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Four gerberas. Three gardenias. Two yellow roses. One blue rose. One hydrangea.
Clearing his throat, Quentin tied the bouquet together and set it in a sky blue vase. Staring at it for a few more seconds, he hesitated before quickly adding one white rose into the mix. It definitely wasn’t his best arrangement. While the colors somewhat complemented each other, the way it was arranged made it look poor and rushed; it would’ve looked nicer had he tied it with a red ribbon, but to be safe he had tied it with a white. Glancing at the clock hanging on the wall to check that it was the slowest part of the day, he picked up the vase and headed for the door, flipping the sign on it to closed as he did so. Pausing to set the vase down carefully on the pavement and locking the door, he steeled himself for the minutes to come.
Walking over to Howard's shop, he glanced inside to confirm that he currently had no customers, Quentin pushed his way inside with the vase in his hands. Howard, who had been facing the looming wall of oddities behind the counter, turned to face him. “Welcome to Mr. Smiley’s Joke- oh hello, Quentin! What are you doing-” his eyes found the vase in Quentin’s hands, and the ginormous smile that had been on his face melted into a look of awe as his voice wavered. “Is that for me?”
Slowly moving forward in uncertainty, he set the vase on the counter and gave a tentative smile. “I knew you wouldn’t be getting flowers today, so I thought I might bring you some.” Howard said nothing, and instead walked out from behind the counter before proceeding to go to his door and flip the sign to closed. Fear rumbled in Quentin’s stomach, but Howard raced towards him and pulled him into a bear hug, successfully lifting Quentin up from the ground.
“Thank you so much, Quentin! I always love your bouquets, but this one is extra beautiful!” Howard set him down and raced towards the bouquet, starting to examine it with ferocity. “This arrangement is so pretty! I know white roses usually mean innocence, but what do the others mean?” he babbled.
Quentin's tongue felt heavy in his mouth, and he quickly searched his mind for a good lie about some of them. “Well, the gerberas symbolize cheerfulness, the gardenias… honor. The yellow roses means friendship and caring, while the blue rose represents harmony, and the hydrangea is gratitude.” He felt bad for lying about some of the meanings, but if Howard knew what some of the flowers stood for he’d surely be disgusted.
“Quentin…” Howard turned to look at him, and Quentin was surprised to see his eyes were wet with tears. “Thank you so much for these flowers. They’re a perfect Valentine’s Day gift for between friends.”
Yes. Friends. Quentin said nothing as Howard pulled him into a hug, this one more heartfelt than the last, so he had no choice but to return it.