Clover | ✔

Chapter 16: Four Leaf Clover

It had been a long day at work for Evan, and he was glad to be home. Just as he was walking down the hall, he spotted his neighbors standing just outside their door. Jason's mother was an average sized woman with a round face and a pleasant smile. Her dark hair was cut short, brushing her plump cheeks and her eyes were a warm brown color. Unlike her son, she was very polite and generally a lovely woman. Evan often wondered how her son had turned out to be such a pain in the ass.

"Good evening, Mrs. Warren," Evan greeted. The woman smiled at him as she paused in her search for her keys. Behind her, Jason scowled half-heartedly. "Jason, you're here early," he commented. It wasn't quite late enough for the boy to be home, not when he usually insisted that he was fine with going home after dark.

"Oh, Mr. Litton, good evening," the woman said. "Jason wasn't feeling too well, so I had to pick him up from the flower shop," the boy's mother said.

"Oh, that's too bad," he said. When he looked more closely at the boy he could see that he didn't look too good. His face was flushed and he looked tired. It almost made him feel bad for him; almost. "I guess I'll leave you then. Looks like Jason could use some rest." Mrs. Warren smiled and opened the door to her apartment just as Evan dug in his pocket for his own keys.

He was just opening his own door, ready to walk in, when Jason walked back out with a scowl.

"How come you haven't been to the shop?" he asked. Evan had to wonder why Jason cared this time around.

"I've been busy," he said simply, but Jason just rolled his eyes.

"Then why are you here so early? Sascha won't close the shop for a few hours," he pointed out. Evan couldn't believe he was having that conversation with Jason. Again. "Did you piss off Sascha again?" Jason asked.

"Careful, wouldn't want your mom to hear you talking like that, would you?" Evan mocked, ready to walk into his home and shut the door in Jason's face.

"He's all alone, you know," Jason said, and Evan couldn't help but stop and look back at the boy. "Sascha's all alone at the shop. It's kind of sad."

"What happened to Miles?" Evan asked.

"He left to visit his family for the holidays," Jason informed him.

"Well, you'll be back at the shop, so he won't be alone," Evan pointed out. Jason rolled his eyes.

"I'm sick, I'm not gonna go back for a while," he told the man. It looked like he was about to say something else, but was interrupted by his mother calling for him. Evan took the chance to slip into his apartment and shut the door behind him. He heard a muffled curse from Jason, but paid it no mind.

Sascha was alone at the flower shop, and he'd probably be alone for Christmas. The thought made something in him ache. He knew Sascha was probably still upset with him, that he wouldn't want him around, but the idea of the florist sitting all alone in his apartment was just wrong. Sascha deserved more than that.

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It had been an exhausting week for Sascha, and it wasn't just because the shop was busy. Miles had taken off to visit his family for the holidays, so it had just been him and Jason for a couple of days. That is, until the boy had gotten a nasty case of the flu. He'd had to call his mother to pick him up just the previous day because the boy was flushed and his skin was too warm for the florist to let him work. As a result, Sascha had worked the whole day on his own, tending to customers and making arrangements and any large deliveries he would have had Miles make before had to be changed to pick-ups. He still made the smaller ones, mainly because there weren't many, and only if they were nearby.