That night Leea and I are sitting outside the starbucks at the mall. It has a good line of sight to Cecil's tattoo parlour, and we've been hoping him or Rachel would come out so we could get them the message without having to go in and risking accidentally running into Wasp, but so far no luck. It is closing time soon, and we should get going, but so should they.
Leea is playing with her braid and I'm knitting absently. I keep staring at the letter on the table. I just hope they understand what it means.
There's a tingle of a bell and we both look up abruptly. Rachel exits the shop, saying something to someone inside. The door jingles again as it closes and her eyes fall on us when she turns around. She looks surprised at first, but it melts into happiness. She grins. I picks up my to-go cup and Leea picks up the letter, in a way I hope is obvious. She glances down at her hand and then back up again. She keeps walking like nothing happened, and we start walking towards her, to the other side of the mall and the exit. We pass Rachel and in one slightly lingering movement the letter exchanges hands. None of us slow down or acknowledge each other in any way.
I glance at the glass door of the shop, my eyes lingering momentarily on the red logo of the tattoo parlour and the opening hours, before looking through it. Cecil is standing in behind the counter again. His eyes widen slightly as we pass the door, and then he looks to his right, where I notice a large man standing, with his back to the door. That must be Wasp. I nudge at Leea and we quicken our pace just slightly. I pull out my phone and call mom to pick us up.
We get Tony instead.
~x~
We're sitting in the choir room again. It seems like the most logical place to be. It's been a while since we fell asleep, but Leea said that in dreams time goes faster, so it's not too late yet. And it was only 10:45 when we went to bed, and it could take some time for them to get away from Wasp.
Leea pulls a box from under the teacher's desk and opens it. I peer over her shoulder to see what's inside and snort in amusement.
"Pinecones, Leea? Why?" I ask and she just smiles.
"I'm bored," she simply says and tosses one in the air. Flame jumps up and catches it in its mouth. It's ears spark when it crunches. I laugh and toss one as well. Flame catches that as well, producing more sparks. We continue to throw cones at it for a while, until I get bored of that. Leea doesn't though, and she begins to throw them further and further.
"I wish I had my knittings here," I say as Flame catches a particularly high thrown cone.
"You have, just dream them," Leea says and chucks another one. "You can dream whatever you want to."
I blink. She's right. I imagine my knitting basket in the corner of the room. It's there when I look over.
"It's a shame I can't bring these back though," I say as I pick out a bright green yarn and some needles. "But I guess I can practice some different kinds of patterns."
"Hmm," says Leea, and then, "D'you recon your mom thinks we're dating?"
I drop the yarn. "What? Why?" I ask. Leea shrugs.
"Well, I've spent more time at your place in the last two weeks than the previous two years I've known you," she says, and frowns. "And your brother seems to think so, if his excessive hinting is anything to go by."
"That's just basic Tony," I mutter. "He's like that with anyone I bring over. I think he's projecting his lack of romantic partners into me." Leea giggles lightly at that. I smile as well and pick up the yarn again.
Truth be told, I've never thought of Leea like that. Sure, she's pretty, and smart, and funny, and has an amazing voice, but she is a bit too... scary for me. A brilliant friend, but not girlfriend. Not for me, anyway.
The door opens and Cecil walks in, Rachel on his heel. Flame lets out an excited noise and jumps on him again, and he laughs. Rachel just rolls her eyes and goes to sit next to Leea, who scoots over on the table she's sitting on.
"You had something to ask me?" Cecil asks, taking a seat as well. He looks curiously at my knitting.
"Yeah, we wanted to ask about that song we were singing in the dream," Leea says. "See, we're making this show for our choir's Christmas performance and we're trying to write a whole new Christmas carol. And we thought that song would be really good to work with."
"Yes, let's see," Cecil says and pushes up his glasses. "It went something like this, yes?" He starts humming the tune. Flame seems delighted about it, and purrs softly.
"Yep, that's it," I say.
"That is actually one of the only ever recorded songs of the White elementals," Cecil says. "I transliterated it to the best of my ability into common music notes once. I could... send the sheet to you as an e-mail if you want?"
"That would be great!" I say and Cecil smiles widely.
"By the way, how's it going with Wasp?" Leea asks.
"Eh," Rahel shrugs. "I mean, he still hasn't sodded off, but I think he's starting to believe the elementals really aren't here. I'd give it a few more days until he gets sick of the lack of booze at Cecil's and the lack of fucks I give about his existence. Seriously, he's tried to hit on me and got turned down so many times I'm starting to wonder if he has Alzheimer's."
"Where is he now?" Leea asks.
"Don't worry about it," Cecil says. "He was out cold before we came under."
"I may have spiked his drink," Rachel says with a grin. Cecil gives her a disappointed look. "What? It's just a little sleeping draught, he's not gonna die of it."
"That means you have time here... right?" I ask.
"Well, yes," Cecil says, looking at me. "Why?"
"I was just thinking, maybe you'd want to teach me things about the elementals?"
Cecil's whole face lights up like a Christmas tree.
"Absolutely."
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I'm sorry, I suck at being on schedule. But here it is~ enjoy! Your topic isssssss............ Ball Gown.
Pie out
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