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The inevitable happens, as it always do when they mix: Temporarily and purposefully, Melinda forgets her boyfriend and Raven forgets her lovesick brother. Every kiss is naïve and innocent in practice, but not in theory.
Outside, the polar lights fill the sky.
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The teens settle into the cheaply made chairs at one of the library’s tables. “How long has this been going on?” Bjorn asks.
“A few weeks,” she responds.
“Since before you knew about how I felt about her?” He knows the answer.
Raven looks down at her hands. “No. After that.” Bjorn inhales and closes his eyes. “I didn’t mean for it to happen, okay? I mean, I hoped but I wasn’t intending to steal her or anything. Fuck, I worded that poorly. She’s not a thing to be stolen. Goddamnit, you know what I mean.”
“I do,” he nods, his eyes still closed.
“I’m sorry.”
He opens his eyes. “Why? If she likes you, she likes you. No way I could control that.” He punctuates his sentence with a smile—forced and overdrawn, but a smile nonetheless.
“Are you serious?”
“Of course. It was just a crush, Raven. Nothing serious. If she’s into you, I never had a chance. There’s no point in dwelling on it.”
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"So you’re special,” Melinda smiles. “Though I already knew that.”
“Seems that way,” Raven beams. “But that’s sort of the problem. Remember our promise about you and Bruno?”
“The one you almost broke today?”
“Well, yes—that’s not the point. The point is, my dad is equally likely to kill me for telling you about this as your dad is to kill you about dating me.”
Melinda wrinkles her nose. “We might not have the best fathers.”
“He’s just looking out for me,” Raven snaps. “Simnation hasn’t had the best track record with non-humans. So keeping this a secret is, you know, kind of crucial”
“I didn’t think we had any track record with, um, non-humans. Sorry. I didn’t mean to be so blasé. I won’t tell anyone, promise.”
“Thank you,” Raven exhales.
“I was thinking, by the way,” Melinda kicks at the ground, “about that promise. Maybe it isn’t such a huge deal if Bruno or my dad find out.”
“What do you mean?”
“I broke up with him,” she says. “Right before coming over. It just dawned on me—nothing about him makes me happy, and he was such a wimp about it all.”
“You broke up with him because he has a glass jaw?”
“No,” Melinda laughs, “I broke up with him because he’s—he’s dull. Flat. Just nothing. You’re so bright, and even when you punched him, he didn’t capture any of that light.”
“That’s one way to put it, I guess.”
“Hey, can you fly?”
Raven rolls her eyes. “Barely. It’s a little unfair, actually.”
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The night grows darker and colder, and at 10:50 PM a beep interrupts them. Raven pulls her phone out of her pocket. “My dad,” she frowns. “I gotta get home.”
“I should go, too,” Melinda says as she grabs Raven’s hands. “Thank you.”
“For?”
Raven doesn’t get her answer.
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“I’m never nice. Just honest.”
“Then tell me something honest.”
“You look better without makeup.”
Melinda scoffs.
“I’m serious! But, I mean, that’s not like to shame you or whatever.”
“Shame me?”
“That’s not what I mean. I’m saying I know that you wear makeup for you and not for me and that’s your choice and—”
“You’re adorable when you’re flustered.”
“Flustered?” Raven sits up.
“Really? That’s the adjective you decided to focus on?”
Raven smirks. “Well I know I’m adorable. I object to being described as anything other than steely, though.”
“Sure,” Melinda rolls her eyes. “Either way, you’re adorable.”
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She doesn’t, however, have enough sense to keep her fists to herself. She swings wide and hard, her fist colliding with Bruno’s left eye. He grunts and reels back, barely catching himself from falling to the ground. It doesn’t make her feel any better. Melinda gasps, and a nearby voice shouts, “Yeah! Hit ‘em again!”
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The sun sets on Aurora Skies, and Raven worries from her perch in the fort.
She had expected an immediate response from Melinda, acknowledgment that her devotion is endearing and not concerning. But it takes nearly an hour for the girl to respond, reluctantly agreeing to meet Raven at the playground. By then, the sun has dipped below the coastline, and the moon has risen over the mountain.
“Aren’t you cute,” Melinda’s voice barely carries to the fort. “You playing make-believe up there?”
“Thanks for coming,” Raven calls down.
“I almost didn’t.”
“What made you change your mind?”
Melinda cocks her head. “I had to find out.”
“Find out what?”
“What you are,” she says. Raven smiles but doesn’t answer, so Melinda continues. “It hit me, when you did whatever that was to Albert: you’re not human, and I can’t believe I never noticed.”
“I can’t either,” she says before sliding down the play fort’s pole to the ground.
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Before she can pull out her phone, Bjorn throws his arms around her.
“What’s this?” She laughs.
“I love you, sis. I hope you know that.”
“I love you, too,” she pats his back. “Um, thanks for not being mad.”
He pulls away and gives her a sheepish look. “Well. This makes for a cute story, right? We both have a crush on the same girl, and she’s not really,” he hesitates, “well. Like I said, it’ll be cute.”
“Maybe,” Raven says. She slides her phone out of her pocket.
“You're really going to text her?”
Her eyes flutter up from the screen. “You called it a cute story, right?”
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