Clover | ✔

Chapter 11: Purple Heart's Ease

It was only after much consideration that Evan decided to go to the flower shop the day after he'd taken Sascha out to dinner. He hadn't slept too well, his head hurt, and he was afraid Sascha would be mad at him, but he had to check up on the florist.

Evan was well aware that, if Sascha actually remembered anything about the previous night, he'd be furious with him; Evan wouldn't blame him, but after some thought, he kind of hoped Sascha did remember. Maybe Sascha hadn't been in the right frame of mind, but even while drunk, the things one said often held some amount of truth. If that was the case, then he could count on Sascha at least being attracted to him. Pointing it out would be a low blow, but the florist wouldn't be able to deny it. It was just unfortunate that Evan didn't think he'd be able to pressure Sascha like that.

So, Evan got up, drank some coffee, got dressed and thanked God it was the weekend before heading out to see Sascha. He had half expected the shop to be closed, but it was open and Jason was just setting off to make a delivery when Evan arrived.

"If you're going to talk to Sascha, watch out, he's not feeling too good right now," Jason warned, and Evan felt sorry for the florist because he probably had one hell of a hangover.

The boy left with a wave, and Evan turned to the shop entrance, bracing himself for whatever was to come. As always, he was greeted by the chiming bell above the door and the warmth of the little shop. The scent of flowers floating about, never overpowering, just subtle enough to be as pleasant as the finest perfume. Everything was as clean and orderly as usual, only the types of flowers changing due to the season, and Evan would have thought all was well, were it not for the fact that there had been no cheery welcome or sweet smile to greet him.

As Evan walked closer to the counter, he realized that Sascha was nowhere to be seen. There was, however, a half finished arrangement on the counter along with all of the florist's tools. Evan surmised that Sascha was somewhere in the back, and leaned on the counter to wait for him to return. It wasn't long before the door leading to the back opened, and Sascha appeared, looking like he'd just had the worst day of his life -- which was probably true. He looked tired, his eyes red, and his skin paler than usual. Evan had to admit, it was worse than he had expected, especially since it wasn't that early in the morning.

"Oh, Evan, it's just you," Sascha said dully, sliding up onto his stool to return to work. Evan would have felt more insulted at the flat greeting had he not been so glad that Sascha wasn't furious with him. He'd take disinterest over anger any day.

"Not feeling well?" he asked, looking carefully at the florist. Sascha shook his head, sighing.

"No, my head hurts," he said, and he didn't think he had to mention that the world had been nothing but a painfully loud blur of overly bright colors that morning.

"Well, you did drink a lot," Evan said, making sure to speak softly, because he knew just how bad a wine induced hangover could be. Granted, he usually had to drink a  bit more than Sascha had to get one that bad. Sascha just groaned and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"I know, it was so stupid, I never drink," he said, and then he paused and glanced at Evan, cheeks pink.

"Um, I didn't do anything. . .weird, yesterday, did I?" he asked, hesitating, and then he couldn't manage to hold Evan's gaze. It was a good thing, because Evan knew he'd have trouble lying to Sascha if he had to look straight into his eyes. But he didn't, so he grinned and shook his head.

"Nope, not really," he said casually. "Unless you count trying to climb on the table at the restaurant, but you fell off before you could get on top." He tried not to laugh too much at Sascha's look of horror.