Cold, clarifying rain drizzles down on the building where Bright Future will open in just a few days.

It’s quiet outside, indigo shadows everywhere. One of those early spring days where the grey rain makes everything else brighter by comparison. Every budding flower, every soft new leaf. Tiny spots of radiant color reveal themselves as my eyes sweep over the landscape. A blossoming yellow wildflower, a shy violet peeking up from the grass, a tree sprouting tiny green fruits.

It’s all very peaceful, calm, still. The only motion comes from the raindrops, and the gentle bounce of the leaves as they’re hit by them. The only sound is that delicate little impact, replicated a million times over beneath the heavy rain clouds.

Inside the Bright Future building, however, it’s a whole other scene.

I'm the only one working outside, putting in soft beds of green grass where we’d originally planned for a garden. A very simple design for the exterior of the building, but the real showstoppers will all be indoors, anyways.

I'm all finished up, so I pull off my gloves, stuff them in the pocket of my jeans, and head back inside the building. From the unbroken quiet of outside, I step into a storm of activity, of noise.

All of the artists from Ripley's part of the show are here. They had a group meeting at the start of the day, everyone gathered up around Aiden and Ripley, listening as the two of them laid out the plan. The high schoolers gave them some backtalk, but Aiden bent down and very quietly said something that sent them scattering in all directions, rushing to get to work. Only Ripley was left by Aiden’s side, trying to suppress his laughter.

Now Raj is up on a ladder, helping one of the artists hang a huge, sweeping piece of art from the ceiling. Noah is adjusting the lighting on another one of the student pieces, listening as the artist gives him feedback. Aiden is helping a third artist get her sculpture onto a pedestal, cementing it down with museum wax.

Melanie is at the center of it all, giving out instructions. She’s managing a lot of people right now, but somehow she seems to have an eye on everyone.

“Ripley - what are you doing?” she calls, watching as he goes past with an absurd amount of folding chairs tucked under each arm. “Just take a few at a time, do multiple trips! Why are boys always like this, about folding chairs specifically?”

Alix is in the corner of the room, where she’s been all day. She wore her heels, so she’s been forbidden to get anywhere close to the art. The last thing we need right now is for something to break. But she’s clearly too busy to help with installation, anyways. She's making calls, sending emails, hyping up the show, dealing with last-minute press stuff.

She stands in a pool of soft, rainy sunlight, leaning against the bartop that’s been set up for the opening night party. Perched on one foot, one of her high heels dangling from her toes as she speaks into her phone. Her hair is up in a twist, revealing the strand of bright pink dyed into it.

Ripley, I’ve noticed, keeps going back to hover around her. He stands on the opposite side of the bartop, leans his elbows against it. Fidgets with either his green curls or the stud in his ear. He doesn’t interrupt Alix, or say anything while she’s on the phone. It seems like he’s waiting for the space in between calls, in the hopes that she’ll talk to him if he happens to be right there.

This strategy has already worked out for him more than once today. And Alix is about to hang up her phone, so I have a feeling that it’s about to work out again.

“Ugh,” Alix groans, dropping her phone down on the bartop. “I hope you know how much I like you, Rip.”

Ripley blinks at her, startled, his cheeks coloring up. “You - sorry, what?”

“I just spent thirty minutes arguing with someone over the placement of one single ad in the newspaper, so that your exhibition could get more attention.”

“Oh,” Ripley says, twisting his paint-stained fingers together. “I'm sorry, that's-”

“It's okay. I had to. They were being ridiculous.” Alix beckons to him. “Look at the placement they wanted to give us!”

Ripley comes around to Alix’s side of the bar. She starts to move to make room for him, but instantly trips on her heels. Ripley puts a hand on her back to stop her, clearly trying not to laugh. He keeps Alix in place in front of the laptop and looks over her shoulder instead. Drops his hand from her back, rests it on the bar.

“See what I’m talking about?” Alix asks.

She makes a frustrated noise and leans back into Ripley, her shoulders against his chest. Ripley freezes, his hand tightening on the bartop.

“That tiny little ad space! Do you think anyone would even notice that?”

It takes Ripley a second to realize that Alix asked him something. Right as he finally opens his mouth to answer, she turns her head to look up at him, and then their faces are so close together that he seems to forget whatever he’d thought of to say.

“I - yeah, it’s so bad,” he manages, although his voice doesn’t suggest that anything is bad at all.

It seems like Alix didn’t realize quite how close she was to Ripley. Their noses are only a few inches apart.

She starts blinking very fast as Ripley looks down into her eyes.

“It - it's the worst, right?” she says, even though she definitely doesn't sound annoyed anymore. “Just outrageous, like...”

“Totally,” Ripley agrees, although I'd guess that he doesn’t remember what they were talking about.

There’s a silence, and then Alix hastily looks down at her laptop again, a deep blush spreading across her cheeks.

“Ripples, can you help me with this?” Raj calls, walking past with a box in his hands.

“No,” Ripley says immediately, his eyes still on Alix.

“Alright, suit yourself," Raj laughs. "I’ll install your artwork without your input, then.”

Ripley's eyes widen with alarm. “Oh, Raj - hang on a sec-”

Alix’s phone starts buzzing. She picks it up, shifting her shoulders off of Ripley, who instantly goes rushing around the bar.

I had crossed the room to see if Raj needed help, so Ripley comes to a stop before both of us.

"Sorry - can we put mine up last, actually?" He quickly takes the box from Raj’s hands, closes up the tape that Raj had started to remove. “I’d just rather, um - do it with less people here...”

His eyes very briefly flit to Alix, then come back to us.

“Sure, man.” Raj shrugs his shoulders, faintly puzzled. “No problem. Put it by the wall where it’s supposed to go, so we don’t forget.”

Ripley lets out a relieved breath. “Cool, thanks!”

He hurries off towards his allotted piece of wall. Raj and I shrug at each other, then both get back to work.

I do a lap of the space before I get started again, checking out the progress. It’s all starting to come together, right before my eyes. Every time I come back into this room, there’s something new to look at. Some new piece of artwork has been installed, or lit properly, or completely finished, right down to the wall label.

Ripley and Aiden have finished setting up the area where prints of the archival pieces will be available for sale. Melanie made the bartop look beautiful, like a permanent fixture and not something rented. Noah set up small, hidden lights beneath it, so that it should be lit beautifully for the nighttime event.

When I'm done taking in the progress we've made, I go looking for Will. He’s my partner for doing the greenery, and I could use his help as I get back to work on the indoor portion of my assignment.

I find him standing with Kasey by Aiden's laptop, reading the updated material on the exhibition’s website.

“Is Aiden having you review all the new stuff?” I ask, stopping behind Kasey.

She nods slowly, a small smile on her face. “He added a new page. Asked me to proofread it.”

I follow her gaze to the laptop, where I see that the Bright Future website now has a page about the exhibition team.

We’re all on there. The name of everyone who’s worked so hard on this show, along with their official title within the project. And there, at the very bottom of the page, it says -

Kasey Lavoe & William Clarke: Historical Consultants

I stare down at it, a smile slowly spreading across my face. Then I look over my shoulder at Aiden, my heart swept up in a wave of deep affection.

“We’re both on the official team list printed on the back of the show handouts, too,” Kasey says happily. “I asked Aiden what he was going to say if anyone asked about it. He said he’s not taking questions.”

I match the giant grin on her face, then look at Will. He seems pretty happy about this, too. He's staring silently down at his name, typed out next to Kasey's.

I'm happy for him, but we need to stay on task.

“Speaking of historical consultants." I pull my gardening gloves out of my pocket, nodding at the other room. “Will? Can you help me out?”

“Yes, of course."

He plants a kiss on the top of Kasey's head, then walks with me towards the hallway, some real bounce in his step.

“Sorry to take you away from Kasey,” I tell him. “Especially to come sit and watch me do a plant arrangement. That can’t be, like - the most interesting, for you.”

“But I rather enjoy your company, Jamie.” Will looks down at me with smiling green eyes. “Don’t you know you’re one of my favorite haunts?”

I stare up at Will in surprise, smiling back at him.

“I think we all know who's your all-time favorite, though,” I answer.

“Ah, true. I won't deny that.” Will looks back at Kasey, leaf-green eyes full of love. “I’d be more than content with half so beautiful a sight.”

I twist around and catch Kasey’s eye.

Oh my god, I mouth at her.

She didn’t hear what Will said, but she lets out a knowing little laugh, like she can guess.

Will and I step into the hallway together, leaving Kasey to proofread.

“Truthfully, Jamie, I like watching you work on this project,” Will says, surprising me.

"You do?"

“Yes, because you ask me about the forest, and I tell you, and you listen. You don’t know what a precious thing it is, to be listened to. Kasey listens to me, of course. But when I speak as you work on this, I can see what I said, quite literally see it, in the results. I can see how well you listened.”

It's only when Will stops talking that I realize I’ve stopped in my tracks, my hand on the door to the small room.

“Oh," I say, staring up at him. “Yeah, okay. I can see why Kasey is always just losing her shit at the things that you say. Jesus Christ, Will.”

“Apologies,” he says, taken aback.

“No, don’t apologize, you didn’t do anything wrong! Just - holy shit, man. That's - a really nice thing to say.” I try to give Will an affectionate slap on the back, and send my hand directly through his sternum. “Oh - I’m sorry!”

“Awful lot of apologies flying around, for no harm done,” Will chuckles.

“Okay, enough," I laugh, pushing open the door. "We’ve got a ton to do.”

Will smiles, and follows after me.

~~~~

With Will speaking quietly beside me, I sink into that place of deep focus that I need. All the noise from the other room fades out and falls away. All that remains in my ears is the rain outside, and the soft lilt of Will’s words, painting a picture for me to follow.

At one point I sense someone standing behind me, feel a huge, warm hand resting on my back. I look up as soon as I finish with the plant I was adding, but Aiden is already gone.

I tell Will to take a break, then head into the big room. Aiden isn’t there, so I slip outside through the backdoor, out onto the grass I just finished putting down.

Raj and Noah are there, standing together in the drizzling rain. Taking their own break, talking quietly. Raj is holding Noah’s hand, and their two golden engagement rings are pressed together.

“Aw!” I say loudly, to an immediate groan from Noah.

“What do you want, dude?”

“To do this.” I pull out my phone and open the camera. “Smile!”

Noah gives me a surly scowl, while Raj absolutely beams at the camera.

“Perfect,” I laugh, looking down at the picture.

Noah makes an exasperated noise at me. “Please say you’re done, now?"

I see right through his supposed annoyance. The color of his eyes is completely giving him away. With that permanent bit of gold on his finger came a permanent bit of silver. Ever since the proposal, it’s been unwaveringly present in his gaze.

I meet his glare with a grin. “No, I’m most definitely not done, so. Too bad for you."

“Why don’t you get back to work, Jamie, like Raj and I are about to do? You really wanna be just standing around when Gabby gets here? Come off looking useless in front of the big boss of this whole-?”

He breaks off as the door of the exhibition space opens, and Gabby steps through.

She’s wearing an oversized men’s coat, which she’s belted around the middle, but left open enough that her sleek navy work dress is visible beneath. It’s a wildly fashionable look to wear in a town like Ketterbridge, and for a moment, we all just blink at her.

“Buenas tardes,” she says brightly. “I need everyone on the core team in the main room, please. Let’s talk, see where we’re at. I want updates from everyone. Let’s say-” She pushes back her sleeve, checks her watch. “Five minutes? Sí, five minutes. If anyone has a written report for me, I’d like a copy in my inbox before we begin, please. You all have my email, right?”

Without waiting for an answer, already checking her phone, she slips back inside. Noah, Raj, and I exchange a look.

“Um,” Raj says. “Did anyone do a written report?”

“Okay, since no one has a written report for me,” Gabby says, a few minutes later, “We’ll have to do this verbally. Alix, I would ask if you could take notes, but you’re literally writing down what I’m saying right now, so I suppose that won’t be necessary?”

“-be... necessary...” Alix mumbles, scribbling down the last few words. She reads them back, then looks up at Gabby. “Oh - yeah, of course!”

“Highlight every action item, please,” Gabby tells her. “Alright. Raj, you’re up.”

One by one, we go down the line and give reports about our tasks for the show. Gabby listens in attentive silence, asks a few follow-up questions.

I can tell that Aiden is nervous about this meeting, but by the time we get to the end, Gabby has a wide, satisfied smile on her face.

“How many action items was that, Alix?” she asks.

Alix slowly turns her notebook around to show us what she’s highlighted, and a collective noise of excitement rises up from the group when we see how few things we have left to do.

“Alright, alright,” Gabby laughs. “Keep it moving, everyone. We’re in the home stretch, but we're not done yet.”

Everyone splits up and heads back to their tasks. Gabby picks up her coat, then touches a hand to Aiden’s shoulder.

“Excellent work, Aiden,” she says approvingly. “Keep it up.”

She sets off for the door. Aiden stares after her, then looks down at me. He puts his fingers over his mouth, but I can see his smile in the way his cheeks are rounded out, and in the crinkles at the corners of his eyes.

I stare up at him for a moment, using my eyes to tell him how proud I am right now.

Then I press a kiss onto his cheek, and get right back to work.