Wish

by Alexandra Bullen

  He ducked his head in a bit closer, his elbow accidentally brushing hers and spiking the little hairs on her forearm to attention. “In case you haven’t noticed,” he stage-whispered, “I’m not much of a runner.”

  Olivia grinned, shrugging. “I thought you were just enjoying the scenery,” she joked, lifting her eyes to meet his. His face was open, his lips slightly parted and approaching a smile, his teeth overcrowded and imperfect in a way that softened the rest of his chiseled features. He seemed more comfortable here than he had been at the party, and there was something about the way he held her gaze that made her feel instantly at ease.

  “Not bad, huh?” Soren gestured with the clean line of his jaw at the sprawling green on either side, against a backdrop of painted rooftops and giant sky.

  “Definitely beats yoga,” Olivia agreed.

  Soren considered her skeptically from beneath his thick lashes. From this angle, Olivia decided that he was almost too pretty.

  “Oh, come on,” he said, kicking a fallen branch out of his way with the side of his muddy sneaker. “You were a natural.”

  Olivia’s heart tightened, little red splotches spreading at the base of her throat. He had noticed her in yoga? Her feet automatically hit the pavement in heavier, shorter strides, pulling a foot or two in front of him as they followed the path under a canopy of tangled cherry blossoms, the hanging pink petals blurring in her vision overhead.

  “So how are you liking the city so far?” he called out from behind her. His voice shook a little bit, like he was trying to keep from talking too loud but was afraid she wouldn’t hear him.

  Olivia slowed until he’d caught up again, looking down at her maroon-and-silver Nikes as they matched his sluggish pace, step for step. She’d never thought about it before, but running with somebody else felt a little bit like dancing.

  “It’s great,” she said. “I mean, I haven’t really done much of the tourist stuff yet.”

  Olivia half expected him to laugh, or tell her she wasn’t missing much. There was something about being the new girl in a city so fabled that was a little embarrassing. It seemed much cooler to be the jaded traveler than the wide-eyed transplant.

  But instead, Soren turned to her, his eyes quick and serious. “You have to do it all,” he said with genuine concern. “I mean, there’s some stuff you can skip. Fisherman’s Wharf is always crazy crowded and kind of lame, but it’s still worth seeing. And then there’s Golden Gate Park, Coit Tower, the Presidio, the farmer’s market at the Ferry Building…”

  Olivia felt her shoulders relaxing as he talked. Usually, talking to guys made her feel like she was on trial. But Soren was different. He kind of reminded her of a little kid.

  “I have a question,” she started, feeling suddenly braver. “I mean, I can pretty much guess, but I’ve technically never been, so I was just wondering…what exactly is a farmer’s market?”

  The only market Olivia had ever been to was of the super variety, and she’d pretty much assumed that farmers only existed in paintings and history books. Ever since Bowie’s mom had returned with overflowing bags of vegetables that looked freshly picked, Olivia had been curious about where they came from.

  “You’ve never been to a farmer’s market?” Soren asked. His voice was light and free of judgment, like he was simply excited for her to finally find out. “There are a bunch of them around the city,” he explained as they rounded a corner of the shimmering lake. “But Saturday at the Ferry Building is the best. Farmers from all over the area bring whatever’s in season, and there are tons of amazing samples. Skip breakfast and you can make a whole meal out of just tasting things…”

  Olivia smiled and listened, watching Soren as he animatedly gestured with his hands. They were coming up around the final bend, and Olivia felt a shade of disappointment creep up around her heart. Soon they’d be back at school. Maybe he’d wave or smile in the hall, but she knew they wouldn’t get another chance like this to really talk.

  But she kept smiling and nodding as Soren went on about the various vendors and their farming techniques. She realized that along with the subtle disappointment, another, more foreign sensation rumbled inside of her, a physical feeling she had almost forgotten how to recognize.

  She was hungry.

  18

  Olivia hustled through the crowded lobby after school with Violet hopping up and down beside her. The girls’ volleyball team, led by Lark, the team’s captain, was parading en masse out of the locker room and down the hall. Violet was snaking in between them, craning her neck for a better look.

  “I knew we should’ve left class early,” Violet worried. “What if we already missed her?”

  Violet had been prepping Olivia all afternoon for her shopping trip with Calla, and Olivia had done her best to pay attention. But she’d left gym class that morning in a hazy fog, mentally replaying and analyzing excerpts from her lakeside conversation with Soren. Needless to say, the idea of spending time with his girlfriend was a little bit of a downer.

  “There she is,” Violet screeched, pointing through the glass to one of the dark wooden benches outside. Calla looked lovely as ever in a faded scarlet tunic with golden sarilike embellishments at the collar, stretchy indigo jeans, and a bright yellow circle scarf slung around her neck.

  She was chattering into her iPhone, and Olivia stood quietly off to the side so as not to interrupt. “No problem,” she said sweetly into the phone, indicating with a smile and one finger that she’d be just a minute.

  Olivia glanced across the street to where Eve and Graham were attempting to double-mount a rusty orange beach cruiser.

  “Sorry,” Calla said to Olivia, tucking her phone into the inside pocket of her extra-large tote. “I’d asked my dad’s driver to take us around today, but it’s so nice out I thought maybe we could walk instead. Do you mind?”

  “Sure,” Olivia agreed. “I mean, no. I don’t mind.”

  Calla smiled and folded her patched army coat into her bag. Olivia suddenly felt like a snowman in her heavy winter peacoat, and was wondering how casually she might be able to slip out of it, as Calla waved to Eve across a line of carpool traffic.

  “Hey, guys,” Calla called. Graham was now standing on the pedals as Eve attempted to balance between the cruiserstyle handlebars. “What, no helmets?” She laughed.

  “We’re only going to Amoeba,” Eve called back. “I thought you had a lit mag meeting today.”

  “Change of plans,” Calla said, linking arms with Olivia. “We’re going shopping.”

  They turned onto Haight Street and had hardly walked a block when Olivia noticed that just about every person they passed—from the clusters of runaway teens to old men pushing grocery carts, to camera-toting tourists at spinning postcard racks—stopped to watch Calla as she passed. A few of the more brazen onlookers whistled or called out, and if Calla noticed, she didn’t let on.

  “I didn’t even ask you where we’re going,” Calla said as they waited at a crosswalk, her smile easy and infectious. “I hope it’s somewhere nearby.”

  Olivia felt her pulse quickening, Posey’s warning about telling anybody about the shop echoing in her ears. As if summoned, Violet hustled up beside her, grabbing Olivia by her other arm.

  “Don’t worry, O,” Violet said. “You’re not giving anything away. And besides, you saw how slow things were at Posey’s. You’d be doing her a favor.”

  Olivia clenched her teeth, doubting Violet’s logic but forcing herself to at least pretend to believe it.

  “It’s near Dolores Park,” Olivia told her.

  “Okay.” Calla shrugged happily. “A bit of a hike, but I’m up for it if you are.”

  Olivia nodded and smiled. Her legs were sore from the two miles she’d run that morning with Soren in gym, but somehow she didn’t think this was appropriate information to share.

  “Oh, I bet I know,” Calla guessed. “Is it that little boutique with the handmade baby onesies? I swear, everything in there sm
ells like candy. I’m, like, instantly starving, the second I walk in.”

  “Um, no,” Olivia stuttered, realizing it would probably be better to prepare Calla ahead of time for Posey’s shop. “It’s actually not much of a store. More like a…custom-design studio.”

  Olivia held her breath, expecting Calla to stop short or turn around, or at least pry for more details. But she kept walking, untangling her flowing dark hair from under the thick strap of her tote, and smiling over her shoulder at Olivia. “I love it already.”

  “Butterfly,” Calla announced as they turned a corner at the park.

  Violet whipped her head around, locking eyes with Olivia.

  “What…where?” Olivia asked carefully, watching as Calla took a few steps backward and out into the street. Calla pointed up at the shabby awning, which appeared even older and grimier, caught in the unforgiving glare of the late-afternoon sun. For the first time, Olivia noticed a row of chipped, crooked letters, painted on the underside of the faded fabric. Either Posey’s grandmother had been going for a mysterious, windblown advertising effect, or the awning had been hung upside down.

  “Mariposa,” Calla read. “It means butterfly in Spanish.”

  Olivia shared a quick, charged glance with Violet before clearing her throat.

  “Let me guess,” Calla said, squinting with a sly smile. “You take French.”

  She didn’t wait for an answer, skipping across the curb and peering curiously through the darkened window.

  Olivia forced a choppy laugh and followed Calla inside, her stomach turning anxious flips.

  “Hello?” Olivia called out to the seemingly empty shop, as soon as the chimes had stopped tinkling overhead.

  “Wow.” Calla sighed, glancing around at the mannequins, which were even creepier than Olivia had remembered. “It’s like a museum.”

  Olivia peered around a corner, to where a narrow spiral staircase led to a door in the ceiling.

  “Posey?” Olivia called upstairs, listening for footsteps.

  Calla crossed the room to where an embroidered wedding gown was draped in plastic over one arm of the ratty old couch. “So how does this work?” she asked Olivia. “You just tell her what you want and she makes it for you?”

  Violet squatted on the arm of a rocking chair. “Yeah,” she muttered. “Or she makes you something else, which may or may not have the ability to bring people back from the dead.”

  Olivia shot Violet a hidden glare before turning to Calla. “Maybe we should come back,” Olivia said delicately. “I think she usually does these things by appointment.”

  “You’re kidding,” Calla said, her hazel eyes darkening with disappointment. “That’s too bad. I had such a good feeling about this. And my feelings are so rarely wrong, you see…”

  Calla smiled and Violet cocked her head up toward the staircase, urging Olivia to investigate.

  “Let me see if she’s upstairs,” Olivia said uncertainly, before gripping the loose railings and gingerly climbing up.

  She rapped gently on the ceiling and pushed the hatch open. A warm gust of air whooshed past her ears as she hoisted herself up, lifting the top half of her body into what appeared to be a cluttered kitchen.

  “Hello?” she called out. “Posey? It’s Olivia. I have a friend with me and—”

  Hurried footsteps approached the stairs and Olivia glimpsed a pair of old leather clogs shuffling around a corner. Feeling suddenly like an intruder, Olivia let the door fall shut and scurried back down the stairs.

  “She’s coming,” she announced to Calla, who was casually flipping through a book of sewing patterns. “I think.”

  Calla shrugged, as if to say she was in no rush, and turned a page.

  The heavy door creaked open and Olivia looked up to see Posey leveraging her miniature frame down the spiral stairs.

  “Oh, hi,” Olivia called up. “Sorry. I just wanted to let you know we were here.”

  Posey nodded and, without saying a word, moved silently and awkwardly toward the desk. “Full house today, huh?” Posey said, lowering herself into the cracked leather armchair tucked behind the desk. “I take it you want another dress.”

  Violet looked quickly to Olivia as Olivia’s eyes grew round. She hadn’t even thought about the dress she’d need for herself.

  “Oh,” she said quickly. “Well, yeah. But also, my friend Calla—”

  Olivia opened her arm to include Calla, who had already scurried to her side.

  “Hi,” Calla said, extending a warm hand. “I saw what you did for Olivia last weekend. The black gabardine, right? I am completely obsessed and have seriously been daydreaming about something like it ever since.”

  Posey glanced at Calla’s outstretched fingers as if they were an alien life-form she wasn’t quite sure how to process, before turning her attention back to a pile of loose receipts.

  “I hope we’re not interrupting,” Calla said with genuine alarm.

  Posey, in turn, said nothing.

  Olivia looked to where Violet was crouching on the rickety desk, her jaw swinging open and her arms flailing in disgust.

  “No,” Olivia stepped in, suddenly feeling protective and eager to make Calla feel comfortable. “Posey’s just surprised to see me back so soon, I bet. Right?”

  Posey looked up and met Olivia’s desperate stare. “Never saw it coming,” she replied, her voice dripping with dry irony.

  Olivia felt Calla’s shoulders relaxing as she wandered from one mannequin to another.

  “Well, how about if I tell you what I was hoping for, and you can tell me if I’m totally out of my mind,” Calla joked, laying a hand on the shoulder of a long-sleeved crimson sheath.

  “Please don’t touch that,” Posey asked, settling into her chair. “And yes. You are.”

  “Holy PMS,” Violet gasped.

  Olivia watched as a tiny vein in Posey’s neck throbbed.

  “Well,” Calla said, slowly lowering her hand to her side. “Maybe this is a bad time. I guess I should come back when I can give you more notice.”

  Calla strolled back toward the door before turning and smiling warmly at Posey. “It was nice meeting you,” she said. “You do beautiful work.”

  Posey bowed her head. “Thank you,” she muttered, and Olivia finally exhaled.

  Calla pressed through the door, turning back to Olivia. “Coming?” she asked.

  Olivia nodded. “Just a sec,” she said, nodding back to Posey. Calla smiled politely and stepped through to the street.

  Olivia leaned across the desk toward Posey. “I’m really sorry,” she said. “I don’t know what I was thinking.”

  Posey shrugged, refusing to make meaningful eye contact as she stuffed a pile of receipts into a manila envelope.

  “Do you still want your dress or not?” she asked.

  Olivia felt like leaping across the room and hugging her, but managed to restrain herself to a simple “Yes, please.”

  Outside, Calla was ruffling through her bag for a purple Nalgene water bottle.

  “I’m so sorry,” Olivia gushed. “I had no idea she’d react that way.”

  Calla took a sip and waved the apology away. “Don’t even worry about it,” she insisted. “Creative people are always moody. You don’t get to pick and choose clients if you don’t have talent.”

  Olivia nodded as Calla threaded her slender, tanned arms through the sleeves of her green army coat. The wind had started to pick up and the sun was hiding behind a low layer of clouds.

  “I guess I should do the usual shopping rounds,” Calla sighed. “I can’t believe how long I’ve waited to deal with this. It’s been, like, nonstop planning, helping my mom get everything together.”

  Olivia nodded with what she hoped was a sympathetic smile, hugging her arms to her waist, keeping warm against the chill.

  “Oh, well.” Calla smiled, checking the clunky, leather-strapped men’s watch she wore around one slender wrist. “Oh, my God! My mom is going to lose it. I’m suppo
sed to meet her at the caterer’s in ten minutes. Apparently there was some kind of shellfish crisis…”

  Violet made a face and Olivia laughed. Luckily, Calla did too.

  “See you tomorrow?” Calla asked.

  Olivia nodded. “Sure,” she said, hefting her book tote higher up her arm and bringing her loose, wavy ponytail down over one shoulder.

  Calla turned on her worn gold gladiator flats and waved as she crossed the street. “Wish me luck!” she called back to Olivia. “Oh, and thanks again for trying.”

  “Anytime,” Olivia answered, and realized that she’d meant it.

  19

  Olivia and Violet sat in the back of a musty-smelling cab, bottlenecked at the entrance to Golden Gate Park. The wide avenues of the city dead-ended into a lush, dense forest, and in the distance Olivia could just make out the winding paths snaking in and out of exotic trees and plants.

  “Enough,” Violet said as Olivia glanced anxiously from her watch to the window for the seventeenth time since they’d left the house. “Nobody gets to these things on time, anyway.”

  Olivia nodded and began absentmindedly picking at the hem of her dress, which Posey had left in a familiar folded bag at the top of the Larsens’ stoop late the night before.

  After the disastrous encounter at the shop with Calla, Olivia worried that Posey might not come through this time, or worse, lock her into wearing something heinous. But one glimpse inside the dusty garment bag had laid all of Olivia’s fears quietly to rest.

  The dress couldn’t have been more different from the first gown Posey had made, although the effect was the same. For starters, it was short, much shorter than anything Olivia had ever worn before. And it was strapless. But the silver bodice was constructed from layers of bunched tulle and was busy enough to make Olivia feel like she wasn’t fully exposed, while still managing to be both sexy and understated.

  “Damn,” Violet had said when Olivia first tried it on. “What that girl lacks in personality she certainly makes up for in style.”