A Strange State of Affairs Ch. 16

            Elevine woke early the next morning.  Her back was sore, and she was irritable.

            The nightmare lingered in her mind.  She hadn’t slept well afterwards, and she barely remembered Fye coming home last night…

            El lay draped across the kitchen counter, back against its coolness.  Her tail dangled limply from the edge, and her eyes were closed.

            She contemplated getting up and going to Fye’s room to wake him, but her stomach suddenly rolled in a fit of nausea.  She felt terrible.

            Elevine looked dead, but her mind was exquisitely awake.  She let her mind float, sifting through her thoughts.  They lingered on the scene in her dream, of a forest and a handful of ash.  And the voice…the voice that called her name and throbbed with so much emotion…it seemed so familiar…

            Fye…, her mental voice echoed.  She thought of his face…his quiet demeanor…his caring, deep, dark eyes and the way they shone with thrill when he grew excited about something…his irrational fear of reporters…and the way he looked at her, with those sad, sad eyes…

            And then her mind turned to his date.  Immediately, she felt angry.  She felt jealous and betrayed.  And more than anything, she wished to be human.  She wanted him to see her as she really was, because…because…

            Her thoughts froze with a jolt of realization.  She…she couldn’t be…in love with him?!  She was a CAT, for crying out loud!!

            I thought I got rid of these feelings, she thought, but really, I was only hiding them inside…

            Her mental voice wailed sadly.  Elevine, eyes tightly shut, curled up into a tighter ball.  She wondered if there was any way possible to make her heart stop beating.

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            The sound of the knocker rapping gently upon the front door woke Pona.  She lifted the thick red coverlet and slipped off the bed, trying not to disturb Sherry, who had slept beside her.

            Donning a grey cardigan and wrapping her hair in a quick bun, she flew to the bathroom and quickly made herself presentable.  Then, she sped from the restroom to the front door of her airy flat.

            Vert stood outside.  His red hair was slightly mussed, and his eyes were bright.  “Hey, doll.”

            Pona smiled widely, feeling her cheeks grow hot.  Vert had always had this ability to make her blush, to make her feel self-conscious, to make her feel like the only girl in the world…

            And so they had gotten engaged after a year’s worth of courtship.  He’d proposed to her on a trip together �" they’d lived in his grandfather’s cabin up in the mountains outside the city of Revan.  He’d given her a diamond and a promise: they would be married in three months, despite her busy schedule and his strict parents.

            It was close to the end of the second month now, and a small part of Pona �" the insecure part that she always kept smothered �" had begun to panic.  Suppose he got cold feet and backed out?  Or what if his family succeeded in persuading him to leave her?  But the rational side of her knew that Vert would never do that to her.  They were meant for each other, and he’d never broken a single promise to her…

            She moved aside and let him in the house.  “Quietly,” she whispered as he tromped inside.  “Sherry’s still sleeping.”

            Vert laid a large plastic bag on the countertop of the kitchen.  He looked around the small, white flat and rested his eyes upon the bedroom door.  “Sherry?”

            Pona nodded and twisted her engagement ring around her finger.  She absentmindedly ran her fingers over the diamond.  “Apparently the date went really well.”  She smiled widely at Vert again.

            “Huh,” Vert huffed.  He went over to Pona and wrapped an arm around her waist.  “By the way, I have to talk to you about some stuff.”  He drew her toward the living room, a small section in the middle of the flat surrounded by large glass windows.

            She sat down on the sofa.  “So what’s up?”

            Vert cleared his throat and stared straight into her eyes.  “Remember how you said you wanted to have a ‘non-party’ engagement party?  Well,” he announced, “I have the solution.”  He pulled a packet of slick brochures from inside his black jacket and thrust the bundle in her face.

            “…Oaku hot springs?” Pona read.  Her face was scrunched as she read the topmost pamphlet. 

            “Yeah,” Vert stated, “and we can book rooms and vacation there for our engagement announcement!!  They’re booked for the year, but I managed to find a few slots for the next month.  It’s enough for all our friends, and we can all head up north together.  C’mon, babe, what do you think?”

            Pona was lost in thought.  Her mind indulged in a quick fantasy:  Vert and herself, shrouded in cozy white robes, sipping champagne in the moonlight on a cluster of rocks around the steaming hot spring, looking up at the moon, surrounded by willow trees and stars…

            Her eyes sparkled.  “I’ll take it.”  Vert wrapped her in another tight embrace, but she pulled away after a few seconds.  “Oh, Vert…”

            He thought she was being affectionate, but he looked at her face �" brow furrowed in thought again.  “Hmm?”

            “What about Fye?”  Her eyes were unreadable.  “He’s got another show coming up next week…I don’t think he can pull out at this moment…”

            “So we take him with us,” Vert replied.  “Besides, the Seaside Gallery is about five hours away from Oaku.  It’s about the same travel time as from here.”  His eyes glimmered.  “If you want to go, we can book the rooms now and still have time to pull together a group.”

            Pona took his hand.  “And…and I guess we could take Sherry with us, too.”

            Vert stared exasperatedly at her and began to laugh.  He leaned in quickly and gave her a quick peck on the cheek, then ran for the phone, brochures in hand.