Whenever the lunch hour hit, Mr. Mushnik grabbed a copy of the Skid Row Herald and retreated into one of the back rooms, instructing both Audrey and Seymour not to bother him for the hour unless the shop was on fire or Hedy Lamarr was outside.
"I guess it's just us, again…" Audrey said smiling, secretly grateful for the quality time she was able to spend with Seymour.
"I guess so." He replied, returning the smile. They held eye contact, getting lost in one another until Seymour broke the silence. "I'm gonna go boil some water. Would you like some tea, Audrey?"
"I'd love that. Thank you, Seymour." He nodded and started down the basement stairs. "I'll come and give you a hand."
Audrey closed her magazine and started to stand up until Seymour poked his head back round the corner. "Don't worry about it, Audrey. I'll take care of it." He gave her one last toothy grin and continued on with his job. She sat back down and started to flick back through her Better Homes and Gardens magazine, letting her finger trail over every colored image, dreaming of a life far from Skid Row.
She had gotten lost in her imagination and, before she knew it, Seymour returned with only one plain, washed out, white mug in hand. He didn't want to risk carrying both mugs up the stairs given how clumsy and weak he'd been lately. He carefully set it down on the counter, just out of Audrey's reach.
She confusingly glanced at the lone mug of tea, "Aren't you having one, Seymour?" This was their routine. Every lunchtime, they'd start with a tea, get lost in conversation and spend the last five minutes quickly eating whatever they could find in Seymour's room. Schmendrik's wasn't a luxury they could afford every day.
"Oh, yeah, that's for me. I have something a little more special for you, just a second." She heard his footsteps as he ran down the stairs then cautiously tiptoed back up them. He slowly walked back into the room with something behind his back, she assumed it was some sort of precious jewel given the way he was behaving.
Suddenly, Seymour was standing just a foot away from her. "Okay, close your eyes." He chuckled slightly, becoming more and more nervous. Would she like it? Would she laugh at him?
A huge grin of anticipation spread across her face as her blue eyelids were tightly welded shut. She heard him place something down in front of her and could smell the familiar scent of tea.
"O-okay, you can open your eyes." He watched her every move intently, hoping he'd done a good thing.
Audrey delicately flickered her eyes open and audibly gasped at what she saw. Placed in front of her was a bright pink mug with a pattern of pale, pink roses. It was one of the most beautiful things she'd ever seen. "This is for me? From...from you?" She was so overwhelmed.
"Y-yeah, I just figured we do this every day and you deserve something much better than that." He gestured towards his own mug. "You're just a lot more vibrant, a lot more colorful than that. When I saw it, I...I couldn't help but think of you." If he Seymour was being completely honest, there were very few moments when he wasn't thinking about Audrey.
"Seymour...thank you. Thank you so much! I love it!" She stood up and placed a lingering kiss on his cheek, causing both of them to unintentionally blush.
"Oh, gee. It's really no problem, Audrey." They stared at each other, leaning in a little closer. It was obvious that they wanted nothing more than to dive into each other's arms.
In a moment of self consciousness, Audrey quickly moved backwards and blurted out "We should maybe drink them before they get cold, huh?"
"Yeah, let's drink up." They sat in front of one another, sneaking in an occasional longing glance without the other noticing.
"Cheers." She held up her shiny new mug.
"Cheers." He clanked his dingy mug against hers and lost his grip, causing him to spill coffee all over the counter and her magazine. He jumped right up. "Oh no, I'm so sorry! Look what I did!"
She found his clumsiness endearing, plus he couldn't exactly help it given all the bandages covering his finger tips.
"Seymour, don't worry about it. I have hundreds of others at home." She smiled reassuringly.
In that moment, Seymour made a mental note to buy her a new Better Homes and Gardens magazine to go with her new mug.