Chapter 33

HARRISON

My palms are damp, and I've already changed my shirt once, but as the people for my event filter in, Benny throws me a thumbs-up from where he's checking tickets. We sold fifty, which was all I could do for this space, and I'm overwhelmed we even managed that.

Since Benny dropped stats, I've been sitting with Jordan, and the sneaky guy bought a ticket without even telling me. Benny looked like he'd chewed on rocks when he saw Jordan's ticket and checked it about three times.

My snarly man just makes me love him more every day.

There are a few other familiar faces here too. It's blown my mind to be getting so much support from not only Claribel's team but from people here on campus too.

Professor Nottering reached out to some people who might be interested in helping, and a newer FU transfer, Ryan, jumped on the opportunity. He's quieter, but we've bonded over video games and wouldn't have had everything set up on time if he wasn't so efficient. Then there's Dex, who's a poli-sci major and was really interested in what I was doing.

The thing about charity work is that people want to help. I was hesitant to reach out at first, but between Claribel and Professor Nottering helping me with contacts, and some local organizations in San Diego, I've been able to pull together people for audio/visual, catering, setup, and plant maintenance.

I tug at the button-up I'm wearing. It's a cooler December night, but the greenhouse temperature and my nerves aren't the best combination.

"Hey," Jordan says, approaching me with a champagne glass in each hand. He holds one out to me that I wave away. There's no way I'm drinking before I have to run this evening.

Jordan looks doubtfully at the glass. "Guess I'm going to have to choke down two, then."

"Not a champagne guy?"

"If champagne's the vibe of the evening, I'll go with it, but damn, it tastes like piss."

I laugh and take both glasses before setting them down behind me.

"Your boyfriend growled at me," he says.

We both turn and see Benny done with the tickets and glaring our way. I blow him a kiss and love the way he tries so hard to fight the smile he wants to let out. "That sounds right."

"He's kinda cute. You said he has a twin, right?"

I'm still unsure how much of that to talk about, but Jordan has met them both, and he's never said anything. I change the subject instead. "What about your girlfriend?"

"Ah. We broke up."

"Damn."

"Still unsure how I feel about it."

I look Jordan over again. "Is that maybe the reason for this sudden bulking up?"

"It felt like the time."

Benny pops up beside us. "Yes, yes, Jordan is so hot and muscular and whatever."

Jordan gives an adorable laugh and nudges Benny's shoulder. "Relax. I was just asking Harrison about your twin?—"

"Off-limits."

It's my turn to laugh.

"Well, damn. Still no clue if I'm queer, but you guys have nice genes. Thought it was worth a try."

"I'll give you a hint," Benny says, less bite this time. "If your go-to is ‘nice genes,' you probably don't want to fuck the guy."

"Right. I'll leave you guys to it." He claps me on the shoulder. "Good luck."

"As far as I'm concerned, the night's already a success," I say, looking around at the people reading the cards on each plant. The naked-man orchid has gotten a few snickers and closer looks, Stacy has understandably gotten a lot of attention, and even Rich—with the whole history of roses laid out for people to read—has gotten the respect he deserves.

"You are so clever," Benny says, wrapping his arm around me as Jordan leaves us.

"You're the one who gave me the idea."

"Yeah, but an idea is only an idea. All of this is fucking impressive."

"We're a dream team, baby."

"Hells yes we are." He holds his free hand up, and we high-five in front of us. "I'm proud of you."

I press a kiss to his curls, holding him for a beat longer than I mean to in order to try and absorb his strength. Even when Benny is struggling, he's one of the strongest guys I know, and I want to channel his confidence. I know this shit. I love this shit. Tonight is just another night where I get to talk to people about the things I love.

On one greenhouse wall, I have a mini stage set up with a projection screen behind it for my talk later and eight tables facing it. They're all decorated fancy with as much local flora as I could get my mitts on.

After everyone has taken a good look around, we let them know dinner will be served soon, and then I'm on.

"Think I'm gonna be sick, Benny."

"You were made for attention. Once you start talking, you're going to convert every person in here to a plant fucker."

"Not my aim."

"Eh, agree to disagree."

The fact he doesn't understand this stuff and is so viciously supportive anyway just gets me in the heart.

"Time to do this."

I leave him, feeling a smidge more confident than I did a minute ago. It doesn't help that once tonight is over, my nerves don't end there. I'll be flying to meet Benny's family in a few days once break starts, so this is just the start of my torment.

But I'll be myself there, and I plan to do exactly the same here.

With a massive breath, I power up the projector, and Benny flicks off the main lights.

"Thank you so much to everyone for coming. I'm Harrison Dunn, and this might not be the most professional event you've ever been to, but I'm sure as hell going to try and make it worth your time anyway. Starting by letting you all know that animals are my mortal enemies." There's some confusion, and I shrug. "True story. Who's this?" I bring up a photo, and people call out Steve Irwin's name. "And this?" I play a clip, and David Attenborough's voice is immediately picked. "Those two men are also my mortal enemies." I laugh at the shock that passes through the room. "See, these two have done more for animal conservation than arguably anyone else in the world, but with the focus on those critters, no one is giving a shit about the plants. The trees. The ugly-ass shrubs and grasses that are keeping everyone alive." I grin over getting literally everyone offside already. "Ooh, tonight's already so controversial. But I have your attention, don't I?"

Benny whoops from somewhere at the back of the room.

"What's your first thought when you see this?" I ask, flicking over to a picture of an adorable koala yawning.

There's a beat of silence, and then Jordan has my back. "Cute?"

"Wrong! Chlamydia." I bring up the next image of a diseased koala and get the response I was hoping for. Disgusted noises and expressions pass through the audience, with a few who look mildly interested. "If those charity ads showed you pictures of this guy, I can't imagine too many people would be rushing to donate, can you?" I bring up the cutesy photo again because I want people to be able to stomach their dinners. "This is what sells. This is what empties your pockets. Unfortunately, my photosynthesized friends don't have the luxury of a widdle tail or fwuffy ears." There are a few snickers, which helps give me a boost. I bring up an image of a scraggly-looking tree with dried leaves that looks on its last legs. "Believe it or not, this baby is most well-known for keeping your diseased little beasties alive. The eucalyptus tree might not look like much, but got a cold? Bam! Eucalyptus to the rescue. Respiratory problems, dental care, wounds, and fevers—even goddamn bug repellant. Want a supercharged immune system? Eucalyptus is coming in hot with the assist. But it's not pretty."

There's a lot of silence in the room, but from what I can tell, people are still paying attention.

"What about this guy?" My next picture is of a rainbow eucalyptus tree, and that catches people's attention.

"There's no way that's real," someone says.

"You're correct." I flick over to an image that hasn't been saturated to high hell. The bright pinks and purples fall away, but it's still impressive. "People think they need to create something over-the-top to catch attention, but look at this guy. The yellows and greens and oranges and red that are coming through in the bark as it ages. And that's just one tree. We've got corpse flowers." New photo. "Monkey cups. Tree tumbo. Birthwort. All ugly as hell but also cool as hell. The really sad thing is that these ugly guys just aren't being studied as often as the pretty flowers that catch people's attention." I go through more facts and cool images and slip in a couple of plant dad jokes that help lighten the mood. But most of all, I have fun with it. I'm so swept up in talking about the things I love that I almost forget I'm talking to a room full of people. Do I want to score a bunch of money to help research? Hell yes I do. But tonight is an experiment, and while I'll give it my all, the results will be the results, and I'm interested to see where we land.

I wrap up to applause and leave the screen going with facts and tidbits that everyone can read or not read while they finish eating.

As soon as I leave the stage, I all but swamp Benny with a hug. "I'm sapped."

"Haven't had enough of the tree puns yet, huh?" he asks.

"I have no idea how that went."

"I might have snuck around with the donation QR code and set it down while people were eating. If I had to guess by the number of people who immediately grabbed their phones to donate, it was a lot. Most, probably. I hate to even admit this, but it was fucking interesting."

"You're my boyfriend. You have to say that."

"No, I have to tell you you tried hard and great effort and amazing idea. I don't have to tell you I enjoyed it."

I press a kiss to his forehead, deciding right there that even if Benny was the only one, the whole night was worth it.

"Harrison?"

I glance up at the gorgeous Black woman with braids halfway down her back.

"Claribel," she says.

"Oh. Hey." I accept her hug.

"That was really amazing. Plus, all the plants you have for people to actually look at. Touch. Smell. You've done really well, especially considering you put it together in, what? A month?"

"A little longer but close enough."

"Good job. Mitch will be in touch."

"Mitch?"

"Our director."

"Umm … okay. Cool." I already said I'd share my results with them, but something about her expression is smug.

"He's always on the lookout for new blood and big ideas."

"I guess I'll talk to him soon, then."

I'm still confused as she walks away.

"He's totally going to offer you a job," Benny says.

My heartbeat kicks up. "You think?"

"Definitely." He's frowning slightly. "It'll mess with our Colchester plans though."

"I won't take it."

"What?" His scowl deepens. "If he makes you a good offer, of course you will."

"Not if it means losing you."

"Why the fuck will you lose me?"

I'm thrown for a second. "Well, if you're on the other side of the country …"

"It'd be one semester. If you can't handle being away from me for a couple of months while we both sort our shit out, we need to talk about you not being so obsessed with me."

I choke out a laugh. "You really are so romantic."

"I know." His hand slides into mine. "But there's no guarantee I'll even go. If there's a guarantee you could have a job you love, then for sure, go for it. The rest is up to us to work out."

"Thank you."

He shakes his head. "Don't start getting schmoopy with me."

"But you know how much I love being schmoopy with you."

Benny sighs as I plant kisses all over his face.

"Like you could spend a few months away from all of this," I joke. His response isn't what I'm expecting.

"Unfortunately, I'm afraid you might be right about that."