Chapter 16 #3
I look around for him, and spot Clara chatting with Trudy and her mate, no Luca in sight. I frown and look for the other kids. Sure enough, that’s where I spot Luca, in the midst of Myra and Cory’s peers, all of them huddled together under the kitchen table.
I snort when I realize they've all gathered around a portable video game Myra brought. They all seem to be getting along, taking turns with the controllers. The fledglings picked a decent spot to gather in the cozy apartment; they're out of the adults' way, but in easy reach of the snacks.
Most of them are in their human forms, but a few are in their feathers, more to make space for everyone around the small screen of their portable gaming device than for any other reason, it seems.
Luca looks content, nestled between Myra and Cory, his entire focus on the character he's controlling on the screen.
Good. This place isn't really big enough to host so many shifters, but I don't care.
The party eventually winds down, folks leaving in clusters of family groups until only a handful of our close friends and family still linger.
The kids seem to have switched from gaming under the table to watching a movie. Elric's got slow songs playing now, and a vaguely nautical lamp made from sea glass that Gillian must have picked lights the living room in a cozy ambiance.
I take a minute to gather abandoned paper plates and empty cups from the shelves where I've got our new gifts displayed in pride of place.
Raven shifters give trinkets to mark special occasions, and showing them off is only polite.
Each piece my loved ones handed me over the course of the evening makes our place look more and more like a home with little pieces of the people I love to mark it.
As I straighten a framed family photo from my moms in pride of place at the center of the top shelf, someone sidles up next to me and I know it's Gillian before she traces a delicate tentacle tip along my wrist in greeting.
"Hey, you," I say, grinning at her over my shoulder.
Gillian's tentacle loops around my wrist and I shiver as I feel the delicious suction right in my core.
It's like she's got a direct line to my clit the way she ripples those suckers over my skin again.
Her teal chromatophores shadow her eyes with want now that she's let a bit of her octopus out to play. I wish I could toss the rest of our loved ones out with the way she’s looking at me. I shake off the surge of lust.
"Is this alright?" I check, taking her human hand and squeezing it. She squeezes back, and her tentacle coils further up my wrist, a promise of all the things I want her to do with it once we're finally alone.
"The party or the presents?" She quirks a brow at me.
"Um, both?"
"Well, you warned me that we didn't get a say in people showing up to congratulate us. I'm glad you told me to invite my people too. I didn't expect so many of them to actually show up."
"Guess you've got more friends than you knew, huh?" I tip my head toward the thinning crowd of guests.
"Guess I do." Gillian nods. "It's nice to know that."
"Yep. Sometimes we need a reminder that we belong. Hence all this," I gesture at all the knickknacks on display, not to mention the food everyone brought. I notice that she avoided answering that part.
"Oh. You, uh, really do like to hoard treasures, don't you, Dragon?" Gillian takes in my newest shinies with a new understanding in her eyes.
"Yep. Is it cool if I keep them in the living room, or should I move them to my room?
" I ask, only the slightest bit sheepish.
The most important treasures, the ones I've collected all my life from my loved ones, are in my room already.
Safely stowed where they can't get lost or damaged.
The slip of paper with her number on it from the night we met is among those.
These newer trinkets still matter to me though. Even if they mean there's a fair bit of clutter on the shelves already. "I did tell you it's a raven thing."
"You did. I guess I didn't realize it was more than an instinct or a quirk of your prey drive."
"Well, it's a little about that. Mostly, it's sentimental. Why do you think my brothers are decked out in so many bangles they clink when they move?" I ask.
Gillian shrugs. "They like the look and no one taught them less is more?"
I snort and shake my head. "I mean, that's sort of true. But it's because they're mate gifts."
"Oh." Gillian looks at our joined hands, wide-eyed.
I suppress the urge to check if I've got something embarrassing on my face.
No, not my face, my wrist. It occurs to me that I shouldn't have worn the hair tie with the cute little seashell bead on it that she gave me.
It wasn't a mate gift. I just needed a hair tie after spending the night in her bed, and she handed it to me.
And I've worn it every moment since our date. Fuck me.
"We like to show each other where we stand with the flock. Like you and your chromatophores. No big deal." I try to play it cool, but I'm pretty sure she knows what it means that I haven't taken it off.
Her tentacle tip slips between the shiny metallic bauble on the hair tie and my wrist, plucking it so the elastic snaps gently against my skin.
"Mhm," Gillian nods. "So, if I asked for this back?" She tugs it again. I clap my free hand over it possessively.
"This old thing? I probably have lice, better not risk it." I babble, voice pitching up as panic at the thought of losing the ridiculous little tie to her bubbles up inside me.
It's pure instinct to curl my fingers over it, and by the time I realize I'm overreacting, she's beaming at me, laughter dancing in her eyes amidst swirls of pleased pink.
"Winny, did you just lie about having lice to keep my hair tie?" Gillian giggle.
"What? No! I would never." I laugh nervously.
"Uh huh. Do you want to keep it? Cause I can get you a better gift than a generic hair tie."
"It's not generic! It's shiny and it's mine, and the little shell on the bead reminds me of you, how you taste as sweet and free as the ocean."
Gillian chokes on her laughter and leans closer to look where I'm pointing at the metallic bead. "Oh. That really is a shell. Wow. I gave you my shells."
"What? I don't follow what shells have to do with anything?" I can't read her expression, but she doesn't seem upset, more…overwhelmed? I'm not sure if I'm ready for whatever emotions the shell brings to the surface for her.
Gillian takes a deep steadying breath and lets go of my hand. "Nevermind that for now, you didn't quite tell me how much this gift thing means to you. Care to share?"
"Well, we still have a house full of guests, but it seems like maybe we both have some cultural things to discuss about how much certain, uh, gestures of affection mean to us? For now, can we leave it at something more general for the stuff in the living room?"
"Sure. But we are having that other conversation. Before Solstice."
"Promise. But as for trinkets in general, they all represent someone or something we care about.
We collect the best, and we like to show off our most prized collections.
" I lift her hand to my lips and kiss the back of it, then gesture gallantly toward the last few remaining dancers swaying together as a singer I can’t name croons a sweet love song.
I'm desperately trying to salvage some level of chill after going all Gollum from LOTR over my bead; her bead—that she gave me.
"This is winding down and we didn't even get to dance yet, what do you say? "
Gillian's colors flush burnt umber and then teal, then a pretty shade of magenta as she asks, "Are you saying you want to show me off to our families, Winny?"
"Yes." I nod emphatically. I want to blurt that I love her and I want to introduce her as my mate, not my roommate. But we aren't there yet, still, most of the adults are dancing with a partner just now. Even Harvey is twirling Clara around our living room with a gleam in his eyes.
What's the harm of enjoying the night? I wait, with my hand outstretched for Gillian to take, barely daring to breathe until she twines her fingers with mine. She pulls me in close, wrapping two of her octopus arms around my waist for good measure. Feathers, that feels nice.
Gillian grins at me. "I thought you'd never ask. Lead the way, Dragon."
I'm not sure if it's really leading when she's the one directing every dip and twirl across our cushy new carpet as we dance in front of our assembled nearest and dearest. That hardly matters though. What matters is getting to hold her close. No hiding, no shame, no questioning myself.
Dancing with Gillian is almost as effortless as swimming and I feel the same peace settle over me.
Even when it feels like every eye in the room is on us as one song blends into the next and I'm vaguely aware of people leaving.
I am vaguely aware of a handful of murmured goodbyes and sleepy protests from napping kids being carried out by their parents, but I tune all of that out to focus on the mesmerizing shifter in my arms.
By the time the music fades away, leaving me standing with Gillian in my arms, both of us are breathing hard.
My pulse is pounding from the exercise and the intimacy of having her in my arms, her soft curves tantalizingly close as we dance.
I press our foreheads together and wonder what it would be like to kiss her in front of everyone.
The only thing that stops me is the fact that I don't want to stop at one kiss and we have guests.
Harvey clears his throat and breaks the spell. Gillian flushes prettily and steps back, her fingers slipping out of my grasp, the tips of her tentacles caressing my hips before she wraps them around herself and pats self-consciously at her unruly curls.