Cecelia was preparing to leave the house with the intentions of avoiding her mother.

Her mother loved to talk. And if Cecelia ever wanted to leave, she absolutely could not start a conversation with her mother. Well, maybe if she wanted to leave three hours late. It had happened before.

She quietly crept through the kitchen and to the front door where she slowly began to turn the knob.

"Cecelia!" Her mother's always-excited voice rang through the kitchen.

"Leaving now, bye!" She called in a desperate attempt to sever any chances of an interaction.

"Hold it right there." Her mother entered the kitchen with a smile on her face. "Where are you going?" She asked.

"I... just out." She sighed, closing the door and leaning back on it as a way of acknowledging her fate, and accepting it.

"The flowers in your room are so beautiful." Her mother observed. "While you're out, you could pick up some floral decor for the living room."

"Fine. I will." Cecelia shot out. Realizing she'd need to see Xerxes, she jumped up, swinging open the door and slipping out, shouting a hurried goodbye. She opened the car and waved, ignoring her mother's attempt at a longer conversation.

She arrived at Smell The Roses ten minutes later and the bell, as always, jingled happily as she entered.

"Cecelia," Xerxes smiled when he saw her. "What's up with you? Haven't seen you since the fundraiser."

"Oh, just stuff." She nodded, not knowing what to say. Truthfully, the rest of her life was pretty boring compared to the excitement she felt when seeing Xerxes at the flower shop, and now, more often at school.

"Sounds difficult," he laughed, pulling off his gloves and setting them on the counter. "What do you need today?"

"Well, my mom saw the flowers in my room and she really liked them. Thanks again for that, by the way," She smiled, taking a moment to look around the store again. "Anyways, now she wants a decoration for the living room. I don't know exactly what she wants, though."

"Well, we have fake flowers and real ones, if she wants to put those on the fireplace. We also have wreaths, if you think she'd like that." He suggested.

"A wreath sounds great." She smiled and nodded.

"Well, since you're all for 'authenticity'," He mock-quoted her from when the two had made a flower crown, "why don't we make it ourselves?"

Cecelia blushed harder, half of her glad that he wanted to spend time with her and the other half embarrassed at how much she was blushing.

She cleared her throat and regained composure.

"Isn't that gonna be really hard to, I don't know, weave together?" She shyly cocked an eyebrow and smiled light-heartedly.

"It should be easy. It's basically just a big flower crown, right?" Xerxes shrugged and grinned.

Forty five minutes passed.

"Wrong wrong wro- oh my god, Xerxes. Stop sticking that one in, it just makes the other side fall apart!" She rolled her eyes as he fumbled to weave the flowers together. The intricate weaving they had attempted did not work.

"Well, I don't think it's anything like a big flower crown. We might just have to do it the normal way, or you can buy a fake one. Unless, of course, you aren't willing to sacrifice your authenticity." He grinned, teasing her once again.

"I'm not," she shook her head. "Do you have wreath outlines in the back?"

He nodded. "One second."

Xerxes left and returned with a wreath outline made of wire, with spaces to weave the flowers through.

"Okay," he nodded, "go through the store and pick out a few flowers to put in it."

Cecelia circled the store, picking flowers in all colors of the rainbow until she couldn't hold any more in her arms.

Together, they threaded the stems through and trimmed them to the proper length, successfully filling the wreath with blooms and color.

"Beautiful." Cecelia smiled. At this point, she wasn't sure if she was talking about the wreath or the boy sitting in front of her, smiling so happily.

•••

thanks KB_Champion for the amazing cover in the media section!
(she makes such cool covers and her stories are even cooler, so you've got to check her out!)