The Flowers

“There she is,” remarked Shannon, a 6’4” guy with sandy blonde hair.

“Who?” asked Francher?

“Misty,” he responded with a smile, opening the Freshman director to page 12. “The girl laying in the hay with those gorgeous eyes.”

“Oh, her. Well, why don’t you just go introduce yourself,” Francher encouraged him.

“It’ll have to be just perfect,” Shannon mused with the wheels turning in his head.

Francher more confused than ever asked, “What’ll have to be perfect?”

“Our meeting,” stated Shannon as they heard the announcement for the freshman to report to the chapel.

Mrs. Brewer, the Dean of Students, gave the freshman class her notorious “Welcome to Union” speech. She then said, “We’re going to divide you up into teams in order for you to get to know one another as well as some healthy competition.” Shannon’s mind really got to working when he heard these words.

After they were dismissed from the chapel, Shannon found the nearest phone and called home.

“Mom!” Shannon said excitedly.

“Yes,” answered his mother a little more calmly, wondering why Shannon was so excited.

“Would you call the flower shop and order a bouquet of flowers to be delivered to Misty Self at Hurt Complex here on campus?” asked Shannon.

“Who’s Misty?” inquired his mother with some concern in her voice.

“The most beautiful girl I the world,” answered Shannon with a smile on his face. “Thanks, Mom. See ya for supper. I gotta go.” He had spotted Chad, the upperclassman that was one of Misty’s team leaders.
“Hey, Chad,” Shannon called.

“Hey, Shannon. Are you enjoying Freshman Orientation so far?” asked Chad.

“I’d be enjoying it more if I could be on your team,” stated Shannon.

“You’ve got great team leaders. Kevin’s one of my frat brothers. He’s really cool,” replied Chad.

“That’s not my concern. She’s my concern,” Shannon said showing Misty’s picture to Chad.

Laughing Chad said, “I’ll see what I can do for you. Just meet us in Room 57C at 9:00 in the morning.”

“Okay! Thanks, Chad. I owe you one,” said Shannon. He was grinning ear to ear. He had heard from his high school friends how lame their boyfriends were. He wasn’t going to be one of them. “Misty is going to be swept off her feet,” Shannon said to himself.

After breakfast the next morning, my roommates, Jama and Tracy, and I went to the Commons to watch some TV. While we were watching TV, a flower delivery was made. A few minutes later, we heard, “Misty Self, you have a delivery at the office.”

I looked at my roommates with shock on my face. “Who sent me flowers?” I asked rhetorically as I walked around to the office.

“I am Misty Self. You said I had a delivery,” I said.

“Here you go,” replied the upperclassman working in the office.

I opened the card which stated, “To the most beautiful Unionite ever.”

Jama asked, “Who sent ‘em?”

“I don’t know,” I began. “There’s no signature. Let me take them to the room and then it’ll be time to go.”

As I walked back to the room, I had mixed feelings. I had never gotten flowers before, so it was nice. I also felt uneasy, because I didn’t know who sent them. I thought to myself, “It couldn’t be Tim. He would have said something else. Who could it be? I don’t remember giving my last name to any of the guys I’ve met? I don’t remember any of them acting like they were interested in me. Oh, well, I’ll find out soon enough.”

I caught up with my roommates and headed to C hall were their teams were meeting. As we were parting to go to our separate rooms, Tracy said, “Wait on us before you head back to the dorm. It could be some sicko.”

“Alright, I’ll wait in the cafeteria for ya’ll,” I replied.

As I entered my team’s room, I looked around the room to see if I could remember everyone’s names. Then I noticed a new guy in the room. He had pretty brown eyes and sandy blonde hair. He looked like a big teddy bear. Chad later introduced him as Shannon.

As the day progress, I kept noticing that Shannon was always trying to be next to me, on my team when we divided up, and generally just talking to me. Some of the team members decided to eat lunch together, so I decided to mention the flowers.

After we had been sitting at the table for a while, there was a lull in the conversation, so I said, “I had the oddest thing happen this morning.”

Sissy asked, “What?”

“Someone sent me a beautiful bouquet of flowers, but the card wasn’t signed,” I replied watching the look on Shannon’s face.

His face became very flushed, and he began to focus more on his food. I took notice of his reactions. I had a good idea then about who sent me the flowers. I noticed my roommates were in the cafeteria, so I when over to them.

“Hey, guys. Ya’ll don’t have to wait on me this evening. I think I figured our who sent me the flowers.”

In unison, Jama and Tracy asked, “Who?”

Misty slyly pointed at Shannon replying with a “Him.”

“Oh, he’s cure,” the roommates chorused.

“See ya’ll later,” Misty called.

As my teammates and I were walking to our designated meeting place, I said, “Shannon, the flowers are beautiful. Thank you.”

Shannon was shocked. Thinking to himself, “She likes me. How did she figure it out?” Finally finding his voice, he said, “You’re welcome.”

That afternoon, I really began to take notice of Shannon. He was giving me his undivided attention. He was opening doors for me, everything. “This guy is a gem. I could marry him,” I thought to myself.

I feel uneasy when I first received the flowers. Now I will enjoy the flowers because I know who sent them.

998 words.