Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Paisley

The bubble tea shop was sickeningly adorable, just the way it should have been. Jamie was in line in front of me, and that jerk took forever to order and I had important things to do here, so I sent him a text telling him to look out the front door, and when he checked his phone and turned to the front door of the place, I cut in line in front of him just as the person Kay was ringing up now moved on ahead and gave an opening for me. Jamie shot me a betrayed look, but he’d live.

“Hey, Paisley,” Kay said, beaming at me. “What’re you having this time?”

I put my hands on my hips. “You.”

She faltered. “Er… I’m taken. That’s really flattering, though!”

Kay was unbearable sometimes. She was so sweet and sunshiney and positive, and I still couldn’t get my head around the idea that she of all people in this world was dating Gwen, the crabbiest woman I ever adored.

Still, she had fit right into Bayview ever since she moved here in December. She was the kind of bubbly, easy personality everyone in town liked, and at the rate things were going, people were going to start liking her more than they liked me. Which—really, it hardly seemed fair, didn’t it?

She fit the aesthetic of the place like a horse fit the water, or whatever the saying was—with her bright blue hair and piercings, wearing the pink-and-blue uniform of the place, she looked like a set piece here.

Still, she wasn’t supposed to be here.

“Ha, ha,” I said. “Very funny, Kay. What I mean is what are you doing here? Your girlfriend is going to spend the whole picnic complaining bitterly to everyone in earshot if you’re not there. Do you really want me—me, Paisley Macleod—to have to listen to that?”

Kay scratched her head. “Far be it from me to do that to the venerable Paisley Macleod, but—I have a shift here. Trust me, I really want to go, but…”

“You can ask Dani. She’ll let you take off for the event.”

Her expression faltered. “I wouldn’t want to cause any trouble for her… she’s been so good to me and everything. It’s fine. I can stick it out.”

I put my hands up. “Meaning you didn’t even ask? Good lord. I guess I have to do everything myself. Also, just like… a small bubble tea for me please. Whatever the one Emby got last time was, I want that. I’m gonna rub it in her face.”

“Small green tea boba with—Paisley?”

Kay stopped halfway through ringing me up as I pushed through the swinging door behind the counter, heading for the back.

“What are you—”

“Oh, just put it on my tab,” I called, pushing through the swing door into the back of house. Tidying up boxes on shelves was Dani, a tall brunette with an athletic build, hair up in a ponytail, and she glanced sidelong at me.

“Paisley,” she said. “How nice to see you back here.”

“Kay needs to take off for the party,” I said cheerfully. Dani let out a noncommittal noise, turning back to the boxes.

“I didn’t realize you were the staffing manager here.”

“You’re not going to keep her, are you? Gwen’s going to be outraged. And if Gwen is outraged, then she’s going to yell at Annabel.”

Score. Dani’s expression faltered just a little. She’d hooked up with Annabel once or twice, and my sources told me she totally still had a crush. I put the pressure on while I had the advantage.

“Half the regular crowd is going to be there, so there’s no use running up operating costs while nobody’s coming by, right?”

Dani hung her head. “I guess if everyone’s going to be over there, I could close solo… does Kay want to take off?”

“Uh, duh. It’s only the most amazing party ever. You should come by once you’re done closing, too. Maybe hit on Annabel.”

She turned her back to me, opening a box and rifling through the contents. “Annabel has a girlfriend,” she said idly.

“Oh, am I the one who gets to break the news to you? Man, you’re behind on things. It’s an open relationship. And Annabel still likes hookups.”

She paused. I turned back to the door, a bounce in my step.

“I’ll tell Kay she can take off once you’re done with the count?”

“S-sure.”

Another win for Paisley. I was going to have to get a trophy wall soon to hold them all.

I strode back out through the door just as Kay set down the cute green bubble tea drink that Emberlynn had been a cruel monster yesterday and refused to let me steal, and I picked it up and took a long sip.

“Oh my god, it’s so good I’m gonna cry,” I said. “Also, Dani says you can take off once she’s done with the count.”

Kay stopped, eyes wide. “She did? Really? Er—how did you—”

“Paisley has her ways.”

She laughed, eyes sparkling. “Paisley does have her ways. Wow. I don’t know how to thank you. I was so bummed I’d have to miss it.”

“You can thank me by not charging me for the drink?”

Kay laughed. “Um… no. And we don’t do tabs.”

“Dammit. It was worth a try.” I went begrudgingly with her to the register, where I had to make the great personal sacrifice of swiping my card, and Jamie still gave me a disbelieving look as he stepped up to the register next to place his order. I stood off to the corner, underneath the shelves of cute knickknacks, and I took a picture of myself with the drink and texted it to Emberlynn, typing a caption underneath.

guess who’s the winner now????

She replied right away. I’m not jealous that you bought your own, if this was some weird ploy for that

I rolled my eyes. ugh!!! you’re boring. I’m showing off to Harper instead

She started typing, and then she stopped, and then after too long for such a short message, she sent, Go for it

I wrinkled my nose. I… probably shouldn’t have blabbed to Emberlynn about having fucked Harper that one time. It had made things awkward between me and Emby every time Harps came up. It had been an accident. And at least I didn’t mention the second time.

I texted back, managed to free kay from the shackles of modern employment for the evening so she’s coming to the picnic!!! want anything from here?

hey, you finally have some good news. thanks, Pais. I’m all good tho, see you two soon

I stuck out my tongue at the screen. I am good news, em

Not content with showing off to just my loser best friend, I went to text the selfie to Harper too, but I paused looking at it before I went back in and ran it through a filter. Just clearing up my complexion a little. It was fine if I looked like a raggedy mess to Emberlynn, but… to other people I just wanted to look good.

guess what I have that you dooooooooonnnn’’’’’’ttttttt

She replied even faster than Emberlynn had. who the fuck stretches out an apostrophe like that

I scoffed. me!!!

There was no reply for a while, and I glanced over as Dani came out from the back, pulling on an apron and talking to Kay in low voices. The way Dani wouldn’t make eye contact with Kay, fussing with other things—that whole open-relationship revelation had really done a number on her. I could practically hear her fantasizing about hitting on Annabel at the party.

Another excellent job done by Paisley Macleod.

My phone lit up with a text from Harper, a selfie of her with a massive cake. She’d used a filter, too, so at least I wasn’t the only one. guess what i have that you doooonnn’’’’ttttt

Surreptitiously, I scanned both ways before I saved the picture. It wasn’t a weird thing—Emberlynn would never let me live it down—but I just liked seeing pictures of my friends happy. It was nice to have a collection.

trade? I replied quickly.

a hundred-fifty-dollar cake for a five-dollar drink you’ve probably mostly finished by now. tempting. somehow i will pass up on this.

boo. you’re going to the picnic, right? you never replied to my invite.

invite?? you never sent me an invite

I rolled my eyes. oh my god woman pay attention!!! I sent you a letter and everything!

a letter??? why a fucking letter?

Admittedly, I hadn’t really thought about that. I’d just had paper and a pen and a fancy envelope—come to think of it, I wasn’t sure where I’d gotten the envelope—so it felt like the obvious thing to do. I’d spent, like, an hour styling the letter making it pretty, too, and she was just going to ignore it?

Honestly, I didn’t know why I bothered with the effort. People didn’t deserve all of me.

“You didn’t need to wait for me,” Kay said, stepping over from behind the counter to where I was standing in the corner. I scowled.

“And walk over there alone? Like a loser? I was just showing off my drink to my friends anyway.”

She laughed, eyes sparkling. Out of everyone in Bayview, I think Kay had the most genuine laugh, like she’d never heard of anything other than just… big smiles and genuine compliments and sunshine and rainbows. “You’re a mystery as ever, Paisley. You mind if I head upstairs and just get changed first? I want to look cute.”

“Only on the condition I get to raid your fridge for cheese.”

She beamed. “Go for it. I have gouda.”

I scowled. “Gouda? Do I look like an animal? Ugh, I’ll pass.”

“I didn’t realize you had such strong feelings…”

Still, I followed her upstairs, chattering about how Oliver was going to be at the party too and how that was probably enough said about that, the rumors about him and Connor and to keep an eye out to see if they made out at any point, and at some point I realized we were in her cute little apartment above the bubble tea place and she’d shut the bedroom door between us for her to get changed. I shrugged and helped myself to her fridge, checking for cheese, but alas, she really did just have the gouda. The woman was uncultured.

“Ready to go?” Kay said, once she’d stepped out of the bedroom, dressed like a poster advert with a plaid pleated skirt and fishnets leggings and sleeves, and I didn’t even know they made fishnet sleeves. She’d thrown on more accessories than I think I owned, total.

“Jeez, you dress like you give a damn,” I said. “I can’t fathom it. Yeah, I’m ready.”

“You look cute like that. It’s a… signature style.”

Coming from anybody else, that would sound like a veiled insult. I was wearing an oversized sweater and shorts, and my hair looked like it had just gone through a wind tunnel, I knew. Kay didn’t know how to insult people, though.

I wasn’t going to push the topic either way. If I protested too much, she’d start to get the idea I was insecure, and that topic would spread like wildfire. I was supposed to be the queen of gossip. The gossip couldn’t be about me. And I guess I just… didn’t want certain people knowing certain things about how I felt about certain things.

“So, just to check,” I said, mostly just to change the subject as we headed downstairs and out into the brisk spring air, “you moved into your own place instead of moving in with Gwen because you’d never in your life agree on décor, right?”

She shrugged, looking up to the sky, her hands in her jacket pockets. “Um… I think it’s more just that I needed this.”

“A shorter commute? Want to be able to just fall down the stairs and end up at work?”

“Nah. Just—you know, my own place, my own thing. I love Gwen to death, but… ugh, I always wanted so badly to have some kind of self-determination. Living with my parents was just awful, looking back on it. I need to have some time of having a space where I make my own decisions, I do what feels right to me.”

I clapped a hand on her back, and she stumbled. “Ugh, I so get that. Getting away from my family, needing my own space, and then just getting to be the lord of that space? It rules.”

“Didn’t you use that space to, like… breed lizards, or something? Maybe you can’t be trusted with that responsibility.”

“Hey—leave the Ultimate Lizard out of this.”

She grinned at me. “Cute name.”

“He wasn’t cute, he was powerful and fearsome and…”

“And?”

I put a hand to my chest. “And was too great to be contained.”

“He ran away.”

“Well, yeah. I made some mistakes.”

She laughed, and we settled into a silence walking side-by-side, cutting across town in the direction of Amber Lane and the park where Emberlynn would probably already be set up ten minutes early, until I couldn’t bear the silence any longer.

“But you think you’re going to move in with her eventually?”

“Mm. Probably. I’m just going with where the wind leads. Mostly I’m just focusing on doing the best I can, being the best I can…”

I frowned, an anxious sensation in my stomach. I pushed it down, looking the other way at a brick wall painted with street art.

“I kind of admire you, honestly,” she said. “You’re just so naturally cool, unbothered… like you’re not caught up in this race to be better all the time.”

The less I thought about this, the better. I bumped up my voice a decibel. “That’s because I’m already the best! There’s no being better than this.”

She stopped, giving me a look. “Um… sorry. Did I touch on a sore spot?”

“I don’t have sore spots.”

She chewed her cheek. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to.”

I slumped. “Ugh, that’s embarrassing. I thought I could lie my way out. Forget I said anything. I don’t do this kind of thing.”

She smiled sweetly at me. “You can totally share things with me, you know. I’m not judgmental.”

“No way. Nuh-uh. Not happening.”

She elbowed me lightly. “Tell.”

“No!”

“Tell?”

“Oh my god, you sound like me. Am I that insufferable?”

She batted her eyelashes at me. I probably was that insufferable. I made a mental note to change absolutely nothing about my behavior, and I turned back ahead, hunching my shoulders.

“Sometimes I just wonder what I’m doing with my life,” I said.

“Mm.” She turned her gaze ahead with me, walking slowly. “It’s a lifelong process, I think, figuring it out.”

“Yeah, well… maybe I don’t want to bother. That sounds like a lot of work.”

“I don’t think it has to be. Why not find the things that feel like play?”

“Pfeh.” I kicked at the sidewalk. “I have it all already. I run a cute little bookstore, and the operating costs are low enough and the margins are high enough that I get all the money I need with, like, zero effort, but I don’t really make a lot more money if I put in more effort, so it’s just chill. I go in there when I want to vibe and hang out with cool books. I eat cheese all the time, I have a bunch of cool friends who hang out with me, and I get to keep up with the gossip. I love gossip. I eat it up.”

“I’ve heard that once or twice about you.”

“I guess I just don’t get the point. Paisley is Paisley. I’m just me. I’m gonna keep on being me. So… going with the windy leads.”

“I don’t think you got the saying quite right.”

“I did.”

She shrugged, looking up at where clouds streaked in thin white ribbons over the brilliant cerulean of the sky. “Springtime is the season of love, isn’t it?”

“Yup. The season for me to love myself.”

“Is there a reason you don’t date?”

I scrunched up my face. The fact that the last thing I’d had going was with Harper, and that was just two instances of accidentally having sex… I didn’t want to think about it. Luckily, I specialized in not thinking. “Nobody’s good enough for me.”

She pouted, putting her hands on her hips, turning to face me. “You know, I’m going to spill what Priscilla said about you.”

Oh, god. I didn’t need that in my life. “Asking Priscilla about me should be banned.”

“She said you seem so… scared.” She dropped her arms, a soft sympathy on her face that I couldn’t deal with right now. Or ever, actually. “Like you’re worried you’re not good enough for other people. Like the flippant attitude is—”

“Ugh, I’m going to teach her a lesson.” I spun on my heel. “She’ll see! I’m gonna go talk about her girlfriend until she dies of embarrassment. That will be my revenge.”

“You know,” she said, walking quicker to keep up with me, “it’s okay to have insecurities and worries—”

“Just don’t tell anyone about this conversation,” I said, waving her off as I marched on ahead. “If this gets out as gossip, I’m gonna literally kill everyone in the universe.”

“That’s quite a commitment…”

“I’m a very committed person!”

She laughed. “It’s a promise. Under one condition.”

I whirled on her, my jaw dropping. “Oh my god. You’re blackmailing me? When I look this good?”

“Yeah.”

“Dammit. Well, I respect the brazen audacity. Fine, what’s your condition?”

She grinned. “Talk more about it. I’ll come hang at your place tomorrow, and you can spill what’s on your mind?”

I wrinkled my nose. “Ew. I’d rather get stabbed to death with a rusty garden rake used to till manure into damp soil filled with grasshoppers on a hot summer day.”

“That’s concerningly specific…”

Kay was way too much like me in a lot of ways, and unfortunately, I probably wasn’t shaking her. Woe be upon me. I hung my head. “Ugh, fine. Just bring better food than gouda. Anything but gouda.”

“Sure thing,” she laughed, strolling on ahead again, a big smile on her face. “I’ll look forward to it.”

I help a damsel in distress out of a shift, and this was what I got in return?

Well, whatever. She was bringing food.