The Art of Being a Gentleman

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

DAVID HAD ARRIVED AT the mindset that he wasn't going to let these past weeks of practice go to waste. If Ricky thought that he had been improving so far, and if he was serious about getting with Alyssa... he had to be serious at being more gentleman-like.

However this decision put him in a position he had honestly pictured himself in before – standing with Ricky Santos in a flower shop.

"David, focus please," Ricky waved his hand in front of David's face to get his attention.

"Hm?" he blinked, looking away from the worker who was arranging a ridiculously huge bouquet on the counter top a few feet away. "Sorry, continue."

"You need to remember this, okay? It's important. Each flower has its own special meaning, and girls are going to know exactly what you're saying depending on which flower you give them. So you need to know what you're saying."

David's brows pulled together, "Why can't I just tell her what I want to say to her, and then give her any flower I want?"

"Because it doesn't work that way! I'm not doing this to be difficult, it's been this way for centuries. Read Shakespeare and you'll see."

"I like Shakespeare," David said easily, lifting a flower petal with his pointer finger as he examined it.

If only David had been looking, he would have seen the priceless reaction on Ricky's face: a mixture of complete shock and amazement. He was dumbfounded for a few seconds, wondering why he hadn't been told about this critical piece of information before. "Really?" he blinked a few times. "I hadn't thought that you would..."

"Yeah I watched that new Macbeth movie the other day... I had no idea what was going on for half of it, but it was intense, man. Really well put together. The fight scenes were great. Honestly, so good."

The stopper was pulled, and the admiration drained from Ricky's face as he watched David move on to the next group of flowers. He almost laughed, giving his head a shake, "Right."

              "Anyway," David turned around, "Wouldn't it be easiest to just get a rose and call it a day?"

              Wordlessly, Ricky led David over to the section of the shop that was dedicated to roses, and watched as David's eyes widened at the huge selection. He had never seen so many colors of roses in his life. Maybe he was uneducated, but he actually didn't know that a rose was anything other than red.

              "That depends on what you want to say," Ricky said smugly, gesturing to the wall. "White is innocence, and lavender is love at first sight. Or maybe you're going for sympathy and want a coral rose. It's up to you, buddy."

              "Fine," he grumbled. "Let's learn me some flower stuff."

              Ricky did his best to squish all the information into a short crash course and David appreciated that. (He didn't understand it, but he appreciated it.) He bobbed his head in all the right places, and pretended to look thoughtful or surprised when he thought that he should. But in all honesty, even if he memorized everything Ricky said about the colors and meanings, he still couldn't tell the difference between a chrysanthemum and a carnation.

              Flowers were not his thing.

              "That about sums it up," Ricky finished a few minutes later. "Why don't you give it a go? Pick out some flowers that you'd give to Alyssa."

              The shop was massive and had every flower one could possibly think of. David had no idea where to start, but he wanted Ricky to know he was trying... so he moved to the opposite end of the store and put on a big show of examining the flowers and pretending like he had even the slightest clue what he was doing.