A high voice rang softly in my ear from a distance. “What do you think?”
Another one; much deeper, close to a growl. “I don’t like the idea, but we have little choice.”
Much closer; a voice spoken with confidence. “Then leave it to me. I know exactly where to send him.”
I recognized the voices. They were Linnea, Matriarch of the Dryads, Eldar, Chief of the Naga, and Hierophant, King of the Faeries respectively. Whatever they were talking about seemed to concern me.
Eldar’s deep voice rumbled with a softer tone, “Then do so quickly, he awakens.”
Linnea’s high voice chirped, “Not to worry, he’s still far too unwell to fully awaken and even if he did, what could he really do in his condition?”
I felt a small hand similar to that of a child press against my forehead.
“Time to go, old friend. Consider our contract void until you return,” said Hierophant.
“That goes double for me!” squeaked Linnea.
“Same here,” rumbled Eldar.
In a confused tone, Hierophant said, “Wait, you guys don’t even want to know where I’m sending him?”
Eldar said, “Hmm, it would be wise to say. Lest he awakens in an unknown realm with no direction.”
After a moment of silence, Linnea squeaked, “Spit it out.”
After another moment, Hierophant responded, “That’s... A secret.” I could hear the smile on his lips.
The whole time, I tried to open my eyes and couldn’t get them to budge. My limbs wouldn’t move and I couldn’t feel anything other than the hand. Soon, I could no longer feel even that. It was as if I was floating in some kind of limbo.
Eventually, I could feel my limbs, but they were heavily constrained and stiff. I tried to move them but then they started to ache. Opening my eyes, I saw a white ceiling and soon after, I started noticing a rhythmic buzzing sound coming from my left. It took me a moment to realize it was the sound of a heart monitor.
Slowly, I tried to push myself up into a sitting position. Joints in every part of my body started to pop and it felt like putting any real pressure on anything was a bad idea. There was a numbness to them that felt like adrenaline. I expected the numbness to subside and be replaced with a searing pain, but it didn’t. There was just numbness and aching.
Turning my head, I felt a series of pops as every joint gave way to movement. The heart monitor stood next to a machine that looked like it was pumping something. They were between me and a window showing the sun over the horizon slightly obscured by houses. I couldn’t tell if it was morning or noon, but it was nice while it lasted.
Taking a glance to my right, my heart stopped, causing the heart monitor to stall for a second before picking back up again. Once I realized what I was looking at, I nearly jumped out of my skin; barely keeping my composure. At that moment, I took a quick breath and realized that something was inserted into my nose. Slowly, I gripped the tubes and slipped them out of my nostrils.
Drawing a full breath, I shifted around in the hospital gown I found myself in and examined my limbs and found my right arm was in a brace with a sling and my right ankle was in a cast. Almost every other joint was wrapped in bandages. The only things that weren’t were my neck and left leg as a whole. After making sure I could still move the few joints that presumably still worked properly, I prepared myself to get moving.
Since I didn’t really know where I was, teleporting to where I wanted to be could fire off far too many sirens that would be too annoying to deal with. Can’t have an international state of emergency just because I didn’t have some sort of permission to teleport home.
There was a chair nearby with my clothes on it and I cast ‘levitate’ on them before gripping the heart monitor and yanking it off. The second the beeps turned to a single buzz, I teleported to the door past the danger to my right and caught my clothes in my hands before opening the door and levitating out as fast as I could.
I darted my eyes around the blue and white checkered hallway looking for an exit until I spotted an elevator. I was going to press the button before a chill ran up my spine. Deciding it would take too long, I continued down the hall, looking for a set of stairs.
Before I could find the stairs, I heard someone call my name, revealing my deepest fears as I almost fell from the air in surprise. The hall ended with a fork and I was almost there when I felt someone grab my unwrapped ankle and pull me closer to the ground. The panic set in completely, but I didn’t dare pull away.
“Where the hell are you going?” The words passed through the gritted teeth of someone reluctant to speak. “Look at me.”
Slowly, I lowered myself to where my feet just barely dangled to the floor before turning around to face the object of my terror. I was now free of their grasp.
The once bright blue eyes now dull with apathy stared me down as they’ve done many times before. Her short hair was now long and neglected aside from what looked like minimal care. Even her skin was less flush than I remembered and she seemed thinner. “What happened?” she said, taking a shy step back.
“Where are we?” I asked.
“I asked you a question.” Her voice was stern.
“Nothing you need to worry about.”
“You appeared at my doorstep in the middle of the night looking like an abused ragdoll, like hell it’s nothing.”
“I just need to know where I am so I can get home.”
“Fuck that, you’re not going anywhere until you heal. What happened?”
“Why would you even worry about my condition? Just tell me where we are.”
“A hospital. Now, tell me what happened.”
“Look, there’s nothing you could do even if I told you. I’ll just go figure it out myself.” Turning around, I started floating forward but was stopped as a pair of arms wrapped themselves around my waist.
“If whatever did this to you is still out there, I can’t let you go. Not right now.”
I couldn’t believe my ears. She sounded like she was actually worried about me. After what I did, there was no way.
After a stunned silence on my part, I said, “Danna? You are Danna, right?”
“Dumbass, who else would I be?”
“Nobody, I... Let me go.”
“No.” She started dragging me backward.
“Wait, no, seriously, let me go.”
“I said no. You’re going to lay your ass back down until further notice.”
“Let me go, damn it.” I struggled against her, but she somehow overpowered me and forced me back into the bed after a few minutes. While we struggled, Danna explained what happened to a nurse that came to investigate my heart monitor going off. The nurse turned the machine off and promptly left the room.
“You’re staying here until you get better and if you even think about teleporting out of here, your joints won’t be the only things that pop.”
“Wow, that’s a hell of a threat. How long did it take for you to come up with that?”
“A few days.”
“Oh... Wait, how long have I been here?”
“A few weeks, give or take.”
“Weeks? That explains why nothing hurts.”
“That’s the painkillers.”
“Oh.”
We spent a few minutes in silence and all I had on my mind was why Hierophant decided to send me to Danna and how he knew where she was. There was a chance I was dreaming, so I silently cast ‘awaken’ on myself. Instead of changing anything, I just became more alert. Just in case, I flexed my arm and felt a heavy tinge of pain where my elbow was, making me wince.
Danna noticed and said, “Trying to hurt yourself?”
“Seeing if this is a dream... or an illusion.”
“If it is, it’s a pretty bad one.”
“You’re telling me. Have you been taking care of yourself?”
“Why do you ask?”
“You look stressed.”
“Yeah, well, you’re here. Kinda hard not to be.”
“No, I mean, you look like you’ve been stressed for a while. Then again, I have been here for a few weeks. Sorry for asking.”
“How about you? You been taking care of yourself? Well, you couldn’t have been based on how you look right now, but I’m curious. What have you been up to all these years?”
Gathering my thoughts, I decided to answer. “I’ve been trying to get rid of what made you hate me so much. The stars in my eyes.”
“So, you really spent all these years just trying to kill off a part of what makes you, you?” She sounded disappointed and it irritated me.
“That’s not what I said.”
“I heard what you said. It starts with your eyes and then what? You gonna just keep finding ways to keep slowly whittling away at yourself until nothing remains?”
Apathetic, I said, “Even if I did, why do you care?”
After a moment of silence, Danna spoke as if she was just holding her breath. “Because I forgave you a long time ago, alright? I know what I did was wrong and I... I just want to apologize and move on.”
“So... how long have you been saving that one?”
She looked down at herself in guilt. “Twenty years, give or take.”
“Oh. You know, I really thought you were going to kill me back then. I wanted you to.”
Without missing a beat, she said, “I realized. You didn’t even put up any resistance.” She took a deep, shuddery breath. “And if you did, I really might have killed you.”
“Damn. I kinda wish I did.” I tried to shrug but didn't quite get there.
She gave an exasperated sigh. “You really haven’t forgiven yourself, have you?”
“Have you?”
Silence.
“I thought so.”
Eventually, a doctor came in and conducted a series of tests. It turned out that some of my ligaments snapped completely while most of them were severely sprained and only a few of my twisted joints were immediately usable. With enough therapy, I could potentially walk again, but it seemed like I wouldn’t have full natural mobility ever again. There also seemed to be nerve damage that was already healing.
At some point, the sun started setting and Danna had to go. When she did, the room became electrified for a split second and an enchantment spread across the walls, floor, and ceiling. She was dead set on keeping me in that room. Luckily, there was a bathroom attached to my room, so I didn’t need to leave.
The next day, she came back around midday. When she entered, she sat silently with a tired look in her eyes. She groaned and yawned while stretching out her limbs until they popped almost in unison.
“Wish I could do that,” I said, shuffling around my own limbs a bit.
She jumped as if she wasn’t expecting me to be able to speak and responded, “I forgot you were awake.”
“Hard day?”
“No, just tired.”
“What do you do for work, nowadays anyway?”
“Same old, same old. Commissioner work.”
“And here I thought you’d have given up on that.”
“That’s not the part of my life I gave up on.” She sounded dejected.
“Why don’t you want me to leave?”
“That’s because you’ll probably go get yourself killed if I do.” She yawned.
“Nah, I’m pretty strong.” I smiled. “You should see what happened to the guy that did this to me... If there’s a body to see.”
“Okay, so, how did you end up at my house?”
“No idea, really. I got teleported blindly.”
“And you expect me to believe that?”
“Look, I don’t know where you live. It’s not like I keep tabs on you or anything. I couldn’t even if I wanted to. Besides, do you think I’d go to anyone for help for any reason?”
“I don’t know, maybe you thought you were going to die and... came to say goodbye. Although now that I think about it, that doesn’t sound like you. Then again, it has been twenty years. People change.” She looked out the nearby window wistfully.
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Looking out the window, I said, “Well, I did have a sort of contingency for when I died. Someone was supposed to find you and deliver the news. Thought you’d appreciate it.”
Danna’s reflection in the window placed her head on her hands with her elbows on the bed. “What made you think that?”
“Nothing, really. I just thought you would.” I shrugged to the best of my abilities.
“Well, thanks, I guess.”
We stayed silent without much to talk about until night fell and Danna had to go again. The next day, the doctor in charge of me said I was going to be released since I was awake and healthy. Strangely enough, he didn’t ask me any questions. He just told me to stay off my feet and take it easy for a few weeks. When Danna came back, she was accompanied by a wheelchair.
Bewildered, I said, “Is that for me?”
She patted the back of the chair. “Get in, we’re going home.”
Now, I was taken aback. “Home?”
“My house. Let’s go. Levitate yourself into the seat and we’ll get going.”
“Are you sure about this?”
“I’m keeping an eye on you, remember?”
“You know what, sure.” I sighed. “Just don’t start regretting it.”
“Trust me, I’ve already done too much to regret.”
When I heard those words, I had a flashback. I was standing on top of the mountain with Penelope again. I could feel the wind pushing against me and see the tears in her eyes. I watched her fall off the cliff with a blade stained red once again. I blinked and saw her sitting next to me calling my name. My surprise slowly faded as I realized it was Danna.
“Oscar, hello, Oscar, are you listening to me?” She was waving her hand in front of my face.
Absent-mindedly, I said, “Yeah, yeah, yeah, I hear you, what’s up?”
“Get in the chair, we’re going.” She gripped one of the armrests and rolled it back and forth a couple of times.
Still absentminded, I said, “Yeah, sure, but can’t I put my clothes on first?”
“Alright, sit up. I’ll help you get dressed.” She moved around to the pile of my clothes sitting on the seat by the bed.
When she reached for it, I snapped my fingers and winced as the clothes disappeared from her grasp and were replaced with the hospital gown I was wearing while my clothes reappeared on me. “No need.”
She sighed. “Alright, just get in the chair.”
After I did what she said, she wheeled me from the room to the elevator. On the way down, she said something I wasn’t expecting.
“You were thinking about her, weren’t you?”
“What-no, what makes you think that?” I tried as hard as I could to keep my line of sight clear of her face as I stared at the wall.
“You said her name while looking at me. A few times. You also said, ‘don’t go’, a couple of those times.”
“Oh... Does this wheelchair belong to the hospital, or...?”
“The hospital. We’re just borrowing it until we get to the entrance.”
When we got to the front desk, Danna told the person there that she was checking me out of the hospital, and we waited for someone to come so they could take the wheelchair after I stood from it. When someone did come, Danna wheeled me to the entrance and helped me stand while the wheelchair was replaced with a crutch. I opted not to levitate or fly because I wanted to feel the ground beneath my feet and start getting used to holding my own weight again. With steady steps, Danna helped me into the back seat of an icy-blue car before hopping in the front and driving off.
“So, where are we?” I asked, shifting myself into a comfortable position and staring out the window.
“Didn’t think to ask a nurse or doctor?”
“Nope, I asked you first.”
“Wow. I can’t decide if that sounds childish or petty.”
“Well, I already know we’re in America. Everybody speaks English with American accents and the street signs are only in English. What I want to know is where we are exactly.”
Instead of answering my question, she said, “I can’t stop you from leaving, can I?”
“I don’t know why you’d want to. Besides, I have someone I need to get back to.”
“Is that a girlfriend?” she said, playfully.
“No.”
“Boyfriend?”
“Really?”
She giggled. “I’m just asking.”
“I have a student back home. I don’t think she’s really figured out how to take care of herself yet.”
“So, a lover?” She took a shy look back with a smile.
“More like a daughter,” I said, frankly.
“Like, biological, or...”
“What’s with all the questions?”
“Look, I’m just trying to understand your situation.”
“But you don’t need to,” I said, getting impatient. “I can just go home.”
She raised her voice “And how are you going to do that?”
I paused, considering the possibilities of her situation. “Is that a threat?”
“No, it’s just-” she sighed. “No, it isn’t. You just need to recover and knowing you, that would never happen if you went home now. Also, we haven't seen each other in so long, I thought we should catch up.”
The drive continued in silence. As discreetly as possible, I checked the car for magic or enchantments. When I found none, I spoke up.
“Is someone threatening you?”
Surprised, Danna said, “What?”
“Is someone threatening you to keep me here?”
Offended, she said, “No, why would someone do that?”
“I don’t know, maybe somebody just wants me out of their way while they execute some sort of plan or something. People do wild things with convoluted plans sometimes.”
“Oh yeah, and what would they threaten me with? I already lost everything, so answer me that.”
Unable to come up with anything, I stayed silent.
“Thought so.”
A couple of hours later, the car finally stopped in front of a house. It was a quaint, brown house barely large enough for a single person to live in. It was in a small neighborhood in a wooded area. Danna got out of the car and I teleported out next to her with the crutch so I could walk.
Examining the house for a moment, I said, “How many rooms do you have?”
“Three,” said Danna, approaching the door.
“Is one of those a bedroom?”
“Yeah. One’s also a bathroom.”
“Oh... How quaint.”
“I thought you’d say that.” After unlocking the door, she went in, and I followed. “Make yourself at home.”
Inside the house was one large room consisting of a combination of living room and kitchen. There was a couch in front of a TV with a short glass table between them on a carpet while the other side of the room transitioned to tile with cupboards, a fridge, an oven, a stove, and an island that housed the sink. Straight across from the entrance was a short hall that led to a door at the end and two more on the way; one to the right and left.
Making sure I got a good look at my surroundings, I said, “Which of those rooms is the bathroom?”
“The one on the right.”
“Thanks.” I started moving toward the hall.
“If you want to take a shower, there’s a washcloth on the sink, a basket for your clothes, and a blue robe on the door for you. The white one is mine.”
“Alright, I’ll look into it.”
“And if you need help, let me know.”
“Nope, no thanks.” I opened the door and went in.
The bathroom was coated on all sides with blue tiles and housed a small sink with a towel on it and a shower. The basket Danna mentioned was sitting beside the door and the robe was where she said. Taking time to re-examine my healing injuries, I determined which bandages I could remove and ended up just removing all of them. My right arm was a bit heavy but still movable and my ankle on the same side was still in a cast, but other than that, everything was fine aside from some slight swelling in a few places.
After taking care of my business, I put my arm and ankle in bubbles of magic and levitated to take a shower. Afterward, I put on the blue robe and made my way out of the bathroom. Danna was darting around the kitchen for ingredients that she sat next to a pile of vegetables.
“Need help with that?” I said, approaching her.
She pointed at the couch and said, “Nope. There’s a couch right there. You need to rest until you can walk properly.”
Instead of arguing, I went and sat on the couch. Almost immediately, I noticed how much more comfortable the couch was compared to the hospital bed, and soon enough, I started getting drowsy. I started staring at the round pillow next to me on the arm of the couch until I was firmly laying on top of it before I realized it. My eyes had already closed but I tried not to fall asleep. After what felt like a minute, I felt motion and pried an eye slightly open to see Danna moving part of the robe under my waist and leaning in to get a closer look before disappointment spread across her face.
I said, “And you used to call me a perv.”
Clearly surprised, Danna held her calm demeanor and said, “Your robe was open, I was just putting it back in place.”
“Yeah, and you were looking for my dick. I do wear underwear, you know?”
“If I wanted to see that, I’d have looked in the hospital,” She huffed.
“I somehow doubt that, but I’ll believe you for now... Unless you did look while I was in the hospital?”
“Whatever, food’s ready.” She turned around and went back to the kitchen area. “Just sit there.”
I sniffed the air to a pleasant aroma. “Cool, what are we eating?”
“Ratatouille.”
“Oh, fancy. And French.”
“Not really, it started as a quick dish poor people would make. Eventually, just like lobster, people liked it so much it became a rich person’s dish, so to speak.”
“So, when did you become a culinary expert?”
“I didn’t. Saw it on TV the other day and realized I had most of the ingredients in my fridge, so I planned to make some when I brought you back.”
“Wait, you forced me to come to your house... so we can eat?”
Danna appeared with a standing tray and a plate of food. “Shut up, you know that’s not why.” She sat the tray in front of me and placed the plate on top of it.
“You still haven't told me the real reason.”
“Just- listen to me for once.” She sounded annoyed.
“I am listening.”
“Then just eat some real food and regain your strength. Let your body heal and you can go when you’re better.” She sat next to me with a plate of her own on top of a pillow on her lap.
I sighed. “I can go now. I heal pretty fast, you know. Always have.”
“You’re over forty. You don’t heal fast.”
Sarcastic, I said, “And what’s that make you? Fifty?”
“Don’t make me hurt you.”
I couldn’t help but chuckle. “Sure, sure. I’ll just eat, then.”
Sitting up, I scooped a bit up with a fork and started eating. Danna picked up a remote from the nearby coffee table and turned on the TV. We spent the afternoon watching random movies and by the time the sun went down, Danna fell asleep on my shoulder. After making sure she really fell asleep, I tried to stand but she held onto me steadfastly. I had no choice but to stay in place and fall asleep alongside her.
I awoke the next day with difficulty moving. There was a blanket over me and a sharp pain in most of my joints. The ones left unbandaged and freely moving were better off than the rest so I used those limbs to sit upright. There was a note left on the table beside a pill bottle and a glass of water. It read. ‘Take your medicine and don’t move around too much. When I said I wanted you to rest and heal, I meant it. If I come back and you’re gone, I will hunt you down.’
While her threat had its own merit, I was away from home long enough. Regardless, I took a moment to read the pill bottle to understand what was in it, which amounted to a mild pain blocker and a strong anti-inflammatory supplement. After reading it, I sat the bottle back down and scanned my surroundings. The house seemed pretty normal and it looked like magic use was kept to a minimum since there were very few traces of it around the place.
Standing to painful creaks and pops of many joints, I used the crutch I was given to move around instead of levitating and went exploring around the house. After finding nothing of interest in the living room aside from some old movies and a video player, I went to the kitchen. The cupboards were stocked well enough for one person and the fridge mostly just had fruits, vegetables, and leftovers. Since I already spent ample time in the bathroom, the only room I had yet to visit was the bedroom. Before I’d go there, I decided to look out of every window and scan the surroundings of the house from the inside. Most of what wasn’t the road in front of the house was a thick forest and not much else.
When I went to the bedroom, I used the pads of my palm to grip the handle as if I was breaking in and didn’t want to leave fingerprints. When I tried to twist the knob, I found that it was locked. With a sigh, I pointed at the lock in the handle and cast ‘pick’ to force the lock open. In a second, there was a click and the door fell open on its own.
Once inside, I was greeted by a pleasant smell. Alarmed, I scanned the room. There was a long, brown dresser next to a closet on one side and on the other side stood a bed with a pair of nightstands and lamps. The floor was clear aside from a small trash can by the door and a pair of slippers I almost stepped on, on the way in.
Following my nose, I found the source was the trash can. In it, was a paper cup with a bright, translucent, pink liquid pouring out of it. I took a closer look and cast ‘identify’ to confirm that it wasn’t what I thought it was. After analyzing the substance, I stood and took a deep breath. For whatever reason, Danna had a love potion discarded in the trash. I didn’t know what to think about it, so I let it be.
Next, I made my way over to the closet, but something caught my eye on the way. I saw something out of the corner of my eye but when I looked at it, there was nothing. On top of the dresser, there was a faint ripple in the air as if something was hidden. For something to hide from my eyes, the enchantment had to be strong yet absurdly subtle, so I cast ‘truesight’ to reveal what was hidden.
There was a large picture of Penelope framed in the middle with unburnt incense on either side of it. Surrounding the base, was smaller pictures with her in them. Taking a closer look at them, memory after memory replayed in my mind after years of absence. I realized that I had almost forgotten what she looked like. After spending more time than I felt like I should have looking at them, I found two obituaries sitting underneath the larger photo. One was unmarked but the other had my name written on it in small letters at the bottom. It looked like she expected me to show up for the funeral if not deliver it to me afterward, but she kept it instead.
It felt wrong for me to look at it any longer, so I shifted my attention back to the closet. Opening it, I found mostly just clothes on hangers but also a white scepter with a crystal seated on the top sitting on a shelf. It was the same scepter Danna always used and it looked like it hadn’t been touched for some time. It was coated in thick layers of dust and the shine the crystal once had was now dull. There was nothing else of interest, so I left the bedroom and made sure to lock the door on the way out.
I spent the rest of the day sitting and walking around the house. I cast ‘identify’ on the pills before taking any of them just in case and the same for the leftovers before I ate any of it. Neither had any traces of the love potion and I was immediately put at ease with that knowledge.
When Danna returned, I was attempting to put more weight on my bandaged ankle in front of the couch in case I fell down trying it. She greeted me then went straight to the bathroom and took a shower. I continued my endeavor and found myself standing upright for the fifth time that day before I fell backward following a series of sharp pains. Eventually, Danna left the bathroom, went to her room to change, and came back to the main room.
“So, anything new happen?” she said, from the short hallway.
As if just to give a brief update, I said, “I found the love potion.”
She paused mid-step like a deer in headlights. I watched the gears break down in her head and start moving again momentarily. “I wasn’t hiding it. You went in my room even though the door was locked?”
“Well, you left me here alone, and I got curious.”
Her face started turning red, but I couldn’t tell if it was from embarrassment or rage. “What else?”
“What else? Well... Nothing else, really.”
She power-walked at me and grabbed my collar with both hands. “Don’t lie to me, I know you saw it. I know that dinky ass enchantment couldn’t stop you from looking, so tell me what you saw.” She was dead serious and her face only became more flushed but it didn’t seem like rage.
I couldn’t help but look away from her and say, “I saw what was on your dresser... and I saw the one with my name on it. I won’t ask about it since I wasn’t supposed to be in there, to begin with...”
She let go of my collar and sat next to me. “I expected you to show up to her funeral. I wanted you to come.” She was now unexpectedly calm.
“I wanted to but after what happened... I guess my mind and body couldn’t take it and I woke up a few days later.”
“I shouldn’t have snapped at you like that, I’m sorry.” The way she said it, I couldn't tell what time she was talking about.
“No, I’m...” I sighed. “We both lost her that day. I just happened to see it in person.”
“Yeah, I realized that... Maybe a bit too late.”
“It’s fine. To be honest, I expected that kind of response. I knew that was the last straw by a lot.”
She turned, looked me in the eye, then looked away. “Do you have nightmares? About what happened.”
“Not anymore. I still see her out of the corner of my eye sometimes, though. You?”
“I still do. It’s just mostly... When you didn’t come to the funeral, I thought you really killed yourself. I was too afraid to check in on you in case that’s what really happened, so I left.”
“Oh, that’s why you left? I thought maybe you just wanted to start over; get away from the painful memories. I didn’t think my life mattered to you.”
“Well, it did... still does.” Without looking, she placed her hand on top of mine. “After Penelope died, you were the last person I wanted to lose, but instead of holding on, I let go and pushed you away... It’s not your fault.”
“You don’t really believe that, do you?”
She shrugged. “It doesn’t matter what I think. It’s the truth.”
With my thoughts beginning to swirl, I had to ask, “The truth or your truth?”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” She seemed confused for a second.
“Do I need to go over what I did to cause-”
My knuckles popped from how hard Danna started squeezing my hand. “Shut up, it’s not your fault. If I said it’s not, it’s not.”
“I mean, if I didn’t-”
“Oscar, look at me,” said Danna, attempting to cut me off before I could get started.
Instead, I continued. “If I paid more attention to her, then maybe I could’ve-”
Sternly this time, she said, “Look at me.”
“No, I need to say this, I shouldn’t have given in when she asked-”
“God damn it, look at me!”
“The spell had a time limit-”
She grabbed both sides of my face and turned my head for me before pushing her lips against mine. There was a warmth that spread across my face, concentrated in my lips and the softness of hers nearly elevated me off the seat. I couldn’t pull away even if I wanted to and I didn’t dare try. After a few seconds, she pulled away.
After a moment of shock, I said, “Did you drink the love potion?”
“No, I didn’t.” Her eyes were almost vibrating as she kept trying to make eye contact but was unable to.
“I can smell it on your breath,” I said, trying to rationalize why she would suddenly kiss me.
“No, you can’t, you suck at lying.”
“Then why would you...”
“Because I wanted to kiss you for so long. I thought I lost my chance but you’re right here... and we’re both single, so just give me a chance, please.”
We locked eyes for a second and I almost leaned in to return the kiss. Instead, I cleared my throat and said, “Yeah, kiss... I don’t know what to say to that, I... Um... I’m trying not to think with my dick here.”
“Since when did you stop doing that?” She smiled seductively for a moment, and it died as she seemingly realized what she was really asking. “I mean, there’s more to you than that.”
“Danna, I get it. I’m your childhood friend and you feel bad about how we left things, but you don’t need to make yourself do this.”
She sat back, sinking slightly into the seat. “Childhood friends? Is that all we were?”
“Eventually, it got easier to think of it that way.”
“I’m sorry-”
“Don’t apologize. Just live your life. I’ll stay here until I get better but in exchange, I want you to forgive yourself and move on.”
With a shy smile fighting to spread across her face, she said, “I think I can do that if you can do the same.“
I tried not to sigh but one came out anyway. “I’ll try.”