“Cyrus’ place, of course. How could Cyrus not open his home for his parents’ oldest and dearest friends? They couldn’t stay in a hotel! Not when ‘family’ is nearby!”
The Nymph snickered. “That is evil.”
“I love my parents, but with how they are…they will poke and drive Cyrus up the wall, which he deserves.” Severo shrugged. “Anyway…how about it? Lunch at Hidden Places?”
Seri took another sip of coffee, brow pinching. “Let’s try…I can’t stay locked up in here forever…even if I want to.”
“I’ll let him know!”
Seri staredat the booth that the hostess took them to. At least it wasn’t the same one as before. He didn’t think he wanted to go near that small alcove again. The booth wasn’t hidden and out of sight of the rest of the restaurant, but the distance between the next booth and table made it private enough. Especially since last time—and hopefully, for real this time—the restaurant was empty besides the staff.
Setting Skya down in the highchair that was already at the end of the table waiting, he slipped into the rounded continuous booth, Severo sliding in on the other side.
Once again there were no menus, but unlike last time, they didn’t get a chance to point the fact out, as a man who couldn’t have been more than five-foot tall appeared with them moments later. He did not…look like he was staff. He was not wearing anything close to the black vests, teal dress shirts, black slacks, and shoes that the rest of the staff were wearing.
Long cyan braided hair, with wisps around his face, the man’s braid had been brought forward to hang over his right shoulder, going down to his knees. His eyes were large and golden with flecks of silver. His features were delicate; the man had a small dimple on his chin, a pert nose, and plush lips. His large eyes seemed to be framed perfectly by the make-up he was wearing, and the large rounded glasses he had on, a decorative chain dangling from them.
Also dangling were a pair of gold and green geometric earrings on his pointed ears, which matched the rings on his hands. Clothing wise, he was wearing a maroon oversized sweater with a large embroidered sunflower on it, paired with plaid pants, and brown boots. Seri was pretty sure…he was a Water Nymph…
“Seri, Severo, I’m Bellamy Malone. Let me start off by apologizing. I am so sorry for what happened here that day. I hope this time it ends with your stomachs full, and your minds calm. Thank you so much for giving my establishment another chance.” The man set down menus. “Now, let me not bother you?—”
“Wait!” Seri blurted, before he was even sure why.
Bellamy paused. “Is something wrong?”
“No… But…” Seri cleared his throat, starting to feel flustered as everyone, even Skya, stared at him. “I…I…” He trailed off and looked away, his face heating.
He glanced up hesitantly when one of Severo’s hands came into view, palm up. The Dweller sent him an encouraging smile. Taking a deep breath, he took Severo’s hand. Slowly, Seri turned to the other Nymph, who was still waiting there, but looking slightly concerned now. “I…wanted to talk.”
Bellamy blinked. “To talk?”
“I…I’ve never been around another Water Nymph, or even another Nymph before.” Seri glanced at Skya, who appeared to be trying to grab the cloth napkin that was rolled up on the table in front of her.“Well, another Nymph that I didn’t give birth to, that is… So if…you aren’t against it, we’d love for you to join us.”
He grabbed the napkin and moved it, and the silverware inside it, further away from the little Nymph. Skya huffed and sat back.
“What a wonderful idea. Yes, join us, Bellamy,” Severo agreed as he rubbed the top of Seri’s hand.
“Well, if you don’t mind me joining you for lunch, how can I say no?”
“You can say no,” he rushed out, face heating further. “You don’t have to, if you don’t want to.”
“Nonsense.” Bellamy chuckled. “I’d love to.”
Severo scooted over so he was more beside Seri, allowing the other Nymph to slide in.
Severo tooka bite of his baked cod, a no doubt dopey smile on his face as he continued to watch Seri talk with Bellamy. But he didn’t care how dopey he looked, he was in love. After a bathroom run, he’d switched places with the man earlier, so now he was in the perfect spot to watch.
“So, you're saying, they made you choose what gender you were, and then tried to assign you roles based on that?” Seri asked, sounding outraged by the very idea.
“Yes! It was awful! Imagine me…” Bellamy pointed towards himself. “Doing hard manual labor! Not that cooking isn’t hard! But the audacity of them! All because I decided I was a man!”
“You know, I always wondered what it would be like to grow up in a Nymph Settlement…and based on the research, I knew that while a great many are as fluid and changing as our gender can be…there are still quite a few that are…not. With some having many detailed horror stories going around about them too. I always thought maybe things were overstated by outsiders. But now I’m thinking, I’d just have different mental issues if I had grown up that way.”
The other Nymph snorted. “Different indeed. And while they all aren’t this bad…a good number of them are. Anyway, I left! They said I could never return. HAH, like I would. And I didn’t. And here I am now.” The man beamed, flipping his braid back.
Seri giggled. “And aren’t you just glorious?”
“I am, aren’t I?” Bellamy winked.
