“Yeah,” I say. “I think I do.”
Vee smiles, then nudges me off her lap to stand so she can lead me over to the community garden.
Sure enough, there are a group of omegas chatting and pulling weeds from a couple of the raised beds. One of them looks up as the bell on the gate tinkles, signaling our arrival when Vee pushes it open.
“Hey, Vee,” the omega says, waving.
Neveah strides over, pulling me along behind her.
“I brought someone for you all to meet,” Vee says.
Immediately, four sets of eyes dart to me. One of them has blonde hair pulled up in a messy knot, and she jumps up and claps their hands together. Another, the one who waved, straightens with a smile and pulls off the gardening gloves they were wearing, dark brown hair pulled back in a braid.
“This is Sage,” Vee says, tugging me in front of her, then wrapping her arm around me and resting her chin on my head. “My omega.”
My heart thuds at the words and I inadvertently straighten, preening.
The group immediately breaks into excited chatter.
“Oh my god!”
“You have an omega?!”
“That’s amazing!”
One of them steps forward, hand outstretched with a warm smile to greet me.
“Ignore them, they’ll remember their manners in a moment,” they say. “Hi, I’m Claire, she/her. I’m the beta of the group.”
“Thehonorary omega,you mean!” one of the others interjects.
Claire rolls her eyes, an indulgent smile on her face. Then she turns to introduce the others.
“That’s Wren,” she points to the omega who first wavedwith the cute gardening gloves, then to the omega who has a pile of blonde hair knotted on their head and is literally bouncing with excitement. “And that’s Siobhan, both use feminine pronouns.”
“Ohmygodhi! I’m so excited to meet you!” Siobhan bursts out, bright blue eyes brimming with excitement.
Vee chuckles, stepping up next to me and running a soothing hand down my back, effectively stopping the omega from tackling me or suffocating me in a hug or whatever else she had been about to do. I don’t think I’m ready for that level of affection from someone I only just met. I lean into Vee’s side, and she squeezes me.
“And that’s Bea, they/them,” Claire says, pointing to the last omega who seems to be the most laidback of the group.
They shoot me a friendly smile, their bare hands still buried in the dirt and a light sweat glistening above adorably nerdy glasses.
It feels like my heart is expanding, and I take a deep breath, trying to quell the feeling.
“You wanna hang out for a bit? Wehaveto hear how you snagged Vee,” Siobhan says, mischief lighting her eyes.
“Oh,” I glance at Vee, and she gives me an encouraging nod. “Yeah, I’d like that. But, um, I don’t know anything about gardening.”
“You can help me water. That’s easy enough,” Claire says.
“I’ll be here wandering, making sure all the other plots are doing well,” Vee says. “Wave if you need me.”
With that, she drops a kiss on my head before sauntering off. Siobhan pretends to swoon, and Claire smacks her.
“Behave,” she says. “Don’t scare away the new girl before she even gets to know us.”
Claire shoots me a wink and I smile, their easy banter helping to ease my nerves. As soon as Vee is out of earshot, Siobhan pounces.
