Pollen Count | ✓

t w e l v e

Allegra is miserable.

Her parents try to console her, but on the rare occasions when she ventures outside of her room, all she does is mope around the house. She doesn't really want to talk to them, or anybody.

Daisy included.

She knows she's being harsh, and that she'll get over it eventually. She'll forgive Daisy. She's sure she will, somehow.

They'll both chalk it up to peer pressure. And then, Daisy will choose her friends over Allegra, and they'll go on as almost-strangers who were nearly something so much more.

At least, that's what Allegra is sure will happen.

She doesn't bank on Daisy choosing her.

***

Daisy is furious. She tells her friends in impolite terms to leave, and while they protest, they can also tell Daisy isn't messing around. They're terrible friends who are awful influences on each other, but they are friends, so they go. They make fun of both Daisy and Allie on the way – but still. They go.

Daisy fumes quietly and then returns to the kitchen to explode at her grandparents.

Her grandfather sips calmly at his drink, and her grandmother puts Allie's cup and plate by the sink.

"So... she's not your girlfriend?" Her grandfather says, once Daisy has poured her anger out. He's trying to pop the tension, but it holds still for a long moment...

Until Daisy sighs and gives a shaky laugh.

"You'll just have to win her back, won't you?" Daisy's grandma says, clapping her affectionately on the shoulder. "In between your shifts at the shop, obviously," she teases, kissing Daisy's cheek.

Daisy wonders how much of the kitchen she would have destroyed if they hadn't been around to diffuse her emotional bomb.

***

Allie's summer of misery is in full effect when she sees it.

It's her third day of lazing around the house, refusing to go out because of both the pollen and the lack of pink-haired menaces to drag her outside and force her into taking her allergy medication.

She hasn't even been baking.

That's why it really catches her eye. A new Instagram post from Daisy.

my first attempt at marble cake.

The caption accompanies a photo of a decent-looking – if somewhat crumbly – marble cake, sliced open for judgement. There's no decoration, no frills, but for a first attempt... it's very passable.

Allie scrolls to the second picture, and her heart leaps. It's a selfie, sort of. A photo of Daisy's eyes, immaculately eyelinered, peeking out from above the cake. She looks like a giant, ready to eat the entire cake.

Allegra hovers her finger over the loveheart. She doesn't want to give Daisy the satisfaction. It's not all better just because she's picked up her hobby, after all.

It takes every drop of her will, but she locks her phone and tosses it further down on the bed. She groans and turns to bury her face in the pillow, while in her mind's eye she can still see Daisy being adorable, posing with the cake.

She knows she'll forgive her. But maybe she can't forgive her yet.

***

The next day is a Wednesday.

Allie has three missed calls from Daisy, and eighteen unopened texts. It's becoming an issue. It's a true struggle to ice her out like this.

She needs more time.

Daisy, however, has too much time.

She's blanking her friends in the same way that Allie is blanking her – and when she isn't working, she's baking. It's like they've fallen into an alternate universe.

Daisy uploads another new Insta, upset that her last one didn't garner any attention from Allegra. This time, it's butterfly cupcakes. Buttercream. Vanilla. Sprinkles.

Allegra sees the post later in the day, after it's already racked up an astonishing number of likes. She keeps forgetting Daisy is pretty popular. The comments are a mixed bag – lots of support, lots of mean-spirited jokes from her asshole friends. It makes Allie relive how she felt leaving Daisy's house, and she closes Instagram just after noticing the photo's caption.

these took too long. we have leftovers. come over.

And that makes her resolve begin to crack.

***

She doesn't see any updates from Daisy on Thursday. Friday, however, brings a chocolate Swiss roll onto her feed.

It looks nice in the first picture, but in the second, it's been sliced into and it's crumbled quite badly.

Daisy's holding the glass plate it's on, and she's pouting adorably next to it.

this didn't work. i think i need some help. hint hint.

The remarks her friends make this time are merciless, but the post still has far more likes than comments.

Allie cracks, much like the sponge of the cake. She comments:

you're probably adding too much flour.

She waits a moment, then she double taps the photo and watches the little red loveheart light up. She likes the post.

Daisy, across town, gets the notification. Her heart swells.