Chapter Five The Inaugural Love on Love Street Meeting
The first meeting of the Love Street Branding Committee is a few days later.
We meet in Miracle Egg, a restaurant a few doors down from Cosmic Vintage that specializes in egg sandwiches with Asian influences and is only open for breakfast and lunch, so it’s a good place for our five o’clock meeting.
The owner, Grant Yu, is on the committee and seems like an okay guy, but I don’t really know him that well.
If his personality is anything like the decor of his shop—painted entirely in a sunny yellow and full of old Hong Kong and Bollywood movie posters—then we’ll get along great.
Me, Cara, Julie, April, and Grant sit at one of the bigger tables in the restaurant. I’ve already presented them with Reggie’s name suggestion for our promotion, Love on Love Street, and most people agree it’s perfect.
“Sounds kinky,” Grant says. “But maybe we want that?” He wags his eyebrows suggestively at Julie. Yuck. Julie is married . I’m thinking Grant and I aren’t going to get along after all.
Julie, who doesn’t seem to notice Grant’s gross attempt at flirting, shakes her head. “No, it’s perfect.” She writes Love on Love Street on the top of her notebook page since she offered to take minutes.
“This whole thing is supposed to celebrate love ,” Cara says. “I mean”—she side-eyes Grant—“we don’t want to be lewd, but physical love is part of love, isn’t it?”
April huffs a laugh. April is Black, and she always wears scrubs with some cartoon animal print on it.
Her makeup is always on point, and she keeps her hair cropped short.
She once told me that she hates dealing with her own hair since she cuts and styles dog and cat hair all day.
“Y’all need to be careful. We want to attract families to the street.
If people think this is all a free sex kind of thing, they won’t come. ”
“Most of the promotions we talked about are for couples more than families. Like date specials at the bistro and small bouquets at the flower shop,” Grant says.
We argue a bit about who our target demographic should be, when the door to Miracle Egg opens. Grant immediately calls out, “Sorry! We’re closed. Open at seven tomorrow!”
My back is to the door, so I don’t see who’s there, but I don’t need to see him. I recognize his deep voice the moment he speaks. “Oh, I’m here for the rebranding meeting? I thought that was today.”
Miles . Apparently telling him off on Monday wasn’t enough to make him not want to be anywhere near me.
“Yes!” April says, standing and pulling another chair to our table. “Everyone is welcome! You work at the bookstore, right? You helped me find that Dog Whisperer book last week!”
Unfortunately, since I’m at the end of the table, April puts the extra chair next to me.
Miles is in worn jeans again today. And another graphic T-shirt, but this time with an unzipped burgundy hoodie over it.
His hair is still a mess, but the kind of mess that some guys spend good money at top stylists to achieve.
Ugh. Why does he have to be so good-looking?
I don’t remember his lips being so… full.
He squeezes into the seat, barely even glancing at me, and I catch his scent.
He still smells annoyingly good. Like soap and something else.
Not spices like in the bookstore. Something I’ve smelled before but can’t place.
I turn my chair toward Cara so my senses aren’t invaded by Miles.
He called my ideas “saccharine” in the bookstore the other day. I should not be finding him so attractive.
We keep talking about the kind of people we’re hoping to attract to the promotion, but Miles doesn’t add to the conversation.
I sneak a glance at him. He looks… bored.
Why is he even here? Did Reggie force him to come to the meeting?
When I say there must be a way to be inclusive to all while still focusing on romantic love, I’m pretty sure Miles snorts under his breath.
I ignore him. When we start discussing the promotions that were suggested at the BOA meeting, he’s silent.
“We can’t forget the statue at LOL Park,” Cara says. “Have you seen the lineups to get a picture at the heart statue in the Distillery District?”
“Yes!” I say. “We totally have to put something like that in the park. A heart, or even a rainbow!”
This time I know Miles snorts.
I turn to look at him. “Do you have a problem with a statue in the park?”
“No. But you guys don’t seem to have any idea how much something like that would cost. Like, thousands and thousands of dollars. At least. And the park belongs to the city—you can’t just plop a statue in it. There are permits and applications. It’s completely impossible.”
I exhale. I’m not going to let this guy bring me down. I know he’s probably right, but he sounds so… antagonistic. How do we know for sure it’s impossible before we even try?
“I think we should be optimistic and explore all options,” I say. “But whatever we do, we need to consider that the aesthetic is what’s going to get people here. Julie, what percentage of your customers come to LoveBug because they saw a post on Instagram?”
Julie thinks a moment. “New customers? I’d say about eighty percent. But they keep coming back because of Ajit’s delicious food and drinks.”
“Exactly. Get people in the door, or on the street, because of the look… and they’ll keep coming once they realize we’re awesome.”
“You’ll need more than just vibes,” Miles says. I can’t help but notice that every one of his snarky comments is after I say something. I throw an annoyed look at Cara, mostly because I don’t want to look at his infuriatingly cute face, and she shrugs.
“He does have a point,” Grant says. “I mean, I like Instagram bait as much as the next guy, but I know that it’s not always enough. We’re a little off the beaten path here. We need a bigger draw. Something that will get people in from all over the city. Something like…”
An amazing idea comes to me. “A festival!” I say excitedly, clapping my hands together. “We can have a street festival celebrating love!” Like all those festivals Dad used to take me to. They were always so busy.
April raises a brow, skeptical. “A festival… Can we do that?”
I nod, vibrating with excitement. “Yes! Like close off Love Street to cars and have events in front of our stores. And maybe get some rides or something in the park. And a statue! Like—”
“Street festivals need permits,” Miles interrupts. “Plus at least a year of planning and securing sponsors. This isn’t like planning a party for your friends. There’s no way you can pull this off in a few months.”
I want to scream, Would you like to see me try ?
I grit my teeth. “I know it would be hard. But what’s the harm in trying? If we can’t pull it off this year, then we’re just in time to start planning a festival for next year. But if we can make it happen… I think this could be exactly what Love Street needs.”
I put a positive spin on it, but what I don’t say is that next year might be too late. Mom needs more sales now so she won’t have to sell; her business is on the line here. And not only Mom’s, but also Jenn’s, Mrs. Kotch’s, and even Miles’s own boss, Reggie’s.
“Okay, okay,” Julie says. “Why don’t we take a vote? Who’s in favor of exploring the feasibility of a street festival?”
Every hand shoots up except Miles’s. And I don’t give him a smug look because I’m better than that. I think smug thoughts, though.
“Perfect,” Julie says. “Sana, this was your idea. Do you want to be in charge of the preliminary research?”
I nod. “Absolutely. I can do that.”
April looks at me. “Do you have time for this? Aren’t you in charge of your school’s prom?”
“There are lots of people on the prom committee. I have time.” This is way more important than prom anyway.
“I can help you research,” Cara says. “I’ve only got one assignment, and then I’m done with school for the term.”
“Okay,” Julie says. “So, the girls will look into the possibility of a Love Street festival. We’ll put a hold on other activities until we find out if we’re able to do this festival or not. Sounds good?”
Everyone agrees, and Cara and I tell them we’ll keep everyone posted on our research. Miles gets up from his seat and leaves the second the meeting is done.
“What’s his problem?” Cara asks, watching him leave.
“What do you mean?” Julie asks as she closes her notebook.
“I mean, why was he here if he disagrees with everything anyone says?”
I’m glad Cara is saying what I’m thinking. I don’t understand why Miles even came to the meeting.
“Ah, cut the guy some slack,” Julie says. “Ajit got to know him a bit—he apparently grew up in a mansion in King City, but he’s got a screwed-up family. He’s having trouble adjusting to the city.”
I cringe. King City is just north of where Dad and Noureen live. Poor Miles to have to grow up there.
“Did you see his watch?” April asks. “Those are about five hundred. Brave to walk around wearing that. You should see his fancy bike.”
I didn’t see his watch. I was purposely avoiding looking at his arms because I discovered how nice his forearms are when we were sorting books together.
I’m not going to let Miles Desai’s nice arms or contrary comments ruin our progress tonight.
This festival idea is perfect . It’s just the thing to get people to come to Love Street.
“Wanna come over and we can start the research tonight?” I ask Cara when we finally leave Miracle Egg.
Cara frowns. “Maybe. Hannah just got back from Massachusetts.”
If the love of her life is back in the country, why is Cara frowning? “Isn’t that a good thing? You guys don’t have plans?”
She shrugs. “I dunno. She didn’t want to get together tonight.” All of a sudden a massive grin transforms Cara’s face as she sees something in the distance.