You're Hot and You're Cold

"I'm not a bro," I said, mostly because I couldn't think of anything else to say.

"Ah, whatever," he said, grinning. "Look, Lyla. Lovely Lyla. I need your help, friend."

"Even if I wanted to, I can't do anything," I said. "The till isn't working."

He tugged his wallet out of his damp jeans. "I will literally give you everything in my wallet right now, which is... uh... twenty-five dollars, a Hokey Pokey stamp card that needs two more stamps, and a condom."

"That's not really—"

"I will give you twenty-five dollars, my Hokey Pokey card, a condom, and a promise!" he declared.

I twisted my mouth to keep from smiling again. "A promise of what?"

"Uh..." He thought for a moment. "To bring you more money tomorrow?"

"Yeah, that's not gonna work."

"But—"

"Besides," I continued, glancing out the window. "Anything I sell you is going to get destroyed the second you open the door. Flowers don't do well in the wind."

He opened his mouth, then closed it and nodded slowly. "Shit. You're right, bro."

"Sorry. Bro."

He snickered once, a dry little laugh, but the sparkling playfulness on his face faded as he sighed.

"This is probably it, then." His voice could have been mistaken for matter-of-fact if it wasn't quite so resigned.

I wanted that to be it and for Aaron to get out of my store, but that downhearted undertone pricked at my leathery heart. I struggled for a moment, telling myself to just let him leave, that it wasn't my problem, that flowers weren't the solution and that ended my involvement in Aaron's life... but he just looked so sad.

"Well, maybe not," I said. "Maybe you can get her something else. Or, I dunno, do something for her."

He shook his head, laughing that dry laugh again.

"She's really into gifts," he said. "Flowers are the sure-fire thing. I used to get her chocolate but she's doing that keto thing right now and last time I brought a carb into her house, she nearly chopped my balls off."

"Okay, well, even girls who like gifts like it when you do things for them," I said. "Like, there's gotta be something you don't usually do that she'd appreciate, or something she enjoys that you don't, right?"

Aaron stared at me for a moment, then smirked and leaned forward.

"You mean like a sex thing?" he whispered.

I recoiled, my nose scrunching as I gaped at him. "What? No! I was thinking like going shopping with her or giving her a foot rub or something."

He bit his lip, grinning and trying not to laugh any harder than he already was.

"I dunno, it sounded like you were suggesting some kind of sex thing and like, I'm all for it, don't get me wrong, but—"

"Ugh," I said, shaking my head. "Men."

"What?!" he replied, dissolving into another fit of laughter. "C'mon, you had to know what I'd think."

"No, I didn't," I said stiffly. "Because one, I don't even know you, and two, if you can actually think of a sex thing she likes that you aren't doing regularly, maybe there's a reason she's breaking up with you."

He stopped laughing, his eyes widening a bit.

"Whoa," he said. "That was extra harsh, bro."

I was a bit worried I'd offended him, but we were apparently still bros, so I figured it was okay.

"Well, it's true," I said. "I mean, obviously there's limits and you shouldn't do anything you really don't want to, but I'm just saying like... I dunno. Is there something you immediately thought of that fit that description?"

He twisted his lips to the side, then nodded.

"Yeah, totally," he admitted. "But I... ugh. I don't think it'll help. I mean, I tried it a couple times and she said I was shit at it so it was like, why bother, you know? And now I don't even want to do it so like... I don't think that'll work."

It's none of my business, I told myself. It doesn't matter what he's referring to, I'm not Mrs. McGrady, I don't need to know every little thing about every...

"What is it?" I blurted.

Aaron's large brown eyes studied me as he seemed to unconsciously run his tongue over his lower lip.

"You're gonna judge me," he said. "I already can tell."

"Just tell me," I said grumpily.

He sighed. "Eating pussy."

"What?!"

His head tilted back. "Look, I just... I was a little weirded out by it and I'd never done it before I was with Larissa, and she said she wanted it a couple times when we first started... you know, fucking, and it took a bit but I finally tried it, all right?"

"Uh, all right."

"I did!" he said. "And she was like... I dunno, it wasn't good. She wasn't enjoying it, I wasn't enjoying it, it was just a fucking mess, okay?"

"Why didn't you watch porn or something? Like, you could've—"

"Don't," he said, his face more serious than it had been the whole time. "It wasn't... no one likes to be told they suck at stuff. I could do other shit to make her come, so I did that instead and we just... I'm not eating her pussy, not even if it'll get her to not break up with me. It might get her to break up with me even harder, bro."

He chuckled at the end, but I could tell Aaron was pretty hurt by the whole thing. The corners of his mouth twitched as he tried to maintain a smile.

"Anyway," he said. "I should go. Gotta think of something else to do. Guessing probably all the stores are out of power."

He straightened up, a puddle of water remaining on the counter as he turned away. My shrunken little heart throbbed again, and I glanced down at my phone. It was nearly seven, which was when Owen said I could leave, and while the storm had settled, it was still pouring rain.

"Did you drive here?" I asked as he started walking away.

Aaron looked back at me. "Uh, yeah."

I glanced up at him, then grabbed the notebook we used to let the next shift know about anything.

"Twenty-five bucks and a ride home, and I'll give you one of the big apology bouquets," I said.

His face lit up. "Seriously?!"

I nodded begrudgingly, jotting a note down in the book so Owen would know I'd cover the remaining twenty-two dollars when the till was working again. "Yeah. You can keep your Hokey Pokey card and the condom. Does she have a favourite colour?"

He tried to hug me but seeing as his shirt was still dripping, I backed away.

The arrangement I made for him was gorgeous. It was one of the best bouquets I'd ever made, and I was slightly annoyed Owen wasn't around to see it. Thinking of Owen made me sad again, and I finished tying the bouquet sullenly.

"She's gonna love it," Aaron said as I wrapped the flowers.

"She better," I grumbled. "They're fucking gorgeous."

He grinned, and that time I wasn't fast enough to avoid a liquidy side-hug. "Compliments to the... what's the flower version of a chef?"

I snorted. "A florist."

He thought for a moment. "Oh! Like The Enchanted—"

"Yeah. Right in the name." I handed him the bouquet. "Let me text my boss and grab my stuff, then we can go."

I darted into the back to grab the sweaty shirt I'd left in the bathroom, then contemplated what to say to Owen as I stared down at my phone. It didn't really matter, since he was probably still preoccupied. I mean, he likely didn't even remember what he'd said to me on the phone.

7 pm. No power. Going home. I typed. After a moment, I glared at the screen and the mean streak came out. BTW as happy as I am that you're finally getting laid, next time you're mid-sex with someone plz make sure you hang up the phone before continuing, you fucking bastard.

I grimaced. The last part was a little harsh. I deleted the part about him being a bastard and tried again, hoping it was a bit more light-hearted.

Or maybe don't answer your phone mid-sex, that'd be cool too, otherwise I'll contact HR. PS I'm promoting myself to HR and HR says I'm getting a raise. See u tomorrow perv.

That was as nice as it was going to get. Sighing, I tucked my phone in my pocket, told myself my eyes were stinging because they were strained in the dark, then took a breath and walked back to the front of the store.

Aaron was standing near the door with his back to me, the bouquet in one hand and the other hand pressed to his ear. He was talking quietly, though his voice was stuttered as though he couldn't speak more than a few words at a time.

"Larissa, please," he was saying as I walked up. "C'mon, let's just..."

He listened for a moment.

"Can we talk about it or... I honest to God thought it was next week, I'm sor... it's in my phone, swear to God, I had it down on the twenty-eighth and..."

His silence stretched a bit longer that time.

"Right now?" he finally said. "But... c'mon, don't do this... baby? Larissa? Hello?"

When he finally lowered the phone, he didn't turn around, and I had no idea if he knew I was behind him. Swallowing, I debated pretending like I'd just walked up, then decided against it.

"Are you okay?" I asked.

He snorted softly.

"Yeah." He paused, then turned around, his face somber. "Well, no. Can I return the flowers? I'll still give you a ride home and you can keep the cash, I just... I don't need the flowers."

I nodded, reaching for the bouquet. "I'm sorry. You can have your money back, though."

He passed the bouquet to me. "It was a long shot. Just wish she hadn't felt the need to rub it in."

"What did she do?" I asked as I unwrapped them.

"You know Derrick Anderson?"

"The guy with the weird car and the really crappy lawn?"

"Yeah. She's fuckin' him."

I nearly dropped the bouquet, looking up in shock. The flatness of Aaron's voice didn't match a sentence like that, and it certainly didn't match the hurt he was trying to cover on his face.

"Derrick Anderson?" I asked.

He nodded. "She wants a guy who's more mature, she said."

I stared at him for a moment, then burst out laughing.

"So she picked Derrick Anderson?"

Aaron fought back a smile. "Apparently."

"Wow," I said. "I think you dodged a bullet."

He leaned on the counter again as I flattened the wrapping. "I liked her."

"Did you love her?"

He shrugged.

"That probably means no," I said.

"Yeah, probably."

"What did you forget?" I asked.

"You heard that?"

I nodded.

He smiled sadly. "An anniversary."

"Oh."

"Of the first time she introduced me to her parents."

I raised my eyebrows.

"Which did not go well," he finished, then started laughing. "Her dad did not like me."

Putting the rest of the wrapping away, I turned to put the flowers in one of the water buckets, then looked back at him.

"So she broke up with you because you had the date wrong of the anniversary of meeting her parents, who didn't like you, and now she's going to fuck Derrick Anderson, who wears a wife-beater everywhere and is usually drunk at two in the afternoon?"

"You really don't like Derrick Anderson, eh?"

I rolled my eyes. "Mrs. McGrady bitches about him all the time. She really hates his lawn."

Aaron laughed and nodded. "Well, yeah, that's the gist of it. But she's not going to fuck Derrick Anderson, she was fucking him."

"Like, earlier?"

"No. Right now. She was in the process of sitting on his dick."

My mouth dropped open.

"That's what she called to tell me," he said.

"What a bitch," I blurted, aghast.

He shrugged again, not looking at me. "Yeah. So I just got to listen to her start fucking him, then she hung up, which was... a blessing, I guess."

I had no idea how to respond. What does a person even say to that? What kind of person even does that? I didn't know much about Aaron, and I guessed he probably wasn't a big overachiever or anything, but that shouldn't have mattered. No one deserved to be treated so maliciously.

And what were the fucking chances? What kind of day was it where suddenly everyone was getting fucked while on the phone? Maybe Larissa and Owen would get along.

"I'm glad she called before you left," I said angrily. "This is the nicest bouquet I've ever made. She doesn't deserve it."

Aaron smiled. "You're right. Just sucks, you know?"

"I know," I said, turning to him. "You deserve better, though. Like, no offense, but you're better off without someone like that in your life."

"Thanks, Lyla."

He looked and sounded so sad that I didn't know what to do. I wasn't especially good at comforting people, or offering advice, or even just listening when people needed to talk. Frankly, I was the last person in the world people should go to when they were upset. Aaron didn't have much of an option, though, so I shifted uncomfortably.

"I mean, this isn't quite the same thing, but I heard my bo—uh, the guy I like, I mean—having sex over the phone today."

Aaron looked up, eyebrows raised. "What?"

"Not on purpose," I said hurriedly. "I mean, it was... he forgot to hang up. But he was definitely, um... I just mean, I kind of understand, sort of? Not really, but like... a little bit."

"The guy you like, eh?" he said. "Does he know you like him?"

I shook my head. "He's so oblivious that whoever he was with was probably sitting on his dick before he even realized she liked him."

"How'd you handle it?" he asked.

"I cried," I said bluntly. "Then you came in."

He winced. "Yikes. So that just happened."

It was my turn to shrug.

"He'll figure it out," Aaron said encouragingly. "Or you'll find someone else."

"Yeah," I said, though I wasn't convinced. "You will, too."

"I know. Hopefully someone a little less..."

"Crazy?"

"I seem to attract crazy," he said. "Maybe I'm the problem."

"Maybe you should get over whatever's stopping you from eating pussy," I said. "Give yourself an edge, open up some more prospects."

He laughed, surprised. "Yeah? You think so?"

"Of course I think so," I said haughtily. "Girls like that too, you know."

"I don't even know what I'm doing," he said.

I rolled my eyes. "So fucking learn. It's not that hard."

"You volunteering to teach me?"

My mouth dropped open. I waited for Aaron to say he was joking, but he was biting his lip and studying me with bright eyes.

"Are you serious?"

"Why not?" he said, shrugging. "You've had a shitty day, I've had a shitty day, the power's out..."

I was going to turn him down. Of course I was going to turn him down. I wasn't going to teach Aaron Mulch how to eat pussy just because it was my suggestion that he learn. I mean, I barely knew him. And I was at work. But wouldn't it kind of be fair for me to do something like this at work after having to listen to Owen fuck someone over the phone? And Aaron was attractive. And it might get my mind off Owen, who clearly had moved on from me even though he'd never been mine in the first place. And it had been a while.

He jumped a bit when I started forward, marching decisively to the front door. The front window was full of plants that needed sunlight, so the view into the store was nearly blocked. The street was deserted, but I still pulled the shade over the door before locking it, then turned back to him.

"You better be a quick learner," I said.

His eyes were wide with eager disbelief. "Here?"

"Yes, here," I said grumpily. "Is that a problem?"

He shook his head and I walked back to him, grabbed the front of his still-damp shirt, and kissed him.

His lips were softer than I expected, and quite a bit colder. I hadn't realized how chilled Aaron must have been, standing there in wet clothes in the relative coolness of the store. He hadn't complained about it once, and only made mention of it when he touched the back of my neck and I shivered.

"Sorry," he murmured, pulling his hand back.

I reached up and took his hand. "Might as well try to warm up before you get further down."

He nipped gently at my lip. "Is that lesson one?"

I smirked, biting his lower lip in return. "Yep. No cold hands."

Of course, since I made that the first lesson, I had to find a way to warm Aaron's hands up. His hands were much bigger than mine, so it took both my hands to envelope his left one. Aaron was a problem solver, though, and he slipped his right hand beneath my shirt and made me jump as his fingers traced along my stomach and up to my ribs.

I almost protested when his hand worked its way between my breasts and slipped under the cup of my bra. Not because I didn't want him to touch me, but because the iciness of his fingers was almost more than I could handle on my nipple. I gasped softly as he tweaked it, his lips flicking up as my nipple crinkled beneath his touch, hardening almost painfully at the same time a current of pleasure ran through me.

He worked his other hand out from between mine, a mischievous glint in his eyes.

"I think this is more efficient," he whispered against my lips, slipping his other hand beneath my shirt.

I couldn't argue; after the initial shock, his hands started to warm up quite nicely. He moved his hand away from my breast only to unhook my bra, then both of them were cupping me and caressing me as his tongue slipped into my mouth.

He was really good with his hands. I bit back a moan as he lavished attention on my breasts, the tips of his fingers tracing spots I didn't even know were sensitive until he touched them. It was encouraging: if his hands were that good on my breasts, maybe there was hope for his mouth in other places.

I thought there likely was. His lips savoured mine, capturing my breath over and over again as he touched my body. When his tongue darted between my lips again, I couldn't help the soft noise I made, and Aaron responded with a low groan of his own.

"I think they're warm enough," I finally whispered as he tweaked my nipples again.

"Oh, awesome," he said.

Before I knew what was happening, he had withdrawn his hands from my shirt and lifted it up. He dipped forward, his mouth latching onto one of my nipples without so much as a warning, and that time I couldn't hold my moan back.

His mouth was far warmer than his hands were. The sudden change in sensation paired with the way his tongue swirled around my nipple made me shiver. An arm wrapped around my waist, pulling my body close to his as he worked his mouth on my breasts. Each little ministration of his tongue made fire run through my body, my knees weakening until I had to rest my arms heavily on Aaron's shoulders. I gasped for breath, the scent of the flowers surrounding us in the front of the shop making me as dizzy as his mouth was. He didn't stop kissing my breasts until I moaned again, moving his mouth up to mine as his hands moved to the button of my jeans.

"I thought I was supposed to be teaching you how to eat pussy," I whispered.

"Mmm, but if I get you turned on first, I have a bit of an advantage," he replied. "And I need all the help I can get."

"I don't know how much I believe that," I gasped as his hand slipped past the waistband of my panties. "Your mouth is pretty—oh..."

One thick finger was quickly warming up as it worked its way along my slit, brushing against my clit after collecting the wetness that was pooling in my panties. Aaron grinned and dipped it between my folds again, teasing my dripping entrance by just barely pushing his finger inside me. I looked up at him and glared.

"You're trying to distract me," I said.

"Maybe a little," he admitted. "I know I'm okay at this part."

It killed me to grab his hand and stop him, but I did, wrapping my fingers around his wrist. He removed his hand from my panties reluctantly, looking into my eyes almost nervously as he did.

"Okay," he said as if he was trying to boost his confidence. "I can do this."

I pressed my lips together, trying not to laugh. "Worried you won't like it?"

"Honestly?" he said. "No offense, but I... last time, the taste was... weird. Between that and being told I sucked at it, I'm... nervous."

I couldn't do much about his lack of confidence, but I could handle the first concern easily. I looked up at Aaron and guided his hand up to my lips. He stared at me as I licked his fingers, then took them in my mouth.