Chapter Text
As her hands go into yet another fucking pot of dirt , fifteen minutes to closing time, the thought idly crosses Dina’s mind that if one more person asks for “just a nice bouquet for my spouse”, she’s going to shoot them on the spot. Do they think Valentine’s Day is some kind of a fucking game or something?
It’s her third such bouquet of the day, this time for a bored-looking man who had told her to “just use flowers that say ‘I love you’ or something, it’s for the wife”. It had taken all her resolve not to snap back at him to Google some flowers for himself and tell her what to use, since there’s about a million combinations for his basic-ass request and she could make it look awful ugly if she really tried. As it was, she found herself picking white jasmine, myrtle, and (of course) red roses, all for this prick who couldn’t even be bothered to tell her if he liked the colour scheme, not that he deserved the care anyway.
She’s momentarily tempted to throw just one single burgundy dahlia in there- from the sound of his description of his wife, she’s the kind of person to look up the meanings of her bouquets and fawn over them, and it’s not like he’d notice anyways. It might be satisfying, just for the chance to ruin this guy’s day. She holds herself back from it, though, and instead just cashes him in with a tight-lipped smile and a classic customer-service-voice farewell.
It might be surprising, but Dina hates Valentines’ Day. Not the day itself- she’s fine with the cheesy cards and really, she loves the idea of a holiday just for love- but as a florist? She hates it with a burning passion. Sure, there might be some great orders, and she had loved making that breakup bouquet for a cheating wife that had been ordered last week, but for the most part it’s an excuse for every shitty valued customer in a mile to come in and demand some incredibly vague order and get mad when it doesn’t look perfectly like their mental image. Ordering flowers just for their meanings feels like a weird way to brag, like expensive jewelry; money shouldn’t be an indicator of love, Dina thinks.
She is sick to death of people not helping her with even a suggestion, and no matter how much she loves her job or how much Jesse makes fun of her for stomping around the store as she takes care of the plants, she hates it.
The second the man leaves the store, she slumps over the counter, lets herself yell into her hands, and starts to close up. She’s already thinking about the leftover cheesecake from Talia’s birthday in her apartment and outright yearning to sit on the couch in her pajamas and fall asleep to her favourite movie. All she has to do is get the keys from the cabinet behind the counter and lock up, and she has her hands on the keys already.
And then the fucking bell over the door rings, and Dina feels like maybe, just this once, murder might be totally justifiable.
“We’re closed!” she barks, a little harsher than she’d normally be with a client, but she’s fucking exhausted and she wants to go home. It's a Friday night, for fuck's sake. If this guy has another stupid vague request, she’s seriously considering giving them a couple monkshood blooms on the house and telling them to fuck all the way off.
The voice from the doorway, though, is soft and apologetic. “Oh, uh- sorry, I didn’t know. Lights are on, so I just… kind of assumed.”
Dina turns around to see a girl- a very attractive girl- who could not possibly contrast more with the cheery pastels and bright lights of the shop’s interior. She’s about average height, broad shoulders, a little taller than Dina (not that that takes much) with auburn hair tied back in a bun. When she turns her head to peer around a nearby shelf, Dina can see that the bottom half of it is shaved close to the skin. She wears a pair of dark jeans, a black shirt and a jean jacket with the sleeves rolled up over her elbows, completely covered in buttons and patches and safety pins. She has a few piercings- one in her nose and multiple in both ears, all silver metal.
The most striking things about her, however, are the tattoos covering her body. There’s some kind of blooming skull on the front of her neck, a few fern leaves on her right forearm and swirling black ink covering her left completely, spilling down onto the back of her hand. The rips in her jeans show more ink underneath. It covers most of her visible skin, only leaving her face and most of her hands- there’s even something on her knuckles, too, where the bone is close to the surface. Wouldn’t that have hurt? She’s probably used to the pain with that many tattoos, though, Dina thinks to herself.
Her mother would’ve said the girl looked like a delinquent. Dina’s not about to lie to herself- she’s always been weak for a bad girl.
All of this sharp, dark exterior betrays her awkward demeanour, fiddling with her hands and tapping the toe of a ratty black sneaker against the tiles. The girl could not look less confident or comfortable. It’s a bit endearing, and Dina almost isn’t mad about being interrupted before closing. Almost.
“I’ll just come back tomorrow,” the girl says, thumbing behind her and turning to go.
“It’s ok,” Dina blurts out, dropping the keys on the counter. What? No, it’s not, she’s going home. To her cheesecake . Her stomach grumbles silently.
“Oh, you sure?” Her eyes are a really nice shade of green, Dina notices. Right now, they’re wide and sweetly unsure, but still holding contact with her own. “Looked like you’re leaving. I don’t want to keep you if you’re on the way home, I hate when people do that.”
Dina sighs inwardly, but smiles genuinely and beckons her forward. “Don’t worry about it. What are you looking for?”
She walks up to the counter with an easy, laid-back stride, and how the hell is the way she walks hot? Dina has some kind of problem. Her next words, however, are like a gift from the heavens: “It might be kind of specific, so… sorry in advance.” She scratches the back of her head and smiles, a little sheepish and completely unaware of the way she may have just made Dina’s day.
Dina’s eyes and her smile both widen, and she leans over the counter to stare deeply at her. “You have no idea how happy I am to hear that. Tell me more, ah...” She tilts her head in a silent question.
“Ellie,” she supplies with a grin and a nod. She seems to relax a little, shoving her hands in her pockets.
“So what’s the occasion, Ellie?” Dina asks.
“Okay, so-” Ellie explains, waving her hands as she goes- “I work across the street at Bulldog- you know, the tattoo place? One of my friends is having her anniversary next week, it’s their one year, and she was gonna bring her girlfriend to the shop for dinner, and I know that sounds like, super fuckin’ weird, but it’s where they met and they both agreed. Me and the guys were thinking, they’re coming over for dinner and then hanging out a bit, I think? So we were thinking maybe we could do up the shop as a little prank for them when they get there.”
“Prank flowers?” Dina asks, lifting an eyebrow. This was going to be one of the more memorable requests of the month.
“We’re going to turn the place into a fancy restaurant,” Ellie tells her, eyes shining with glee. “Y’know, nice music, a bunch of candles, Manny’s gonna dress up like a waiter, the whole works. We want to do something nice for her. She’s gonna lose it, I can’t wait to see her face.”
“I still don’t see how flowers factor into this,” Dina says.
“Well, we need centerpieces and maybe some nice stuff to put up around.”
The million dollar question- Dina silently prays she’ll say yes as she casually asks, “Do you have any ideas to start with?”
Ellie nods and starts to pull a small notebook out of the back pocket of her loose jeans, laying it between them on the counter. Inside, she’s made a list of flower names and meanings, and a couple tiny but impressive drawings of them, too. Dina inwardly screams with joy. This is more precision that she had ever asked for.
“Cat- that’s my friend, the one who works with me- her favourite colour is orange, and so I was thinking maybe orange carnations, because those mean happiness. Her girlfriend likes blue, so then maybe we could put them with delphinium, because that’s for celebrating and emotions, I think. That’s the one that looks like this, right?” She taps one of the drawings with a finger, one with the letter “K” tattooed on it. It’s a beautiful sketch, and looks exactly like the delphiniums Dina’s been taking dutiful care of for the past few weeks.
“I think they’d look really nice together,” Dina muses, “but there might be a problem with the carnations.”
“What?”
“Orange flowers usually mean hatred.”
“Fuck,” Ellie mutters, dropping her head.
“The meanings are pretty loose, so you might be able to get away with it because it can also mean happiness-”
“No, she’ll definitely notice that, I don’t want to risk it.” Ellie sighs and rubs her forehead. “She’s a nerd, she likes symbolism and shit.”
Dina hums, considering. “Well, if she likes symbolism and shit -” Ellie grins at her sudden casualness- “then why don’t we stick with that instead of limiting ourselves to colour?” Dina nods towards one of the rows of potted flowers. “The delphiniums are a great start, though. I really like those.”
“We spent an hour googling flower meanings in the shop last night, I can’t believe nobody figured that out,” Ellie mumbles, walking over to inspect a bush of white heliotrope flowers. She touches it gingerly- Dina finds herself enamoured with her gentleness, acting like she could break the little flowers if she wasn’t too careful.
“It’s alright. Why don’t we figure some other ideas out, huh?”
“I thought you were closed.” Ellie smirks at her, and oh, she’s hot now. It takes a minute for Dina’s brain to come back online, but she grins back, pulls out the two stools that she and Jesse reserve for breaks, and waves her over.
“I think we can make an exception.”
“So obviously, red roses are the classic choice,” Dina starts.
“But?” Ellie grins. From this close, Dina can make out the black-and-white skull on her neck. The sprouting sections at the top, she realizes, are various symmetrical shelf mushrooms. Weird choice, but it definitely suits her , she thinks to herself. She’s got freckles, too, flecked all over her skin, and a sweet, handsome kind of face.
“They’re kind of boring.”
“So what would you suggest instead?” Ellie actually sounds excited, leaning forward to speak. Dina hasn’t had a customer like this in a while- it’s a great change.
Dina considers it for a moment. “People are all looking for flowers that mean love for this kind of stuff, but why don’t we go with something a little different? You said Cat would appreciate the symbolism. It’s an anniversary, which means…”
“They’re… in love?” Ellie shrugs.
“Yeah, but let’s think deeper here. It means they’re loyal ,” Dina explains, leaning forward and taking the notebook from Ellie’s hand- her left one reads “call” across her knuckles, and Dina wonders why. “You’ve got some good ideas here for a newbie. These drawings are amazing, too.”
“Thanks.” Ellie looks away as she smiles. “Kind of comes with the profession.”
“You do lots of flowers?” Dina asks, amused.
“You have no idea,” Ellie groans. “I could draw roses in my sleep.”
“No roses, got it,” Dina jokes. “Actually, I was thinking of one you don’t have written here.”
“Oh, what?” Her eyes widen and she perks up.
“We could use orange sunflowers,” Dina suggests. “It’s like the only orange flower that isn’t a betrayal, a declaration of hatred or a straight-up death omen. They mean loyalty.”
“Jesus, Cat,” Ellie mutters, “you couldn’t have a worse favourite colour, could you?”
Dina giggles. “They’ll probably still be nice with the delphiniums, too, so we can keep those.”
“Oh, awesome, that was my dad’s idea.”
“You asked your dad for help with your friend’s anniversary bouquets?”
“He likes to garden sometimes,” Ellie defends. “He’s like the only flower guy I know. He recommended this place, said his brother owns it.”
“ Flower guy ,” Dina muses. “Not a florist?” Ellie groans and puts her head in her hands.
“I’m trying, okay?”
“Well, now you know another guy. For flowers, of course,” she teases. “I’m Dina, by the way. Dina Carvalho.”
“I know, it’s on your nametag.” Fuck. Obviously.
“Right. Okay, so what else?.... We need some filler flowers and some greenery. The sunflowers are gonna be the biggest, so they’ll have to be the main focus.”
“Uh… I don’t know.” Ellie scratches the back of her head, furrowing her brows and looking around. She has a little scar through her right one, like an old scrape or a spot where a piercing grew out.
“Those are pretty,” she says, pointing at the sad little pot of white cyclamen in the corner. One of the least popular choices in the store, Dina has been keeping them alive out of a vaguely concerning amount of love alone.
“I think so too, but unfortunately they mean separation, so they won’t be of much use to us today. It’s a shame cyclamen never get used, I think they’re cute.”
Dina’s watch beeps suddenly, and she looks down at the time in surprise. Twenty minutes past closing? Her boss will kill her if she doesn’t close up on time again, although admittedly her problem is usually with being too early.
“You gotta go?” Ellie asks, looking a little disappointed, and Dina is torn. She can’t stay any longer, she’s already late, but she kind of really wants to keep talking to Ellie. Something about her is just intriguing, and she wants to know more.
She makes the kind of snap decision that Talia is always on her ass about. “Yeah, but are you still free?”
“I don’t have any plans for the night.”
“You should head to Bonus Round with me for a drink.”
“Like- for the flowers?” Ellie stammers. Dina almost backtracks at her panic, but the sight of a striped pink and orange patch (in the shape of the NASA logo?) on her right sleeve is like a sign from the universe, and instead she fires back, leaning in and watching her eyes go wide.
“I was hoping for a date, but I’ll let you decide.”
“Damn, this is actually kind of tough,” Ellie says once they’re settled in, a beer in front of each of them and both poring over her notebook. They’d decided to finish up the bouquets to kick off the night- Dina felt like it could be a good enough icebreaker, but she supposes she’ll see soon enough.
Dina feigns offense. “Oh, so you thought my job is easy?”
Ellie’s eyes widen and she waves her hands furiously. “No! I just meant this is harder than I- I mean- fuck, I’m sorry-”
“Calm down,” Dina laughs, “I’m fucking with you.” Ellie crosses her arms and rolls her eyes, but she’s still smiling.
“You’re terrible,” Ellie mutters. She licks her lips subtly, and Dina catches the quick flash of silver under the bar’s dim reddish light. She has her tongue pierced? Dina mentally files that interesting piece of information away for later.
“We’ve already got some nice contrast with the orange and blue, so let’s get some plain pieces and greens to fill it out,” Dina suggests.
“Right. I have uh, matty-ola here,” Ellie reads off her book. “The white kind is for adoration and beauty, right?”
“I’m almost impressed.”
“Only almost?”
“Well, it’s pronounced matthiola,” Dina supplies, holding back a laugh. “But your guess on the meaning was spot on.”
Ellie curses under her breath, but nods and takes another sip of her drink.
“I think we can fit in one more flower and then we can use some filler pieces too. What else did you bring?”
“I don’t really have much else. The orange thing kind of knocks off half the list, and all the other blue ones are big, sorry.” Ellie offers her an apologetic smile.
“You mean I’ll have to spend more time talking to you? What an absolute nightmare.” Dina grins and takes a sip of her own drink, holding purposeful eye contact. Ellie’s eyes drop to her throat when she swallows in a very satisfying way.
“You’ll just have to put up with me, I guess.” Ellie closes the notebook and slips it back in her pocket, drumming her hands on the table. “So more white, do you think? Or is that too wedding-y now, do we have too much white?”
“I think we’re still in the clear. Give me some ideas of their personalities as a couple. They met at a tattoo parlour, so I’m gonna guess they’re adventurous, right?”
Ellie winces. “I wish I knew a little less about their adventures, to be honest.”
Dina laughs, taken a little off guard. “Wow, okay.”
“Is there a flower that means ‘kinky as fuck?’” Ellie asks, looking almost genuinely curious. The upturned corner of her mouth gives her away, though, and it breaks into a full grin when Dina laughs again.
“I was considering valerian. It means they’re prepared for anything, so… pretty close.”
“Holy shit, there is a kinky flower,” Ellie whispers.
“Get your mind out of the gutter,” Dina scolds her, but Ellie smiles at her anyway. “And finally, we need green.”
“I know a guy for that,” Ellie whispers, looking around furtively.
“Hm, maybe later.” She grins. “So for your flowers, I always like to have a few big pieces of greenery instead of lots of little ones, but that’s just a personal preference. I can think of three options, and I have a favourite, but of course it’s ultimately your choice.”
“Let’s hear 'em.”
Dina counts them off on her fingers. “One: myrtle. It symbolizes love and has long stems with the leaves sticking off it, kind of like your delphiniums. My only problem with it is that it’s also a well-known symbol of marriage, and you really don’t want to make it awkward.”
“Myrtle is out,” Ellie replies immediately.
“Two: ivy. It’s not only a Christmas plant, it symbolizes love, fidelity and affection. It has kind of broad leaves, which I like in an outer trimming, and you have some options on colour here because it can be dark or light. And three: fern.”
“I like ferns,” Ellie nods.
“I can tell, you got one tattooed and everything,” Dina laughs. Ellie’s face reddens a little and she laughs quietly, scratching the back of her neck with that same arm. “So I’d assume I don’t need to tell you the meaning.”
“New life,” Ellie murmurs, staring at her own ferns.
“As well as confidence and uniqueness of character,” Dina adds. Ellie looks surprised, but smiles at her. “It could even be a nice personal touch, coming from you.”
“I think the ferns will be neat with them.”
“Great.”
“Which one was your favourite?” Ellie asks, spinning her beer bottle on the table between her hands. She has nice hands , Dina remarks.
“You picked it.”
“Oh, awesome.” She grins at Dina before frowning. “Wait, fuck, I can’t pay you, we’re outside the store. Sorry.”
Dina had, to be honest, kind of forgotten about this small detail in her excitement to get to know Ellie. She wasn’t about to let this girl go away flowerless or do anything that would make her boss accuse her of stealing, though.
“Don’t worry about it. Come by tomorrow morning, I’ll check you out.”
“Oh, you will, will you?” Now that her job is officially done, Dina wants nothing more than to throw professionalism out the window and fully be able to flirt with this girl.
“Well,” she starts, lowering her voice, “I already was, but I meant for the money. Can you really blame me, though?” She settles a hand on Ellie’s forearm and traces the leaves with her short nails, watching with pride as her pale face flushes a little more than could be blamed on the alcohol.
“So, did you ever make up your mind?” Dina asks innocently.
“About what?” Ellie half-whispers.
“Are we on a date or what?”
It’s Ellie’s turn to look dumbstruck, but she recovers and responds, with only a hint of a blush, “You know, I’d like that. If you’re comfortable with it, of course.” Her tone is genuine and almost surprised, and she gives Dina a small, hopeful smile that makes her heart stop just a little.
“I am very comfortable with that,” Dina murmurs, her hand stilling on Ellie’s arm as she smiles back.
Ellie smiles down at the table and sips her drink. “Then I guess I should get to know you properly.”
They talk for far longer than they should, considering Dina (and Ellie too, she learns) have work early the next morning. Ellie is the same age as her and likes music, comic books and space; she proudly shows off her left arm’s full sleeve of various planets, rockets and constellations and tells Dina about the little references she snuck into it from her favourite sci-fi comic, and Dina greatly enjoys getting to stare shamelessly at her arms once she takes her jacket off fully, leaving her in a loose t-shirt.
She talks about her father and quietly sings her the notes of the tattoo she got in his honour, a few bars of music over the delicate neck of a guitar- her own guitar, made by him, she explains. Her voice is low and a little rough when she talks, but clear and on pitch in song, and Dina finds herself asking more questions in hopes to hear it again and again. She got into tattooing almost by accident- an ex had done her first one (her ferns) and she had become completely enamoured, and with a background in art, it was shockingly easy to get a foot in the door for an apprenticeship. Ellie is a complete dork under all her exterior, and Dina finds her adorable.
As for Dina herself, she tells Ellie about her life; working at the flower shop isn’t her only ambition, and as an engineering student she has some big dreams for the future- namely, getting the hell out of Jackson. She likes to garden too, though, and bake, and in her spare time she loves to read as well. Ellie valiantly tries to argue that this must mean she’s a stuffy nerd who doesn’t appreciate the value of comics, and Dina enjoys seeing the awestruck look on her face as she shuts her down with more obscure X-Men trivia than anyone should know. Ellie seems genuinely interested in everything Dina offers, even the story of her awkward, horribly-planned coming-out at sixteen. It’s a nice feeling, being listened to like this.
“So, do you think you would ever be open to getting a tattoo?” Ellie asks, grinning. “You should come to the shop, we’re pretty good. I could do it for you if you want.”
“You’re just saying that because you want to get your hands on me,” Dina retorts with a smirk of her own.
“And if I am?” Ellie’s face is pink, and while she’s not quite tipsy, the booze is clearly taking effect on her.
“Unfortunately, I’d still have to say no. Tattoos aren’t really considered okay in Judaism, and I’m pretty sure my mom would kill me if she ever found out.”
“Oh. Well, you should come by anyway.” Ellie gestures a lot when she talks, and Dina wonders if it’s a habit or just nerves. She’s already had four close calls on smacking her bottle off the table.
“Why is that?”
She counts her reasons off on her fingers. “Well, you can get a layout so we know where to put the flowers, you can meet the guys, I’d get to talk to you some more…” She shoots Dina a smirk. “Possibilities are endless, really.”
“Tell you what,” Dina laughs, glancing down at her watch, “It’s late. I gotta go.”
“Oh, boo . You’re boring.”
“I was going to give you my number, jackass.” She stands to take her jacket and purse, and Ellie’s eyes follow the line of her arms as she slips them on.
“I take it back,” Ellie replies, raising her hands in surrender.
“So I’ll give you my number, you come by first thing tomorrow to pay and again in a couple days so we can make sure the flowers look good. I’ll go with you on my lunch break, and you can show me around. Sounds good to you?”
“Sounds great. You think that counts as a second date?” She raises her eyebrows, fishing a cracked phone out of the pocket of her jacket. “You can decide this time.”
Dina nods as she puts in her number and saves the contact in the other girl’s phone- her name with a little sunflower emoji beside it. Turning to leave, she catches Ellie still watching her. When she does, Ellie’s face flushes, and she looks to the ground, scratching at the side of her nose.
“I’d love that,” Dina says softly, before opening the door and starting to head home. She smiles all the way to the bus stop.
She even forgets entirely about her cheesecake.