i have a system test where i'm doing some things such as

Spree::Order.create!(user: @contract.initiated_to_user)
    product = Spree::Product.all.first
    line_item = Spree::LineItem.create!(order: order, product: product, price: 100, quantity: 1)
    order.next!
    order.complete!

and it seems to be nondeterministic as to whether the line item's

item_total_before_tax

has a value of

100

... is there a better way to create an order and add a line item, and then complete the order? i have removed a few steps to simplify

base.remove_checkout_step :address
        base.remove_checkout_step :delivery

You'll probably want to use

OrderContents

to add the item to the order instead of trying to create the line item directly. (https://github.com/solidusio/solidus/blob/main/core/app/models/spree/order_contents.rb) Something like:

order.contents.add(product.variants.first)
order.contents.advance # Will call next until it can't anymore.
order.complete!