Page 101 of Rise
As they came apart, Iris’s smile turned from something warm, to something deeper— something filled with more meaning, like this was a moment she’d been waiting a long time for.
“This is Claire,” Iris said, eyes shining as she looked between them. “I’m really glad you guys finally get to meet.”
Claire offered a hand. Her smile was soft and slanted, like it had been tugged into place with care.
“I’m so happy you’re here,” Hazel said, surprised by how quiet Claire seemed. She wasn’t shy, exactly, just still. Peaceful.
Iris was all colour and movement, always speaking with her whole body, all the while, Claire had barely shifted. Somehow, she seemed to anchor the room. She stood like she’d been watching it unfold for hours and was only just now ready to say something.
Together, they made perfect sense.
Hazel watched as Iris tucked a hand around Claire’s waist without thinking, the way people do when the choreography is muscle deep. Claire leaned into it, smiled with her eyes, and said nothing.
Hazel felt her chest tighten. It was a familiar sort of ache.
Longing.
Across the room, her gaze caught on Imogen, standing near the drinks, nodding politely as Elise spoke animatedly beside her, glass still in hand. Imogen’s posture was still a little too perfect, but her smile was softer than before. Less for show, more honest.
AndBeck—she hadn’t realized he was here, hadn’t seen him come in, but there he was, leaning against the far wall, near the back exit where the string lights trailed out onto the patio when the door brushed open. He hadn’t moved much, hadn’t tried to draw attention, but Hazel spotted him now in quiet conversation with Leigh, of all people. They stood close, heads dipped toward one another, voices low and too quiet to hear. Leigh’s expression had changed, grown softer, and Beck’s jaw was less tight. His hands weren’t in fists and he wasn’t looking around, searching for an exit. He was just there, in conversation, listening.
Hazel felt her breath catch, just a sudden pause as the air pressed into her lungs. Not out of jealousy, not quite, but recognition. A flicker of wonder at what lay beneath all that silence that Beck wore on the surface. And who else might see it.
Someone bumped her elbow with a plate of fig and goat cheese toasts, murmuring an apology, and she blinked, pulled back to the warmth, to the light, to the movement of the room around her.
She excused herself from Iris and Claire in the next gentle lull in conversation, mentioning something about needing another drink. She didn’t— her cheeks were still flushed and her limbs still loose— but there was something about staying still that felt wrong tonight. And so she moved through the crowded space of Greyfin once more, making her way back to the table near the front. She hummed quietly to herself as she eyed up the different drink options, lips pursed, before finally she settled on a warm mug of cider. She poured herselfa steaming cup and then lifted it into her hands, inhaling the sweet, savoury scent. It soothed her fractured nerves almost instantly.
She turned away and let her gaze move around the room once more. And then she set off, searching for a friend, for someone to pass the time with.
One moment, she was deep in laughter, her shoulders loose, cheeks warm, a fizzing lightness blooming somewhere behind her ribs. Juno was halfway through a story about a cookie decorating class she’d taken once that had gone terribly, hilariously wrong, complete with a piping bag that exploded mid-frost and sent a flurry of powdered sugar into someone’s eye. Hazel had to clutch the edge of a nearby table to steady herself, her laughter tumbling out louder than she meant, sharp and surprised and genuine.
And then Iris was at her side, one hand curled theatrically over her chest, the other slipping something small and cold into Hazel’s free palm.
“Hazel, my dearest friend,” she murmured, low enough to keep her words from reaching the nearby guests. Her eyes were too bright, her mouth quirked in that dangerous not-quite-smile that always meant something was afoot. “Would you be a lifesaver?”
Hazel narrowed her eyes, suspicion immediately clawing at the edges of her alcohol-blurred brain. “What is it?”
“I’ve done a terrible, awful, unforgivable thing.” Iris clutched one of Hazel’s hands with both of hers, as if the contact might lend her confession weight. “I forgot the bouquet.The bouquet.”
Hazel blinked, still catching her breath from the sugar-coated chaos of Juno’s story. The redhead had turned away, continuing to tell her tale to a few people nearby, their eyes wide with rapt attention.
“Which bouquet?”
“Thewinterberrybouquet.“ Iris gave her a look like she couldn’t believe Hazel had dared to forget it, too. “For the drinks table. I left it at Verdance, behind the counter. Sylvia helped me put it together this morning— peppermint leaves, pine sprigs, fresh-cut cedar. It’s supposed to anchor the whole aesthetic. The balance is off without it.”
Hazel’s gaze swept the room— rows of strung lights reflected in polished windows, warm bodies tucked into velvet armchairs, laughter rising and falling like waves in a quiet tide. “Everyone seems… fine. Perfectly balanced.”
“I’m not,” Iris whispered, her eyes wide. “I’mspiraling.”
Hazel exhaled through her nose, her fingers curling around the small ornate key in her hand. “You are the most dramatic person I know.”
“And somehow also your favourite,” Iris leaned closer, her voice a conspiratorial hum. “Please. It’s already prepped, it’s just sitting there. Lonely. Wilting. Wasted.”
Hazel rolled her eyes. With a low breath, she handed Iris her mug and was rewarded with a bright, over the top smile. Then she began to pad towards the front door, her eyes narrowing as they spread over the make-shift coat rack settled there, filled to the brim with wool and cashmere and flannel. Her fingers brushed a few hangers aside as she searched for her own jacket, brow furrowing with concentration.
As she did, she heard Iris’s voice rising above the noise of the room again, this time to call out to someone else. “Beck!”
Hazel paused, fingers stilling against a bright green coat she knewbelonged to Juno. Her stomach dipped and she turned, eyes flickering towards Iris, flaring wide.
