Flowering - Part Nineteen
This episode is part of a larger story, Soft Touch. If you haven’t yet, you can go back and read it from the beginning right here.
It’s been a busy night at the flower shop, but now that it’s grown late, everything has fallen quiet. I’ve cleaned up, done some maintenance on the shop plants, and touched up the displays. But there’s still some time before closing, and I’m glad.
The peace and quiet of the half-lit shop, surrounded by the breathing greenery. This is one of my favorite places to think, and I have a lot on my mind.
I’m thinking about how Aiden and I are still making discoveries about the complexities and nuances of his Guardian magic.
I’m happy that Aiden and I are figuring them out together, coming to understand his powers on deeper levels. The video from my dad showed me that little Guardians need all the knowledgeable guidance they can get. One day in the future, there might be a little Guardian running around our house, and when that day comes, anything that Aiden and I could do to understand them better would be good, right? Especially if they turn out to be a quiet one, like Aiden was, and still is -
Oh, my god. What am I even thinking about, right now? I’m getting way ahead of myself.
I straighten up behind the counter, my cheeks burning as if Aiden was somehow listening in on my thoughts.
It’s just - we have that second bedroom, now. The one with the three little alcoves in the walls. My mind can’t help but wander hopefully into the future of that room, every now and then.
“Stay focused,” I murmur out loud, tapping my pencil on my notebook.
My sketches are almost done. I start carefully labeling the components. I forcibly pull my thoughts away from Aiden, but instead of going to my work, they go right to Ralph and Noah.
I’ve been thinking about those two all throughout my shift. It’s been three days since Aiden and Ralph had their talk. This morning, in the shower after his run, Aiden drew me to him and quietly filled me in. Told me in much more depth what he and Ralph talked about.
I’m still processing everything. I’ve been so quiet at work today that both Destinee and Kent separately asked me if I was alright.
I am. If anything, I feel good. I know how difficult and painful that conversation must have been for both Ralph and Aiden, but I’m filled with a sense of deep relief that they finally had it. I can tell that Aiden feels that way, too, only multiplied by a thousand. It was cathartic for him, that much I know.
I can’t help but want that same feeling for Noah.
I’ve been scratching away at my notebook, but I stir from my reverie as my phone begins to vibrate on the glass countertop. I’ve been quiet for too long, and I’m starting to itch to talk to someone.
I thought about summoning Kasey and Will, but decided against it. I haven’t seen either of them since the night that we got back from the heist. Aiden summoned them, planning to fill them in before we crashed, but only Kasey appeared. And just about as soon as she saw we were okay, she disappeared again.
“Will and I are working on an experiment, and we really need to focus, so don’t summon us, okay? We’ll come to you when we’re done! I’m so happy that you’re alright, I want to hear everything later - alright, bye bye bye!”
The ghosts have yet to appear since that conversation. Aiden and I laughed about it, didn’t give it too much more thought. Now I’m starting to wonder what the hell they’re working on, but I know better than to ignore Kasey’s instructions and summon her.
Not a problem, though, because it looks like someone else wants to talk. I pick up my phone and rush to answer the incoming call.
“Hey, Ang! Are you swinging by the shop to catch up? Vet clinic just closed for the night, yeah?”
“Not tonight, I’m sorry,” Angie says, obviously disappointed that she can’t. “I’ve got like, three bunnies with me, and we all remember what happened the last time I brought a bunny into the flower shop.”
“Oh, Jesus.” I make a shuddering sound, closing my eyes. “The carnage still flashes through my mind, sometimes.”
“The expression on Kent’s face still flashes through mine,” Angie laughs. “I thought my life was gonna end right then and there.”
I laugh, too, leaning my hip against the counter. “So, what’s going on?”
“Okay, okay.” Angie drops her voice to a conspiratorial tone that tells me she’s got something good. “I’ve been in surgery pretty much nonstop, but I’ve been dying to tell you about this all day.”
“Oh, yes,” I sigh happily. “Lay it on me.”
“You will not believe who showed up at my house today.”
“Who?”
“Ralph.”
I blink rapidly, my eyebrows furrowing in startled confusion. “Ralph - what?”
“Jamie. I’m not fucking joking, he showed up and knocked on my door. And you know what he did? He apologized for how he acted at my party last summer.”
I stare at the wall in blank disbelief, which Angie reads even over the phone.
“I know!” she says, around a sputtering laugh. “I was trying to figure out if it was some kind of joke, or some other weird thing, but it was like - bizarrely sincere. And then he said that the next time I throw a party, he’ll supply a bunch of blunts for free. And then he said that he wasn’t trying to buy his way out of it, he just wants to contribute something good to the next party, since he ruined the one he came to. He said that, Jamie. It was - thoughtful?”
“Holy shit.” I shake my head slowly, dazed, my eyes very wide. “Did you accept his apology?”
“I did, and he seemed genuinely relieved about it.” Angie lets out another disbelieving laugh. “I’m sorry, did hell freeze over? I didn’t get the memo.”
“Honestly!”
“You know what’s weird, too? The bunnies liked him.”
“The bunnies were there?” I laugh, pressing my hand over my eyes. “Oh, my god. Oh - my god.”
A sudden realization dawns on me, and I freeze where I am.
“Ang, I’m so sorry - can I call you back?”
“I actually need to get the bunnies put away, anyways - I just had to tell you!”
“We’re talking more about this later,” I inform her, and she laughs.
As soon as I hang up with Angie, I call Aiden. He answers after a few rings, and I can tell that I’m on speaker.
“You there, Jamie? I’ve got my gloves on, I tried to answer your call with my elbow.”
“Oh, god, I’m sorry - I know you’re working, but I just had to tell you-”
“Hey.” Aiden can hear that I’m worked up, and he’s starting to sound concerned. “Everything alright?”
“Yeah!” I hold my phone tightly, hope stirring in my heart. “Better than alright! I have a feeling that Ralph is gonna try to talk to Noah.”
“What?” I hear the sound of Aiden hastily pulling off his gloves, snatching up his phone. “What makes you say that?”
“I think that Ralph just tried to do a practice round! I think he’s gonna ask, Aiden, I think the only question now is whether or not Noah-”
I break off, my eyes having caught on some movement beyond the shop’s display windows.
“I’m sorry, I’ve gotta go,” I whisper to Aiden. “Explain later, love you!”
Noah has his head down against the wind, but he straightens up as he pushes his way into the shop. His bomber jacket is speckled with droplets from the drizzle coming down outside, his onyx hair knotted into a messy, windswept bun.
I could honestly laugh at the sight of him in here. The shop in all its gentle, soft glow, colorful flowers flowing out from every surface - and then Noah, who looks like a knife against all of it, with his ornate tattoos and heavy combat boots and all of his piercings catching the light.
“Hey, man,” I say warmly, beckoning him into the shop. “Wasn’t expecting you to come by.”
Noah crosses to join me at the counter, his grey eyes roaming over the shop. “Yeah, I - wasn’t planning to.”
I tip my head very slightly to the side, looking closely at Noah. He’s barely said anything yet, but I can already tell that he’s feeling some kind of way. He’s unusually serious, unusually quiet. His fingertips are tracing the golden band around his engagement finger, like he’s drawing steadiness from it.
I hastily lose my searching expression as he turns to face me.
“What are you doing?” he asks, his eyes dropping to my notebook.
“No, don’t look at that!” I snap it closed before Noah can see, and he draws back, startled. “It’s the design for the flowers for your wedding! I want it to be a surprise.”
“Oh.” Noah breaks into a little smile. “You’re already coming up with the designs?”
“It’s coming up soon, man. I have to special order some stuff. And I’ve actually been working on the designs for a long time. Way before now.” I flip through the notebook, let him see a few of the pages I’ve crossed out. “These are the rejects.”
“Damn.” Noah folds his elbows on the counter, pierced eyebrows raised. “You’re working hard, huh?”
“Well - it’s your wedding, dude.” I reach across the counter and quickly brace his shoulder. “I want everything to be perfect.”
Noah’s dimples briefly flash into view before he quickly blinks his eyes away from me.
“Anyways, what are you doing here?” I ask, setting my notebook aside. “Did you want to buy some flowers? You’re just in time. We close in like, five minutes.”
“Nah, I just stopped by to say hi. I was around. Raj and I are starting to get assigned wedding errands.”
“Aw!” I beam at Noah, seeing the smile in his eyes. “Do you need help? I’m here, if there’s anything I can do.”
“Thanks, man, but Aiden already offered. I’m sure you’ve got enough on your hands with the flowers, anyways.”
He’s not wrong about that. I cast him a grateful look, then turn to start closing out the register.
“So you’re headed home?” I point down to the end of the counter. “You want to take one of those two bouquets for Mel? The packaging got messed up, so I had to damage them out, but I think they’re still beautiful.”
“Oh, definitely. Thanks, dude.” Noah reaches over the counter, picks up one of the bouquets, and hesitates. “Mind if I take the other one, too? For Raj?”
I stop what I’m doing and drop my head a little, so Noah doesn’t see how I’m smiling. “Of course, yeah.”
“Sweet.” Noah pauses, then adds - “I wasn’t headed home right away, though. Thought I might go for a drive.”
“Oh, yeah? To where?”
Noah shrugs, biting the inside of his cheek. “Nowhere. Just a drive.”
I realize that he’s giving me a sidelong, hopeful look.
I know that Noah likes to go on long drives when he’s tangled up inside. When he needs to breathe, to try and work through something. I’ve gone with him before. I had thought he might need the company. He didn’t say anything to me during the drive, but I still felt like I was right.
He’s going on one of those drives right now, and he just so happened to come here to see me, first.
Did you want me to come with you? I nearly ask, then swiftly bite it back.
“Hey, can I go with you?” I say instead, powering down the register. “I could use some fresh air. Aiden’s got my car at City Hall, so I can just text him that he doesn’t need to pick me up.”
Noah seems to think about it for a second. Then he shrugs again, gathers up the two bouquets, and nods at the door. “Punch out, Keane.”
I break into a smile, then bend down to grab my bag.
~~~~
Noah and I step together out into the breezy night. Droplets of rain flit down onto us as we cross the street to Mel’s car. We get the bouquets stashed securely in the trunk before Noah rolls all of the windows down and pulls us out onto the road.
I settle back into my seat, taking long breaths of the cold night air as we begin to glide. The wind feels good combing through my hair, refreshingly chilly against my face.
Mel’s car is hardly the Shelby that we got for Noah’s bachelor party. But just like he did with my car, Noah coaxes it up and up in speed as we reach the empty country roads outside of Ketterbridge. He uses momentum to get us going faster and faster, making the car fly - until he suddenly guns it up over one hundred.
I gasp, and Noah tips his head back, the wind rushing through his long hair as we soar down the open, moonlit road.
I let out a stream of threats and indignant curses at him, and he lets out a soft laugh, slowing us down, a flash of his usual diabolical grin turning up the corners of his mouth. It makes me happy to see it, so I break off and find myself laughing, too, shaking my head in disbelief.
But aside from that one little cloudburst, I can tell that Noah is storming inside.
Up close to him now, catching him in the flashes of illumination from the streetlights - I can see it. His eyes are the color of steel, brimming with deep and complicated emotion. Hurricane oceans, captured in two grey pools.
He closes them every now and then to take huge breaths of the frosty air. He’s holding the wheel in a white-knuckle grip that throws his finger tattoos into sharp relief. Biting down hard on his lip.
Keeping his eyes staring straight ahead.
He doesn’t say a word to me, and I don’t try to say anything to him, either. I quietly watch the lights slide by, letting the vibration of the engine hum through me. I stare up at the stars blazing overhead in the black velvet sky. The thin veils of wispy rain clouds, transparent enough to see right through.
It’s not until the car comes to a complete stop that I realize Noah has taken me home. We’re parked in front of the green entrance, the passageway in the trees that leads to the house.
Aiden must be home, because my car is parked a few yards away. I’m kind of surprised to see that. He had texted me that he was going to go visit Aunt Sarah while Noah and I were busy. I didn’t think he’d be back already.
I check my watch and discover that Noah and I have been driving for a good long time. Way longer than I realized.
I turn in the passenger’s seat to look at him. He doesn’t look at me.
“Thanks,” he murmurs softly, after a moment.
“No problem. I get it.” I gently swat his shoulder with the back of my fingers. “Emotional Kingda Ka.”
Noah breathes out a quiet laugh, then a slow, heavy exhale. He runs a tattooed hand over his eyes, then drops both hands into his lap.
“You - want to talk about it?” I try, all in a rush.
Noah pins his lip between his teeth, starts to shake his head no, and stops. Silence fills up the car, and then -
“S’just - ever since I came over the other night, and we talked about - about Ralph,” Noah says haltingly, avoiding my eyes. “I’ve been - thinking a lot.”
I sit up a little more, my pulse rapidly picking up speed. “Have you?”
“Yeah. Because...” Noah turns his head to look at me, narrowing his eyes. “You made it sound like Ralph wants to talk to me. And you made it sound like I might actually want to hear what he has to say.”
I hesitate, anxiously twisting the ring around my finger. “I - I can’t speak for him, I just personally think that if he had the chance-”
“Jamie,” Noah says, very softly.
I stop, looking at him nervously. Silence takes over for a long moment, aside from the light tapping of the fluttering rain. Noah stares straight out through the windshield.
“Am I gonna regret it?” His voice is suddenly hoarse and rough. “Is this about to be the millionth time I’ve let Ralph play me? Because I fucking swore to myself that I would never let that happen again.”
My heart twists painfully, and my gaze drops to my fingers, which are nervously twisting together in my lap.
“But you’re thinking about doing it, anyways,” I say slowly, after a moment. “Having that talk with him. You’ve been thinking about it a lot, even knowing that’s the risk. Sounds like it’s - pretty important to you, man. Sounds like you have hope it won’t go that way.”
Noah doesn’t answer me, and he won’t look at me, so I can’t see the expression on his face. I give him a minute, but silence reigns.
I realize that he’s still waiting for an answer.
“Look, anything I say to you about this is just my opinion, Noah-”
“I know. That’s what I want.”
I close my eyes for a second. Please, please don’t make me regret this, Ralph.
“No,” I tell Noah. “I don’t think you would regret talking to him. Aiden doesn’t think so, either.”
Noah holds perfectly still. Then he lets out a long, shaky exhale.
I shut my eyes again, hoping with all my heart that Ralph comes through and asks to talk to Noah. Because Noah hasn’t said anything concrete, but something tells me that if Ralph just asked -
Noah and I both turn sharply as someone knocks on the roof of the car. Aiden bends down and looks in at us through the open window, his tousled chestnut hair damp from the rain.
“Oh - Aiden.” Noah sits up more, gives himself a shake. “Sorry, bro, didn’t see you there…”
He trails off and raises an eyebrow, catching the very serious, wide-eyed expression on Aiden’s face.
“You alright?” he asks, and Aiden silently holds up his phone.
He puts it in through the window, so that Noah and I can read the text notification on the screen. It came in one minute ago, according to the timestamp.
Ralph 11:10 PM: Can you ask Noah if there’s any chance he’d be willing to talk to me? Just one more time. Last thing I’ll ever ask him to do for me. I swear.
As soon as I’m done reading, my eyes flit to Noah’s face. Aiden is looking at him, too.
He’s frozen, his grey eyes wide with disbelief and locked on Aiden’s phone screen.
After a few seconds, it automatically goes dark. Noah turns slowly and stares unseeing out through the windshield, the muscle in his jaw flexing and unflexing.
“You can take more time to think about it,” I say softly. “All the time you need.”
“Don’t feel any pressure, Noosh,” Aiden adds, the low rumble of his voice steady, despite everything going on. “This is completely up to you.”
Noah doesn’t respond or react at all. A minute slides by in silence. Then he closes his eyes and takes a long, deep breath, his fingertips pressed to his engagement ring.
“Are you guys busy, night after tomorrow? Got any plans?”
Aiden and I exchange a glance before I answer. “No.”
Noah opens his eyes again, then nods in the direction of our house.
“Can we do it here?” he asks.
Want to leave a comment? I would love it if you did, and you can do so on the Tapas episode!