Chapter 18 Naomi
EIGHTEEN
NAOMI
Forgotten Fringes
I was deliciously sore as I sat next to Rowan on my kinda-fixed couch while we bounced between watching movies, talking, and reminiscing about how our lives had changed, and I had to admit, I was experiencing a certain sort of pleasant achiness to my existence.
Nice.
It would be gone far too soon, but such was the life of a shifter, even a latent one. Normally, I was quite grateful for what limited healing ability I had, but I wouldn’t have minded keeping the reminder of being utterly ravaged by my boyfriend for just a little longer.
We’d just have to reenact it when my memory of the ache got a little too hazy.
Double nice.
“It really is insane that we owe all of this to a human app we both happened to download,” Rowan mused as he lifted our joined hands.
While I’d always been outdoorsy enough to be tan, I never really considered myself all that pigmented until part of my body was right next to Rowan.
I loved the juxtaposition of us. I was the sun, and he was the moon.
Both celestial bodies occupying the same space, yet held apart for so much of our lives.
All that poetry stuff seemed to be rubbing off on me.
“Yeah,” I agreed, sending him a cheeky smile. “Downloaded it just ByChance.”
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 all these 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 she had to 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 space and 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 she never seemed 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.
Me: Love and miss you. Can’t wait for our next gaming sesh!
There. That showed that I valued her and still wanted our time and not just to gloat about the changes in my life. Because even if our connection was only online, I still valued Tweety immensely.
And I was worried about her.
Was I being paranoid? Probably. But it wasn’t like her…
My troubles must have been written on my face because when I returned to the living room, Rowan straightened.
“Is everything all right?”
“I…” My first instinct was just to downplay my worries, but Rowan had never once given me reason to distrust him, and paranoia wasn’t one of my usual personality flaws. “I’m concerned about my friend, and I’m not sure if I should be casual or intense about it.”
Just like I’d figured, Rowan was instantly all ears and didn’t dismiss me. “I usually tend to err on the side of caution. What’s got you worried?”
“She hasn’t answered any of my messages.”
“And is that out of character for her?”
“Yeah. Really out of character. Even if she for some reason slept through three sleep cycles, she’d still have time to get online. And she’s not the type to leave people on read. Especially not her best friend, who had a strange man in her house. No offense.”
“None taken. You’ve only known me for about two months. But do you have another way to contact her?”
I didn’t tell him that was the longest I’d ever managed to successfully date anyone, as there were far more pressing matters at hand. “N—wait, actually, I do! I forgot we exchanged emergency contact info just in case. This really feels like a just in case.”
“I’m inclined to agree with you. You have excellent instincts.”
I didn’t think anyone had ever told me that before, and I really wanted a minute to relish it, but I needed to make sure Tweety was all right first. The reality of the situation was likely something completely banal, but I couldn’t stop that niggling feeling at the back of my head.
I pulled up her number and did something I’d literally never done before: texted my best friend.
Perhaps that was strange since I talked to her nearly every day, but we only used our main app or the game server.
I was spoiled with unlimited data on my cell phone.
I remembered when I’d saved up to get on my own plan because I didn’t want to be reliant on my family and give them one more thing to lord over me.
Humans really were masters of innovation in that way, which was just one of the many things I admired about them.
I just wished my own people wouldn’t treat me like I was a human just because I couldn’t shift.
Me: Hey, sorry to bother you, but I just wanted to check in! You haven’t been online. Is your computer down?
There. That didn’t sound alarmist or badgering.
Just a genuine check-in. And if Tweety’s computer was indeed down, I could understand if she was busy on the phone with support or actually out shopping to get whatever replacement part/repairs she needed.
That girl lived on her PC, just like a lot of other disabled folks.
“How long do you think I should give her to respond?”
“That depends,” Rowan said, standing and crossing over to me.
Although his presence didn’t exactly help the situation in a literal sense, his proximity was comforting.
“What do you feel is right? If she’s in danger, ten minutes?
If you’re worried she’s sick, half an hour?
I’m following your lead on this; you know her best.”
Yeah, I did. And even if I sounded completely overdramatic, I knew that something was up.
“Five minutes,” I said finally. “Then I call her.”