21. Nalini
Chapter twenty-one
Nalini
Ihated having a love life. Or kind of a love life. It was complicated. And I detested complicated.
Kissing Kam had been amazing, and pulling back had been what was best for both of us, but despite it being entirely too emotionally cumbersome to even really talk about, it didn’t stop it from being a love life.
It wasn’t like I hadn’t dated before — but most of my relationships fizzled out after a couple of weeks.
It was like you explained to someone you’re demisexual and not into hookups, and suddenly you’re ghosted.
I needed an emotional connection; I needed there to be something real, and it seemed like nobody else even tried to understand any time I attempted to date
Sometimes I was jealous of Misty’s constant hookups and how easily she seemed to move through the dating world.
Other times, I was jealous of Peri being aroace and keeping herself out of it entirely.
It was like I was stuck in a strange in-between, and while I didn’t feel broken, I sure felt awkward having to explain being demisexual only to get rejected again and again.
I’d called a Code Magenta sleepover with Misty and Peri to talk about my newfound almost-love life.
We’d watched terrible movies and eaten all the baked goods I’d stress-baked.
I’d told them about what happened and how I’d been the mature one and stopped things before we both regretted it.
And while it'd helped having them as a sounding board, I still had no idea how to even talk to Kam without thinking about how perfect a kisser he was. Which wasn’t great when we’d agreed to remain friends.
Thankfully, I had a break from thinking about it.
The New Year’s Eve Festival was coming up, and I had a booth to run.
The meeting was only a technicality; Mary-Marigold, the mayor’s event-coordinating wife, had us do almost the same thing every year.
Which worked well, as everyone who volunteered did almost the same thing every year, too.
There’d always been two types of people in Briar Hill: those who volunteered for our town events, and those who attended.
Especially during our spring and summer events, when tourism was high, plenty of people came from out of town for our Festivals.
But it was rare for the volunteer meetings to be packed, so when I walked into the community center, I was shocked to find it standing room only.
Most of the volunteers were people who grew up here, the ones who’d grown up with the festivals, and wanted to put them on for the next generation.
It was a big deal when one of the regulars retired from their festival booth; it practically signaled the end of an era.
This presented another mystery: most of the people in the room were not locals, but instead, Millennial women who looked like they were applying for a dating show.
I heard whispers, as I pushed my way through the crowd, of disappointed conversations talking about how they thought it’d be Jack or Noah who was here, while others were debating how to talk to him.
I rolled my eyes at everyone here, determined to turn Kameron into the next Bachelor.
The more I fought to get into the room, the more I realized I didn’t recognize half the people here.
By the time I got to the chairs, I realized there was only one open: the one right next to Kam. Despite all these women being determined to become the next Mrs. Raine, they’d clearly all chickened out on the idea of actually sitting next to him.
“I heard a rumor there’s someone famous here,” I teased him as I sat down, hearing an audible gasp from no less than three people who were shocked by my apparent audacity. “You know anything about that?”
“Nope, I’m just here to volunteer,” Kam said as I caught Maya and her friends all glaring daggers at me from the corner of my eye.
I had no idea if she’d wanted this seat empty for a reason or if she had some sort of plan to rescue Kam from all the strangers, but I decided to ignore it.
“Wasn’t her name Vanessa in high school?
” he asked as he pointed at the stage, ignoring everyone in a way that was clearly practiced.
“Who? Mary-Marigold?” I laughed, “It was. She tried to be a reality TV star not long after you moved and chose a new name to rebrand herself. Her career never took off, but the name stuck. We’re all used to it by now.”
Kam nodded and looked around the room. This wasn’t the time to talk about the somewhat awkward vibes that'd sprung up between us.
Not when Mary-Marigold clearly was avoiding starting the meeting with how stressed she looked.
The townies kept looking at Kam, trying to decide if he was encouraging everyone here or if he was here to volunteer himself.
Though I did think it helped that he was actively and obviously trying to avoid the spectacle.
I’d wished I had that ability. This was the closest thing I’d come to in years to my former infamy, and if the slow uptick in glares my way meant anything, it meant by the end of the meeting almost every stranger would know who I was.
Great.
“I think there’s going to be a rush of people trying to be your booth partner,” I grimaced. “Is it always like this for you?
“Don’t think I haven’t noticed how many people are disappointed it’s me here,” Kam scoffed, rolling his eyes, “I really am trying to get involved with the town. Your friend Misty had a…” he started, before an earsplitting blast of mic feedback silenced the room.
“Hello, everyone!” Mary-Marigold anxiously laughed into the microphone.
She launched into her usual speech about the history of the Festival, the different booths we typically had, and how the volunteer sign-ups were going to go.
It was a speech she used for almost every single town event, and I had it almost memorized, while Kameron was hanging on to almost every word.
My phone buzzed, and I pulled it out to see that my group chat with Peri and Misty exploded.
Peri-Dot
Would it be wrong to pull the fire alarm?
Misty-cal
PERI YOU KNOW THAT’S ILLEGAL.
Nalini
Does anyone know why all these people are here?
Peri-Dot
Nope.
But I’ll show them the door myself if they don’t take a hint and leave.
Misty-cal
I KNOW.
Someone put out an anonymous blast on CelebScoop that a newly single member of RaineFall was going to be here. Heavily implied he was looking for a girlfriend.
Nalini
They did WHAT?
I showed my phone to Kameron, so he'd at least knew how this mess happened. I watched as he pulled out his phone and started texting someone, a dark cloud falling over his features.
Misty-cal
I KNOW!!!!!!!!!!!
I can’t believe we’re still doxxing people.
Like how is this even legal???????
Peri-Dot
You’re going to pull a white knight and save him from getting stuck with one of them, aren’t you?
Nalini
Maybe???
This is actually ridiculous!
Misty-cal
I CALL WORKING THE BAKE SALE WITH PERI.
Sorry Nalini
Nalini
COME ON!!!
Misty-cal
Can’t take my chances with the hot cocoa station again.
Still have nightmares from last time.
Nalini
Then what am I supposed to do????
Peri gave me an evil grin from across the room, and I knew exactly what it meant.
I was going to get stuck with something terrible.
Mary-Marigold was still struggling through her speech, giving great insight into why her Reality TV career never took off, before my grumpy best friend stormed onto the stage and grabbed the mic from her.
“If you’re here to try and date a Raine Brother and not help with the New Year’s Eve Festival, get out right now!
” she practically growled. While Misty’s death glare looked like something out of a horror movie, Peri’s was on an entirely different level.
To the point chills went up my spine, and she wasn’t even mad at me.
Half the room took that as their sign to leave, which was a relief.
While the community center was still packed, it at least gave most people room to breathe.
“Okay, good news: if you want to be my partner for the Festival, mine abandoned me,” I whispered once Mary-Marigold restarted talking about logistics. “Bad news, we’re going to get a terrible booth.”
Kameron looked at me with a glance I had no idea how to interpret.
It might've been presumptuous to assume he wanted to volunteer with me in the first place. He’d just said he'd wanted to be more involved in the town, and it could easily have meant he wanted to partner with someone he didn’t actually know in an attempt to make a new friend.
“Only if you want to,” I added, hoping it'd help. I had to remind myself that even if he said no, it wasn’t a rejection. That we’d figure out a way to get through this weirdness.
“What do you mean by a terrible booth?” Kameron asked, staring at the ground as multiple people tried to get his attention.
“Most people who work the festival do the same thing every year, so they have first pick. Which means anyone new gets stuck with things the regulars don’t want to do. And as Peri has already decided she’s going to work with Misty, because she felt bad for you sitting by yourself…”
“That doesn’t sound like Peri at all,” Kameron cut in, motioning to the fact Peri was standing on stage behind Mary-Marigold like a glaring bodyguard.
“Okay, she knew I’d want to partner with you when you looked like a little lost lamb in here,” I corrected, “I was trying to save your ego before it became too inflated by… all this. Anyway, I now don’t have a partner, and Peri’s going to make sure there’s no way for us to do something easy like the bake sale.
So it’ll be either a game where we’ll actively have people the entire night, or something that involves a lot of cleaning.
Won’t be fun, but if you come back and help next year, your chances of getting a better job will be high. ”
“I’m not sure that’s the best way to keep volunteers coming back,” Kameron said, narrowing his eyes before sighing, as a few women seemed to circle us as the sign-ups were about to open, “They do realize this is a regular volunteer meeting, right?”
“They probably think this is the start of their personal Hallmark movie,” I shrugged, “and I’m clearly the villain about to ruin their love story.”
“Okay, let’s partner up and try to find a booth that doesn’t suck,” Kameron finally decided, “though why do I get the feeling she’s behind all these people here?
” He asked, his head slightly motioning in the direction of Maya Phillips.
I had a feeling her glare had been constant, though I’d been trying to ignore her.
My gut said she’d planned something, and my being here ruined it.
I just didn’t care enough to investigate what it was.
“Did you get Cassidy moved out of her class?” I asked, thinking back to how things had gone with them earlier.
“No, she got a warning. “ There are only two teachers for her grade and… everything feels like a mess,” he sighed, “I get they’re overworked, but I’m almost worried if it happened once, it’ll happen again.”
“Hopefully the warning from her boss put Maya on her best behavior,” I said, resisting the urge to glance back at her again. I’d already heard enough of her snide comments in yoga; I didn’t want her to realize I’d been talking about her too.
I could tell he wanted to say something else, but Mary-Marigold released everyone to the sign-up sheets, and it was an absolute free-for-all.
The regulars knew exactly where their signups were, ensuring they’d get them for another year, leaving the rest of the room either trying to get to Kameron or trying to find an unwanted booth they could handle.
I looked at a couple of them, finding nothing that seemed remotely interesting.
The Great Snowball Fight almost always ended with a literal fight I didn’t want to break up.
The Snowglobe was really a snowglobe-themed bounce house, and I didn’t want to listen to children squealing all night.
I was surprised to see the Cocoa stand available, but someone swooped in before I got a chance to put our names down.
“Okay, don’t be mad, but I signed us up for something,” Kameron said, scaring me as I turned around, “the Karaoke contest.”
I blinked, wondering if he was kidding, before I realized he absolutely wasn’t.
“You do realize you’re the only person in this town who can actually sing. You know that, right?” I asked, blinking, only for him to shrug.
“I thought it’d be fun,” he smiled, “plus what better way to get into everyone’s good graces than for me to judge that particular contest?”
“I really hope they don’t turn it into advertising material,” I mumbled, almost afraid that agreeing to sign up with Kam was a mistake.
Yes, his judging a karaoke contest was probably a smart decision — a way to poke fun at himself in a way everyone in town would find funny.
But I didn’t want it digging too much into our history.
Between the RaineFall stans and the people who’d known us back then, I wasn’t convinced this wouldn’t turn into a ton of conversations I wasn’t particularly interested in having.
“Don’t worry, it’ll be fun,” he smiled, “Trust me.”
And as much as I wished I could, I absolutely did not trust him.