Ria scrunched up her face in thought as she continued to finger comb the snarls from her locks.“It’s complicated.”
Setting her cup on the table between them, Daria leaned forward, her elbows on her knees.“So make it easy.Explain it to me like I’m five.”
Ria finally abandoned her pointless efforts to tame her curls and sank back into the couch cushions that tried to swallow her up.“Well, I’m sure you know I cast a destiny love spell on Lissa, but magic is very precise.With a simple tweak of an ingredient, the outcome can be twisted into something quite different from the original intention.”
Raising a hand to stop Ria, Daria interjected with, “Yeah, I don’t know how many five-year-olds you’ve been hanging out with, but I’m gonna need you to dumb it down a smidge more.”
Ria ran a hand over her face in frustration, knowing she might as well admit what happened.“I fucked up, okay?I tried to cast a destiny love spell on Lissa but made her fall in love with me, instead.I feel awful and I’ve been trying so hard to get it removed, but nothing is working.”
Daria leaned back and crossed an ankle over her knee, looking very much like a therapist evaluating an objectively insane client.“I see,” she murmured before taking a long sip of her coffee.“So you believe Lissa’s feelings aren’t real?”
“I know they aren’t.”
Daria took another long sip.“I see.And what about you, Ria?How do you feel?”
“I like her,” Ria groaned.“A lot.But I have no way of knowing if she’ll feel the same once the spell runs its course.”
A third drawn out sip followed.“I see.Have you ever considered that there is no spell?That it’s all real?”
“I know you don’t believe in magic, but trust me, she’s under a spell.”
Daria’s fourth sip all but drained the cup.“I see.So—”
Ria let out a frustrated chuff, cutting off the woman she no longer found quite as amusing.“Can you please stop with the ‘I see’ and the unnecessarily deep sips of coffee.This is serious.”
Daria set her mug down and walked around the table to sit next to Ria.“I’m not doubting that you believe it.I just think you need to consider that maybe Lissa doesn’t believe it.And maybe her not believing means it didn’t work.I’ve known Lissa for a while.She’s not acting strange or different.She’s acting like a woman who finally found someone she can care about.Don’t give up on her, okay?”There was so much sincerity in Daria’s warm brown eyes Ria couldn’t help but think she needed to listen to the woman.
“I’m not planning to,” Ria admitted.“I want to break the spell, but I’m still trying to figure out how.”
Daria gave her a sharp nod and stood up.“Right, well in that case, let’s get you back to it.I think Lissa has an Earl Grey in the back of her cabinet, so I’ll lower myself into the mud and make you a—” She shuddered.“—cup of tea, while you get dressed.I can take you home afterward.”
“Thanks, I appreciate it,” Ria replied, climbing to her feet and shaking out her sore muscles.The couch had seemed so soft and squishy when she laid down last night, but apparently once she hit thirty her back needed something more supportive.“Actually, I can make my own tea, so you don’t have to sully your overcaffeinated hands if you know where Lissa’s dryer is.I think my clothes are still inside.”
“Oh, yeah.I got you.”Daria strode down the hall while Ria dragged herself up and went into the kitchen.She found the tin of tea and wrinkled her nose when she saw how old the leaves were.The very fact itwasloose leaf and not those awful, chemical-laden tea bags was its only saving grace.
Pulling open cabinets, she searched for a mug.When she opened the one beside the sterile, overpriced coffee machine, she let out a gasp as she was greeted by a shelf full of tiny glass sculptures.Picking up a small azure wave frozen in time right as it crested its peak, she ran her fingers over the smooth glass.There were seven or eight shades of blue running through the water sculpture, and the white around the edges perfectly mimicked the surf.Not to mention there wasn’t a single bubble; it was perfect.She picked up another sculpture, this one a clear glass heart with two ribbons of pink swirling through the center like lovers embracing after a long absence.
Ria examined all ten or so glass creations in the cabinet, marveling at how each one was unique and clearly handmade by a very skilled artist.
Why would Lissa hide these in a cabinet?
“I got your clothes, Ria,” Daria called from the other room.“Did you find the tea?”
“Yeah, I did,” Ria called back, promptly yet gently returning all the art pieces to the cabinet where she found them.She’d already been caught eavesdropping.She probably shouldn’t add snooping to the list.
Daria popped her head into the kitchen just as Ria closed the cabinet.“You good in here?”she asked.
“Yeah,” Ria replied.“I’m good.Um, do you know if she has a kettle so I can put some water on?”
Wrinkles settled onto Daria’s otherwise flawless face.“Hmmm… I’m not certain, but I don’t think so.You can heat up some water in the microwave though.”
Ria cringed.“Actually, how about I get dressed, and you can take me home.I don’t need any tea.”
Daria shrugged, clearly oblivious to the faux pas that was microwaved water.“Whatever you say.”She held out the pile of clothing.
Ria snatched her outfit from last night and hurried past Daria toward the bathroom.The sooner she got dressed and back home, the sooner she could start figuring out another way to break the spell.Even more than before, she was desperate to break it.To see if Daria was right, and Lissa really did have feelings for her.She just wouldn’t think too much about whatever secret Lissa was keeping.It was probably the whole not-believing-in-magic thing.She was trying to be respectful of Ria and not admit she thought it was full-on garbage.
Yeah.That had to be it.
