Evelyn hurried in to see Marie at the counter and John saying something and pointing to the door she was walking in through.
“The boss is back. She’s who you want to talk to,” John said.
Marie turned to her and Evelyn could tell the red haired girl looked quite worried. “I kept asking Mark where he kept getting the beautiful flowers from, and he was refusing to tell me. Just today at lunch he told me they came from your shop and that you’d been giving him all the dating advice.”
Was the girl jealous? She hadn’t seemed like the jealous type from the way Mark described her and what Evelyn had seen watching from her windows.
The girl paused, as if waiting for Evelyn to say something. “Is there an issue with our flowers or advice?” Evelyn asked into the silent air.
“Oh. No!” Marie exclaimed with vigor. “I just wanted to tell you that the flowers were gorgeous. I - I really like them and, well, I’m really happy Mark is finally asking me on a date.” She twiddled her thumbs and looked down at her fingers. “I honestly started to think maybe he didn’t like me.”
Romance was like two trees in a forest who may or may not ever touch. If she hadn’t intervened, it sounded like this ship wouldn’t have ever sailed. “You could have directly asked him his feelings, or told him you like him and would like him to ask you out.”
Marie stared at her with wide eyes and then her cheeks flushed the color of a pink rose. She looked down at her clasped hands. “I couldn’t have. It’s improper for a lady to say anything. What if he disliked me for saying something? Men don’t like improper women.”
For a moment Evelyn thought about telling the girl that any man who felt that way about women had no right to date, but Evelyn held her tongue to the roof of her mouth. She needed to convince this girl gently. “Do you think the worst that can happen is the man dislikes you?” Evelyn decided to start with what the girl said previously.
Marie twiddled her thumbs together as she thought about it. “That might not be the worst thing. It’s definitely worse than just rejection. I think the worst thing would be if he expressed dislike and then went and told everyone around town what an impertinent woman you were. One’s social life would be ruined.”
Evelyn nodded along. Normal fears for a teenage girl, though societal rejection was much more of a concern in this world than in her previous world. “Let’s break down your fears into the after effects. Rejection. What happens after a guy tells you no, he’s not interested?”
Marie was silent with her eyes pointed at the ground. “I guess one’s dreams of being with that guy would just be over. You’d just have to move on,” she looked up as said this; her eyes searching for Evelyn’s approval.
Evelyn smiled and nodded in affirmation for the girl. “So you have to move on sooner than if you pined after someone who would never have returned the feelings anyway. Now, onto our dislike case. A man says ‘I dislike you now because you are too forward of a woman. A woman shouldn’t hint her feelings.’ Do you think a man who said that ever liked you, or do you think it’s more of an excuse? What happens after that?”
Marie’s eyes went wider than Evelyn had seen them yet as the gears turned in her head. “It seems more like an excuse when you put it that way. And, after that, well, probably the same as rejection except now I’d attempt to avoid him.”
Evelyn nodded along as Marie spoke. “Now onto what you called the worst scenario. The man’s an absolute jerk who feels the need to put others down instead of accepting responsibility for his own actions. He goes around trying to ruin your reputation. What happens next?”
“You can’t get married ever and your life is in ruins,” Marie responded without hesitation.
“Are you sure? Is there not some recompense for you?” Evelyn could lead the girl to a pretty flower, but if one didn’t see beauty, they wouldn’t appreciate it.
Marie went silent again and worked her clasped hands. Her eyebrows narrowed, but she couldn’t seem to think past this idea that if one wasn’t perfect they couldn’t get married.
“Your reputation is supposedly in ruins. You have the freedom to do or say anything at this point. You have friends who have cared about you. You have people who know you. What do you do?” Evelyn gave the young woman some hints.
Marie looked up at her with surprise. “You’re free,” she whispered. Her tongue turning over what Evelyn said. “You tell people what happened, and do your best to convince people that you were just trying to gauge the other person’s feelings. You ask if it is wrong to converse with people. And, as you said, if someone has friends they should come to your aid,” she paused and a smile lit up her face. “That’s it, in all of these situations the person in question should still have other people around them!”
“Yes, as long as they have people who care about them, which most people do unless,” Evelyn paused as her mind went back to the bullying and ostracization of others from social cliques in her previous world. “If you didn’t have friends I would be worried for you in general, and instead of lessons on romance it would be a different set of lessons.” Lessons on making friends for whatever the person's circumstances were. Hopefully she would never be the one trying to help someone with that because she was even less qualified for lessons like that than she was for giving relationship advice.
Marie smiled and nodded. “I have friends. I consider Mark one of those friends.”
“Which leads to the fourth scenario,” this was the scenario Evelyn had discussed with Mark extensively in the past.
“Fourth scenario?” Marie questioned.
“Yup. You are good friends with the person and they reject your romantic approach. What happens?” Evelyn wanted Marie to see Mark’s worries as well as her own.
Marie thought about it. “It could just be the rejection scenario, but what if it causes the other person to feel uncomfortable. What if you lost your friends because of it?” Her voice got quick as she started to think about the after effects.
“Guys struggle with the same worries about asking a girl out. Will she turn me down? What if she actively dislikes me? What if my interest in her is making her uncomfortable? I’d rather just continue being friends and see her happy than cause her discomfort.” Evelyn shared the flip side of the equation with Marie. “It takes courage to ask someone out and face potential consequences for your decision,” she added.
Evelynstopped talking to let her words sink in and walked around to be back behind her counter where John was listening with just a touch of a smile.
“But you could lose a friend,” Marie stated again, her voice shaking as the words tumbled through the gears in her brain.
“You could, but from what I’ve seen if people reject a friend, they either stay friends, or there is no rejection and they end up dating. Clear communication and understanding of each other’s feelings and boundaries leads to stronger relationships or friendships in the end,” Evelyn finished her ship maintenance with that last bit of reassurance.
Marie looked relieved. “I can see why Mark was coming to you for advice. Do you mind if I come to you for advice in the future?”
“Sure, but in the future could I recommend buying a flower for Mark?” Evelyn asked with a wink. She didn’t mind giving advice, but it was nice to make money for her shop as well.
The girl agreed and went on her way leaving the Evelyn in the shop with the two men who were staring at her.
“I’ve never seen a woman who tries to understand how hard it is for everything romantic to rely on the guy,” Richard said.
Evelyn wanted to shrug, but also felt it would be inappropriate to brush off his comment in that way. Instead she gave him the best response she could think of that was directed towards his own situation. “A romantic partnership requires communication. Communication required understanding. People expect others to just figure things out from body language or subtle hints they think they are giving, but no one else understands. When people start to realize that no one understands anything unless you say it, then we start down the path to good communication.”
But that was only the start because good communication required thinking about what you were saying and saying it in such a way that would assist the other person in hearing it better. But that was a more advanced topic than Evelyn felt like covering.
“Maybe you should make a side business out or relationship advice,” John said as he maneuvered past her.
Evelyn wondered if he was teasing or serious, but it didn’t really matter. She couldn’t charge money for her advice centered around what she had learned from comments in web novels and comics.
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