la vie en rose, trent alexander-arnold

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cloudburst

it's only a week after their first encounter that trent hurries through the flower shop door again. this time, the bell rings and maisie doesn't find herself unaware of his presence —she fixed it yesterday. the weather in liverpool is terrible at the moment; it has been raining for three days and the girl who loves the sun so much soon finds herself gloomy under the grey clouds.

the boy rubs his feet on the carpet with an annoyed sigh —he too seems to dislike the rainy weather— and finally graces the girl with a devastating smile that replaces her missing sun. it would be a lie to say that she is not happy to see him again.

"hi!" exclaims maisie, probably a little too enthusiastically, and she feels her face frown as he pushes the door open behind him. fortunately, he returns her greeting with just as much eagerness; the fear of having looked like an idiot fades.

"the weather's terrible," the man bellows as he finishes carefully wiping his feet on the carpet, approaching the counter where maisie is standing, only agreeing with him, "can i have a bouquet of white roses, please? the same one as last time if possible, i mean," he scratches the back of his neck, "only if you remember me."

of course, she remembers him. maisie acquiesce with great excitement. they continue to discuss the weather and the torrential rains that fell on liverpool the day before while she prepares the bouquet, then they grumble together when they see them start to fall through the windows again. his first name firmly in mind, maisie doesn't ask for it before writing it on the label and gets a breathtaking smile in return.

"still for the same person?" maisie ventures to ask; she is sometimes surprised to see men with multiple conquests come into the shop.

"yes," and that's not likely to change, trent thinks.

ava is once again inscribed on the gift card and maisie smiles mentally; at least he's faithful. trent, with both hands on the counter in front of her, the young woman has plenty of time to appreciate him once again. droplets are beading at the end of his dreaded hair and some of them are running dangerously down his neck, ending up on the collar of his rain-soaked jacket.

realising that she is probably analyzing him too intently, maisie looks away, feeling her cheeks turn a pretty shade of pink. trent acts as if nothing had happened, even though he noticed, a smile hidden beneath his lips.

"here, before i forget," she puts a business card in trent's hands as she places his bouquet on the counter, "i forgot to give it to you last time. so, even if you came back, keep it."

without flinching, he grabs the card in his left hand and the bouquet in his right, still smiling —maisie has never seen him otherwise anyway. once he has paid for his flowers, he is about to say goodbye when a thunderclap erupts, followed by torrents of rain that rip through the air and hit the shop's windows so hard that the soft music is silenced.

a pout settles on trent's face and he turns back to maisie's counter, more reluctant to come out now that he knows he might end up either struck by lightning, or drenched. the woman jumps in and shyly offers, "maybe you can wait here for a few minutes? until it calms down."

as if waiting for that, the man nods vigorously before looking at his watch, there's still time, he thinks. gently, he lets the roses rest on the counter and to fill the gap between them, asks, "is the shop yours?"

glad that he seems interested in her, although it's probably to make the wait shorter, maisie happily replies, "yes, well not really. it's my grandmother's but she's getting older so it'll soon be mine."

"it's a family affair then," he jokes and she lets out a small laugh.

"you could say that," a beaming smile doesn't seem to want to leave the girl's mouth so trent's stretches even further.

fortunately for them, no customers seem to be coming in the immediate future so they chat for a while longer. maisie finally offers trent some biscuits that were lying around and he gladly accepts, continuing to laugh and joke. when the rain finally lets up and he realizes that he has spent more time than he should at the florist's, a grimace appears on his face.

"shit, i've got to go," trent rants as he glances at the time on his watch again.

maisie tries to hide her disappointment as he raises his head to her. for a brief moment, she's thrown off by the golden glitter in his ebony eyes. his grey t-shirt matches his complexion perfectly and intensifies the hue of his irises. something about him moves her strangely. she's then quickly brought back to reality when she hands him the bouquet, the one intended for ava.

"thank you so much for the biscuits, and for taking me in for a few minutes too," trent grabs his bouquet and the card with a smile before walking away, "have a nice day."

"you too, trent," maisie manages to pronounce without stuttering, still confused by the stranger.

too bad he's taken, she mutters to herself as he disappears into the grey haze of liverpool in the distance.