Page 51 of Poetry of Flowers

“You’re getting soft with that girl by your side, brother,” I teased him.

A laugh came from the other end of the line. “Soft and loved, settling down is fun, you should try that too in a few years. Maybe with a girl who likes the color red.”

“I gotta go. Bye Nash.”

“Love you, bro, and call me some time to let me know you’re still breathing.”

I let out a scoff, “Yeah, sure.”

Putting my phone away, I walked over to the stupid redhead who giggled and shrieked so loudly she could pass as a siren.

“Come on, Autumn, next stop is ours.” I took her hand and, at least, she didn’t argue as she stood up. She was totally high, and her eyes were bloodshot.

“KayKay, I completely forgot the time,” she giggled and threw her arms around me.

She was hugging me – alright.

“Could be the weed.” She turned around to the two guys and winked at them, “Thanks for the fantastic time, it was a pleasure to meet you. I have to go because we’re driving to Chicago to find my friend’s real dad. Weird story, he just found out-” I took her by the arm and pulled her with me.

“Hey! I was talking, that’s pretty impolite, my friend,” she whined and rubbed her arm.

“You were telling strangers my secrets, that’s pretty impolite, my friend,” I shot back.

Autumn threw her hands over her mouth, her eyes so wide open they might fall out. “Oops, that wasn’t my intention, it slipped out like butter.”

I hated talking to her when she was high.

“How do you even know? Wait, let me guess, Theo couldn’t keep his mouth shut?”

He knew I didn’t want Tillie to know, but I should have been more careful to word it right and also said, not to tell Autumn because everything she knows, Tillie knows too within an hour.

“He talked like a waterfall as soon as I started kissing his neck, he tasted like citrus. Does he use fruit instead of perfume? It would be weird but make sense for a guy like Theo-”

I placed a hand on each of her shoulders to make her stop talking and look at me.

“Did you tell Tillie?”

Autumn giggled and shook her head.

“Non,mon ami,” she grinned proudly, but her smirk quickly faded “Wait, why aren’t I allowed to tell her?”

“Because I lied to her, we both know our friend Tillie, sweet empathetic Tillie. She is going through enough right now, and I’m hurt, it would hurt her to find out. So, I told her, we were going to Chicago to celebrate her birthday, and we will, but I’m also going to find my biological father. Got it?”

Her brown eyes ran all over my face, confusion written all over her own. After a moment, she seemed to process the information and nodded slowly. “We’re going to Chicago to celebrate Tillie’s birthday, got it.”

I gave her a small smile and pressed a kiss on her hair. “Thank you, Autumn, now tell me how high you are?”

The smirk returned on her pink lips, “Oh that... Well, I’m enjoying myself.”

I nodded, “Yeah, I can see that, but why?”

“Because it makes my head free, it chases all the negative thoughts away from me like dogs chase pigeons in the park.”

“You shouldn’t enjoy it too much.”

“Mmh, yeah, but it helps. There are people who get weed prescriptions from their doctors, so it must be pretty healthy. It also makes me look extremely stylish.”

“Sure, because addiction is so healthy and aesthetic,” I growled.

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