Chapter 18 Naomi #4
Her voice was getting wobbly again, but that was just fine, because mine was too.
I let go of her, but only so I could cup her tear-stained cheeks in my hands.
I’d always been more of a touchy-feely person, so it was quite nice to be able to communicate that part of myself with my best friend for the very first time.
“You don’t have to apologize. I’m just sorry that you felt that way. But from now on, let’s promise no more secrets, okay?”
“Okay. No more secrets. Except around birthdays and Christmas.”
That got a tiny chuckle out of me, and I let go of one of her cheeks, holding my pinky out. “If you’re gonna make a promise like that, we gotta make it serious.”
“Yeah, we do,” she said, her lips twitching into a faint smile. We hooked pinkies, and although it was a silly ritual leftover from childhood days, it made our words feel that much more real.
“And I want to do weekly check-ins for all of this month,” I added, knowing that I was risking it for the biscuit but pretty sure that the gambit was worth it.
“You don’t have to leave here, but I would like to stop by.
I can bring food, or we can just order a pizza and veg out. Girl time, you know?”
Tweety chewed on her lip again, and I couldn’t help but notice the red marks there. Harpies were slow to heal, and I resolved to get her some lip balm with ointment in it. “You really wanna trek across the city to do that?”
“Babe, I’d ride a train for three hours if I needed to. You do realize that I literally just walk around with dogs for multiple hours, right?”
“True.”
“So, deal?”
“It’s a deal.”
“Hell yeah.” I pulled her into another hug, although this one was a lot less urgent than the others. More of a top-up rather than being an anchor mooring her in the middle of a storm. “Now, why don’t we open a delivery app and see who’s open around here? Do you have anything you’re craving?”
“Uhm, I think I’m down for anything. Chicken wings? Indian, maybe? Is anyone running any specials?”
I didn’t comment on the potential irony of a harpy eating chicken wings and instead beamed at her. “Let’s find out!”
Rowan returned sooner than I expected, and I was surprised that not only had the corner store been willing to charge Carolina’s phone and her power bank, but they also charged a new one he bought.
Naturally, my friend, anxious thing that she was, tried to compensate him, but Rowan was quite artful at dodging every way she tried to sneakily pay him.
From pretending not to understand how cash transfer apps worked, to removing dollar bills she kept trying to sneak onto his person.
He was smooth. Honestly, it was fun to watch the two of them interact.
It had to be healthy for my best friend.
When was the last time she’d even been in the same room with two people at once?
I didn’t know, and I didn’t ask. The same way I didn’t tell her that my boyfriend was actually quite wealthy despite his demeanor and relatively humble home.
I’d googled how much someone who did instrument restoration made and apparently seniors in the craft on average made a pretty penny.
Considering Rowan had been doing his job for oh, about forever, that made him pretty senior, and he didn’t have to buy groceries!
No wonder he insisted on paying for every date.
“Are you sure you’re okay with us going?
” I asked for about the dozenth time as Rowan and I stood by the door, trash from our food order in hand.
I was very assured that Rowan, despite not needing to eat, had indeed gotten Carolina some good food that she wouldn’t have to cook tomorrow, and I’d left a voicemail with the office as well as helped Carolina send the email telling them that her power had been out.
Hopefully, there wouldn’t be any repercussions, but with a fully charged phone and two power banks, my friend would be able to get in contact with me no matter what.
“Yes, I’m sure,” she said, her expression content but her face a bit drawn. “I had a lot of fun, and I really appreciate everything you’ve done, but I’m a little peopled out and need to recharge.”
“That’s fair.” We’d been here for more than a couple of hours. That was a long time for Tweety to not just be awake, but also interacting with people in person.
She had to have been so lonely.
“I’ll see you this weekend?” I hedged cautiously, just in case the harpy who had agreed to that a couple of hours earlier was a different harpy than the one in front of me. Goodness knew that had happened to me plenty of times in my life.
“Yeah. Maybe for a lunch? There’s a place near here that does buy one get one free lamb and chicken platters if ordered before three.”
“That sounds great. And let me know if your apartment’s office gives you any static, okay?”
“Scout’s honor.”
Neither of us were ever in the scouts. “Okay, I’mma hold you to that.”
“Believe me, I know it.”
“Good.”
Although she was visibly tired, her normal bantering cadence was nearly all the way back. Good.
I went in for one last hug and lingered a bit, but eventually Rowan and I were walking to the ancient elevator.
“Wanna take the stairs down?” Rowan asked after he pressed the button and the elevator basically cursed him out in a string of mechanical screeches.
“Absolutely.”
When we made it down to the parking lot, Rowan took my hand and intertwined our fingers. His skin was still warm to the touch, but I noticed it had faded considerably since he’d fed on me. Vampire anatomy and metabolism sure were fascinating.
“Thank you,” I murmured as I pulled out my keys.
“For what?”
“For being there. For being so kind to my best friend.”
“Why wouldn’t I be? She seems lovely.”
I didn’t need to tell him that far too many people in the magical world looked down on her for having no wings, and that was why she was relegated to a tiny apartment in disrepair with what she could make with her online work.
He knew it. And the fact that he rejected their prejudice without so much as blinking an eye made me love him that much more.
Because although I hadn’t worked up the nerve to say it yet, I was most definitely in love.
It was different from how I’d imagined it, and I couldn’t believe that it had taken me so long to find it, but I knew deep down in my heart that what I felt for Rowan was unlike anything else I’d ever experienced before.
Sure, there’d been infatuation, lust, even crushes.
But nothing like the depth of compassion, attraction, and admiration all mixing inside me.
I would forever be grateful to the human dating app that had unwittingly brought us together.
“She is lovely. Amazing even. I just wish more people would see it.”
“Me too. But she has you, and me, if she wants. At least two people are in her corner. Does she have anyone else you know?”
I shook my head. “No, but we can help her find a therapist or whatever it is she needs to get her feeling better. One step at a time.”
“I’ll ask around my network, see if I know any magically inclined therapists. I imagine there has to at least be a few.”
“Well, even if there aren’t, at least with Zoom calls Carolina won’t have to go out.”
“Yes, I imagine that would be best for the foreseeable future.”
I nodded, unlocking the car and reluctantly letting go of Rowan’s hand.
We didn’t say much on the drive home, but I got the feeling both of us were digesting everything that had happened.
While my friend hadn’t been in any direct danger, it was very clear to me that her mental health was so low that she had been hurting herself and suffering. I didn’t want that for her.
I didn’t want that for anyone.
Again, I wondered how many others there were like me, Rowan, Iko, and Carolina, who didn’t have people to rely on.
Each of us had above the bare minimum, with Rowan having a century’s worth of connections with different people and species, me having my dog-walking business and a family that only emotionally abused me rather than physically, and Carolina did make enough to have her own place to hide among the humans.
It wasn’t a lot, and none of it was enough, but how many had even less?
“I know you’re gonna downplay the compliment,” I said after a while. “But you did really great with Twe—I mean, Carolina.”
“Did I? I was worried about putting a bit of vamp glamour on her, but I tried to keep it extremely light. Just enough to relax her, you know?”
“I think you used it just right. I was wondering if that was going on.” An errant thought rose in the back of my mind. “Have you ever used those special psychic skills on me?”
Rowan chuckled softly, and I didn’t quite understand what was so amusing until I glanced over when it was safe to do so. For once, I appreciated a red light. “It’s the opposite, really.”
“Opposite how?”
He reached over, taking my hand that wasn’t on the wheel. “You’re the one who’s always mesmerizing me.”
Unsurprisingly, I flushed at that. I wished I could linger in his gaze, because the way he looked at me made me feel so valued.
So special. So seen. I truly wished that every person could feel like that, because surely if they did, the world would be a better place.
Far too many people were lonely and isolated, especially within the magical world that was trying to hide from the ever-encroaching onslaught of the humans.
If we kept going the way we were, everyone was going to end up isolated from anything even closely resembling community.
Things really needed to change.
Actually…
My brain started sparking, an idea shimmering to the surface with all the fairy dust and simplicity of a brainstorm. It was so intense that I threw on my blinker and turned into the closest parking lot.
“Everything okay?” Rowan asked.
“Yeah,” I said, somewhat breathlessly. “Just thinking about the situation. And about that time you got trapped by a loose tile. It really just takes one little thing and it can completely endanger our existence.”
“It is a bit scary, isn’t it?”
I nodded. “But the thing is, I was there to help both of you. And I know if I was ever in a pinch, that the both of you would be there for me.”
“Within a heartbeat. Not my own, obviously. But a quick one.”
“Right. You, me, and Carolina—and hopefully Iko—have formed our own little community since our own are never going to support us. We basically said fuck your exile, and forged our own way.
“We did,” he said, leaning over to kiss my cheek. “But where exactly is this leading? I can practically see the steam coming from your ears.”
He was right, because I could practically feel myself grinning like a dork as I spoke. “I don’t suppose you’ve ever held a mixer, have you?”