Page 62 of Picking Daisies on Sundays

That stress was accompanied by the stress of my Lazaro application too. I knew that it was unreasonable to think I’d hear back two days after submitting my application. But my ability to operate has been thwarted by my application status. If I didn’t get in, would that be a sign that Paris was meant to be? I wanted to start challenging myself, but moving across the world for a year was more than just challenging myself.

Swiping my student ID, I pushed open the door to the design building, and walked up the stairs. It was more so a dash than a walk because I was paranoid about running into Ethan.

How did one react when being called Evan and cut off mid-conversation by a student’s boyfriend? No idea, and I was anxious to find out.

“Bagels!” the girls cheered as I entered the room. Their pieces were all out early, along with their pincushions on their wrists. By the end of class, we’d look like we were working in a sweatshop.

Removing pins from mouths and pin cushions from wrists, they came and got their bagels, thanking me with kisses on the cheek and arm squeezes.

“I got dairy-free cream cheese too, Sandra!” I said cheerfully.

Camille, Vera, Daya, and Lexi laughed, while Sandra gasped in shock. “This may be the best day of my life,” she said, clutching onto the cream cheese like it was gold.

Everyone gathered around a table at the front of the room. We discussed what we had left for our pieces and the vision we had for hair and makeup.

“I want the models to have this neon eyeshadow and overly

fake nails,” both Lexi and Daya said, while Vera wanted, “tight buns and gelled back hair.”

Camille and I had similar style, so I wasn’t surprised to hear that she wanted, “loose ponytails and natural makeup.” I would most likely pick a similar style when speaking with the hair and makeup students next week.

“What about you, Dani?” Daya asked. Camille was who I went to most for advice because she knew my vision as well as I did, so the rest of the girls didn’t know much of what I was doing. Most of my work was done in the middle of the night or after breakdowns, as you could tell.

I had four dresses, and one suit, with the colors of spring flowers, and fabric that mimicked the airiness of clouds.

“Something similar to Camille,” I said, taking another bite of my bagel. I hadn’t thought once about hair and makeup, but it was usually an afterthought. Making sure my pieces were complete was my main focus.

“You guys are asking the wrong questions,” Vera spoke up, sweeping her ink black hair up. “I want to hear about Dani’sboyfriend,” she cooed, wiggling her eyebrows.

I groaned. “You told them!” I accused Sandra.

She gasped, “I did no such thing! I only told Vera.”

“Told Vera what? I want to know!” Lexi yelped.

As much as I hated talking about this and enduring this pretending through my social life, I loved them. To have people that cared about me enough to ask about my weekend and my relationship, despite it being fake, was a reassuring feeling as an insecure friend.

Sandra gave me a look as if to say,Can I tell them?

I rolled my eyes before nodding. Then she was off to describe how Levi and I looked this weekend.

“This man was the hottest human in the building—no, thecity. He had this black suit on that complemented his dark hair, which had this perfect curl above his eyebrow,” Sandra explained with a dreamy look in her eye.

Is this what my train of thought sounded like?

“Sandra, this is Dani’s boyfriend!” Daya intervened in horror, but it wasn’t enough to disguise the ghost of a smile on her face.

“I’m just appreciating what she has!”

“Did he wear those glasses again?” Vera asked with total seriousness.

“I wasn’t done yet!” Sandra responded. “No, no glasses. But it would’ve hid his gorgeous eyes.” I snorted, regardless of the fact that I agreed. “And he had his hand on Dani’s back the entire time.”

The girls awed. The blood rushed to my cheeks. I was so focused on Bella seeing me and Levi, that I hadn’t thought of how we’d appear to my friends.

As Sandra continued to describe our closeness, I grew more hopeful that Levi was attracted to me. My optimistic heart wanted to believe those words. But habitual whispers returned.He loved to flirt. Most of all, he loved Bella. He was acting.

“I didn’t get to meet him because he was talking to someone else. But he kept glancing back at her, like he couldn’t believe she existed, like she was the only one in the room,” Sandra explained in a dreamy state. We all waited for her to continue, wanting to hear more of this fairytale, but she had finished.