Petal [h.s.]

ONE - THE GIRL NEXT DOOR

Spring was my favorite season until she came along.

The promise of new, budding life, watching all of the trees flourish and the flowers bloom-it made me feel a certain kind of renewed hope. Hope that things will change for me somehow. Hope that I will finally become a success. Hope that this year, my second year owning my flower shop, will be better than the first.

Then, she moved in and she crushed it all.

My best friend broke the news to me, before I had any idea that the retail space next to mine was being rented out. It had been empty for so long, long before I moved in myself. It was one of the reasons I picked the space. I didn't want any neighbors, I liked my quiet and my space.

"Looks like you're getting a new neighbor."

My eyes flickered up toward the voice belonging to my lifelong best friend, Buffy, who strolled through the front door of my shop-Flower Boy. The bell gave a quiet ding as she entered and another as the door shut behind her. It was a satisfying sound that I didn't experience enough.

"Great. Can't wait." I grumbled, turning my eyes back down to the bouquet I was currently assembling, "With my luck, it will either be a candy or gift shop, something to make business even worse."

I focused on the pink petals, grimacing at the color. I hated pink flowers more than I hated a lot of things. Every time an order came in for a dominantly pink bouquet I wanted to vomit, but I forced a smile toward the customer anyways. My ability to charm people was unmatched, sometimes I was sure it was the only thing keeping me afloat.

"You're so negative." Buffy rolled her eyes, jumping up onto the counter next to where I was working, picking up a pink primrose and pressing it to her nose to inhale the sweet scent, "It looks like something else, it's been painted black on the inside. Big neon sign going up."

"Well, I'm not happy about it." I commented.

"You're not happy about most things." She shot back, raising an eyebrow.

Instead of responding, I just shrugged my shoulders and scowled. I was in a terrible mood and had been all day long, stemming from the fight I had earlier with my girlfriend, Jessica, about marriage. Again.

She was desperate for me to propose, dropped hints constantly about it, even signed me up for multiple email lists for the most expensive jewelers she could find. I kept telling her I wanted to wait until my business was doing better. She didn't understand why I didn't just work for our dads, who were business partners, she would never understand what it was like to want to work for your own money. Jessie didn't want to be understanding about the fact that I was struggling with my finances and why I refused to ask for handouts.

The upside to renting a retail space in the Wasteland was the price-I rented for dirt cheap, which is exactly what I needed after being cut off by my dad. The downside was that business was rotten when it wasn't late spring or summer, which were our big tourist seasons.