Chapter 11 #2
“You’re still lying to me,” Lumi said, hunching her shoulders higher. “I thought you were my best friend, and you’re hiding things and lying, and I thought Cadence was my friend too—”
“Lumi—” I started, stepping forward, and I put a hand on her arm—she pushed it away, but I put my hand back, and she didn’t fight it this time.
“I mean it,” I said. “I told Summer when we started that I didn’t want to keep her from her true love, so we promised we’d just…
do this until the end of the semester. That was it. ”
Lumi pursed her lips, a sad little look like a hookfox with its tail cut off. “I would have understood if you’d told me the truth. I just wanted to know.”
“I’m sorry, Lumi,” Summer said. “I—it was me insisting we couldn’t tell you because I was worried what you’d say to me. Don’t blame Cadence for it.”
Lumi pushed out a short, sharp sigh that tried to be angry and came out sad, and she turned away. “It’s okay. You two are happy. Forget what I said and forget about me.”
“Lumi!” Summer said, stepping after her, but Lumi squeezed back through the crevasse and out of the grotto, and Summer groaned, hanging her head. “Dammit. Dammit. I don’t know why I’m like this…”
I swallowed thickly, squeezing my hands together. “I’m so sorry,” I murmured. “I didn’t mean to mess with your friendships…”
“You didn’t—it’s not your fault. I’m the one who—”
“Please don’t beat yourself up for this.” I shook my head. “You should make things right with Lumi… tell her you just didn’t want to hurt her. I mean… we’re probably at time, now, anyway, aren’t we?”
“Cadence—” She turned on me with her eyes wide, brow furrowed. “Wait, are you breaking up with me right now?”
“I mean, we agreed we’d stop before the end of classes, right? We have less than a week left. We should have done it an hour ago and we wouldn’t have caused any problems with you and Lumi…”
“But—Cadence—” She gritted her teeth, clenching her hand in the air, struggling for words. “It’s just—what if—”
“Oh, don’t even say it,” I said, pushing the words out in a short breath, turning away.
“What if I want to be with you instead?”
“You can’t say that now. Not before you’ve even had this thing happen for you.”
“Okay, then I’ll come back to you after classes end, and I’ll tell you I didn’t meet anybody I want to be with more than you.”
“When I know you’ve been trying not to, so I get to know I took you away from the actual right person for you?” I shook my head. “Maybe Lumi was right. Maybe we shouldn’t have done this.”
“Lumi’s almost never right.”
I choked on a laugh and a sob, when I really needed not to be either laughing or crying right now. “She’s a good friend for you,” I said thinly. “And I hope we can still be friends too… I mean, I really want to see that potion. I’ll just… maybe need a minute first.”
“Cadence, please. Lumi and I will be okay. We’ll work it out. She’ll understand it’s not a reflection on her. She loves you. She’ll be happy with us together once she sees it. Everything’s been so perfect with us—”
“Everything’s been perfect because of obscure magic,” I said quietly.
“I… I had a magic flower. The skyblossom. Said to be able to grant wishes, or to curse you, depending on which petal you pick. I, um… I wished for true love and picked a petal,” I said, my heart racing more with each word, nervous enough I felt like I’d be sick.
“And, well, then you fell onto my table immediately after, and luminis started flocking around us and Knot pushing us together…”
“I…” She swallowed, looking at me with wide eyes. “I don’t think luminis are strong enough to push people together anyway.”
“Not not, Knot.”
“Oh, Knot, not not like not…” She shook her head.
“I just think I plucked the wrong petal and got cursed to be around you but not get enough of you. I think I’m just a curse on you.”
“Don’t say that. You’re not a curse. And I don’t care what any flower has to say on the matter one way or the other. I want you, Cadence. Exactly as you have been, with or without magical interference from luminis and Knot and wyvern cars and magic confluence and everything. I… I love—”
“Don’t,” I said, and she flinched, eyes wide. I felt myself crying now, looking down at the ground. “Don’t say that,” I breathed. “It’s hard enough as it is. Please go try to find your actual true love.”
She swallowed hard, and I saw her eyes shimmer with tears, before she took a half-step back. “How long do I have to give it before I tell you there is nobody else?”
I shook my head. “Please. If you’re thinking things like that, then even if we did get together, I’d spend forever believing I kept you from your soulmate.”
She looked down. “Cadence…”
“Thank you. I’ve had a really good time.”
“Me too. I… I still want to be your friend, too. You and all your friends. I’ve loved being a part of everything.”
“Next… next semester,” I said with a small laugh. “My galeria is going to be so upset we’re not together. But you go have a great summer vacation texting your true love, and I’ll see you in the fall so we can be friends.”
“I can’t wait to see you again,” she said softly, and I felt like I’d break when she stepped in and pressed another long, soft kiss to my lips.
I still felt it even after she was gone, back out of the grotto, leaving me sitting on the ground in front of the winter-blue blossom, I can’t wait to see you again echoing in my mind, and it was long after she was gone that I managed to whisper to an empty grotto, “For what it’s worth, I love you too. ”