Chapter 12 #2
Eventually, she gave me a test one that was just peach, and she showed me how the scent was flat, one-dimensional, cloyingly sweet.
Showed me how sandalwood dried out the sticky-sweet scent of the peach alone, and how a bit of spice made it sharper, more focused.
How the bitter florals of bergamot rounded it out, and a dozen more things, so that when I refreshed on the neutral scent and went back in, I found myself lingering on one with oak and vanilla.
“This one’s really nice,” I breathed, lingering with it under my nose. “It feels… luxurious. Sophisticated. But still… well, you know, peachy.”
“Oh, yeah?” She held out a hand, and I gave her the sample for her to sample, breathing it in with her eyes closed.
I found myself briefly fixed on looking at her, at how she seemed to forget the rest of the world when she was smelling the candle…
lingering long on it, and you could just tell every aspect of her was focused on the candle. So… attentive.
I flushed, suddenly nervous for no reason, and when she opened her eyes again, I got more embarrassed at her seeing me. “I see what you mean,” she said, but she stopped, furrowing her brow. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, just… thinking of something.” I didn’t even know what I was thinking of.
“Are you all right?” she said, voice turning serious. “Is it about—?”
“Oh—no, no.” What had I been thinking about?
Just that she was… attentive. I don’t know why it was so embarrassing.
“I was just wondering if… I heard there’s going to be a little crafter’s market happening on Sunday,” I said.
“I heard your candles were really popular there, but I’m wondering if you’re, um… ”
“Wasn’t planning on it,” she said, looking away.
“I think it could be nice,” I said. I needed to stop talking. I didn’t know why I always got like this, locked in on running my mouth and all I could do was panic as it went off without my brain in tow. “You know, these are really nice, and I know people like them—”
“Alyssa—”
“And you’re paying so much attention for Nayla’s,” I said. “I mean, you know her favorite scent and you’re working so hard to balance it out to make her a nice gift. That’s what really makes it special, right? The… care… compassion. The attentiveness.”
She stared at me. I withered a little.
“I just think it’d be really nice to see you while I’m there,” I said. “And I’d love to get one for myself. I mean, if that would be okay.”
She sighed, looking down. “I don’t know why,” she said quietly.
“Oh—I mean, it’s because I love them. I mean, candles are really nice. And yours are so—”
“Not that,” she said, a smile ghosting over her features. “Don’t know why I’ve been so… fixated on getting one right for Nayla when she doesn’t even want to talk to me anymore.”
“Oh…” I softened. “I mean, it’s obvious, right?”
“Because I’m hardheaded and can’t let it go?”
“Yeesh, did you really expect me to say that?”
She laughed. “Maybe not in quite those words…”
I shrugged. “It’s because you care, isn’t it? I mean, the reason it hurt you in the first place to feel ostracized was because it was from people you care about. Even now, you can’t help caring.”
She snorted, looking away, a hand over her face. “Didn’t think the thing I was going to get brought up on was my big old heart. Just caring too damn much.”
“Jade… you clearly care a lot. You stepped up to make sure Cat wasn’t alone because you care about her. You’ve done this for me because you care. You were giving Daniela a chance talking to her because you care. And you’re making a candle for Nayla because you care.”
“Peach is an annoying scent,” she muttered.
“You can’t get out of this by pinning it on peach.”
“Seriously, where do you get off like this, anyway?” she said through a short, exasperated sigh, pushing up to her feet and walking to the window.
My stomach dropped, and I followed along anxiously behind her.
My mind tumbled into panic, trying to figure out how to fix it, but she leaned against the window and said, “You just walk into town and make friends with everyone right away, everybody here loves you immediately, and you could use it to just schmooze with the in crowd and be as cool and popular as you like, but instead you’re coming out to track me down and telling me how much I care about people. ”
“Sorry.” My voice quivered. “Do you want me to leave you alone?”
“No, I’m—” She massaged her temple. “I’m sorry. I’m not making much sense. I just… respectfully speaking, don’t you have better things to be doing than dealing with my bullshit? I’ve been an ass to you half this time, too.”
I blinked, slowly, as my racing heartbeat came back down. “I like talking to you,” I said, finally. “There’s nothing more to it than that. I like… being around you.”
She looked away sharply. “I… question your judgment.”
“Hey,” I laughed. “My judgment is perfectly sound, ma’am!”
“Uh-huh.” She sighed, turning around and giving me a weary smile as she leaned back against the glass. “You’re awfully hard to say no to.”
“Oh. I am?”
“Yeah. I’ll go to the market,” she said. “I guess what’s the harm if I’m leaving this place soon enough anyway? Might as well see if I can put a couple extra dollars in my pocket.”
I felt my chest swell, and I let out a breath of relief, my heart warming. “Really? I’ll get to see you there?”
“Ha… I’m sure I’ll just be one of many people competing for your attention, Ms. Popular.”
I grinned. “And how many of them have a sexy scar hand-delivered by yours truly?”
She touched the mark on her cheek, which was starting to clear up—probably not going to have any visible scarring, which was a relief despite what we kept saying—and she laughed. “All right, all right. You’re something special, you know that, right?”
“Um… I am?” I folded my hands at my waist. “Because I slap people and then act like I did them a favor?”
“Just in general, Alyssa,” she said, voice soft, and it made something flutter in my chest. “And Sawyer was a piece of shit for making you feel otherwise.”
“Oh…” My breath came short, and I felt my face prickle. Was I blushing? I looked down at the floor. “Thank you. I mean, I’m not… it’s not like he was all bad. Or all wrong. I know I have my own flaws—”
“Alyssa, literally everybody does. No more standing up on his behalf.” She put a hand on my arm, and I jolted at the touch, looking up and getting a nervous twinge in my chest when our eyes met.
“Okay? That’s my ask in exchange for agreeing about the market.
You’ll stop trying to put yourself down to fit his model of you. ”
I—was definitely blushing now. My chest felt tight, but I nodded. “I… okay.”
She smiled softly. “Thanks,” she said. “Deal accepted. Now—” She pushed past me, heading back for the table. “Let’s pick out our favorites and melt them to see what we think. I bet Daniela’s going to be done at that party soon and will want her friend back.”
I adored Daniela, and I wanted to see her again and hear all about the party, but why was it that I felt disappointed about my time here ending? Like I just wanted to stay here and make candles with her all day?
Well, I guess lucky me. I was going to see her again soon. “Yeah, of course,” I said, taking out my phone. “One sec, just gotta reply to this.”
I didn’t reply to anything—sent off a message to Cat instead. Jade just agreed to go to the market! Already got Daniela to agree she’ll talk to Jade if she’s there and try to make things right.
Cat replied immediately. yes!!! just you watch, they’re going to be all over each other as soon as they get past the initial barrier
There it was again—that pang in my stomach like I wanted to stop it, pull them back before they both left me to spend all their time with each other instead.
I needed to grow up. Seriously.