Page 50 of Hot Tea & Bird Calls

“Which charm are you fawning over?” Celene asked, propping her hands on the table, pinky barely resting against Skye’s. Regardless, it did a lot of heavy lifting in stealing Skye’s breath all over again.

“This one.” Skye indicated, reluctantly. She had no bandwidth for judgment.

Yet, Celene merely nodded. “Jelly. Cute. And what’s the one next to it?”

Skye hadn’t even noticed it. The same bread motif, but with a whirly tan and brown pattern—peanut butter.

Pearl, her hair electric yellow in teeny spikes, had been hovering, boxing up another person’s gift. “Peanut butter and jelly pendants. Peanut butter is picture jasper, jelly is sugilite.”

To Skye’s surprise, Celene wanted to know more. “What does picture jasper do?”

“It’s protective. For comfort and aiding inner silence,” Pearl detailed, unfurling a black paper bag with her store name on it. “Its properties encourage belonging, ya know, for a home. Communication, too, if that’s what you seek.”

Celene pursed her lips. It wasn’t a bad purse, more so fascinated. “And with the sugilite?”

Pearl made change and passed the purchase off before replying. “What doesn’t that pair do? Spiritual and physicalconnection. Healing, security. Nothin’ surface-level about those two, assuming your heart’s in the right place.”

“I like that.” Then, Celene’s arm joined in the light touch, her and Skye’s skin meeting. And it came in second to her sudden eye contact. “I could use some good energy. Should I buy us these? I promised the next purchase.”

Skye swore she’d slipped into a dream.

What? How?

Like, technically, Skye had the funds herself to buy them. With her income, Luce’s fame, and the sponsorships done by her influencer parents, it wouldn’t be an issue. Except the hatred of wealth hoarding had been strongly ingrained. A weighty percentage of their money went to charity, maintaining comfortable means.

Skye could get this all on her own. It just didn’t feel deserved.

To potentially possess this necklace she once mooned over, Skye sweated. “Celene, no. That’s too much.”

“It’s a tad steep, true.” Rather than concede, Celene hailed Pearl with, “If someone buys both, do you offer a discount?”

This intrigued Pearl. She sauntered over and turned the display toward herself, as if she needed to see her jewelry with fresh eyes. “You trying to haggle down my prices, young lady?”

Thalia and June’s heads rose in interest. Celene shrugged, more nonchalantly than anyone could. “I want to commemorate Yielding and your little Toast Day. They’ve been sitting here all day, so...”

“Huh. Mouthy.” Pearl popped her lips. Some sort of thinking habit, probably, but Skye could only speculate briefly because Pearl eagle-eyed Skye, from her gemstone necklace to her nervous smile. “I watched this one grow up. I don’t know many homosexuals and the whole alphabet, but Skye’s always been a sweetheart. Never caused any trouble.”

Celene couldn’t hide her laugh. Very entertained by the senior crowd. “Isn’t she the sweetest homosexual?”

Skye started babbling to diffuse the situation, and Pearl waved her off, taking out a key to unlock the glass case. “Tell you what, stranger. I’ll knock off ten percent ‘cause you’re booed up with my colleague’s granddaughter.”

“Fifteen.”

The fluorite around Pearl’s neck swung with her head shake. “Twelve percent. I’ll throw in a white gold necklace if you take a picture for my photo wall.”

Skye gawked. Arealcouple might fall in love with these, and here they were, getting them on a markdown. Her friend group murmured, enthused spectators.

Should she be more guilty?

Needing not to be too swept in by the moment, she leaned close to Celene’s hair, smelling shampoo as she breathed, “Dragonfruit. You don’t have to do this.”

Celene whispered in response, breath brushing Skye’s ear. “Dragonfruit. This is fun for me. Let me spoil you.”

Spending money made Celene enjoy herselfmore? Skye raised a skeptical brow. “You think you can impress me with expensive gifts?”

Shamelessly, Celene nodded. In her deep smile, one tip of her lip peaked higher, and Skye melted despite herself. “I do. Is it working?”

Skye looked away, recovering, as Pearl charged Celene with a mobile reader like Luce’s. Her friends noticed Skye’s panic, though.