It started with roses. A dozen to be exact. I was entering my senior year in high school and it was the 2nd week of school. I was in a really boring History class when my name was called to the office. I was a very good student so everyone looked at me "Awww Elizabeth is in trouble!"... Stupid kid stuff. So I went after class and spoke to the office staff. She said I had flowers delivered. What I said? There they were, the most beautiful dozen roses I have ever seen. At first I made sure the name was right, there were three other Elizabeth's in the the school after all.. but sure enough they said my name. I opened the card and it had a beautiful poem about how lovely I was. There was no signature, just "Your Secret Admirer". I was dumbfounded. Ok, so I had a boyfriend but we "just" got back together from a 4 month break up and he was not the type of person to say I was lovely or send me flowers for the matter. I knew they weren't from him. I left my flowers there to be picked up at the end of the school day. I had my sister Lori hold them while I drove home for school. She was so jealous but wanted to know who they came from, as did I. I went home and my mom said "WOW who are those from, Ben?"
note: That was my boyfriend at the time
I told her I wasn't sure. I called him and played cool... I asked him about his day and waited for him to suggest that I might have gotten something today. No such luck. I left it at that because he was very jealous of anything. Keep in mind I didn't find myself to be an attractive person so I was completely dumbfounded who would be sending me flowers. Maybe someone I dated briefly over the summer?
Well the flowers looked great on my mom's kitchen table. The week went on and nothing on the secret admirer. I actually forgot about it until the next Monday. Again, it was History class and my name was called to the office. Weird I thought but went again. There they were, another dozen roses but this time they had purple flowers in them too. Very pretty. I didn't even ask if they were mine, I just assumed and opened the card with my name on it. Another poem about me. Very sweet, kinda gave me chills. No signature at all this time. Bizarre. The office staffed looked at me and asked who they were from, the same person as last week? I told them I wasn't sure because there wasn't a name on it. How romantic one of them said. I agree.. but still puzzled me.
This time my dad said something. He wanted to know who this boy was and he wanted to know now. I lied and said they were from Ben.. he hated Ben and just left it at that. So now I had two dozen roses on my mom's kitchen table and they looked wonderful. I felt so good about myself but couldn't say why... I didn't DO anything to get these flowers.. but every girl loves flowers and this was the first time in my life someone had sent me flowers.
I made another call to Ben and asked him the same questions as last week and still nothing. At least now I knew they weren't from him because he couldn't keep a secret and his dumb ass didn't have a j-o-b so how did he pay for some very expensive arrangements?
I told my mom the truth and she became worried. She said what if someone is "stalking" you? A child predator? Please I am 17 about to turn 18 in a few months, I think I can handle it (youth talking). She called the flower shop where the roses came from and they said "Sorry, this account is coded confidential and we can't release any names, beside this person paid in cash and we don't have a record". Pissed off my mom left it at that.
So the next week comes and guess what? I get called to the office again during History. This time the girls in my class asked if I am sending the flowers to myself. What?! Girls are so caddy. Right I am going to spend $60-$100 on weekly flower arrangements. I have a job at the local Meijer but I'm just a bagger and make minimum wage. I have a car payment and cell phone so my paychecks go towards that. I don't have much spending money and if I did I would buy highlights or something needed than flowers!
I get to the office and there they were. This time white and red roses. So pretty. No note this time, just my name on the front of the card. Did he forget?
I get home that night and my mom is furious. She called the flower shop again and demanded a name. She spoke to 3 different people, threatened to come down there before someone would give her a name. Turns out this person placed the order this morning and he used a credit card. His name is Eric Stevens. My mom gets off the phone and asks me who Eric Stevens is. I looked puzzled and said I didn't know. Honestly, I had no clue. Still puzzled, I went to work that night and tried to find out if anyone knew who this person was.
I chatted up my supervisor and asked if there was anyone that worked in our department named Eric Stevens. She said yes, and I must have gotten white because she asked me why and what's wrong? I said nothing, but asked if she could point out who this person was. She did and there he was. Standing on lane 19 was a gorgeous dark haired, dark eyed man. No way I said, and she said yeah... that's him.. and why do you want to know? What's going on? I got pink and told her the story... she was smitten just as much as I was. I swore her to keep her mouth shut.. I didn't want the whole department finding out... rumors spread like wildfire there and I still had a boyfriend, remember?
I went home and told my mom that I found out who Eric was. She wanted to know who this boy was so she made me point him out when we went grocery shopping. She was impressed to say the least (I told you he is gorgeous). She seemed ok with the idea but wanted to make sure he wasn't some crazy or something. Who sends flowers to a girl he doesn't even know? Any why?
Like I said, I was a bag girl. It sucked but I did get paid for it. I was working a Saturday night and was assigned to Eric's lane. At first I was scared, what would he say to me. Honestly, I don't ever remember talking to him before. In fact, he didn't talk to anyone there... But I thought that he doesn't know that I know so it should be fine, actually, it might be interesting to see what he does.
We worked together for a few hours. He didn't say much and when he did it was work related. But I did notice he looked at me a lot. Not like looking at someone just to look, but he looked into me and tried to study me. Kinda like he was undressing me with his eyes (later I find out that is what he was doing). So a pretty boring night to say the least. But I did find out that he had perfect teeth, a nice butt, and he was a pre-med student at OSU. SCORE.
That Monday came and I sat in History class waiting on my name to be called. It never was. I was kinda bummed but thought well maybe the flower truck was running late? I waited all day and nothing. My sister met me by my locker as always and was sad to see I didn't have any flowers. Maybe he ran out of money she said, or maybe he forgot it was Monday, no.. the flower shop goofed and they will come tomorrow. Right I thought, I knew what is was... he "met" me on Saturday and he decided I wasn't the catch he thought I was and decided to drop it. Ugh.. Wait, what am I doing... I have a boyfriend... duh...
So my week went on crazy busy like all. I was a full time student, swam for the school swim team, and had a part-time job. I basically didn't get anytime for myself so my weeks went pretty fast. It was a Thursday, I believe... I was trained on register for the first time since I would be turning 18 soon. It was pretty neat and I was excited that I wouldn't have to push carts in the snow this year. Another week went by. It was a Saturday night again and I was getting ready to leave. I was on my way to the cash office to drop off my til when I ran into Eric coming out of the office. He stopped, looked at me, smiled and asked if I liked the flowers. I almost dropped my til! I said... uhhh yea.. I love them... thank you... and I ran inside the office. I was so embarrassed. I couldn't even talk to him. He walked away and that was the last time I saw him or talked to him for the next month.
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