10 Overly Friendly

Lyra was carrying a new pot of flowers out from the back room when she realized that a male customer was standing by the front admiring the newly imported flowers.

"Are you looking for anything in particular, sir?" the shop owner asked as she approached the man browsing with his hands in his pockets.

He gave a friendly smile and she returned it. "Can I get a closer look at that?" he pointed a slender finger at the flower bouquet she arranged earlier for fun.

"It's not a full bouquet yet…" Lyra informed but he only nodded, expecting her to still bring it down.

Lyra had to tiptoe to reach for it but brought it down safely before presenting it to the man who took it in his hands first brushing against her smaller, softer ones. She retracted them politely.

He seemed more than pleased with the flowers, sniffing their scent and closing his eyes in appreciation.

"Are you buying them for a particular event?" Lyra asked, making conversation while ringing up the purchase.

The stranger shook his head. "Just for decoration."

"Excellent choice. Ranunculuses are very beautiful when they flower, so make sure to choose a vase with extra room around the top to accommodate for additional blooms."

"You are attractive."

Lyra looked up in surprise at the man who threw that statement out of the blues.

"Isn't that what the flower meaning is?" the man added.

"You'd be right," Lyra answered with a smile before giving the bow one more tug and intentionally placing the bundle onto the table for the man to take.

"Why were you gone so long?" he asked unexpectedly.

"Hmm?" She could've sworn she never met him before.

"Fifteen days you weren't in the shop. Another girl was here instead," he clarified. "Where'd you go?" his tone sounded more demanding this time.

Lyra offered a meek smile. "Just visiting a friend. Here's your bouquet, sir," she directed her hands at the flowers sitting atop the counter.

"Is this how you normally give flowers to your customers? Don't you always pick it up and put it in their hands?"

The man was right. Lyra always handed them personally to the customer, but this one she was a little less friendly with. But since it would be rude to just slide it across the table, she smiled and picked it up to put in the hands of the customer.

As she expected, he grabbed onto her hands while taking the bouquet. Lyra tried pulling away but his grasp was tighter than she gave him credit for.

Seeing her struggle was interesting and the man wanted to watch her frantic expression a little longer if not for the sudden interruption.

"Let go," an authoritative voice ordered.

"What you goin' to do 'bout it?" the troublesome customer said, rolling his sleeves to expose his arm full of tattoos before turning around.

The fierce look on the new figure's face made it blatantly obvious he did not intend to repeat his first and final warning. The weird man immediately obeyed after laying eyes on his opponent who was dressed in a fine Italian suit and wearing all brand name accessories. He then angrily grabbed the flowers, slammed the door loudly and stormed off onto the streets.

"All bark no bite," the visitor commented contemptuously, removing his reflective aviator shades and revealing his glossy green eyes.

"I'd say he simply knows better who not to pick fights with," Lyra crossed her arms.

Kurtis crossed his arms to mimic her pose. "And I'd say he has lots more to learn if he had the guts to come bother Ms. Cades in broad daylight. Should I have someone stand guard for the next week or so?"

"That wouldn't be necessary, Mr. Wellington. I'm sure you scared him away plenty."

Kurtis nodded before walking over to admire the arranged flowers and stopped by the bouquet of roses.

"How's Rose?"

Lyra beamed at the name. "She's so lovely Kurtis! She's funny and smart and can fix everything! How in the world did you find someone like her?"

He was obvious pleased to hear that.

"Unless you're paying her an arm and a leg…" Lyra's eyes narrowed to the side.

Kurtis let out a laugh. "No worries. The only compensation Rose wanted was a peaceful college life before going back to Australia."

"That sounds way too good to be true. Speaking of which, aren't you supposed to be away for another week?" Lyra asked, picking a few flowers from each bucket that she thought would look nice in a bouquet.

"I had a last minute meeting with a friend so rushed back."

The flower girl nodded. "And my sis?"

"We flew back together and were planning to pay you and the shop a visit, but a designer friend of mine happened to also be in town. Today's her last day in the city so Angie rushed over to meet with her."

Lyra nodded, sounded exactly like her polar opposite.

"Hope you didn't make too many plans with her," the younger twin said, recalling past instances when she had to reschedule a good few times whenever she wanted to meet up with her busy sister. Who's the workaholic now?

"But I did," Kurtis let out a sigh.

"Ah…so you have learned the hard way…" Lyra couldn't feel any less sympathy for him when she was the other victim to her sister's recurrent plan cancellations. "Get used to it, she does it especially frequently to her dear ones."

"But I'm an optimist," he said as he walked the opposite side and picked out a few flowers on his own. And when they met back together in the middle, he presented some blue irises and white lilies to add to her bright colored bouquet in the making. "Would you happen to be open for lunch?"

Kurtis had a designer's eye. The flowers he chose complimented her choices so perfectly that she couldn't refuse them even if she wanted to.

"I'll take that as a yes?" he asked with a hopeful expression, leaning his muscular arms on the counter where Lyra was arranging the flowers he picked with hers.

"Someone has to look after the shop," the pretty girl said while moving her hands gracefully.

"I'll be here," Rose's jubilant voice called from the storage room before appearing majestically in person.

Both she and Kurt gravitated towards each other before exchanging a long bro hug and a few inside jokes, a bit overly friendly for a simple "friend of a friend" relationship. They also shared a few whispers, but Lyra didn't catch them. It seemed like they were talking about her, but she could've just been imagining it.

"So what say you Ms. Cades? How does lunch sound?" Kurtis asked again.

Rose went over and with one swift hand movement, easily untied the apron strings around Lyra's back. Lifting it over her head and then giving her a gentle push, she sent Lyra falling into the arms of Kurtis.

The two of course detached from each other as soon as they made contact which was quite entertaining for the bystander.

"Stop acting shy. You two have fun," Rose called before pushing them out of the shop.

Lyra brushed her auburn hair behind her ear before walking back over to Rose.

"I really can't. How about Rose accompany you instead?" she insisted to Kurtis.

Rose looked over at her cousin to double check, but his expression was indifferent so she agreed to be his lunch partner. She then took a final look at Lyra who also seemed strangely apathetic compared to her usual jovial personality.

[Maybe I was just imagining the tension…] Rose thought before walking out the door with Kurtis.