The door of the flower shop closed behind the two girls and they were greeted with a familiar, homey smell. The scent of the flowers filled the air. The smell reminded Mercy of what might've been called "simpler times". Times of doing homework under the shelves filled with flowers and summer nights spent with friends. She liked that feeling, maybe even more than she liking living those memories out.
"I gotta go get the flowers!" The girl with raven hair and a vermillion dress said before running behind the counter and into the back room.
Mercy gave her a small wave before tensing up; she loved the flower shop, but she can't stand to be alone. Especially with people who she wasn't necessarily comfortable or close with.
While the strawberry blonde wandered off in the shop, looking at all the pre-made arrangements and baskets of rose petals, a lady emerged from the back of the shop, but it wasn't Aisling. It was Georgia Farren, the owner of the flower shop and Aisling's mother.
"Mercy! I haven't seen you in forever; how are you doing?" The lady asked after seeing Mercy in the corner of the shop.
Fear immediately struck through Mercy's body as if she was struck by lightning. Talking to others was not her thing. She'd much rather stay in complete silence. However, she managed to choke out a few words: "I've been good; what about you?"
"I've been good myself as well." She smiled. "Keeping up with the shop is getting rough, but we're getting so much traffic which is great for business!"
"Mhm." Mercy nodded uneasily, unsure of what to say.
"So, why did you come along with Aisling?"
Mercy paused, fear flowing through her veins. She wasn't sure on how to answer. The words just left her. she couldn't think of what to say.
Luckily, the day has been saved! Just as Mercy went to open her mouth, Aisling came bursting through the door, making Mercy and her mother both jump from the sudden sound.
Nobody had time to respond before Aisling grabbed Mercy by the forearm and began to drag her to the door of Farren's Flowers.
Mercy uneasily waved to her friend's mother with her free hand as she let Aisling drag her back outside.
"We have flowers to deliver!" Aisling said, throwing her fist that held the bouquet into the air, possibly losing a few petals along the way.
Since Mercy was still a bit on edge, her enthusiasm seemed fake; and too be honest, it probably was. She once again held up her free hand and balled it into a fist, saying with faked enthusiasm: "Wooo."
"Aren't you going to ask?" Aisling asked, closing the door of the flower shop behind her and letting go of Mercy's wrist before listing questions she thought Mercy would ask her. "Who's the flowers for? Where are we going? Are we going to be late for the first day of school?"
"No; I just figured you'd answer them before I had the chance to get any words out of my mouth."
"You'd normally be right in thinking so, but I wanted to give you a chance to say something for once!"
"It's nice of you to think of me for once." Mercy let out a small chuckle and Aisling returned with a laugh.
"I always think of you; I just chose to speak before I think." She grinned.
"So, how about you give me the answers to those questions?"
"We're giving flowers to some Bliss chick, but the name on the tag says it's for an Ivy. I'm pretty sure my sister knew Ivy."
"I bet it's some lovey stuff."
"I wouldn't be surprised. But, the flowers are lilacs, red tulips and snowdrops. You wouldn't think so, but it's really a beautiful arrangement. I'll have to have Mom make more for the shop; maybe even as a display!"
"Don't get ahead of yourself."
"Right. So we're just going to the complex. That's where I was told to drop the flowers off at. And we won't be late! Unless if the girl isn't there, then we may be a bit late."
Mercy began to speed walk forwards, passing in front of Aisling. "We are not being late to the first day of school."
"There's the Merc I know. But please, slow down. These shoes were NOT made for running."
"I know that, Ais. My mom made those shoes."
The two began to slow back to a walk, Mercy a few feet ahead of Aisling. "Sometimes I forget that your mom's a shoemaker."
"And sometimes I forget your mom runs an illegal flower garden in your backyard."
"Your sarcasm is going to kill me one day, Merc. And it's not illegal! The government allows the traders to bring flower seeds out here for us!
"Sure; that's what they all say." She shrugged, a small smirk on her face.
"Who else has the government bring flower seeds to them!?"
"Everyone who doesn't want to pay to give flowers to their girlfriend!"
The dark haired girl gasped. "How dare you!"
Mercy erupted into giggles as they walked down the street. Some of their fellow students walked past them on their way to school. One with chestnut hair in a braid gave a small wave to the two, and they waved back as Mercy's giggles quickly subsided.
Silence hovered over the girls for a split second before Aisling turned on her toes and put her index finger to Mercy's lips. "I know you're going to apologize, and that's not allowed. You have nothing to be sorry for."
Mercy's shoulders shrunk as she sighed. "But I was being pretty rude." She said after Aisling moved her hand away.
"You were just joking around. It's fine, Mercy! There's nothing to apologize for."
She shrugged once again and gave in. "Fine; but next time-"
The girl in the vermillion dress cut her off. "There will be no next time because you don't need to apologize for just making a harmless joke."
"Fine."
"Come on, the complex isn't too far away now!" Aisling said with a grin before taking off running.
"You said those shoes weren't made for running, and I know they weren't!" Mercy yelled back, running after Aisling.
"I didn't say I couldn't run in them." She kept her grin as Mercy easily ran past her. "Hey!"
Mercy stood right outside the apartment complex and waited for Aisling to catch up with her. It took her a minute, but she eventually reached the apartment complex, breathless. "So, which apartment is it?"
"2-B." Aisling said, holding on tightly to the bouquet. It was a miracle that no flowers fell out while the two were running.
They climbed up the stairs on the side of the building. When they reached the apartment, Mercy lingered behind Aisling as she stepped up to knock on the door.
The door creaked open as soon as Aisling saw the door crack open, she launched into her flower shop employee speech. "Hello and good morning! I have a flower delivery for Bliss Icedo; red tulips, snowdrops and lilacs."
The girl behind the door saw the girls outside and nodded after hearing what flowers came in.
Aisling saw the nod, but she had to wait for a verbal approval.
The dark haired girl behind the counter jumped a bit as she realized the two were waiting for her. "Uh, that's right! Snowdrops... ...lilacs... ...and, uh..."
"Thank you for your business!" Aisling smiled and held out the bouquet to Bliss.
"Uh, thank you!" She said almost shutting the door. "Right, payment, payment, payment." She fished around in one of her pockets and pulled out some coins. "Is this the right amount? If not I can go back inside and get more if that's not a problem..."
"You already paid, you pre-ordered them, Miss. We don't need any further payment." Aisling smiled.
"Oh, right! I'm sorry, but thank you."
Aisling nodded right before the dark haired girl shut the door on the two.
"You didn't talk!" Aisling pouted as they walked down the stairs, flowerless.
"It's your family business stuff."
"You're not wrong, but I wouldn't have minded if you talked. Plus that girl seemed like she had anxiety or something; you could have had awkward people bonding time."
"That sounds terrifying for one, and for two, don't go assuming people's mental illnesses."
"Okay; I'm sorry, Mercy."
"It's okay, Ais. You didn't know, it's okay."
She nodded before realizing what she just said. "Hey! You're influencing me; this isn't allowed!"
"What do you mean?"
"I'm not allowed to say sorry; you're rubbing off on me!"
"It can't be helped; normal people say sorry when they do bad things."
"Are you calling me a psychopath?"
"No; all I'm saying is that you're not normal."
"Well, I know that. But you aren't allowed to rub off on me like that!"
"I can't help it." The girl with strawberry blonde hair shrugged.
"Try to help it! Just try, Mercy. I know it's a foreign concept to you, but try. It won't kill you."
"Are you sure about that?"
"Yes, I'm sure."
"I have my doubts, but whatever you say."
"You're a pain in the ass." Aisling pouted as they continued to walk towards the school.
"I know."
"Anyways, I gotta go. My sister is probably holding my schedule hostage and it'll take me forever to get it back."
"Good luck." Mercy gave the raven haired girl a small wave.
"I'll need it." She said with an eye roll before running off towards the school.
"She is going to ruin those shoes." Mercy shook her head before continuing her walk towards Ikimono Preparatory School, or as most students call it: Iki Prep.
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