Page 25 of Snapdragon

The bell dings, and I promise to bring in a few products for her to try tomorrow.

We’ve been sort of playing a speed dating game, except it’s for us to meet our new colleagues. I move to my next table, a female with dark purple hair sits across from me. We shake hands and a little spark zaps me.

“Oh, shit. Sorry!” She exclaims. “I normally have a bit more control over that, I promise. God, this is so embarrassing.”

I laugh, trying to lighten the mood. “No, don’t worry! It woke me up a little, that’s all. I’m Flora, it’s nice to meet you.”

“Flora?” She looks at me closer, “Shit, I was expecting you to be blond. Sebastian’s going to kill me. Oh God, please don’t tell him I zapped you, he’ll have my head!”

“Woah, it’s OK! I promise, your secret is safe with me.” I study her a little, wondering who she might be to Sebastian. She’s beautiful, purple eyes to match her purple hair, with the palest skin. I try not to be jealous.

“Umm… so… what’s your name?” I ask her.

“Oh! I’m Addison.”

“Sebastian’s producer?” she nods. “Oh, I am obsessed with you. Actually my own producer might be more so. They’re Alex.”

I point to a couple heads behind me, “you’ll meet them soon. We’ve been trying to figure out some of the things that you’ve been doing on Sebastian’s tracks and we literally can’t. I would love if you sat down with us both some time. I’m working on a new album at the moment, so it would be so cool. Sorry, I’m totally commandeering the conversation!”

She grins at me slowly, a mischievous look on her face. “Firstly, thank you, I would love to sit down with you guys. Secondly,” she leans forward, lowering her voice, “you are so different than I thought you would be. In a good way, don’t get me wrong. I actually can’t wait to see you and Sebastian together.”

She glances to her right, and I realize that Sebastian is next in the line for me to talk to. I look away before he catches me staring. That means he’s chatting to Cleo right now. Oh, I hope she is keeping it cool.

I shift my focus back to Addison, “Why? Because he’s so chatty?”

Addison burst out laughing at my sarcastic remark.

“Oh, I am glad that Sebastian finally has someone to keep him on his toes. He was getting far too comfortable.”

I try to keep a happy mask on my face, but this is difficult. “I’m so sorry, Addison, but I need to excuse myself. I know we’re going to chat lots soon anyway.”

With that, I leave the table and head to the restroom. It’s quiet, with everyone participating in the icebreakers. I turn on a tap and shove my wrists under, I feel far too hot all of a sudden. My chest heaves and I try to take in a slow, deep breath.

I look at myself in the mirror and I feel like I don’t recognize her. I’m not a liar, it’s not something that I’ve ever liked to do. And yet here I am, meeting a whole new group of people and trying to form connections. They’re all based on lies, it’s all just one big lie and I can’t stand it.

I only need to stay here until my turn with Sebastian would be over, and then I’ll go back in. I hear the ding. Perfect, my time with Addison would be up now anyway. I’ll wait until the next ding and I will go back in and pick up with the next person.

Yeah, that’ll be fine. I lean against the counter, taking another deep breath.

The door to the restroom opens, and I grab a paper towel, pretending that I was finishing washing my hands.

In the mirror, I can see that it’s Sebastian. He moves forward, looming over me. I want to lean back, I really do. I want to press myself against him and let him hold me.

“Are you OK?” He asks, he toys with the end of one of my braids.

“No, I’m not OK.” I sigh, pulling my braid out of his hand and stepping away from him. “I hate that we’re lying to everyone, to my friends. I’ve met so many people today and had to lie to their face and I’m sick of it.”

“Flora, I know. I don’t like doing it either. But we signed that—” The bell dings again, cutting across him.

“We should head back.” I slip past him and move back into the room again.

I’m panting heavily, sweat dripping down my back. The wash of adrenaline flows through me and I relax a little. This was exactly what I needed.

Daisy, Cleo, and I just finished our set, and the staff of Fortune Records loved it. Or at least they applauded really loudly, with hoots and hollers for the girls. Who seemed to have made a few new friends with our ice breaker games earlier.

I laugh with them now, going to grab a drink of water. We move back out into the audience to watch whoever is next. I rest my head on Alex’s shoulder as we join them in the seats.

“Eww, you’re so sweaty, Flora!” They exclaim, but I giggle, switching to Cleo’s shoulder instead. She wraps her arm around me and we enjoy the next few artist’s performances.