She tosses her thick blond hair over her shoulder. “Good.”
Astrid rolls her eyes again but says nothing. She’s quiet and contemplative as we hurry along the sidewalk. I lean into her. “Don’t worry about it, Astrid. It can still be a good day.”
My words don’t inspire me like I’d hoped, but Astrid brightens some. After we wait in an extraordinarily long line, I order for Millie and myself, let Astrid place her order, and pay. I’m grabbing the box of sugary sweet donuts when— “Bee?”
No.
Nononononono.
NO.
I want to drop and play dead, but I can’t pretend like I didn’t hear him. I turn slowly, feeling like a very creaky tin man. Levi is standing in the line beside me, hands in his pockets, looking happy as usual. He probably just made someone’s day and is still high from the rush.
“Hey!” I exclaim. (Great. Super awkward. Now fix it, you idiot.) He laughs. “Did you come back for the good stuff?”
I nod, embarrassed. Something about him catching me here after the last two times I’ve been here with him makes me supremely uncomfortable. It’s like I’ve broken some secret pact of friendship. I also don’t want it to be obvious that more than half of my reason for coming back was to see him. (I’m a hot mess.) “I brought my sisters,” I say by way of excuse, waving them over. “I figured they have to try this as much as I did.”
“Heck yeah, they do.” Levi quickly orders his donut and pays. When he has his bag, he comes to stand beside us. He shakes the girls’ hands, very politely. “I’m Levi.”
“Millie,” my youngest sister says, blinking incredibly fast, eyes glued to his face.
“Astrid,” my other sister mumbles. She isn’t nearly as impressed, but Levi takes no notice.
“Nice names.” He sounds genuine, but I wonder if he’s trying to get me to spill the beans on my name. Hell no. He must see my expression, because he grins. “Want to come back with me? I have to grab some paperwork, and then I’m off for an evening shift at Mike’s.”
I nod. “Sure.”
Millie and Astrid have no choice but to follow. Levi is the first one to talk, walking so close to me that our elbows touch. “I’m glad I caught you before I left. Did everything work out okay? With your mom?”
“Yeah,” I say. “Thankfully, I have a good track record.”
Laughing, he opens the door to TCP, ushering us inside. I don’t see Missy, but rather a girl in her mid-twenties with short brown hair and misty blue eyes. She’s talking to an applicant, but quickly stands to open the blue door for us before disappearing back into the office.
Levi lets us into the interview room. A boy is sitting on the loveseat, staring lazily at the pile of glitter specks in his palm. “Hello?” he asks, very politely, a light accent lilting his voice. “Levi, what’s going on?”
“Want to meet Barbie?” Levi asks the boy, who I assume is Albert.
There are a few moments of silence. Then I realize he’s referring to me, and everyone is glancing with uncertainty in my direction. Levi, because he expects a reaction; my sisters, because they have no idea what the heck is going on.
The sound that escapes me is practically a snort. “Nice try.”
That damn smirk again. He runs a hand through his hair and nods. “I was close. Wasn’t I?”
“Not even a little bit.” I turn back to Albert. “I’m Bee.”
“Nice to meet you.” He’s looking at Astrid intently. “You?”
“I’m Astrid Jean Wescott,” she says, lips tight, wary.
“And I’m Millicent.” Millie frowns when Albert doesn’t look at her. “Excuse me, what’s your name?” she prompts.
Albert lifts his hand—palm flat—and blows, hard, into Millicent’s face.
Millie sucks in a sharp breath—and instantly regrets it. “There’s glitter in my nose!” she screams, and runs straight through the open bathroom door.
I laugh, but quietly, so I don’t feel like a terrible sister. Levi, on the other hand, looks terribly vexed. “Albert, please go get the vacuum.”
Albert sighs. “Fine. Goodbye, Astrid Jean Wescott,” he adds. Then he scurries from the room.
“Whoa.” Astrid is staring at the ground where the glitter lies in a heap. “He is so cool.”
Levi puts his hand over his face. “Don’t say that. Albert’s glitter problem might just break me one day. I have recurring nightmares about it. There’s a vacuum filled with glitter, and it explodes, and I can never ever clean it up no matter how hard I scrub and how often I sweep.” Here he gives Astrid an exhausted smile, as if his dreams are actually sucking energy from him.
Astrid crosses her arms. “I don’t see the problem.”
Okaaaay, time to change the subject. “Thanks for the other day,” I say, abruptly, to get his attention off Astrid.
Levi looks up sharply. “Who should be thanking who?”
“Definitely me thanking you.”
He shakes his head. “No.”
“Yes.”
Shrugging, Levi says, “I don’t fight about stupid things,” before turning to the bathroom. “You all right in there, Millie?”
My sister comes out with her hair and eyelids sparkling, but her nose seems all clear. “Fine. Fine.”
Levi nods gravely. “Albert gets to the best of us, Millie.”
She brightens. “Okay.”
We leave when Albert returns with the vacuum and Levi grabs his laundry from the bathroom. Albert stares at Astrid for a bit longer, his blond hair flopping into his eyes. When we close the door on him, Astrid’s cheeks are bright red. “He is so cool,” she repeats.
The brunette at the front desk stops us on our way out.
“Is this the famous Bee I’ve heard all about?” she asks, extending her hand to me over her desk. “I’m Clary-Jane.”
Levi gives me a shifty look, like he’s embarrassed.
He’s been talking about me, I think. I choke on my words as I shake Clary-Jane’s hand. “Hi, yeah, I’m Bee.” I clear my throat. “Nice to meet you! And these are my sisters.”
Clary-Jane shakes their hands, smiling. Then she continues her work, stapling papers together and organizing them in a filing cabinet to her right. “I heard you had the tour last week.”
“Yeah,” I say, sneak a glance at Levi. His cheeks are red.
“Isn’t it awesome?” Clary-Jane asks.
The genuine excitement of her tone gets me. “Yes! I love it here already.”
“Good.” She glances at Levi before saying, “You should come to the fundraiser we’re hosting in a couple of weeks.”
“Clary-Jane!” Levi exclaims in a pathetic voice, pouting his bottom lip. “I was going to invite her.”
I glance between them. “What fundraiser?”
“Basically,” Clary-Jane goes on, “we’re a bunch of artists are donating their paintings so we can host a gallery. People bid on the art, and the money we raise goes directly to the community.”
Levi leans against the wall beside the window. “That was the original reason I named it The Color Project; I wanted to use art to help the needy. After a year, we’re finally getting to that point.” He gives Clary-Jane a withering look. “Don’t steal my thunder. I want to do the inviting.”