“She’s talking about Rowan,” Juniper told me.
I raised a brow. Had this girl been negging Rowan, too? “Briefly. In his backyard.”
“Ah, in his natural habitat. Let me guess—his clothes were caked in mud and his eyes were on the flowers instead of you. Don’t feel the need to spend more time with him—he’s just as dull with longer exposure.”
This girl was so irritating she almost made me want to defend Rowan Johnston, and that made her even more annoying. It was time to lose Addison; plus, we were close to the front of the coffee line. “Well, it was lovely to chat. I’m sure I’ll see you around, Alison, wasn’t it?”
“Addison.” She beamed. “We should chill. I can show you the cool side of Bakewell. We’ll talk later, Junebug. I still have time to convince you!”
As we headed back to Lilybuds, Juniper pulled a reusable folding straw out of her bag and plunged it into her frappé. “I should probably tell you,” she said, “Rowan dated Addison.”
Nowthatwas unexpected, although it did explain her warning me off him. Why did she deem the plant nerd worthy of her, anyway? They were both annoying, but their snobbishness seemed to be aimed in different directions. He hated superficial people, and she was as superficial as they came. I was weirdly disappointed inhimthat he hadn’t seen through Addison’s phoniness.
“I can’t see it,” I said.
“They were together awhile, but she’s changed. You going to hang out with her?”
I snorted. “Unlikely. What is it she wants from you?”
“To help her and her friends get ready for the Bloom. I’m pretty sure she wants me to do all the work, and they’ll take the credit.”
“What? That sounds...wait, this is that contest?”
“Yeah, the floral sculpture one. Addison was on a team with Rowan last year, and they came in second. But this year the grand prize is a trip to New York, thanks to all the money they raised at the Snowbloom Ball. Addison realized they don’t have a chance without Row.”
“Why is she askingyou, then?”
Juniper shrugged. “I mean, I’m not Rowan, but I know my way around flowers. I worked with my grandma all the time. Row and I have been gardening and flower arranging since before we could walk.”
“Then why won’t Addison actually let you on her team?”
Juniper laughed, shaking her head. “You can only have three or four people, and she doesn’t want to displace any of her squad. Don’t worry, I’m not going to do it. Addison McLaughlin doesn’t have anything on me.” She paused, biting her lip briefly. “Hey, what’s your Insta? I want to see your designs.”
I narrowed my eyes. My senses were tingling that Addison oncehadsomething on Juniper, but Juniper didn’t want to share that with me. I had no intention of getting involved in the drama here, but I made a mental note to watch out for this mean girl and make sure she left Juniper alone.
We exchanged Instagram handles, and I took a look at her feed while she held the tray of coffees. Her pictures were nice, but just books. I made a second mental note to give her some camera pointers to reduce the glare. In fact, with a bit of help, I bet I could get Juniper’s follower count high enough to make Addison show her some respect. This was a game I knew, and I knew how to win it.
7
WAY HARSH, PLANT-BOY
After we had some of Shar’s amazing chicken curry with chapati for dinner, I washed dishes while Gia went back to the tiny house to call her parents. When I was done, I found Gia lying on one of the lounge chairs in front of our place with her eyes closed. Although I supposed they were a little bit open, because as I approached, she said, “Sup, T.”
I chuckled. “Whatcha doing, Gia?”
“Need to maintain this color to pull off the boho look.”
I cringed. “You’re not really going to keep with this flower-child vibe all summer, are you? Plus, it’s evening.”
Her eyebrows shot up high. “There’s enough sun—I tan easily. Andyeah. Of course I am. I told you, cottagecore is huge this season. I’m embracing it. You hanging out for a bit?” She pointed to the empty lounge chair next to her.
“Can’t. I want to pull all my notes and sketches together tonight and show Shar tomorrow.”
“Ugh, Tahira. You can’t be all work and nothing else this summer. We’re supposed to chill.”
“YouknewI was coming here for a purpose. I’m not sure why you expected it to be a party summer.”
“I know, but sometimes you have to stop and smell the roses, or something.”
