).

In the early days, before there were employees or she even had the store, it was just her and her flowers so speaking to them was kind of an obvious thing to happen and that, added to the fact that plants that were stimulated with music grew faster and healthier, she decided it was a good strategy to try out. And that's what really brought her back to taking seriously the playing, singing, songwriting and Rose.

Now everyday she's surrounded by her childhood love: music and her adult love: flowers and it's the perfect marriage. So much so that when tía points out that she needs to get herself out there and date she shrugs, not because she hates the idea of dating but because she's happy where she is right now in life and wants to focus on that for a while (Victoria doesn't really listen goes out of her way and sets her up in a couple of blind dates anyways and Julie goes to one before deciding she loves her tía but there's a limit, apparently).

Her days revolve around love, even if it's not the one her tía wants for her.

It's her love for the flowers and plants she takes care of, it's her love for her mother and for music that became the official soundtrack for the store, it's the love she has for a business she built from the ground up and she gets to expand every day, it's the love she has for every bouquet or arrangement she makes, it's the love she has for life despite everything that's happened to her.

It's also the love she sees in the people who come to her store because yes even if sometimes flowers are customary for the sad parts of life, Julie also chooses to see the love that's underneath that. Even though the first time she makes a funeral arrangement she ends up back at her childhood home crying in her dad's arms because of how much it hurts; she knows love is behind every single floral arrangement she's ever made.

Everyone would think that romantic love is the main type that she would witness in her store and people are right, flowers for significant others and for weddings are her bread and butter and she enjoys it thoroughly. Hearing the stories behind the reason of buying a bouquet, hearing the story about how the couple got together was very common, so much so that Andi started to keep a daily score that she eventually abandoned because of how overwhelming the numbers could be.

But those are not the only stories she gets to hear because romantic love was not the only thing out there. She loves the days when friends would go and get flowers together or when someone would desperately look for their mother's, aunt's or grandma's favorite flower to make an arrangement. She loves when coworkers visited together to buy flowers to celebrate promotions or birthdays. She loves working on Valentine's day but nothing would compete with a regular day where someone would buy flowers just for the sake of it.

However, her favorite kind of customer? The ones who would buy flowers for themselves for no other reason that they wanted to and they could afford it.

One of the main reasons Julie wasn't out there dating people who would put on a mask and not really listen to what she has to say was because she loved herself too much to date people who would have Tinder dates lined up for the night or wouldn't be interested in what she has to say. Julie is in love with her job but most importantly she's in love with herself and she's been witness to her parents partnership so she knew she wouldn't settle for anything less.

So right now a big part of her love was directed at her flowers because just like when her dad bakes or when her mother used to play; when Julie makes arrangements the main ingredient is love.

When she wakes up, the first thing that comes through her mind are those green eyes that a part of her hoped would remain as a part of Friday night's ashes. She sighs, realizing the only way to stop them from haunting her is to go back to Eats & Beats in hopes that she finds him. The second thing that goes through her mind is a sneaky thought that suggests that maybe the stranger was looking at her so fiercely because there was love there, too.

She groans and shakes her head at herself because the only reason she even dares to think like that it's because it's early and she hasn't had her morning coffee. There was no love in that stranger's eyes and she doesn't even need to entertain that silly idea for long because if anything it gives her the kick to finally make a decision.

She needs answers and she's going to get them. So she's going to go to Caleb's next Friday night and try to get her answers.