Thanks to Subuku no Jess and Brambleshadow of WindClan for reviewing!
The next day, Helen sat at the counter, alone in the shop, puzzling over the dream she'd had last night. It had been about Audrey II, that had been the only thing she'd remembered about it, but aside from the plant, she couldn't remember anything else in the dream.
She was pulled out of her thoughts by the sound of a motorbike outside of the shop. She sighed and began praying that it wouldn't pull up by the shop, but all her hope was for naught, as she heard the engine die down.
"Oh, God, just kill me now," she muttered to herself, as she glanced at the clock. It was 3:00.
Huh, she thought to herself. Earlier than usual.
She sighed and immediately began to get to work, silently cursing Seymour (who had gone down to the radio station to talk about the new plant) and Mr. Mushnik (who had gone out to do some business) for stepping out of the shop when she really needed them the most, herself for just choosing to wear one of her immodest shirts on the day that Orin had to come to the shop and pick up Audrey for their date, and flirt with-no, more like sexually harass her, but mostly Audrey for having to have a perverted boyfriend like him. She finally decided on just watering the plants when the door opened and she tried her best to keep her fear and annoyance under control, as Orin stepped in.
"Well, hello, Helen," she heard Orin say.
Helen struggled to keep her voice even, as she said, without looking at him, "Orin Scrivello, you have twenty seconds to get Audrey and your sorry ass out of this shop before I do something I won't regret."
She tried not to shiver as he stepped over to where she was standing and said, "And what'll you do if I don't?"
She tensed up as she felt his hand rub the back of her leg and slowly travel upward to that spot that is considered off-limits until marriage, until she turned around and slapped him.
"Bastard," she spat in his face.
"Why, you!" Orin said, grabbing her roughly by the hair.
But then, she heard that familiar, soft-spoken voice, "Orin?"
She felt Orin let go of her hair and she dropped to the floor, rubbing her scalp. Audrey was standing in the doorway of the back room, and Helen was hoping and praying that Audrey had hopefully seen everything that had transpired when Orin had stepped into the shop, but she was proved wrong yet again, as Audrey walked out of the shop with Orin and she heard the sound of the motorbike peeling away.
"Good riddance," Helen muttered to herself.
Later that night, after closing time, Helen had turned the radio on, while Mr. Mushnik was busy counting the money from today's profit, before he walked over to Helen, as she turned up the radio, as the interviewer said, "And thus, we conclude our interview with Seymour Krelborn, the young botanical, do you mind if I call you genius?"
"Gosh no," her brother said modestly.
"The genius who has discovered this amazing, unidentified plant," the interviewer said.
At that moment, Audrey knocked on the door and Helen rushed over to let her in.
"Am I late?" asked Audrey.
Mushnik shushed her, as the two girls ran over to the radio. The interview had come to an end and Mushnik yelled into the radio, as if Seymour could hear him, "The address! The address! I said, mention the address!" But it was too late. "Oh well," Mushnik said, as he turned off the radio. "It's still good advertising."
"Seymour's first radio broadcast," Audrey said, as Mushnik turned out the lights and he, Audrey, and Helen walked out of the shop. "I wanted to hear it so bad. I tried to be on time, but-"
"Don't tell me," Mushnik said, as he locked up the shop. "You got tied up."
"No, just handcuffed a little," Audrey said.
As Mushnik left, Helen sighed and said, as she followed Audrey to her apartment, "Audrey, let's you and me have a little talk."
"Well, sure," Audrey said, as they both walked into her apartment. "What do you wanna talk about?"
"Oh, nothing much, really," Helen said, innocently. "How about, oh, I don't know, your boyfriend?"
"What about him?" asked Audrey.
"Audrey, don't tell me you didn't see what he was doing to me from the back room," Helen said. "Or are you just so caught up in those desperate reassurances of 'he does it because he loves me' to not even notice? I'm telling you, you gotta dump that guy!"
"But, I can't," Audrey protested.
"And why not?" asked Helen.
"You saw what he does when he loves me," Audrey said. "Imagine what he'd do if he ever got mad!"
"All the more reason for you to dump him," Helen said. "I mean the least you could do is call the police or better yet, get a guy who won't hurt you. Like my brother for starters!"
"Seymour?" Audrey said. "Oh, we're just friends. I don't even deserve a sweet, considerate, suddenly successful guy like Seymour."
"Audrey," Helen said with a sigh. "The more you keep saying that, the lower your self-esteem gets. I've seen the way my brother looks at you when he thinks you're not looking. He loves you with all his heart and he'd do anything for you." Helen walked to the door, telling her, "Think about it."
And then she left, leaving Audrey alone to consider what Helen had told her.