The Florist | ✓ (#Wattys2016)

larkspurs

larkspurs

2 months and 13 days before

The next time Dev sees Rebecca, he is in a flowerpot.

His new flat has been empty since he moved in, but he's only recently channelled his energy into unpacking his boxes. Before, they were just compact little reminders of his old place, and Rebecca, and every time he looked at them he felt a sharp twist in his stomach. The logic is that if he doesn't deal with the boxes, he won't have to deal with his feelings.

But of course, his friends aren't the type to let him get away with that sort of thing. Through long-distance video calls with his university friends, dinners with the Changs, movie marathons with Alice, and long city walks with Clara, slowly Dev starts talking. With each conversation, a new box gets emptied, and soon enough he needs somewhere to actually put the surplus of junk he's unpacking. 

The group trip to B&Q is Clara's idea, and they take Sofia's car. Despite being (alleged) adults, the first thing that comes to mind when faced with a giant home and hardware shop is the most intense game of hide and seek ever known to man.

And Dev is in a flowerpot.

It's one of those giant flowerpots, big enough to use as a dog bath or a terracotta laundry basket, if you feel so inclined. The second he spots it, nested in the outdoors and gardening section among a small army of similar flowerpots, he knows it's the one. Dev peers around. When nobody is watching, he quickly slips into the flowerpot, bending his long limbs awkwardly to compact himself inside.

It's quite dark inside the flowerpot, and it smells of damp and must, and after a few minutes Dev's back begins to ache. He wriggles uncomfortably, trying to reposition himself. After a few more minutes, his hand is cramped, and he's sure there are worms here, and he thinks he may have cut off the blood supply to his left arm somehow. He shifts again to a kneeling position and peers over the rim of the flowerpot. Either Alice is crap at seeking, or Dev is far too good at hiding.

He sees Rebecca before Rebecca sees him.

She looks different, but not much. Her hair is shorter now, bundled into a ponytail, and she's wearing a jacket that Dev can vividly remember the smell of. She has a metal shopping basket slung over one arm, and in it a few little larkspur plants are jostling for space. In this moment, the heartbreak and the sadness all flood back to him, but in a second-hand sort of way. They're just echoes of the feelings he had before, just memories, as if it had all happed to some other guy. He doesn't feel sad. He just feels kind of weird about being in a flowerpot.

And then she turns around.

Rebecca stares at him, at first surprised, and then incredulous. "Dev?" she manages.

Dev waves awkwardly.

She keeps staring. "What are you doing here?" she wonders, walking closer.

"Here in B&Q or here in a flowerpot?"

She cocks her head as if she's trying to figure out the answer to that one as well. "Both?"

Dev's knees are moist from whatever horrid dampness is manifesting itself at the bottom of the flowerpot, and he wants to complain about it. He restrains himself. Moist knees are never a good talking point in any context.

"I'm just shopping around for some stuff with my friends for my new flat," he says conversationally. Then he sees a movement near the outdoor exit. "Shit, Rebecca, this is going to sound problematic but could you please get into the flowerpot for a second?"

"That does sound problematic."

Dev can see Alice peering through rows of perennials, so he hisses hurriedly, "Quick, Alice is here!"