ohh how about 9. I work at the pumpkin patch and that is an alarming amount of gourds you got there, buddy, with willie collecting the gourds? also, happy decorative gourd season!!
Reggie loves his job at the pumpkin patch. The pay is decent, it's more fun than stocking shelves at the supermarket, and he loves seeing all the excited kids run around trying to find The Perfect Pumpkin. Also, he gets to take home some of the leftover cider donuts they sell at the little stall next to his sometimes.
Also, today he made a baby stop crying by juggling tiny gourds, so he felt kind of like a superhero.
It's not all families, of course. Their clientele also consists of hipsters, goths, cute couples on romantic pumpkin picking dates, people really really into fall, and Instagram Lifestyle Influencers. Thank god he gets to call Bobby when those come around. Bobby likes either flirting with them, or being nasty about their follower count and their 'lazy-ass diy projects', depending on whether or not they're trying to scam them out of free gourds or not.
Their boss actually gave them both cider donuts and a whole pumpkin pie, the day Bobby made an Influencer cry and vow never to return. Apparently she'd been terrorising the pumpkin patch for years.
The guy coming up to their table now, well, he was pretty enough to be an Influencer. Like, really, really pretty. His long hair was in a messy bun, and he was wearing a crop top with pumpkins all over it under a pair of paint-stained overalls.
Reggie really, really hoped he wasn't trying to scam them out of free pumpkins. Because he had a lot. Like, he'd taken one of the little wagons they usually gave to the kids and had a virtual pyramid of pumpkins on it. Big ones, small ones, weirdly shaped ones that people usually left in the field. Then, Reggie realised he’d somehow hitched a second wagon onto the first one, with another pile of gourds.
"That's uh... that's an alarming amount of gourds you have there, buddy," Reggie said, kicking himself. That was neither the suave pick-up line he'd wanted to say, or a customer-friendly meaningless pleasantry.
"I know, right?" The guy said, delighted. "I think I'm gonna need to borrow your wagon to get them all to the car, sorry."
"That's alright, I can help carry them if you want," Reggie said.
"Really? That'd be awesome!" Gourd Guy beamed. "I um, I kind of lost count out there, so I have no idea what my total is gonna be. But my budget is five hundred bucks so... I think we should be good."
"You have a budget of five hundred dollars for pumpkins?" Reggie asked incredulously. God, he really couldn't control his mouth around this guy.
"I mean, my boss gave me five hundred dollars to pick out new Halloween decoration for the Club," he said. "And he told me to make it classy. 'None of that plastic stuff, William.'" He made a severe face, lowering his voice as he pretended to be his boss.
"I mean, gourds are super classy," Reggie agreed, even though he had no idea what counted as classy. If he was given 500 bucks for Halloween decoration, he probably would have blown it on that 12 foot skeleton he'd seen online.
"I'm gonna get some black and purple and gold spray paint as well. Maybe use some paint pens and make some of them extra fancy." William wriggled with excitement at the idea.
"That sounds so cool," Reggie said, as he started to line up gourds and count them. "Are you an artist?" The paint-splattered overalls made it seem that way. He bet William was really pretty when he was all in the zone.
"Myeah, mostly grafitti stuff, though. You can check me out on Insta, I'm under willie.ortega.art." Bobby, who had perked up at the mention of Instagram, wandered over. Reggie wanted to glare at him. For once, he wanted to flirt with the cute Instagram-haver.
“Oh dude, you’re actually pretty good,” Bobby said, holding his phone so Reggie could see. Willie wasn’t just pretty good. He was amazing. His page showed big sweeping murals, as well as a surprising number of custom skateboard decks. Also some little street art scenes in surprising places.
“Hey, I know that one! It’s right near my favourite dog park!” Reggie beamed. “It makes me laugh every time.”
Willie beamed proudly, a pleased smile staying on his face as he gazed at Reggie with soft, pretty eyes.
“Of course your follower count-” Bobby started, before Reggie quickly turned around and shoved a hand over his mouth.
“Back off, he’s cute and he’s paying and he’s mine,” he hissed. He didn’t want to see Bobby try to make Willie cry. Bobby looked from Willie to Reggie and back with doubtful, squinting eyes, before Willie took out his wallet awkwardly. Then he shrugged, bit Reggie’s hand for good measure, and wandered off.
Reggie turned back, embarrassed. “Sorry about him, we’ve been having some problems with people trying to get free stuff and...” He looked up to see him watching him, a flirty smile on his face.
“Oh sure, influencers. They try to get VIP treatment at the club as well,” Willie said. “I was more interested in the other parts of that sentence. The part where you said I’m cute.”
Oh. Oh no. He’d heard that?
“And yours.”
“Uuuuum!” Reggie spluttered, but Willie just grinned at him, helping unload his many pumpkins onto the table. Their fingers brushed probably more than necessary, and the way the guy kept smirking at Reggie’s blush, he was pretty sure it was on purpose.
The pumpkin counting seemed to go on forever, not that Reggie was in a rush. In the end, Willie’s total came to 210 dollars worth of gourds, which wasn’t shabby. They were definitely getting leftover cider donuts tonight.
And, if Reggie was lucky, maybe a phone number as well.
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