Shout Outs: bloomofsparks7 and Darev
We Feel Like Rain
Musa stood wordlessly, facing Bloom with her hands on her hips. The red-head set her jaw – the musical fairy was blocking her view of the television. "Is something wrong?"
"I just got a text from Riven."
The sentence hung in the air like some nebulous cloudburst of awkward. Bloom arranged her features into something that resembled curiosity. "Oh. What did it say?"
"He needs an Arithmancy tutor." She wanted to smack that carefully innocent look right off her friend's face. "He has a test tomorrow and has it on your word that I'm the top of our class." There wasn't exactly hostility in Musa's words, but there was an undercurrent of resentment in her tone that made the fire fairy wary.
"Well, you are the top of our class," Bloom replied carefully.
"Why did you tell him that?" the blue-haired girl demanded.
"I didn't know it was a secret."
The blood hummed in Bloom's veins. Their voices were polite – cordial, but tight. It felt too much like a fight; the haze of tension between the two friends was painful. "He asked if I could tutor him, but Sky and I are celebrating our four-month anniversary tonight. So I recommended you. I hope that's okay?" (Bloom's faked sincerity seemed to do the trick.)
"No, no, it's fine," Musa sighed. The note of resentment in her voice was replaced by apprehension. "It just took me by surprise, is all. You and Sky have been together four months? Congratulations."
"Thanks."
There was a long pause.
"He really does need a tutor, you know," Bloom said finally.
Musa looked like she would rather skin a live dragon. "Fine, fine, I'll call him back," she huffed, stalking back to her dorm.
Bloom curled up on the couch like a cat and snuggled deep inside a fleece throw blanket. Even if he was the last person she wanted to see, she wished she really did have plans with Sky. Anything was better than being alone in the dorm that night.
The heavens opened up, and sheets of rain hit the puddles in the ground with violent smacking sounds. Umbrellas held by those few unlucky people caught in the rain turned inside-out in the wind and became useless, flapping vinyl leaves in the storm.
The Starlight Café was a warm, cozy haven from the weather. Riven warmed his fingers around a steaming black coffee with a shot of espresso. He was sitting on a loveseat beside a stone fireplace. The roaring fire coaxed away the damp chill of the storm from his bones. He still shivered, but it was from nerves, not the cold.
Once again, Riven was the only unpaired patron of the Café, but not for long.
Musa shrugged off her jacket in the doorway and hung it on a peg. She spotted Riven by the fire and hesitated noticeably, but joined him on the sofa a moment later. "Hi," she said quietly, not quite looking him in the eye.
He magenta-haired specialist carefully pushed an overflowing ceramic coffee mug and saucer toward her. "Consider this my thank you," he said gruffly. "White hot chocolate with raspberry. I wasn't sure what you liked, so I took a shot in the dark. I hope it's good." I hope she's as nervous as I am, he thought.
Musa took a sip. It was warm and sweet, chocolate and fruity. She loved it. "It's good. Thanks. So, uh…Arithmancy test, that's why we're here, right?"
More or less… "Yeah. Tell me that you understand integration by parts?" He would need the lesson to steel his nerves – his fingers were still trembling. He blamed the cold when Musa noticed how his pencil quivered.
"You know what you have to do, you just can't rush into it, you know?" You can do the calculus, but it won't mean a thing if you do the algebra wrong." The fairy was interrupted by the sound of charms from her pocket. "One sec, I gotta take this. Hey, Sky, what's up?" she asked, putting the cell phone to her ear.
"Isn't she with you?...She told me you guys were going out tonight for your four-month…Well, I have no idea why she wouldn't answer." A curiously out-of-place flicker of relief showed across her face. "I'll go back to the dorm right now and see if she's there. I'll call you back."
Riven admired the milk-white cirve of her neck, sloping gently down to rounded shoulders. Her face in profile was beautiful, with her upturned nose and almond-shaped eyes. The corner of her mouth sagged downward, and he found himself rapidly brainstorming ideas to turn it around.
Musa was on her feet before she clicked her phone off. "We're done here, right? Bloom lied about her plans tonight and isn't answering her cell. I need to get back to the dorm to see if she's there and if she's okay." She donned her coat as she spoke and was out the door without so much as a goodbye.
Riven felt blindsided – daydreaming about Musa's smile, he had missed the whole conversation. He jumped to his feet, abandoning his belongings on the coffee table to race after the blue-haired fairy.
"Musa! Wait!" he shouted over the noise of the rain.
She turned around, blinking away the water streaming into her eyes. "Riven, what do you want?"
"I want to talk to you! I thought you came because you wanted to talk to me, too!"
"I came because you needed an Arithmancy tutor!"
They were face-to-face, already drenched, shouting to make themselves heard. Riven cast around quickly and dragged Musa beneath the awning of a small pastry shop, out of the rain. She reflexively pulled her hands out of his grasp.
"Bloom didn't talk to you, did she?"
"Talk to me about what?" she demanded, exasperated.
A pause. "About…me."
Her patience was wearing thin. "What about you?"
He pressed his palms together, exhaled deeply. "God, Muse, are you blind? I think I might really like you!"
She crossed her arms, defensive. Her eyes were hard. "Darcy's still in your head, Riv."
"No. No. I'm still going batshit but she's not the one in my head anymore. I worry about you, I think about you. I wonder what you do and what you say. It's you."
"Yeah, well, whatever scam you're trying to sell, I'm not buying. I'll see you around." She turned away.
All he knew was that he wouldn't let her go. He grabbed her arm and spun her back around, their eyes locking for the first time that night. Musa blushed scarlet, and fiercely pushed him away. "You know what? You had your chance. You chose a witch instead, and look what happened – she broke your heart, what a surprise! Deal with it."
"Shut—"
Musa just cut across him. "Now I'm going to leave, and if you grab me again, I'm calling the cops."
They were on Main Street – it wasn't like he could block her path, and this whirlwind romance wasn't exactly worth an assault and battery charge. So he just watched her walk away.
He decided she wasn't worth a vandalism charge, either, and so resisted the urge to smash the ceramic coffee mug and the table she left it on. He threw his Arithmancy book into the fireplace and didn't leave the barista a tip and walked his levabike back to Red Fountain in the rain.
To be continued…
