When Jessica looked back at her, Ava's tongue darted out to wet her lips. "Are you asking me to be your girlfriend?"
Jessica bit her lip and nodded. She felt ridiculous, like she was back in high school, except she wanted it to work out this time. "Yes."
"Are you serious?" Ava asked. Her tone confused Jessica.
She froze and stared at Ava. After all that rambling, she'd expected more joy and happiness. At least a smile and not…this.
Ava quickly jumped up to stand in front of Jessica as if she were expecting her to run away. "No! Wait! That came out completely wrong! I meant it in the way you say 'do you seriously have to ask me that because of course I want to be your girlfriend' not in the 'wow, that's a ludicrous assumption to make' kind of way. God, why do we even have sentences like that? Misinterpretations like that can ruin relationships, so why do we even—"
Jessica hadn't realized she'd been holding her breath, but now it left her in a rush as relief flooded through her. "What you're saying is…?"
Ava took a deep breath. "I'd love to be your girlfriend. If you still want me, that is. Because wow, this was…" She wrinkled her nose.
Jessica felt a smile spread over her face as she pushed off the bench and came to a stand in front of Ava. Nervous energy still wafted off her despite Jessica's words, and when Jessica reached to entangle their fingers, she could feel her own stomach flutter.
"Can I walk you home?" she asked, her voice low.
Ava looked up from their hands to meet her gaze. Her nod was barely noticeable.
Jessica's lips tugged up in a smile. "Okay. Let's go."
CHAPTER SIX
Zyan
Zyan sat on his small balcony, his feet pulled up onto the uncomfortable plastic chair as he watched the small creatures flutter around him and whiz through the air in indiscernible patterns. Every now and again, one would land on one of his plants to rest.
It was a nice way to start the day. Outside the confines of his balcony, he rarely connected with this part of himself. This magic within him, that had melted into his very being, was a constant reminder of the love Carter had once felt for him. And maybe still did…
No, now wasn't the time to think of that. He wasn't sure there'd ever be one.
Instead, he thought back to the stories Carter had told him. About his mother and grandmother. Stories Carter had been told when he'd been a child.
All that Zyan knew about the origin of their abilities and immortality was second-hand knowledge Carter had passed on.
Lailani, like all children, was capable of seeing the spirit realm, yet she was no normal child. She bore a gift that allowed her to keep this ability even as she grew older.
As she grew older, she wondered whether it was a result of her friendship with the spirits that lived in the forest behind her house. She'd heard stories about them growing up and had been fascinated by the powers they wielded and the way adults described them. One of them, they said, was the Diwata: a nature spirit often sighted on their island. And one of those Diwatas lived in the large balete tree behind Lailani's house.
She was pale and beautiful, and would always listen to Lailani's stories about her family and the dreams she'd had that night. But when Lailani told her mother about it, her mother warned her of the wrath the spirit could bring upon them all. She said the Diwatas were vengeful when mistreated or disrespected, but Lailani wouldn't listen. She knew more than just stories. She'd spent enough time with the Diwata and trusted her.
Every day, Lailani would go outside and watch the Diwata work her magic on the trees and flowers and crops as the lambana surrounded her to do her bidding and help nurture the trees. They looked far different from her: their skin wasn't as white and smooth, and they were far smaller. But just like her, they never spoke to Lailani or even acknowledge her presence as they worked. Despite it, Lailani still felt like she was special for being allowed to watch.
To show her gratitude, Lailani watered smaller struggling plants and scared off other children that meant to carve into bark or break off branches from the larger trees. Some days, Lailani would bring food with her and give it to the spirit as a small offering, which she always accepted with grace.
By the time Lailani had grown into a young woman, her parents had fallen sick. She nursed them for months before they died. Together with her siblings, she continued the work of her parents and maintained the house and gardens. And after she got married, her husband joined them, though it wasn't long before her siblings moved out to live with their own spouses.
A few months passed before she became pregnant and later gave birth to a little girl. She was healthy and strong and everything seemed perfect, though only for a mere two years. Then Lailani became pregnant with another child, and this childbirth wasn't meant to pass as smoothly. Her baby was suffocated by its own umbilical cord; its tiny body turned dark red and blue.
Lailani couldn't bear it and went outside with her dead baby cradled in her arms. She fell to her knees and begged the Diwata to help her. She knew the spirit was capable of casting blessings and answering prayers to the ones she deemed worthy. Surely, with their shared history, Lailani had proven herself.
Usually, she wasn't one to ask for miracles, but in her despair, she silenced the voice in the back of her head and asked for her child to be saved. The Diwata must have seen her deserving, for she and the lambana took the small body and lifted it into the air. Warmth washed over Lailani as a gentle wind picked up and shook the leaves. Several rained down and settled in Lailani's hair, but she was too overwhelmed by grief and hope to pay them any attention.
Less than a minute passed before the baby began to twitch and wail, as it should have done right after birth. The infant was picked out of the air by the Diwata and placed back into Lailani's arms, where it continued to cry as its skin finally turned to a healthy brown.
With happy tears streaming down her face, Lailani looked up to thank her old friend, but found that the spirit was gone. She looked around in search of her, but only for a few seconds, before her husband called for her with their first daughter in his arms. One last worried and grateful glance at the trees was cast by Lailani before she uttered a silent 'thank you' and returned to her family.
She taught her family to give generous offerings to the Diwata every day at sunset to show their never-ending gratitude, a tradition that was passed on to their daughters. Within hours of them placing the offerings beneath the balete, they'd disappear, and though Lailani never saw the Diwata again, she'd still catch sight of the little fluttering wings of a lambana on its way to do her bidding.
As time went on, their younger daughter started to develop powers similar to the Diwata, and the older she got, the more powerful she seemed to become. It worried Lailani. She felt forced to keep her daughter inside, where they could try to find a way to teach her to gain control over her abilities.
Lailani used her memories of the spirit as a guide as she sat down with her daughter and taught her to let plants grow and bloom at will, instead of causing it to happen by merely walking past them. The child viewed it as a game, and thankfully learned fast and with much joy.
For years, Lailani feared her daughter's powers would grow to be as great as the Diwata's, but with time, she realized her child would never be able to cast a curse or answer a prayer, and for that, she was grateful—no human should ever be able to wield such power.
Eventually, Lailani and her husband found their demise, and the girls grew into women. The older daughter continued to age and wrinkle as a human should, but the youngest remained just that—young.
It confused and concerned her, but as she thought back to the stories her mother had told her, she understood the spirit's blessing had changed her more than they'd previously thought. She continued to visit the balete tree every evening, and settled down to pray and ask for guidance and advice, though she was unsure whether she was in a position to do so after everything the Diwata had already done for her.
; Eventually, people grew suspicious of her, and she was forced to leave and start anew somewhere else. She soon found a place to settle down and married a man she'd fallen in love with. The fight against her own heart had been long, but in the end, she acted against her better judgment and accepted his proposal.
Not long into their marriage, she became pregnant and gave birth to a healthy baby boy. He grew older under the watchful eyes of his mother, who was soon forced to accept her child had inherited part of her gift, which forced her to reveal her past to her husband.
Though before she could even finish her story, he had already picked up their son, shoved him into her arms, and chased them from the house under the threat of killing them both if he ever laid eyes on them again.
With only his mother, the boy grew up locked inside a small cabin, where he learned to control his powers under watchful eyes. He hated it. He hated his mother for doing it to him, and he hated that he only got to go outside after the sun had set. And even then, merely to give offerings to a spirit that was the reason for his misery.
As he grew older, his resentment dissipated when he realized his childhood had been that way for good reason. Their lives had been at stake, and this had been the only way to ensure their safety.
When he was of age, they started traveling together. And as the years passed, they realized neither of them would ever fall sick, no matter what epidemic spread across the country they resided in. They experimented with their powers to explore their extent and found they could use them to heal wounds and disease, though it was draining, and left them vulnerable, like the mortals, for days.
Decades would pass before Zyan stepped into the picture, and Carter didn't like to talk about the years between his childhood and then, no matter how much Zyan pressed for it.
There'd been some vulnerable moments where Zyan had gotten bits and pieces out of his then-husband, and they mostly reflected a time of loneliness and uncertainty, where he'd tried to figure out what to do with the infinity to come.
He'd loved before Zyan, had had relationships filled with love and lust and passion, but in his words, none of them compared to what he and Zyan had shared. And Zyan believed him.
But all that was before Aaron…
No. This was definitely not the time to think about that. He let the pain wash over him for a second before he shut the feeling out and pushed it aside to focus on something more productive.
*~*~*
Zyan was reading peacefully on his couch when a forceful banging at his door made him jump.
He carelessly threw the book on the coffee table as he got to his feet and hurried toward the front door under the assumption that it was an emergency.
It wasn't.
It was Ava, forestalling any comment with her nervous and excited babbling. "How do I look? Do I look good? I've gotta look good! Jess is introducing me to her best friend today, you know, and I wanna make a good impression because who knows? Maybe it's a deal-breaker for her when he doesn't like her girlfriends. I mean, I sure do think highly of your opinion, and I'd probably reconsider if you didn't like my girlfriend. Oh, shit, maybe I should introduce you to Jess. Do you think I should do that? I could bring her over next week, if you'd like!"
Zyan's mouth was still open from when he'd been trying to greet her, but now he wasn't sure what to say. He stared at Ava with slightly parted lips and blinked repeatedly as his brain tried to follow her train of thought.
"Uh…" He tried to track back to the reason she'd come over in the first place. He gave her a quick once-over and noticed she was wearing a jacket he'd never seen before. "You look…nice. I like the jacket."
A smile broke out on Ava's face. "Really? I just bought it yesterday because Jess said green brings out my eyes."
Zyan frowned. "You shouldn't just buy clothes because you think that Jessica person might like them."
Ava waved the comment aside. "I didn't just buy it for her. I like the useless zippers on the sleeves."
"That's…good."
Ava grinned again. "What do you say? Do I look like I'd make a great first impression?"
"You look gorgeous," Zyan said honestly. "Now go and get your woman…and said woman's best friend, I suppose."
Ava surged forward to pull Zyan into a hug. Her face pressed against his shoulder as her arms tightened around him.
Zyan was caught off-guard but returned the embrace.
She was shaking a little—most likely with nerves. He couldn't help but feel a pang of envy in his chest. He couldn't even remember the last time he'd felt like that. But he was still happy for Ava. She deserved someone who could make her giddy —especially after the disaster that was the end of her last relationship. He pressed a kiss into Ava's hair before he gently dislodged her hold, with his hands still on her shoulders as he kept her at arms-length.
Ava's grin was still as wide and excited as ever. "Wish me good luck?"
Zyan smiled at her as a surge of warmth rushed through him. "You don't need it. You've got this." He dropped his hands and grabbed hold of his door. "Now go, or you'll be late! And call me if you need me!"
Ava bounced lightly on her toes before she turned and headed for the stairs. "Love you!" she called over her shoulder when she was already halfway down the first set of stairs.
"Love you too!"
Zyan waited until he heard the front door fall shut before he closed his own door.
As much as he liked to pretend he didn't care about mortals, he couldn't deny how much he cared for Ava. He'd tried shutting her out and had remained closed off for as long as he could, but her openness and tendency to bare her heart to anyone even remotely nice to her had woken his protective instincts. He worried about her—constantly. He wanted her to be happy and find somebody who wouldn't abandon her because they felt like she was 'too clingy,' as her ex-girlfriend had put it.
Ava was a woman with a heart of gold. She was quick to love, but she was also loyal beyond belief. She'd sacrifice her own happiness for her siblings and friends, so the least the universe could do for her was give her somebody who'd do the same for her.
Zyan just hoped this Jessica would be that person.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Jessica
Jessica lounged on the couch with Carter in her apartment after she'd finally managed to talk him into setting his work aside. Something that'd been happening more and more frequently. It worried Jessica, how much he'd begun to bury himself in his work. It wasn't unusual for him to spend time alone by a long stretch, but it was starting to get out of hand. Normally, he'd gladly pay her a visit or invite her over if she suggested it, but these days he didn't even want to take a break.
Jessica wondered if this was what Carter looked like when he was lovesick, or if that was even a possibility after all this time.
She pushed the thought aside to focus on the reason she'd talked him into coming over in the first place, which led her to think about Ava.
Ava, whom she'd kissed for the first time two days ago.
It'd been a long time coming, really. They'd been talking back and forth for the last week, since their relationship had officially begun, and had met up three times, but only ever for a few minutes during their lunch breaks. It wasn't enough time to figure out how comfortable they each were with PDA, so they'd stuck to hugs and brushing hands and shoulders.
That was, until three days ago, when Ava had invited Jessica into her apartment after their extended walk home from Ava's workplace.
Jessica had been able to tell how nervous Ava was and had, of course, accepted the invitation.
They'd lounged on the sofa, talked and laughed as they'd sipped on the hot chocolate Ava had prepared for them like the adorable human being she was.
Neither had paid attention to the time, which had left them shocked when Jessica's phone beeped to warn about its low-running battery. She'd looked at the screen and gaped at 2 a.m. staring back at her. They'd been together for almost nine full hours, just filled with talking
and goofing around.
But then, they had been forced to admit it was time to get some sleep.
Jessica had started to get ready to leave, but Ava had protested. "Come on, Jessie, you live half an hour away and you're here on foot. I can't let you walk around out there this late."
"So, what're you suggesting?" Jessica had asked, smirk creeping up her cheeks, though she wasn't usually one to make assumptions.
"Uh, I, of course," Ava had stuttered. "Of course, I mean, you'd be sleeping in my bed, but…not with me in it, of course."
"Of course," Jessica had echoed, smirk now firmly in place.
"Because I'd be on the couch," Ava had added.
"Of course," Jessica had repeated as she'd waited for Ava to go on. But when the silence lingered, Jessica had spoken up again. "Yeah, that's not gonna happen."
"W-What?"
Jessica had rolled her eyes. "We'll share."
"The couch?"
"The bed, dumb-dumb," Jessica had teased. "We're both adults—and responsible ones at that. We can share a bed without it getting awkward. Right?"
Ava had nodded, though she'd looked a little nervous. "Yeah…sure."
Despite their initial tenseness, they'd both relaxed into the mattress within the first few minutes. They'd exchanged hushed words that'd become fewer and farther apart until they both drifted off into sleep, faces mere inches apart, but not even their hands touching.
The next day, they'd both needed to get up early for their shifts. They rushed through their morning routines and stormed down the stairs and out the building—before they'd skidded to a stop right outside the door. Frozen in place, they'd faced each other and breathed a little heavier from the sprint down the stairwell.
"Um…I had a really nice time yesterday…and today," Jessica had said.
Ava had smiled at her, nervous, as she swayed lightly on her toes. "Me too."
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