Sun Upon Dark Clouds

17: Sexy

Flowers—it was assumed that the majority of girls like flowers, whether young girls, teenage ladies, women, or old women. Anyone did not have to search on the internet if every girl liked flowers since it was already assumed. Like Coley, she knew that women like herself liked flowers; also, according to her past relationships, her ex-girlfriends would get super ecstatic whenever she would give them flowers even though they were already withered. It was as if flowers were the key to a woman’s heart.

Though that was when Coley realized that majority did not mean all. Not all women like flowers. Not all women get super ecstatic when given fresh flowers. Flowers were not always the key to a woman’s heart. Ever since Coley came to Peace Town, oddly unique people came to her life—first was an emotionless woman who seemed to not have a heart of a human, second was an ignorant man who strangely liked wasabi and strawberry tarts, and third was a cold woman whose face screamed, “get the hell out of my face, loser.”

“Can I help you?” the woman behind the counter spoke in a cold tone.

The punkish woman was sitting on the stool behind the counter with a music magazine in her hands. Her middle-length hair was completely dyed in dark purple. Her ears were fully pierced that there were no more spaces for more piercings. Her light brown eyes had black eyeshadow around that made her have smoky eyes. There was a silver ring piercing on her left nostril as well. Since she was wearing a gray tank top with the logo of Linkin Park printed on the front, her tattoos were exposed: a butterfly on her right shoulder, leaves around her right wrist, a dragon all over her left forearm, and a paper plane on the left side of her chest—exactly on top of her heart. As she flipped a page on her magazine, the brunette admired her nails that were polished in black along with her shiny silver rings on her fingers: in her left hand, she had rings on her thumb, middle finger, and ring finger; as for her right hand, she had rings on her index finger, middle finger, and pinky.

“Are you Margo Vaul?” Ghrae asked, making Coley stop checking the seated woman out.

“Why?” the purple-haired woman asked as she raised an eyebrow at the raven.

“We need to know,” Ghrae simply answered.

The purple headed woman placed her magazine on the counter as she placed her arms on the counter and stared at the raven, with an intense gaze. Coley, on the other hand, glanced at the both of them in amusement as if she was watching a live battle between the two impassive women. All she needed was popcorn to enjoy the battle even better.

“I am Margo Vaul,” she said in a cold manner.

“Happy birthday,” Ghrae plainly said as she walked toward her and placed the small purple box on the counter. “Noah asked us to give this to you because he has to go somewhere.”

“Oh?” Margo raised her eyebrows in surprise as she glanced down at the box and back to Ghrae who had a calm facial expression. She did not expect the stranger to greet her a happy birthday when she was literally being hostile to her. “Thanks?”

“We got you a birthday gift too!” Coley grinned as she walked toward them and brought the bouquet of lilies in assorted colors out from her back, which was the gift that she and Ghrae decided to give the birthday girl. “Happy birthday!”

“I literally don’t know you people,” Margo deadpanned as she looked at the brunette with a bored look.

“I’m Coley and she’s Ghrae,” Coley confidently said and gestured on the raven who was roaming around the record shop. “We’re friends with the dude who owns that coffee shop with a long ass name.”

“Okay?” Margo took her magazine as she opened it to completely ignore the existence of the stranger. “You can leave now.”

“Those rings on your hands suit you,” Coley put the bouquet of flowers on the counter as she commented and put her elbow on the counter, leaning her cheek on her palm without taking her eyes off the latter. “But my hands on your hands suit you ever better.”

Margo put her magazine down as she looked straight into the dark eyes of the latter, with a scowl on her face though Coley was not fazed as she just flashed an innocent smile on her face while staring back at her. The brunette was used to women getting annoyed at her with her cheesy lines anyway; though most of the women that she said cheesy lines to get to sleep with her eventually.

“Dude, you are not my type. No matter how much you flirt with me, you won’t get me,” Margo spat at her as she gave her a glare.

“All right, fine,” Coley chuckled as she surrendered her hands into the air. “You look like you’re about to stab my throat with that magazine.”

Margo looked down to her hand that was clenching on her now rolled magazine. She rolled her eyes as she opened her magazine to continue reading again. She assumed that the two women who were currently in her record shop were going to leave and never meet her again anyway, so it did not matter whether she would stay in good terms with the brunette or not. In conclusion, she did not care about their presence unless they were there in the record shop as customers.

“By the way, what’s your favorite flower? I need to know what to get you next time,” the brunette asked as she leaned her face on her palm once again.

“I’m not into flowers. Also, how are you sure that we’ll be meeting again next time?” the hazel-eyed responded with a bored tone.

“Well, I’m Coley. I’ll make sure of it,” Margo raised an eyebrow as she glanced at Coley, who gave her a wink in response.

Suddenly, the sound of a trumpet starting a song began to play from the speakers that were connected to a vinyl record player, overlapping the song that was playing from the speakers on the corners of the ceiling, which made the two women from the counter turn their heads to the direction where the vinyl record player was. Coley threw a glance to Margo as she noticed that the purple-haired woman slightly flinched when the song abruptly played before she turned to see Ghrae who happened to be the one that played the song.

As the brunette left to go to the raven, the purple-haired woman looked away from them as she let out a soft sigh while recalling a certain sweet memory that she had from the song that Ghrae played, which was Frank Sinatra’s “You Make Me Feel So Young”. It was Margo’s favorite song of Frank Sinatra—not only because she loved the flow and vibe of the song, but also because that song held such a precious memory with her favorite person. What made her sigh from hearing that song after a long time was because she had not seen her favorite person in a month.

“Hey,” Coley said with a smile on her face as she stood next to Ghrae who glanced at her and went back to scanning her eyes through the vinyl records in the shelf.

“Hey.”

“You sort of startled purple head back there,” Coley chuckled as she joined the brunette in looking at the vinyl records.

“I did? My bad. I was testing out the quality of their record player,” the raven replied as she pulled the vinyl record of ROSÉ’s debut album, “R”. “The quality is pretty.”

“But you’re prettier,” The brunette leaned on the shelf with her arms crossed across her chest as she stared at the latter with a flirtatious smile on her face.

“I guess,” she responded without taking her eyes off the records that she was looking at.

The smile on Coley’s face widened as she watched her with amusement. Ghrae did not completely reject Coley, which was a good thing. It would not be easy to have her let her guard down and feel butterflies in her stomach, but Coley would not give up. After all, she could see that it would be worth a shot eventually. For some reason, the shorter girl’s poker face looked really cute in her sight.

It was as if it was an instinct as Coley’s hand began to move on its own until it rested on the head of Ghrae. The shorter girl slowly turned to look at her as the taller woman grinned broadly at her like she was patting a little kid. The two of them stared at each other’s eyes in silence as it started to make Coley awkward but as Coley being Coley, she did not want to lose as she continued to pat the shorter woman’s head while wearing an amused grin on her face. On the other hand, Ghrae stared at her with a blank expression on her face that looked like she was planning on murdering the taller woman in her head, which was probably just in Coley’s imagination.

“I’m not a dog, Coley Raku,” Ghrae spoke in a tone that made Coley stop her hand in mid-air.

For some reason, hearing the shorter woman say her full name gave her chills on the spine, especially with the look that Ghrae was giving her that felt like she was shooting daggers even though she literally had a poker face on. At the same time, Coley thought that she was pretty sexy at that moment. Anyway, the brunette decided to take that as a cue to stop patting the raven woman.

“You sound sexy saying my full name,” Coley covered the brief nervousness that she felt with a flirty remark.

“You always think I’m sexy even if I’m just breathing,” Ghrae deadpanned as she continued to cast her eyes over one record to another.

The reply made Coley unable to keep it in as she let out a loud laugh. She was laughing because Ghrae was being brutally honest and observant, knowing that she knew what she was always thinking about her. The raven shook her head as a small smile appeared on her face when she heard how loud the laughter that the brunette just let out over the little remark that she just said.

“I didn’t know you were also a mind reader, Kanori.”

As the song of Frank Sinatra that was playing from the vinyl record player ended, Ghrae went to return the vinyl record back to the box where she found it as she took the record player and went to the counter. Margo was staring at a blank space, spacing out, that Ghrae had to clear her throat to get her attention.

“Oh, sorry,” Margo said as she stood up from her stool and went to the cash register.

“Are you okay?” Ghrae asked as she placed the vinyl record player and the vinyl record of ROSÉ’s album, “R”, on the counter.

“I’m fine,” Margo was back to her usual self as she tapped on the monitor. “That would be 200 dollars.”

“Whoa, you’re actually buying that?” Coley asked as she stood next to the shorter while eyeing the stuff that were on the counter.

“Yup.”

The raven paid for the items as the purple-haired woman expertly packed the record player in a box. After everything, the brunette offered to help as she carried the box for her and they both left the record shop. Before they completely left the shop, Ghrae stopped and turned to Margo who was back to reading her magazine by the counter.

“Hey,” Margo immediately looked up. “Happy birthday.”

And then they left as Margo blinked multiple times in surprise and turned to look at the bouquet of lilies on the side of the counter.