# What If Chapter 6

Chapter 6
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Naser seemed excited at the prospect of reconnecting with his sister. After washing his face, he managed to snag a few minutes away from work, enough to drive Anon back to the neighborhood near Clawfino’s, making sure Anon promised to keep in touch before speeding off in the NasCar 2.0, a slick black mid-engine sports car. Checking his watch, Anon figured he still had a few hours until Lucy’s show would end, having decided that making a scene during her set wasn’t the best idea. Still, plenty of time to finally get some food in his stomach.
As Anon toured around the neighborhood near Lucy’s venue, finishing the last few bites of the sandwich he picked up from a market some blocks away, he wondered what he would say to Lucy. Sure, he and Naser had hashed out what in general to say, as well as what to avoid, but it was the specifics that weighed on Anon’s mind. Would Lucy even give him the time to say his piece, or would she react like she did earlier today at DeVito’s? Anon needed something to break the ice with her, some sort of peace offering, but what? Dusting the last bit of crumbs from his lapels, Anon spied a flower store further down the block. Flowers had never been Lucy’s coup of tea, but people seemed to do this sort of thing in the movies all the time. At any rate, it would give Lucy something to make fun of, besides himself.
Nearing the small store, Anon could see through the window that they were getting ready to close, the two women running the shop cleaning up their emptied-out display shelves. Glancing around, Anon found the name of the store: “Rosa’s Rosas”. She probably thought that was funny, even. Smiling, Anon pushed open the front door, not quite sure what to expect.
“Excuse me, señor, but we are closing now. If you would like to come…back…tomorrow…” Rosa’s words trailed off as she turned to greet her newest customer. Contrary to Reed, the years had treated Rosa well, her femininity only getting more refined with age. A long white apron covered her floral-print dress, not unlike the one she had often worn in high-school, and a matching white bandana kept her long curls away from her face. Her eyes held the same kindness that Anon remembered, although they were currently wide with shock.
“Hey, Rosa, it’s uh, been a while.” Anon’s attempt at small talk fell upon deaf ears as Rosa continued to stare at him, her mouth silently working. “I was hoping you could, um, help me with something? Rosa? Hello?” The moment stretched on, Rosa still unable to do anything but gape at him like a fish. Finally, just as Anon was getting ready to say his awkward goodbyes, Rosa erupted, shouting as she fled into the store’s back room.
“STELLA! VEN RÁPIDO! IT’S AN-ON!” Muffled conversation spilled from the back room behind the store’s counter, an unintelligible stream of Spanish totally beyond Anon’s little vocabulary. Shortly thereafter, Rosa returned, dragging behind her longtime partner in crime. The stego girl was much as Anon remembered, sporting a cringey anime top over ragged jeans, her white apron of mess of plant stains. Mostly is was her hair that changed: Gone were the twin buns that Stella sported in high-school, replaced by an elaborate plait pulled over one shoulder. Like Rosa, her blue eyes stared widely at Anon, herself unable to do more than gawk as Rosa ran over to wrap Anon in a big hug.
“Hey Rosa, it’s good to see you t- OW!” Rosa had broken the hug quickly, moving instead to smack Anon upside the head, her eyes flashing.
“¡Pendejo! Do you know what you did, An-on! You broke that poor girl’s heart! And you come back now?” Rosa punctuated each sentence with another smack, her arms having lost none of their strength as Anon held his hands up to protect himself. Finally, she pulled Anon into another hug, whispering under her breath. “Dios lo perdone…” Anon let the events play out as they were, unable to bring himself to speak in his defense. Whatever he had done in this life, it seemed everyone knew about it.
“Let him go Rosa, I’m sure he’s been through a lot to come back here.” Stella had moved closer in the meantime, wrapping Anon in a hug of her own as Rosa stepped back, wiping an errant tear from one eye. “Anon, I’m so sorry for what happened between you and Fang. I guess my readings back then weren’t very accurate…” A brief flash of sadness darkened Stella’s features as she took a step back, her comments about her tarot readings prompting Rosa to fish her familiar rosary beads out from her pocket. “Still, you must’ve done something these past years! Oh, did you watch this new anime series that came out? It’s called Space-“
“I don’t think An-on came by to talk about that, Stella dear. Come, Anon, sentarse. You must tell us everything!” Rosa pulled Anon gently by the arm towards the counter where two tall stools sat on either side, her and Stella taking their seats with practiced ease. Anon lowered himself gingerly onto the hard stool. This wasn’t at all what he expected when he considered seeing Rosa and Stella again. He figured out from Naser that the news of the other Anon’s and Lucy’s breakup was well known throughout the school by the end, but from Naser’s hurried explanation as he sped through traffic, it seemed that whatever this other Anon had done, it was truly awful. Rosa and Stella weren’t close with Lucy by any means, but for them to be so understanding…
“I’m not sure what I can explain, really, except I’ve come back for Lucy, to apologize for anything I said to her, maybe even everything I said…” Fidgeting with a stray leaf still resting on the counter, Anon’s eyes fell from the gaze of the two women. He hadn’t even done whatever the other Anon had done, and he still felt guilty about it! “But that’s all in the past now. I want to make it up to her, I want her to be happy again, and I think I can do that.”
“Ahh, el amor encuentra un camino…” Rosa blew her nose heavily on a handkerchief pulled from her pocket, and at the same time Stella’s face lit up.
“Ah, I knew this was going to happen! A few days ago, I did another reading, and it was…weird, somehow. I dunno, but the cards were all mixed up. It was like I was doing a reading for someone who wasn’t even there!” Stella’s hands slowly crept up, her elbows held tightly to her sides, assuming the same position she had always adopted whenever she was excited. “Rosa doesn’t want to believe in what I see, but it must be true!”
“Ahh, I do not want to believe it because it is black magic, Stella! An-on must follow his heart, not some cartas paganas!” Stella deflated somewhat at Rosa’s chastisement, but her face still held that familiar beaming look in it. Reaching across the counter, Rosa took Anon’s hand, squeezing it hard around the rosary. “You have to go to her, An-on. Go to Fang and tell her how you feel!”
Smiling, Anon squeezed back briefly, glancing between the two old friends. “That’s actually why I was here. I thought, maybe, if I brought some flowers, or something, she might… I mean, I know Lucy was never one for flowers, but…” Anon’s words trailed off as Rosa and Stella beamed at him. “What? What did I say?”
Wordlessly, Rosa turned to the workbench behind her, where assorted flowers and cuttings littered the steel work surface. Carefully, she selected one long-stemmed flower, the red blossom looking somewhat familiar to Anon. Holding it out to him, Rosa smiled, tears shimmering in her eyes.
“Middlemist Red Camelias, An-on. You show her this, and she will understand.” Stella blew her nose loudly, reduced to a blubbering mess on the other side of the counter.
Anon accepted the flower carefully, twirling it between his fingers slowly as he moved towards the door. “Rosa, Stella, I can’t thank you both enough for this. I don’t know how to…”
“Oh, just go, you pendejo! Before you make Stella cry more!” Stella was indeed weeping now, her face a mixture of emotions too complex for Anon to decipher at first glance. With a final wave back to the two women, Anon pushed himself back into the cold night, the shop bell ringing merrily as he exited. He could see thick clouds starting to form overhead, intent on making good on the weather forecast’s promise of rain. Hold his flower close to his body with both hands, Anon set off on the final leg of his journey: Clawfino’s.
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He hoped Lucy would understand.