"Hmm?" Angela asked, somewhat in a daze.
"Green! Your skin is green! Somebody! Help!" Alexis called out, trying to help Angela to her feet. She stumbled, fumbled like so much dead weight.
Eventually, a store employee came by, a pleasant-looking older woman, seemingly in her fifties with close-cut hair and thin spectacles.
"Yes, young lady?" the sales lady asked, glancing over at Angela with mild disinterest in her eyes. "What seems to be the problem?"
"What seems to be the problem?!" Alexis repeated, anger in her voice. "My boyfff- girlfriend here is turning green, that's the problem!"
"Well, she did put on the Love's Bloom assortment..." the clerk said, checking over the udnerwear Angela was wearing. The girl formerly known as the guy known as Jon's skin deepened in shade, as a pinkish tint came over her face.
"What is that supposed to mean?"
"You mean you didn't know?"
"Know what?!"
"Oh, dear... kids, not even knowing when the pivotal moments of their stories arise..."
"What are you talking about?"
"Come, we'll get your girlfriend planted in our garden back here, and I'll explain. You take the left, I'll take the right. On three, we lift. One, two, three!"
Alexis did as she was told, dumbfounded. Too much bizarre information at once - planted? Garden? What was going on?
The two managed to drag Angela to the back, where an exquisite floral garden was laid out. There was a freshly tilled spot, and the sales lady was leading them towards it.
"Now place her roots right here..."
"Roots?"
"They used to be her feet. Take a look," sure enough, as Alexis looked down at Angela's feet, they resembled thin, yet intricately webbed roots, and the young woman's legs seemed to be fusing into a stalk.
"Oh my God, she's..."
"Becoming a flower, yes. That's what Love's Bloom does," the sales lady explained as they lifted Angela into the soil and instantly, her feet/roots sunk in. A look of relief crossed over Angela's face as leaves spread out from her arms, and a large closed bulb quickly enveloped her head. She was now a vaguely humanoid flower, waiting for morning sun to open her bloom. The underwear she was wearing before vanished completely.
"Oh, no, no... Jon... I mean Angela... no..." Alexis moaned, placing her hand on the stalk.
"Why are you mourning, child? Your love is still there, still alive. She's just sleeping."
"But I can't love a flower! I just want her back!"
"Well, perhaps you should have thought of that before you gave her Love's Bloom."
"That was an accident! I didn't know-"
"There are no accidents, dear. What this means is that you're to begin your true love's quest."
"What? Quest? This isn't a freakin' fairy tale!"
"It absolutely is, darling. How else do you think this Island does such strange things to young lovers? Your quest is about to begin."
"Why me? Why this?"
"I do not write the story, I merely interpret it. And sell underwear. I do that too," she added with a wry smirk.
"I don't want to be in some stupid story!"
"Everyone is, whether they know it or not. But they shape their own stories. When life throws bizarre situations at them, they either fight to get things they want, or they give in. Which will you do?"
"I..." Alexis hesitated, looking at the large flower that was her boyfriend and then her girlfriend. "I'll fight."
"Good choice. Here is what you must do. You must ensure that your girlfriend here..."
"Angela, her name is Angela."
"Yes, Angela... you must ensure that Angela is pollenated and comes to seed before the week's end. If you can do that, she will be human again."
"That's all? Sounds..."
"Simple? It never is. As she was changed, so too must you be. But you have option of choosing a form that best suits how you wish to tackle this quest of yours. Come this way."
Alexis, still dumbfounded, followed, sparing one last glance to Angela before re-entering the store.
"Now, we have several styles for you to choose from. Choose wisely."