Author's Note: Hi all! I've actually published Beastly stories before, but under the movie category, as I consider the book and movie to be entirely separate universes.
The sun had nearly set in the May sky as Lindy was finishing making dinner. The spaghetti was boiling cheerfully in a huge shiny stockpot while the sauce had settled to a low, gurgling simmer. She put the bread to warm in the oven and then leaned against the counter, allowing herself a rest. Reluctantly she turned her eyes toward the living room and the large white envelope sitting on the coffee table. Lindy had found it in the mailbox when she came home from her last class of the day, the envelope being so large that it stuck rather obnoxiously out of the bronzed metal slot.
It was addressed to Adrian, Lindy's boyfriend. Rather, it was addressed using Adrian's birth name, Kyle Kingsbury. Only Lindy and their friend Will called him Adrian. It was sort of their own personal thing, shared between them, reflecting the incredible journey they'd been on together. The rest of the world – including the sender of the envelope, the Society of Military Engineers – referred to Lindy's boyfriend as Kyle.
Lindy was now staring at it with dread, as though it were a bomb about to explode in their apartment. She knew what it was; Adrian had been talking about it for quite a while now. SAME had invited him and a couple of his other fellow soon-to-be graduates to intern on a special wastewater treatment project in Guam. Adrian had been recommended by one of his professors at the start of the fall semester, and he'd applied shortly after. Being his typical modest self, Adrian kept referring to the opportunity as a "possibility," always using the word "if," not "when." But Lindy knew better. Her boyfriend was one of the most talented and dedicated civil engineering students in their school's department.
And Lindy wanted to be happy for him, truly she did. But this acceptance letter was just one more thing coming between the two of them.
It wasn't a hard, obvious divide. Lindy and Adrian didn't fight, didn't hold any grudges – at least, Lindy didn't. It was more of a drifting apart, a slow, gentle process. Still, Lindy could see it clearly.
At first, she thought she and Adrian were immune to it. They weren't like the other couples they'd known throughout college who'd broken up due to cheating or stupid fights or simple boredom. Their relationship was built on enchantment. The strength of their love had broken a magic spell. Adrian had been a hideous beast, whose heart had been uncovered and healed by Lindy's kind spirit.
So how could something so ordinary like college and career choices pull them apart?
But it was tearing them apart, nonetheless. While Adrian had been meticulously working away at his degree in civil engineering, networking and training and plotting a road to his life's work, Lindy had been struggling with the English major that had once seemed the clear choice for her. Though she loved literature, and loving reading simply for its own sake, the job market simply didn't smile on the choice of discipline. She had no idea what she would do after they graduated in two weeks.
She felt tears pricking at her eyes when these thoughts flew through her head for the hundredth time in the past few weeks. She didn't want to drift away from Adrian. She loved him, more than she thought she could ever love anyone. But maybe that just wasn't enough.
Lindy thought back to what Adrian had told her that glorious day on the roof of their apartment, when he saved her life and the spell was broken.
For the rest of our lives, we'll go to school and have jobs and eat breakfast and watch TV, but we'll know that even if we don't see it, there's magic in the world. Face it, this is happily ever after, true love like in fairy tales.
Lindy was beginning to stumble on an idea, a horrifying, creeping-cold idea that was as rational as it was devastating. That maybe "happily ever after" didn't necessarily mean her and Adrian being together to the very end. Maybe they would always love each other in that tiny, connecting way that people are capable of, but they would live separate lives. Adrian was a better person for having loved her – at least, that's what Lindy would have liked to think. He was a kinder, stronger, more decent man; he was studying civil engineering not because it was one of the better-paying careers, not because he had the intelligence for it, but because he wanted to build things that made people's lives better.
And Adrian had made Lindy a better person too, and had given her the chance to escape the hellishness of her life. She'd traveled the world, gone to college, escaped her father's abuse and learned to see herself as a beautiful person. Adrian had been there for her in so many ways. There were the tiny ones, like making her breakfast and doing her laundry when she was too busy studying. And the big ones too, like lying in bed with her for two days straight while she mourned the death of her father from the inevitable overdose.
So they had definitely been good things in each other's lives. So perhaps…perhaps that was it. Perhaps Adrian was meant to go his own way now, and she was meant to go hers.
She now heard the door open and slam shut. Adrian was home. He went straight to the dining room without saying hello, and lingered there for a few seconds. Lindy figured he must have had a ton of books from class that he had to unload. Then he was walking back to the kitchen. Putting on her happy face, Lindy turned around to meet him.
Even after five years together, the sight of him still took Lindy's breath away. Adrian was gorgeous. Even clad as he was in a pair of old faded jeans, a worn t-shirt, and scuffed, dirty sneakers, he was magnificent. His blue eyes crinkled with delight and he pulled her in for a kiss. "Hey beautiful," he greeted her.
Lindy had to suppress a wry laugh from the irony. "Hey yourself," she told him. "How was class?"
"A bitch and a half," he reported. "Only Professor Adamson could think that ductile iron pipe is the coolest thing around, drone on and on about it for fifty freakin' minutes."
"Aw, well it's almost over."
"Thank God. How about you?"
"Dr. Kramer loved my paper on Philip Roth, but Dr. Leighton thought my essay on Cloud Atlas was 'pedestrian.' Oh well. Can't please 'em all."
Adrian wrapped his arms around her. "You always please me, if it's any comfort," he purred seductively.
"Down, boy," Lindy chided him playfully. "Dinner's almost ready, and something important-looking came in the mail for you."
"Oh, it must be about the contract in Guam!" Adrian swept past Lindy to get to the envelope in the living room. "If this says what I hope it says, everything is going to change!" he called out cheerfully.
Lindy gripped the end of the counter for support as she heard Adrian's words, grateful that he was in the living room reading over the package from SAME. She had to be strong. She had to be loving and supportive and happy for him when he gave her the news. Most importantly, she had to be ready if and when he told her goodbye.
When she heard his footsteps, she quickly turned back to the stove and began stirring the sauce as casually as she could. "So, good news?" she called out, keeping her voice even.
He wrapped his arms around her from behind and kissed her hair. Lindy shut her eyes and willed herself not to fall apart. "Yeah," he whispered. "They accepted me. I leave for Guam in four weeks."
Lindy took a deep, silent breath, put on her bravest smile, and turned to face him. "Congrats," she told him, giving him a quick kiss. "I knew they would, but it's nice to get some confirmation."
Adrian's grip tightened around her waist. "It's only two months, then I'll be home. We'll talk every day. We'll skype. There's email, and—"
"We'll need to buy some luggage for you," Lindy interrupted, turning back to the stove. "Memorial Day is coming up. I bet they'll have some good sales."
"Or maybe you could come along," Adrian continued, as though Lindy hadn't spoken at all. "We might need a secretary or something during the assignment. I could talk to Professor Walters."
Oh sure, Adrian. In these sucky economic times, they're really gonna pay for travel, board, and salary for staff they don't need, Lindy thought bitterly to herself. She gave a good-natured chuckle and responded with a "that would be great."
Adrian kissed her hair again. "I'll be waiting at the table. Dinner smells great."
Lindy made up both their plates and walked around the corner to their dining/living room, and nearly broke the ceramic dishes when she saw their table. It was covered with white and red roses. Adrian stood by the table, his arms crossed behind him in hopeful anticipation.
She gasped. "What's this?"
He grinned. "My way of saying thanks for being so awesome these last couple months. I know I haven't been all here, but you've been taking really good care of me. So…thanks."
Lindy put the dishes on the table and took Adrian in her arms. "They're so beautiful. Thank you."
He cupped the back of her head and pulled her up to his lips for a soft kiss. "Anything for you," he whispered in her ear. Lindy closed her eyes and let all her earlier worries and doubts slip away while he nibbled at her neck.
Just then, the doorbell let out a tinny chime. Letting out a groan of annoyance, Adrian went to answer the door.
Lindy bent her head into the glorious blossoms and inhaled their fragrance. Instantly she was taken back five years earlier, when Adrian, still in his beastly form, offered to bring roses to her room every day if she wanted. It was those small, sweet gestures that made Lindy let down her guard and abandon her resentment, and really allow herself to have a relationship with him. She smiled at the memory.
"Hey!" Lindy heard Adrian call out.
"Hi! I hope I'm not interrupting," a female voice replied.
Lindy felt her heart sink as she heard the girl's familiar voice. It was Jessica, one of the other students in Adrian's major who took nearly every class with him. What's she doing here? Lindy thought in irritation.
"We were just going to have dinner. Do you want to join us?" Adrian asked.
"Oh no, sorry. I just wanted to see if you got your acceptance letter from SAME too!"
By now Adrian had led Jessica into the living room. Lindy braced herself when she saw the girl. Jessica was beautiful—achingly, breathtakingly beautiful. Long, golden blonde hair, sapphire eyes, dazzling smile, a body to kill for. She was dressed simply, yet impeccably – sign of her family's well-established wealth.
Jessica flashed her luminous smile. "Hey, Lindy. How are you?"
Lindy returned her smile with a close-lipped one of her own, suddenly feeling very self-conscious about her crooked teeth. "I'm great, Jessica. Nice to see you."
"Sorry for just barging in, but I was so excited when I got my letter that I had to come over and make sure you got yours too."
Adrian laughed. "Ah, that impatient spirit. Hopefully all those hours we're going to spend analyzing CAD designs won't get you down."
Jessica playfully nudged Adrian in the side, causing heat to form at the back of Lindy's eyes. "Well, you'll be there to keep me from snoring on the keyboard." She turned innocently to Lindy. "You must be so proud of Kyle. He's worked so hard, you know."
Lindy's jaw tightened. "Yes, I know he has. I've been here every night for the last four years watching him do it. No one knows better than me."
Adrian coughed lightly. "You sure you won't join us for dinner, Jess?" he asked, trying to change the subject.
"Oh, no, but thanks," she replied, waving him off. "You guys enjoy. I'll see you tomorrow in Lab, Kyle!"
Lindy let out a silent sigh of relief. She knew it was only polite to invite Jessica to dinner, but she didn't want to spend any more time with that girl than she had to.
The blonde beauty was nearly at the door when she stopped. "Ooh, almost forgot. You're coming to the party Saturday night, right?"
"Party?" Lindy asked with a frown.
Adrian turned to her, embarrassed. "Yeah. The engineering department is having a cocktail party for all the graduates. I was going to tell you about it at dinner."
"I wish they'd given us more notice. I barely have time to shop for a new dress!" Jessica complained, then beamed once more, making Lindy feel 2 inches tall. "Well. I'll see you both there Saturday. Bye!"
After Jessica left, Adrian shrugged sheepishly. "That's Jess for you. She gets excited about things and goes into impulse mode."
"Yes, apparently she forgot how a phone works," Lindy muttered as she set the table.
"She doesn't mean any harm," Adrian said quietly.
Lindy fumed to herself, but she knew Adrian was right. That's what made the situation so frustrating. Jessica was a good person. In spite of all the stigma against beautiful women, she was very smart and dedicated to her studies. She worked hard, never pushed her boundaries, and she'd never been rude to Lindy. Sloan Hagen she was not.
But Lindy almost wished Jessica was. She wished there was something, anything bad about her that she could make Adrian see so that the risk of losing him to this beautiful girl would be lessened. But there wasn't. Jessica was the kind of girl that could have any man she wanted. And really, she was the kind of girl that you couldn't blame your man for leaving you for.
"Lindy?" Adrian called to her gently.
Lindy looked up. "Sorry, what?"
"I asked if you had a dress for the cocktail party. If you don't, I'll help you pick out one."
What's the point? Lindy thought. I'll get all dressed up, you'll take me out, and everyone will have that look of surprise they're trying to hide when they find out that a hot guy like you is with a girl like me.
She remembered the last time when she'd accompanied Adrian to a department event – the holiday party. One of the professors thought that Jessica was his girlfriend. Lindy never forgot the look on his face when Adrian corrected him: it almost looked like disappointment. For the rest of the night all Lindy wanted to do was go home, but she had to smile, mingle, eat, look like she was having a good time. She didn't dare look sad. She didn't want Adrian to see and then have to have the conversation with him.
"I'm sure I can find something," Lindy told Adrian as pleasantly as she could.
"Well, we can always get something new for it," he suggested cheerfully. "We could go to the mall after dinner."
"No worries, I'll find something nice," Lindy insisted. A trip to the mall meant Adrian spending money – his dad's money – on her. It was bad enough that Rob Kingsbury paid for their apartment off-campus. She didn't want anything more from that man then she had to take. He still made no effort to have any part of Adrian's life, even now that he was cured. He just threw money at Adrian like a problem he hoped would go away. And when it came to Lindy…well, as far as Rob Kingsbury was concerned, Lindy was just "temporary insanity." Yes, temporary insanity that had been going on for five years. Whatever. Lindy had lived with one screwed-up man; she didn't need another one like that in her life.
Adrian accepted Lindy's assurance that she would find something to wear, that she'd have a good time, that all was well. After dinner he started filling out the mass of forms online that SAME required to be complete in order to fully register for the job. Lindy started cleaning up the kitchen, thinking about the last couple things they'd have to do for get ready for graduation.
"Awesome!" Adrian exclaimed.
Lindy ducked her head around the corner. "What?"
He grinned at her. "I just got an email from Jessica. SAME assigned us to the same housing unit!"
She cleared her throat. "That's-that's great," she told him, trying to keep a tremble out of her voice. Quickly she ducked around the corner, heading to their bedroom without bothering to finish in the kitchen.
They're going to be living in the same building. They might as well be living in the same house. They probably will.
When she got to their room, she went to the very back of it where a tall, wooden bookshelf stood. Lindy scanned the line of books on the lowest shelf, the shelf reserved for her stuff. Her finger stopped at a small, red leather bound copy of Emma. She pulled it off the shelf and sat down on the floor next to the case, flipping to the center of the book. In between these pages she found several caramel-colored, teardrop-shaped petals that were as dry and thin as the paper in the book that held them. Lindy removed one from the book and held it in the palm of her hand. As she looked at it, she thought of where the petal had come from. It was the first rose Adrian had ever given her, at a dance when she was working the ticket booth. She remembered what she had told him later, when she thought that Kyle and Adrian were two different people: that if she could have a rose from a guy like Kyle, she'd be happy for the rest of her life.
Hot, heavy tears gathered in her eyes.
"Are you sure you don't want me to stay with you?"
Lindy coughed and sniffled in response to Adrian's question. "No, hon. Go and have a good time. Tell me all about it when you get home."
Adrian stood in the doorway of their bedroom, dressed superbly in black slacks, a black button-down shirt, and silvery-white tie. His blonde hair was slicked back and glossy. It wrenched Lindy's heart to see how gorgeous he was. She sank back further into the bed, holding the covers to her face.
Lindy had started pretending she was sick since early Friday morning. She'd feigned a headache, added coughs and sneezes in for good measure, and so by the evening of the cocktail party, it was clear that she was too sick and too weak to go with Adrian.
He sighed. "I hate to leave you here."
She shook her head. "You have to. Everyone is expecting you." Especially Jessica, Lindy thought bitterly.
"All right. But I'm only staying for a little while, and then I'll be home." He walked over to her and kissed her forehead. "Good night, love."
Lindy smiled weakly. "Good night."
After Adrian had left the apartment and Lindy heard him get into his car and drive away, she threw back the covers and got out of bed, making her way to the bathroom. She ran the cold water in the sink and splashed some on her face, then got out her toothbrush and cleaned her teeth. She wasn't going to eat that night anyway. She didn't have an appetite then, and she certainly wasn't going to have one later, when Adrian came home and Lindy told him that she was letting him go.
Lindy decided that tonight would be the night. She'd start by telling him that she'd lied about being sick, and that she was sorry, but that it was necessary. He had to see that they were just too different, that it was better to break it off now, before he left for Guam. Lindy would also drop hints that she knew that there was someone else that would be better for him, someone just as beautiful and smart and came from the same background as he did. She'd make sure he knew that she loved him dearly, and that he didn't need to feel guilty for leaving her. She would understand, and she would always love him.
"Does Adrian mean so little to you?"
Lindy's head snapped up from the porcelain sick to see Kendra's beautiful, pale face staring back at her from the mirror. She gasped and whirled around quickly to see the witch standing before her, in all her otherworldly glory.
"Kendra!" Lindy whispered. She would have pinched herself if she hadn't been so paralyzed by shock. Lindy and Adrian hadn't seen the supernatural woman for well over five years, since the curse was broken and she revealed herself to be Magda, Adrian's housekeeper. The two of them had accepted after a while that they'd probably never see her again. To see her now…it was almost like meeting someone who came back from the dead.
Kendra glared at her. "Did my magic teach you nothing? You disappoint me, Lindy. I thought you had faith in love."
Lindy's eyes dropped to the ground like a child that had been scolded. "I do love Adrian. But I have to do what's best for him. If he's better off without me, then I can't stand in his way."
The witch crossed her arms. "You two are meant to be together. I wouldn't have worked so hard or made Adrian to suffer so much otherwise."
"I want to believe that so badly. But I live in the real world. And in the real world, maybe I can't give Adrian what he needs."
"And just what do you think he needs? A six-figure income? A hot trophy wife? Do you think that's all he's interested in?"
Lindy shrugged. "I don't think so. But people can change."
Kendra smiled darkly. "All right, Lindy. I'll see your wager. I'm going to give you a chance to find out for yourself if Adrian would cheat on you."
Lindy frowned. "I can't go to the cocktail party. Adrian thinks I'm sick."
"Oh, you won't be going to the cocktail party. Turn around and see for yourself."
Lindy felt her heart grow numb with horror. Slowly she turned around and to face the mirror. What she saw in the glass made her scream.
Kendra laughed warmly. "Speaking of people changing…."
