For the first time in a long time, Flora Molina felt like she could actually breathe. Getting all her emotions out and confiding in Luke a couple of days ago really helped take a weight off her shoulders that she didn't even realize was slowly crushing her. Her talk with Luke was better than any therapy session her dad had used to force her to attend. Maybe it was because he was someone her own age, or maybe because he could relate on some level the pain she was feeling.

Alex had told her that he had been visiting his parents without telling anyone, and while she wished she could be there for him, she understood why he'd want to keep something like that private. It must be hard for him, especially since they were on bad terms when he died. But like Flora, he chose to bottle up all those feelings and pretend like everything was okay. Only expressing himself through his music, the way she only expressed herself through her art. She and Luke Patterson were more alike than she originally thought.

"Hey, Flo!"

Speaking of Mr. Patterson.

"Hey! What's up?" She put down her homework and sat up to focus on Luke as he fully phased through the door.

"Me and the guys were wondering if you had any pictures from last night? You know, from your art show? We really wanna see." He bit his lip, looking at her hopefully. She was a little surprised by the request, but nevertheless, she nodded and got up from her spot on her bed to get her laptop on her desk.

"Yeah, tons. Dad took a lot of pictures before he left and he sent them over to me. April's dads also sent me some photos he took."

"Cool. I'm gonna go get the guys. Brb." He vanished from her room and Flora stood there stunned at his use of the abbreviation.

She pulled up the photos on her laptop, sitting on her bed and waiting for the guys. She didn't have to wait long as they appeared right in front of her a minute later.

"Hey, Flora!" Reggie plopped down in the spot right next to her, arm briefly passing through hers and sending a chill through her body. "Julie's coming too. We stopped by her room."

"Oh..y-you guys didn't need to do tha-"

"Yes, we did," Luke stated firmly, staring right at her. "It was our fault she missed your show and didn't get to see your beautiful paintings." He stressed the word "beautiful", making sure she noticed the compliment.

Reggie looked between Luke and Flora with a frown, but didn't have time to question their suddenly close relationship as Julie came into the room.

"Hey!" She strolled in, stopping short when she looked around the room. "Uh...where are all your paintings?"

Alex and Reggie looked up at the girl's words, having not noticed the lack of art when they showed up. Flora gulped as all their eyes landed on her, all of them looking at her in confusion except for Luke who just looked concerned. He seemed to notice her panicked expression as they locked eyes because he decided to speak up.

"Uh, she took them all to school, right?" Flora hesitantly nodded along with his lie, hoping she looked convincing enough.

"Yup! Mrs. Bloom really likes my paintings and wanted to hang some in her home." She let out a small sigh of relief as the others nodded and seemed to believe her.

"Oh, That's nice of her." Reggie smiles at her, the others nodding along.

"Yeah, that's probably a big compliment. She must have years of art training, right?" Alex asks, smiling at her as well.

"Uh, y-yeah...So do you guys wanna see the photos or..."

"Oh! Right, yes, please!" Julie took the spot on the other side of her sister, the others crowding around her to see the screen.

"Okay, so this one was when I sold my first painting. Dad asked the poor woman to take a picture with me, but they were really nice about it." She pointed to the picture of her standing awkwardly with the painting's buyer, causing the others to laugh at the image.

"Girl, you look like you're in pain!" Alex shook his head as he kept laughing, the others saying words of agreement in between laughs.

"That's because I was! It was so humiliating. None of the other parents made their kid do this!"

"Aww, Dad just got excited, that's all." Julie nudged her shoulder with a teasing grin.

"Yeah...speaking of exciting, you have to tell me all about your gig, later," She said, looking at all of them, getting bright smiles in return.

"Oh, definitely. Hey, maybe we can play you the song too?" Reggie asked, looking at his bandmates who all nodded eagerly.

"I would love to hear it, guys." She then clicked on the next photo which David Miyamoto took. It showed April and Eugene energetically talking to a buyer as Flora stood awkwardly in the background with a pained smile on her face.

"God, do you look awkward in all of these?" Alex asked incredulously.

"Yeah.....pretty much."

"Surprise!"

Flora barely had time to brace herself as April came barreling into her to give her a hug. Flora should've been used to it since this was usually how April greeted her when she showed up at the Molina home unannounced.

"Dear Jesus." Flora wiggled out of her friend's grasp and stepped back to notice the large suitcase still sitting on the front steps. "Uh, what's with that?" She pointed curiously to sparkly, plastic monstrosity.

"Glad you asked!" She dragged the suitcase and turned it to the front to show the words 'April's Beautification Kit' in big bold letters. "It's makeover time!"

"Hell no." Flo tried turning her friend around and back out the door, but she put up a fight.

"Hell yes!" She smirked when Flo gave up and stopped trying to push her. "C'mon this is gonna be so fun!"

"Ugh, fine. But why are we doing this?" She crossed her arms, looking at her friend suspiciously.

"Uh, for fun. Duh." April responded like it was obvious, luckily being a much better liar than her best friend.

"Fun for you maybe," Flora mumbles under her breath. April ignored her as she grabbed her arm and pulled her up the stairs, struggling to drag the huge suitcase behind her as well.

"Uh, you need some help?"

"Excuse you, I am an independent woman......but yes." She sighs in relief when Flora lifts the suitcase from the other end.

Once inside Flora's room, April didn't hesitate to rip open the suitcase and bring out her large assortment of makeup, hair products, and perfume. The painter watched as she set up everything on her desk, which was much clearer since her mental breakdown a few days ago. If April took note of the lack of art in her room, she thankfully didn't say anything.

"Okay, sit!" The dancer commanded, standing behind Flora's desk chair eagerly. "C'mon, we got a lot of work to do."

"Uh, rude." Flora scrunched her nose at the slight insult, but still sat down as she was told. However, as she looked into the mirror, she realized her friend was right. The nicely styled hair she had for the art showcase was long gone, and she had a bit of an acne breakout from the makeup she wore that night since her skin wasn't used to it. "Okay, nevermind. I see what you mean."

"Don't worry, sis. This is what makeup is for," Ape said as she looked through the foundations to find one that matched Flora.

"But makeup is what caused this in the first place." Flora gestured to her face with a pout.

"Oh, honey. You forgot to put on primer, didn't you?" April shook her head sadly at Flora's image in the mirror.

"Maybe...okay yeah, but I didn't have any! I wasn't gonna buy some just for one night. If I'd known you'd completely ambush me, then maybe I would've." She crossed her arms, ignoring her best friend's judgmental stare.

"Well, you're lucky I have plenty to spare." She took the spray primer and turned to Flora with a determined look. "Close your eyes."

Flora barely had time to close her eyes before her face was attacked by the mist. She didn't hold her breath, however, so she went into a coughing fit that made April stop and wince.

"Oops, my bad."

"Yeah, no shit."

"Are you done yet?"

Flora sat impatiently in her chair as April finished up the last touches to her makeup over. Her makeup is done and now her hair almost is too. April took away the mirror when they started so Flo wouldn't see what she looked like until the end, and the girl was starting to get restless. She knew April would never make her look awful, but she was still filled with nerves from not knowing what she looked like.

"If you ask me that one more time, I'll burn you with this curling iron," April said semi-jokingly, glaring at the back of her friend's head.

"Okay, fine." Flora huffed and rolled her eyes, but didn't move her head in fear of being burned.

"And......done!" April turned off the curling iron and set it aside before stepping back to admire her work. "Wow. I am good."

Flora took a deep breath before looking into the mirror April had handed to her. Her eyes went wide and she gasped at her reflection. The way she looked now was nothing compared to how she looked the night of the showcase. That night, she had looked nice, but right now she looked stunning. Her mouth hung open as her eyes flickered from her face to her hair. What was usually a tangled mess of curls was now tamed, soft and loose curls, pinned back with her sunflower clip.

"April...wow...I-I don't know what to say." Her eyes looked back and forth between her best friend and her own reflection. "Uh, t-thank you, I guess."

"Oh, trust me, it was my pleasure." April snatched the mirror away and dragged Flora out of the chair and over to the closet. "Okay, now pick something cute," April commanded, Flora doing as she was told without complaint since she knew there was no arguing with April when it comes to this stuff.

It took forever. Every outfit that Flora thought was cute, April turned down. Flora felt like giving up when April's eyes lit up as she spotted a cute dress in the closet.

"Omg! This is super cute. How did I not know you had it? I've been through your closet, like, dozens of times." The dress she held up was just a bit past knee-length, flowy, and a pale blue color.

"Oh, I passed by a cute thrift store the other day and saw it in the window." She took it and held it up to herself as she looked in the mirror, smiling at the way it complimented her makeup.

"I think you should wear it. It'll be perfect for-" April cut herself off by slapping a hand over her mouth.

"Perfect for what?"

"Uhhh...the makeover! It'll look perfect for...the makeover." She sighed in relief when Flo seemed to believe her lie.

"Yeah, I think so too. Now turn around so I can get changed."

"Dude, it's nothing I haven't seen before," April said with a smirk, rolling her eyes but still turning around.

"Thank you for the unnecessary comment about your sex life," Flora mumbled before getting changed into the blue dress. When she was done she tapped April on the shoulder and showed off the finished look. "So? What do you think?" She did a little twirl, smiling at how the dress flowed when she did it.

"Damn, girl. You look good! You're welcome, by the way." She gave herself a little pat on the back, laughing when Flora rolled her eyes.

"Yeah yeah, thank you. I don't know why you decided to give me a makeover, but I gotta admit it was kinda fun." She went to look at herself some more in the mirror, oblivious to April hurriedly texting someone in the background. "Well, this was fun, but I think I should take this off n-"

"NO!!!" April hastily put down her phone and rushed to her friend's side. "No, you can't yet!"

Flora blinked in surprise at the urgency in Ape's voice, but nodded nevertheless. She was a little suspicious of her friend's motives since she's never randomly come over to give her a makeover before. She didn't have time to dwell on it as she heard a frantic knock on the door.

"Coming!" Before she could even reach the door, Julie came rushing into the room with a worried look on her face. "Woah, what going on? Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." Julie waved away her sister's questioning, but still looked at her with a serious expression. "But we have a big problem."

"Okay...calm down. What is it?" She furrowed her eyebrows when Julie hesitated to respond, nervously wringing her hands together.

"Well...you see...your flowers, they're-"

Julie didn't even get to finish her sentence before Flora was sprinting out of the room and towards the garage. She put so much time and care into her plants, so if something were wrong with them, she'd be heartbroken.

When she got to the garage, she was out of breath, having never ran so fast in her entire life. She flung the doors open but stopped short at the sight that waited for her. There, in the middle of the room, a large picnic blanket was spread out, with pillows and a basket sitting on top of it. The lights had also been turned off, with twinkling fairy lights hanging instead. There was also a big white sheet hanging on one wall, with a projector facing it. One glance at her plants let her know they were fine, so she was left standing in the garage wondering what the heck was going on.

"Do you like it?"

Flora spun around to find Reggie had appeared behind her suddenly. He looked at her with a shy smile and hands behind his back, waiting to hear her reaction.

"I...I don't understand what's happening. Reg, what is all of this?" she asked, gesturing to the picnic that was set up.

"Well, if you must know, Flo..." he trailed off and started laughing, "Ha! That rhymed!"

"Reg...my question...." Flora cracked a smile of her own as she shook her head at her scatter-brained friend.

"Right! Uh...well, I...We all felt really bad about missing your art show, so we wanted to make it up to you."

She looked from him to around the room with an awestruck expression on her face, stunned from knowing it was all for her.

"But...but why-"

"Because we care about you, Flora." He stepped closer to her and pulled out a bouquet of begonias from behind his back. "Because I care about you."

She was at a loss for words as she gently took the bouquet from his grasp, internally screaming over the fact he remembered they were her favorite.

"You remembered." She held the flowers to her chest, smiling brightly at the bass player.

"Of course! And thanks to Luke, I know your favorite foods, too." He poofed over to the picnic basket and opened it up to reveal her five favorite foods. "Mozzarella sticks, empanadas, stuffed mushrooms, pumpkin soup, and sushi, right?"

Her mouth hung open, stunned at the effort Reggie and the others had put into making her feel better. She practically skipped over to the picnic blanket when Reggie motioned her over and she smiled excitedly down at all the food.

"Reg, this is incredible! But wait...you can't eat, though." She frowned at her realization, but Reggie just waved it off.

"Yeah, but it doesn't matter. This is about you, not me."

"Reg, this is amazing. You're amazing. Thank you. How did you do all of this?" She looked around the garage, still in awe at the wonderful surprise.

"Teamwork! Luke found out your favorite foods, Julie and Alex went to get your flowers from a shop because we didn't want to mess up yours, and April distracted you with the makeover so we could set everything up. By the way, y-you look...beautiful." She went to speak when she stopped short, noticing his panicked expression. "Uh, n-not that you don't always look beautiful! You just look different. Not a bad different! Just...you...ugh." He shakes his head and buries his head in his hands, giving up.

"Reg, it's okay. I get what you meant. Thank you." She tried to hide her laughter as she gave him a reassuring look once he looked up at her words. He didn't say anything back as he nodded and smiled shyly back. They sat in comfortable silence, Flora snacking on some sushi, until Reggie's eyes lit up and he sprang up from his seat.

"Oh! I almost forgot. April also told me your favorite movies. Which one should we watch?" He picked up a stack of movies, setting them down on the picnic blanket in front of her as he sat down.

Her eyes widened as she looked through the large selection of movies, not realizing her best friend pays enough attention to something as simple as her favorite movies. She'd often go over to April's house for movie nights, so she must've kept track of all the ones she really liked.

She stopped looking through the movies as she landed on one that made her face light up with a bright smile. She happily showed it off to Reggie who took it from her hands, inspecting it with a curious look. He looked between Flora, who was practically bouncing in her seat from excitement, and the movie in his hand.

"What the heck is Mamma Mia!?"

Reggie stared in awe at Flora who was prancing around the garage, belting out the lyrics to an ABBA song. It was like he was seeing a whole new side of her. Sure, he's had the pleasure of seeing her laugh and smile many times, but he's never seen her look so carefree before. He felt a smile creep on his face as he came to the realization that she felt comfortable enough around him to let loose and be herself.

He was also left speechless from her singing. For someone who's made it clear they're not very into music, she has the voice of an angel. When the song ended and she turned to him with a bright smile, tilting her head when she found him already staring at her and not the screen, he decided that her voice was his favorite sound.

"Hey, Reg." He snapped out of his thoughts when she sat directly in front of him, still smiling widely. "You like the movie so far?"

"Yeah. It's...well it's a little confusing, actually. Which one is her real dad?"

"Well, that's the problem. No one knows! Donna had sex with all of them roughly around the same time, so it can be any of them."

Reggie nodded his head slowly, trying to process the bizarre plot of the movie. She laughed at his still confused expression, moving to sit right next to him. She tried to ignore the slight chill that went through her arm when it passed through his as she reached for another mozzarella stick. She frowned when she realized there were only a few left.

Flora stuffed a couple mozzarella sticks in her mouth before freezing when she felt eyes on her. She turned to Reggie who had started staring at her again and frowned slightly, thinking he was judging her for her eating habits.

"Why didn't you tell us you could sing like that?"

The question had been bothering him since he heard her sing the first few notes of the first song. He understood that she was a pretty shy person and probably wouldn't want to share her talents with complete strangers, but he didn't think that even the people closest to her knew she could sing.

"I don't know. It just never came up, I guess. It's not something I like sharing. I don't even think my family knows I can sing. I've only sung with the Miyamotos during karaoke." She shrugged and stared intently back at the movie, hoping he'd drop the subject and move on.

"But you're really good, Flo." His eyes lit up with an idea and he fully turned to her, "You should join the band!"

"No!" She sighed when she noticed his smile had disappeared and mentally cursed herself for raising her voice at possibly the sweetest person she knew. "Sorry, but no. Mom tried for years to get me to pick up an instrument or sing even one note, but it didn't work. I'm just...not a performer. Not like Julie."

"Hey, it's okay. You don't have to be like anyone else. You're already pretty cool." He tried reassuring her, but he frowned when she didn't look back at him.

"I know, but let's be honest. She's so much cooler than me. I mean...everyone loves her! Okay, maybe not Carrie, but that's about it. She's insanely talented, and I know one day she'll be some big star who wins tons of awards and goes on tour and stuff and...I'll just be here." She wipes away a tear she didn't even realize had escaped her eye before turning to Reggie with a pout. "Gosh, I'm sorry. You put so much effort into making this night special and I'm just ruining it by being...well...myself."

"No. Trust me, you're not ruining anything. I actually like it when you talk to me about your problems. Which is weird because I also hate it when you're sad." He cracked a smile when Flo laughed a bit, glancing at him briefly to give him a thankful smile.

"Yeah, well, I like talking to you too. It's weird, I've only known you for a few weeks, but it feels like I've known you for years," she admitted, turning to face him fully. The movie and the picnic and the twinkling lights were forgotten as the two smiled at each other, Reggie reaching forward instinctively to hold her hand and the both of them smiling sadly when it passed through.

"Not holding your hand sucks."

a/n: wow a chapter that i don't totally hate???? insane. i've been really busy this past week getting ready to go back to school, and i still have a lot to do, but i decided to take a break and write some flora & reggie fluff. i did proofread this chapter, but it's about 5am where i am, so expect there to still be mistakes. i should really be asleep since i have an appointment tomorrow, but i wanted to publish this first. hope yall like it and please let me know what you think! alrighty byeeeee!!!!