Flower and Vine

Part One

Chapter One: New Boy in Town

“Can I get two scoops of cookie dough please?” A little girl looked up at me from behind the glass with wide brown eyes. I smiled and began scooping ice cream into a cone while the father chuckled next to his daughter.

“Better make that one scoop or Mommy will be upset when you don’t eat all of your dinner later.” He said to the little girl. She pouted next to him and crossed her arms in defiance but luckily didn’t argue any further. I finished scooping the little girl’s ice cream and handed it to her, she snatched it out of my hand and immediately began devouring it.

“That will be $4.00 please,” I said. The father handed me a 5 and I gave him his change, sighing with relief when they exited the shop. It was the last weekend before my Senior year of high school started, and I was ready to be done working my summer job at the ice cream shop. Luckily today was my last day and I was already half way through my six hour shift.

Don’t get me wrong, working at a small town ice cream shop isn’t terrible, just a little boring. Avery is a small town in coastal Virginia along the James River, while my town received some tourists, most of the action was on the other side of the river. Just across the river from Avery is the original Jamestown Settlement, Colonial Williamsburg VA, and Busch Gardens, an amusement park. I sighed again thinking about how fun it would probably be to work at a place like Busch Gardens, but quickly snapped back to attention when the cowbell above the door rang.

“Welcome to Cow Jumped Over the Moon Creamery, let me know if you’d like to try any samples.” I said to the boy that had just walked in. Dang, this guy was cute, I couldn’t help but eye him up as he walked to the counter. He was tall with shoulder length black hair and dark, stormy eyes, almost black, and an adorably crooked nose. What stood out the most was how tired he looked, though; he was sporting dark circles under his eyes. He came to a stop in front of the ice cream case, his eyes quickly roamed over my face before dropping down to look at the flavors. This, in my opinion, was the most awkward part of the job, standing there waiting for the customers to make a choice. I crossed my legs and twisted back and forth gently, waiting.

“Do you have any recommendations?” He asked. That accent. His eyes flicked up to meet mine once more and he held my gaze. It was hard to tell exactly where his accent was from, but it had a vaguely Eastern European sound to it. He must have been over in Jamestown and ended up on the wrong ferry.

“My personal favorite is the peanut butter moose tracks, but I think cookies and cream is the most popular.” I said. He nodded in response, looking over the ice creams once more.

“I believe I’ll try the moose tracks you recommend, surely a beautiful girl would not steer me wrong.” He finally said after a few moments with a crooked smile. I felt heat creeping up my neck and into my face, queue swooning.

“Um, certainly,” I stuttered and fumbled with the scooper. Get it together Elisabeth. “How many scoops would you like?” He held up two fingers in response and smirked. What? Could he tell what he was doing to me? I finished scooping his ice cream without incident and met him over at the register. As I handed him his cone our fingers brushed and I swore I felt a zap of electricity, like when I accidentally brushed up against an electric fence on my cousin’s farm. “Whoa, uh, $7.00 please.” I yanked my hand away and used the other to retrieve the card he was holding out to me. “Sorry about that, static shock.” I mumbled.

He hummed to himself after taking his card back and then turned on his heel and sauntered out the door. “I will see you around Luminita.” Is what I thought I heard him say on his way out. But I must have been hearing things. Either way I kind of doubted I’d see a foreigner around after the summer.

I was so relieved when I made it home around 8 o’ clock. My feet were feeling sore after standing for most of the day and walking home from work, I felt deserving of a bath.

“Hi Mom, Hi Dad.” I said as I passed by them in the living room. “I’m going to head upstairs and take a bath.”

“Okay, Elisabeth.” Mom replied with a smile and went back to watching her show. I bounded up the steps and made my way to my room where I found my black cat Nyx waiting for me on my bed. I gave her head a scratch and grabbed my pajamas before heading for the bathroom for a very relaxing bubble bath.

When I came back to my room the air smelled different, as if the window had been open, and in place of Nyx was a photo of two people on my bed. Odd, where did this come from? The man and woman looked vaguely familiar, perhaps because when I turned to look in the mirror it was their features I saw. My eyebrows shot up in confusion. I had always known I was adopted and that the couple downstairs were not my biological parents, so then were these folks in the photo my parents?

The couple in the photo were dancing and looking deeply into each other’s eyes. My dark auburn hair and hazel eyes were the same as the man’s while the loose curls in my hair, nose and facial structure reminiscent of the woman’s. I flipped over the photo looking for any clues and there were names and a date written in elaborate cursive. Vladimir and Ileana Vieru, November 2000, a few years before I was born.

“This is so weird.” I mumbled to myself. Not sure what else to do, I slipped the photo into my underwear drawer for safe keeping. Maybe I’d bring it up with my parents, but I needed time to process this first.

I pushed any thoughts of the photo out of my mind and crawled into bed to read some more of Hamlet in preparation for AP Lit coming up this semester. Soon after I drifted off to sleep and dreamt of storm dark blue eyes, blood, and pale hands reaching out for me.

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A few days later it was the day before school started. I began my day with a light breakfast and a jog around town before it got too hot. My route took me down along the James River for a bit before returning to town, but this morning I paused for a breather next to the river. To the east the sun was still hanging low, turning the sky bright oranges, pinks, and reds, the air hazy from humidity. I squatted next to the water and trailed my fingers through the coolness of it, releasing a deep exhale.

I couldn’t get the picture I’d found on my bed out of my mind. I highly doubt my parents had left it there. They’ve always been open about my adoption story. They were traveling through Austria and Hungary after my Mom completed her Masters degree, there had been news of a fire in a nearby town where the only survivor was, well, me. I had no other relatives to take me in and somehow my parents ended up adopting me and bringing me back to the States. But there was no denying that I was related to the couple in that photo. I was a ghost of them.

I grumbled and smacked the surface of the water, no use in ruminating about it. There was only one way to get answers. I stood and started my jog back into town, turning down Oak Street. Here the street was lined with Scarlet and Live Oaks, casting a wide canopy which shaded and cooled me as I ran. Where Oak intersected with Church Street was one of my favorite houses in town; an old victorian mini mansion that had been built in the 1920’s. The Riker Family had been bootleggers during Prohibition and amassed quite an amount of wealth, unfortunately they lost it all in the Great Depression. It had been many things since then. A family home, apartments, even a dentist office. Now the house had been sitting empty since the late 90’s.

Today, however, when I ran by the house it was freshly painted an olive green and it appeared the windows had been replaced too. I was excited to see a historic house finally getting a facelift. I thought I saw someone walk past one of the windows just before it was out of view. Was a person actually living there? I kept on jogging, pushing myself into a sprint the final bit, I loved letting loose and running full speed. I was one of the fastest members on both the Cross Country and Track teams after all.

I paused outside the house for a few minutes catching my breath, when I checked my watch it was still only 7:30, plenty of time to relax before my best friend Gigi and I were supposed to meet. We had a tradition of going clothes shopping together the day before school starts, this typically involved going into Williamsburg, Norfolk, or Newport News so we make a day of it.

I took a quick shower and was just coming into the kitchen to grab a small snack when I heard a knock at the door, stopping me in my tracks. “There’s no way that’s Gigi.” I said to myself with a frown. She wasn’t picking me up for another two hours, and both of my parents were at work so it’s not like they were expecting anyone. I approached the door tentatively and opened it to reveal the cute European guy from the ice cream shop a few days before.

“Hello, Luminita.” his tenor voice rumbled. Before I could say anything he pushed his way past me into the house, looking all around him. “What a quaint place this is.”

“What the, who the hell are you?” I exclaimed. “And who is Luminita?” I crossed my arms across my chest and stayed close by the door as an exit. Meanwhile weirdo was poking around the kitchen shaking his head in disappointment. “I’m Daniel Florescu, and you are Luminita of course.” He said with a chuckle. “Americans.” Did he expect me to know who he was? I’ve never heard of this guy, ever. He stopped to lean against the kitchen counter in a relaxed pose and I watched as his eyes started at my feet and slowly roved up my body to my face, locking gazes with mine.

His gaze was hot, it felt like his eyes were devouring me. “Should I know you?” I finally asked a little too breathy. I cleared my throat, “I’d like it if you left please.” He cocked an eyebrow in confusion and then stepped towards me.

“You don’t know anything about me?” He was standing so close I could smell him now, musky and earthy. “Surely your parents have mentioned my family’s name at least?” I shook my head no. “This certainly complicates things.” He said to himself.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, and again, please leave.” I opened the door wide for emphasis this time. “I’d rather not have to call the police, which is where my Dad happens to work. So scoot.” I gestured for the door again. “I don’t even want to know how you found where I live because yes, I do remember seeing you at my work.” Daniel scoffed and rolled his eyes causing me to narrow mine at him.

“I’ll have you know I saw you run by the house I’m staying in this morning.” He sniffed.

“So you followed me here?” I asked incredulously, my jaw dropping a little. Daniel sighed in what seemed to be resignation and walked for the door.

“I will leave but we still have much to discuss, you are far too in the dark of the situation. We’ll have plenty of time to catch up however, since I’ve enrolled in the high school. Who knows, maybe we will have some classes together.” He flashed a smile revealing his perfect, white teeth. So fast I didn’t even realize it was happening, he raised one of my hands to his mouth and gently brushed his lips across my knuckles. “Until next time, Luminita.” And then Daniel strode off the front porch and down the street without another glance in my direction.

“My name is Elisabeth!” I yelled at his back and shut the door.

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“Doon’t stop believing, hold on to that feeeeliing,” Gigi was belting out, rather unpleasantly, along to Don’t Stop Believing by Journey as we drove along Route 10 heading home. Gigi was a rockstar on the saxophone but not blessed with a singing voice. A fact she knew very well.

“Oh my God, Gigi, make it stop.” I covered my ears and laughed.

“What? You don’t think I’m a good singer?” She pouted but I could see the playful smile underneath it all. “Hehe, anyway, are you excited for our last year of high school to start tomorrow?” She asked changing the subject. Her copper pixie hair swirled in the wind of the open windows of the car and the sun reflected in her sunglasses. The epitome of summer, coming to an end. So many afternoons this past summer had been spent with the two of us driving around together. Music blasting, hair blowing in the wind, the summer sun beating down on our arms; the memories were sweet, but who knew where we would be this time next year?

“Of course I’m excited! After this year we’ll finally be able to get out of Avery and onto bigger things.” I said with a smile. “Although…” I trailed off remembering that Daniel the weirdo mentioned he was going to be at school. That could be awkward.

“What is it?” Gigi asked swinging her gaze from the road to meet mine momentarily.

“Remember that really hot guy I saw at work that I told you about?” She nodded. “Well, he showed up at my house today after my run being all, ‘what a quaint hovel you live in, my name is Daniel and there are some things we need to discuss. And don’t worry, we’ll have plenty of time because I’ll be going to school with you.’ I don’t know dude, he was being super weird.” I said.

“What the hell? Who is this guy?”

“All I know is his name is Daniel Florescu and he’s a creeper. He followed me to my house after he saw me on my run.”

“There are a lot of warning bells going off in my head right now.” Gigi said, her eyebrows shooting up. “I think you should stay way from him, and if he comes at you, you know I’ve got your back.” She reached over and patted my knee. “I’ll roundhouse him.” She added with a laugh.

“This is why you’re my best friend.” I laughed with her. “Enough of my weirdo boy problems, did you ever ask Marisol out at the end of band camp?” I waggled my eyebrows at her. She had had a crush on Marisol ever since they ended up partners on a chemistry project last year, and when Mari herself came out it sealed the deal for Gigi.

“Maybe.” She blushed. “Okay, yes. I asked her at the band picnic on Saturday! I can’t believe it. Mom already met her too, and she loves her.” Gigi grinned.

“I’m so happy for you! You guys are going to make an adorable couple.” I gave her shoulder a light punch as Dua Lipa’s Levitating started up on the radio and soon both of us were singing along with it. The sun was beginning to set in front of us, officially bringing the summer to a close and painting the sky behind big, fluffy clouds. here…