I asked her to marry me because I was scared I was going to lose her. Billiards got big in the town we were in the 1950's and she was in love with it. It was good for her in one way, she'd found a hobby in a time when she'd been bored to tears. We left the south in the 1950's and moved to California. During the day, we couldn't be out with her, so she'd wander the town. She'd go straight into the pool halls and that's where I'd find her at sundown. She'd be watching them, studying it, staring at them and trying to solve how they could get the balls to do exactly what they asked them to without magic. She was fascinated by it. Intrigued. So, as a present, her father hired her a demon to teach her how to play pool. He considered hiring a human but thought demons would be better suited to the way she threw fits. I watched her get ready for her first lesson.
"Must I wear the pink one? Can't I wear the black one?" She was twirling around, looking at herself in the mirror in our bedroom. Her blonde hair was piled atop her head and tied with a neat little ribbon. Her white shirt was carefully ironed, her skirt was flowing and just below her knees, and her lips were painted with the bubblegum pink lipstick I hated. One of the worst things about changing styles was that she always wanted to try them. I would have preferred her in the fashion of her people. Togas.
"No, bunny. The black one is too tight. Your knife is fairly obvious when you wear the black one. Plus, you're going to a billiards lesson. Not out dancing with me." I was laying on the bed, flipping through a Better Homes and Gardens magazine and contemplating the huge article about marital bliss due to fantastic housewives.
"Are we going out dancing though?" She twirled around and the skirt twisted around her knees and I thought of the blonde actress everybody was mooning over at the time.
"Yep. Sunset, on the dot. I'll meet you at the dance hall. And don't be late this time, bunny. It's irritating to be there without you. The girls of this generation are pointy and giggly. It's like being in a room with toddlers with tits."
She snorted and climbed onto the bed to straddle me. I tossed the magazine aside and informed her, "You're not going to start this because you're not going to want to be late, princess. You don't like to stay at home with me anymore."
"Oh, are you jealous?" she pretend pouted.
"Of course I'm not jealous. You're my woman and everybody in this damn world should know that."
"Possessive much, sweetheart?"
"Very. At least I don't mark you like the other men of this era mark their women."
"Yes, you're an old fashioned demon. Why don't you come with me, sweetheart?"
"Because it's daylight outside and I don't quite feel like bringing my umbrella out today. It's nothing, princess. I know you need a hobby. I'm glad you have one."
"Okay. I'll see you at the dance hall. Sunset, sharp."
She wasn't at the dance hall at sunset. Or an hour after sunset. After the third giggly blonde bitch danced around me, I decided to leave before I had myself a snack. I walked to the pool hall and found her in the worst position I'd ever found her before. She was bent over the pool table with a tall, blonde vamp stretched over her body, his arm bracing against the table and his other arm bent around her to grasp the stick. Every inch of her body was covered by an inch of his and I could smell the alcohol on her. I growled, "What the fuck do you think you are doing, Fawn?"
The vamp let go of her and stepped back. He said quickly, "You should calm down. She is here on her own and has been for a while."
"And what the fuck do you think you are doing with my woman?" I stalked across the floor in smooth strides and went toe to toe with him.
"Look, she wasn't exactly fighting me off, square. So I'd talk to her about it before I came over here swinging on me."
"She's none of your business. I'd clear out of here if I were you. I'm her royal guard, and even if the princess doesn't mind you touching her, her father, Bantheazar, will have you strung up and tortured for the mere thought of your hands on her body."
"You seem like a lot more than her royal guard. Does Bantheazar string up her guards for daring to lay their hands on her body? Or are they allowed to pass her around like a whore?"
"That was a bad idea." I didn't have to do anything. I just stood as Fawn snatched the pool stick off the table and broke it in half over her knee. She staked him through the heart clumsily, barely getting it in his heart. She looked over at me and sighed deeply before saying, "He was teaching me how to do a trick shot, James."
"He had his hands on your body, Fawn."
"So he could adjust my frame. Come on, Jamesy. We're going home." The mortals watched in awe as she dropped the broken pool stick in the pile of ash and stepped over it daintily. As soon as we made it outside, I started in on her again.
"Fawn, you were supposed to meet me at the dance hall an hour and a half ago."
"And I got caught up playing pool. I thought the game would end sooner and I kind of lost track of the time."
"Bullshit, Fawn. You can read decisions. You had to know that playing pool with that demon would be a bad decision. You did it anyway. You're more addicted to this game than you were to alcohol."
"Oh, great. We have to bring the alcohol back into it! Does that mean I get to bring up your past poor decisions as well? Is that what we're doing right now?"
"Go ahead, Fawn. Go ahead and discuss them. I left you one time. I made a mistake. You've been constantly doing this to me lately. You're losing interest in me. I'm just another one of your pets. I just managed to last a little longer."
She spun around on the dark street and jabbed her finger into my chest. She sneered, "You are not a pet to me, James. Forgive me for not wanting to spend my eternal life sitting at home with you or out in some dance hall with those squares. I want to be out experiencing this new decade. The sin, the fun, the drinking. Some of these people have no idea what rests in their lives in the next few years. And I get to see it all!"
"Stop shutting me out then! Let me see it with you! But good god, stay out of the fucking pool halls without me. I can't go to those places until dark. So until dark go somewhere that isn't going to get you groped by strangers!"
"If you're going to boss me around so much, why don't you just marry me so you can legally tell me what to do in this fucking century?"
"What is going on with you? This can't just be about you wanting to experience the dark side of this century. What is going on?" I grabbed her shoulders to stop her from poking me in the chest and she went limp in my arms. "What do you need?"
"I need to be human! For just a few years. I miss going out in the daylight. I miss talking with people. I hear all this stupid talk about getting married and having babies and you're always reading those stupid magazines that are all about babies and getting married and I want that! I want the house with the blue shutters and the white picket fence and I want us to mow the yard and drink lemonade and do all that stupid shit!"
I was shocked. Taken aback. In all the years I'd known her, she always seemed more than human. More than any living being. She was greater. Far greater. But, at that moment, she was a tiny human woman, set adrift in a world of immortals, not taught how to handle it. Only taught that she had to. She never had the chance to be a human woman, because she was always so busy being the Chosen One. I pulled her into my arms and asked, "Bunny, I can't build a picket fence or mow the lawn in the daytime, but we can do it all at night and pretend it's the day. I'll drink all the fucking lemonade you want to drink. Let's get married."
"You can't marry me just because I'm upset," she hiccupped. "Marriage is forever."
"And you think I don't want to spend forever with you, princess? Gaining a soul wasn't enough proof of that? Marriage is just another way of forever. Let's get married. Buy a house. Get a couple kids. The whole shebang."
"We don't even have a ring," she protested but her voice was less of a sob and much more calm.
"I'll ask your father for permission tomorrow and then I'll get a ring. You just need to start planning. And no more being wild in the pool hall without your fiancé. Okay, princess?"
"Okay. But we're still going to play pool, right?"
"Of course."
"Okay, sweetheart. Let's go home for the night and start planning."
She was happy. I dug through the treasure trove of jewelry her father possessed and found a ring for her and she planned her little heart out for the wedding.