All that poetry stuff seemed to be rubbing off on me.
“Yeah,” I agreed, sending him a cheeky smile. “Downloaded it justByChance.”
He let out a very tiny groan and gently flicked the tip of my nose. “That was terrible.”
“You’re just jealous you didn’t think of it yourself.”
“Two things can be true at the same time.”
“I suppose our statements aren’t mutually exclusive. Maybe.”
“Your vote of confidence is noted.”
I chuckled. The banter between us came so easily. It was hard to reconcile that the gentle, amiable man beside me had been the same man fucking me into the couch and breaking it. The only other person I could really talk to so easily was Tweety, and obviously, that dynamic was different.
“You know, I can’t help but wonder how many other magical folks like us there are out there.”
“Care to elaborate?”
“You know, people on the outskirts. People with no community. Like your friend Iko. From what you told me, he’s really been left behind by a lot of his community, who don’t even want to try to understand what it might be like to be completely blind and accommodate him. Or my best friend, Carolina.
“She was born with vestigial wings that not only weren’t useful, but they were actively hurting her. I think she said they were pulling blood away from her heart or something? So they had to remove them, and although prosthetic wings exist and there are witches who can enchant them to work almost exactly as biological wings, she can’t afford it. So, she’s got allthese mobility issues because her skeleton is designed to balance with wings, and although she doesn’t need glamours like most harpies do, she also can’t live in any of their communities because she can’t travel like they do.”
“That’s… I can’t imagine it.” Rowan shook his head. “You’re right, there’s probably more of us than you or I could even imagine. I hate to think about it really.”
“Me too.” But now that my thoughts were going, I couldn’t really stop them. “Actually, I wonder if she’s been messaging me about wanting updates on how our date went.” I blushed slightly, not wanting Rowan to think she and I were gossiping about our sex life when that was absolutely what we were doing.
“Wait, Tweety is… the same as Carolina?”
“Oh, yeah, sorry. I don’t use her given name much. Just seemed more appropriate given the topic of conversation.”
As loath as I was to disconnect from Rowan and the little nest we’d made on the couch, I really wanted to touch base with my best friend. Finally having a romantic connection with someone who was not only mature, but an amazing person who genuinely cared for me made me want the same for her too.
If only I could get her to come out sometime, maybe she could meet someone. Not that shehadto have romantic connections to be happy, but she had mentioned that she wished she could go on dates and have someone to swoon over.
“Hey, I’m gonna just check my desktop to see if she’s messaged me. Sometimes the app on my phone doesn’t update even if I refresh it.”
“Of course, do whatever you need to do,” Rowan said with a smile. “I’m more than content being a little bump on the log here.”
“Thanks, you’re the best.” I gave him a quick kiss on the cheek, then headed to the computer in my room. While I didn’t have a television in my bedroom to keep it a sleep-oriented spaceand not a zone where I vegged out in front of the television for hours, I did like to keep my gaming computer in the bedroom. I did, however, separate the spaces with a pretty Japanese fold out curtain. It was a bit stereotypical—light pink with Sakura blossoms on it—but I liked it, and it gave me the illusion that my bed was completely divorced from the same area where I swore at exploding mobs who liked to spawn in without warning.
But when my screen came to life and I pulled up the program, I saw that all my messages from the day before was still unanswered.
Huh.
Tweety, being a harpy, often gave the false impression of always being asleep or always being awake since her species slept for short three hour bursts all throughout the day. Considering how long it had been since I sent those messages, she likely would have gone through four sleep cycles. While a more typical person would have a day offline, I knew my best friend, and that just wasn’t something she would do.
Something was wrong.
Perhaps that was a little alarmist, but I could feel it in my gut. Was she mad at me? I knew she was lonely, but sheneverseemed like the jealous type. And if she was, she would talk it out with me, not ignore me for going on twenty hours.
Maybe… maybe she just hadn’t gotten my notifications? Or maybe she wanted to be respectful of my date and was just waiting for me to message her first.
“Okay, I’ll just message her again.” Horses before zebras, plausible before panic. That motto that had helped me many times in life, especially when it came to my brother’s pranks.
Me:Hey girlie-pop! I have sooooooooooooooooo much to tell you.
Did that seem like bragging? If she was mad at me or even sad, that might make her feel worse.
