Tally leaped gracefully down on the ground. Thanks to her Special hearing, she could still hear the low, droning buzz of conversations and hovercams from the Thousand Faces party. She had gone for a little while, but people in general weren't really her thing, and she certainly wasn't one for big parties like this one. She had stayed for a bit, though, for her friends' sake if anything. And now she was finally getting away.
"David!" she called softly. No one responded. Not daring to be too loud, but still wanting him to hear, she cupped her hands around her mouth and said again, "David!"
He landed beside her, grinning that smile that brought up bittersweetly nostalgic memories from when they had first known each other, when Tally was an ugly living in the original Smoke and hadn't had one cut of surge. She smiled back, rather sadly, as they both remembered those days when everything had been both better and much worse: for them, their relationship, even the world.
David leaned close to her and whispered, "So you had to get away too, huh? I thought you were the city kid between the two of us."
Tally laughed softly, smiling again, and tentatively slid her arm through his, linking them at the elbow. David looked at her with some surprise, and Tally forced herself to keep looking, to not duck away as she so desperately wanted to. But David smiled as well, and looked ahead at the sprawling expanse of gardens and nature at the edge of the city. He looked at her with one eyebrow raised. "Shall we?"
"Sure," Tally whispered. Still elbow linked, the two of them started off into the velvet black darkness, leaving the people and the city behind.
For a while they just walked, not needing to say anything. But after several minutes, David turned to look at her, gently pulling his arm from hers. "Tally?" he said.
"Yes?"
David bit his lip, hesitating. "About - about us... what about Zane?" His voice dropped to a whisper on the last word.
Hearing her old boyfriend's name still sent a dart of pain shooting through her, but it was dulled, not the same razor-sharp edge of pain from right after when Zane had died. Tally shrugged. "Zane... he was my past, and partly my present. But, David..." She trailed off uncertainly.
He reached forward in one smooth motion and gently took her hand. He prompted quietly, "But what, Tally?"
For the second time since she had turned special, Tally felt tears pricking at the back of her eyes. She swallowed hard and said, "But... he doesn't have to be my future. There's someone...else...whom I would like for that."
David's eyes sparkled mischievously as the two of them began walking again. "Lucky him," he said, and Tally could hear the smile in his voice. "Lucky him."