We clink mugs and then bring them to our lips.
“Holy shit, this is good!” Juniper says, coming up for air a few moments later, a thin foam mustache dancing on her upper lip.
“You’ve got, uh, your lip…”
Juniper wipes away the film and goes in for another sip. “What is in here? It’s like drinking a straight-up truffle.”
I laugh. “I told you. Ms. Mills don’t play.”
“Thanks for showing me this place,” Juniper says after another few sips. “It’s the coolest spot I’ve been to in Lansing so far.”
“Yeah, for sure. And… thanks for being so chill about my little anger outburst at the rink. I have a hard time when plans change or get ruined, and I seriously underestimated my ice-skating coordination.”
“No worries.” Juniper nods. “I get in my head sometimes too.”
It’s more than just getting in my head, I want to say to her, but I bite my tongue instead and stare into the fire.
When I finally glance at Juniper, she’s looking at me with an open and calm face.
“What are you thinking about?”
“Oh, nothing.”
“Doesn’t seem like nothing,” Juniper pushes gently.
“Look, I’ve just gotten really good at relying on myself in life. It’s just been me and Grammy Viv for a long time—and then I met Kiana—and those are kind of my only people. I’m a pretty private person, despite my presence on BeautyStarz. It’s hard for me to trust anyone else. So, I just need you to get that moving forward.”
Juniper nods, still looking at me softly. “OK. I can do that. Thanks for telling me.”
I don’t know why, but all of a sudden I feel like crying. I take a big sip from my mug to hide my face.
“Just one more question,” Juniper says after a beat.
“Uh-huh?” I say.
“What’s your favorite color?”
I laugh. “What? What kind of question is that?”
“Uh, a normal question, that I should know the answer to if we’re going to be a BeautyStarz couple. Mine is blue. Navy blue, to be exact.”
“You’re gonna laugh at mine.”
“I won’t.”
“You will.”
“Try me.”
“Ballet pink,” I say softly.
“I’m sorry—what was that?” Juniper leans in closer like she didn’t hear.
“Stop playing. You heard me. And I told you you’d laugh.”
“OK, OK. I’m not laughing, I’m just—that was unexpected. I’m going to need some more details, please. I just never see you wearing anything close to that color. I thought you were going to say something like teal, royal purple, indigo blue, or some bold color you wear on your lips sometimes.”
Now I laugh. The hot chocolate has warmed up my belly, and I’m starting to actually enjoy this banter with Juniper. “Listen—it has to do with the tea set my grammy Viv gave me as a little girl. It was my favorite toy ever, and the cups had this spray of ballet-pink flowers all over them. They were so pretty—if I’d had my own room growing up, I’d have painted my room that color.”
