Clover | ✔

Chapter 03: Bell Flower

Sascha didn't have to wait long to see Evan again.

Just two days after they'd last spoken, Evan walked into the flower shop, two cups of coffee in his hands.

"Good morning," he said, setting a cup down on the counter in front of Sascha.

"Good morning, Evan," the florist said, surprised at the man's early visit. "What brings you here so early?" It was strange, because it was just a bit past seven and Sascha had literally just hung the open sign on the front window.

"Nothing really, just thought you'd like a cup of coffee to start your day," Evan answered easily, sipping his own hot drink.

"Oh, well, thank you," Sascha said, smiling. "But shouldn't you be heading to work?"

"Your shop's on the way so it's not a long drive." Evan shrugged. "Plus it's still early."

Sascha looked down at the coffee cup before him and then back up at Evan, sighing, he accepted the drink and chatted with the man for a bit before he left, waving and grinning. The florist didn't expect to see Evan again for a few more days after that.

The next day, he was proven wrong when Evan walked into his shop, yet again carrying two cups of coffee. Sascha welcomed him as usual and talked for a while before Evan left. For the next couple of weeks, Evan would visit Sascha with coffee, and eventually even pastries from the bakery just a few doors down from the flower shop. Sometimes, he would be gone for two or three days, and Sascha would think that Evan had finally gotten bored of whatever game he was playing, but the man would always show up again.

Sascha honestly didn't know what to make of Evan and his constant visits, because while he had said he would keep going to Sascha's shop, he hadn't said he'd be there so often, or that he'd be so nice. It was a bit unsettling, if only because it felt almost like Evan was trying to ask Sascha out(and the last time that had happened it hadn't ended too well). Unfortunately, Sascha didn't know what to do about the whole situation, because he didn't want to offend Evan. However, when Evan showed up one Saturday afternoon with a lunch consisting of take-out food from one of the surrounding restaurants, Sascha knew he had to put a stop to it.

"Listen, Evan," he said with a sigh, trying to look straight at the man. "This is all very nice and all, but well, I don't really feel very comfortable accepting all these things."

"What, lunch?" Evan said, after swallowing a mouthful of fries.

"No, not just that, everything. The coffee, the pastries and you really don't have to stop by so often, I know you must have better things to do," Sascha said, a bit exasperated, but Evan simply shrugged.

"It's just food," he said. "And believe it or not, I really have nothing better to do." At least, not now that he wasn't dating anymore.

Sascha didn't seem very convinced though.

"Look, it's not a big deal. Sometimes I just like to buy lunch for my friends, I do it at work too. It's just what friends do," he tried to explain, and Sascha seemed to lighten up a bit at that. "So, I noticed you opened late today," Evan said, changing the topic.

Sascha gave him a questioning look, because Evan hadn't been there for long, so how could he know when he opened.

"I drove by when I went to pick up some stuff from my office earlier," the other man explained, easily reading the florist's look.

"Yeah, I had to deliver some arrangements, so I closed the shop for a bit while I was gone," Sascha told Evan.

"I thought you didn't do deliveries." Which made sense because it was only Sascha tending to the shop and he couldn't just abandon the store or close it every time he had to make a delivery.