In Her Eyes The Violets lie

Chapter 13

Josie:
Sorry, I have to run an errand. Wait inside the store. I'll be back soon xo

Hope stood in front of a two storied building called "The Lakes"; a strange name for a bookstore that has nothing to do with lakes. This is where Josie works. This morning She'd told Hope to meet her here at noon. Should she go in?
She decided to enter the bookstore. From the outside you wouldn't know that this place would be so green. It's like an entirely different place. Everywhere her eyes could go, there was a plant. Sunlight poured through the skylight in the middle of the room. Tall bookshelves surrounded her, every wall that wasn't covered in books was covered in art and quotes. There was a metal staircase leading to the second floor bookshelves. The register sat at the back of the room. To the left of it there was a closed door. "How can I help you?" Hope jumped and turned to find a woman standing behind her, a very intimidating woman. Seeing Hope's shock the woman winced, "Sorry, didn't mean to startle you." She held out her hand, "I'm Mei, the owner of The Lakes." Hope shook her hand, "Nice to meet you, I'm Hope, a friend of Josie's."
"Oh, are you the friend who is staying with her?" Mei asked.

"Yeah,uh…we were supposed to have lunch together but she's gonna be a little late so she told me to wait at the bookstore. I hope you don't mind." Why was she so nervous? WTF?
"Of course not, stay for as long as you want." Mei said gently.
"Thanks, you've decorated this place very beautifully," Hope said, "It looks completely different from the outside."
Mei winced again, Hope realized that's probably just how she smiles. "Thank you, Josie helped a lot with the interior," Mei looked at her more keenly,"She has good taste." Hope didn't know why, but she blushed. With that Mei left through the closed door, leaving Hope flushed.

~~~

Josie walked into the bookstore around one thirty, "Hey, really sorry about this," Josie said, grimacing. Hope looked up from the book she was reading, "it's okay, I'm liking it here. Can I just stay here forever? Like with a bed and all."
"I'm glad you're enjoying yourself," Josie laughed, "But we will have to leave in a minute after I talk to Mei."

Josie went to the office, where Mei was working. She looked up from her laptop when she heard Josie enter.
"Hi!" Josie said a little too loudly.

"You want something, just spit it out." Mei said.
"Right to the point, huh? Could I borrow your bike for a few hours?"
Mei raised her eyebrows at that.
"Please, I'll be safe, don't worry." Josie pleaded.
Mei sighed then tossed her the keys,"Take the helmets."
"Okay," Josie grinned and turned to leave,
"Thank you, Boss." She could feel Mei's glare at the back of her head.
"I can see you like her, she's quite charming."
By the time Josie came back to the front room her cheeks were tinged red. Hope was still immersed in the book. Josie kinda felt bad for interrupting her, she looked so…. beautiful.
"Uh, let's go."
Hope looked up, startled. "Oh, where are we going?"
Josie smirked, passing her a helmet, "You'll see."

~~~

A/N
Hi, it was my birthday today so as a gift to myself, I'm publishing a new chapter. I enjoyed writing this chapter, I hope you'll like it.
Thank you for reading 💗

P.s: what do you think about the bookstore name?