Page 155 of Scars Like Wings

I love you, Quinn.

I love you, Quinn.

I love you, Quinn.

Could I just become a mute and never have to talk again so I could avoid ruining this?

Soon, live music floated on the night air. We followed the noise and came upon a band playing with a large coffee tin out to capture their tips. It was three men, with one playing on a large steel drum, another playing a smaller bongo drum between his legs, and the lead singing while shaking a large singular maraca-style instrument. The sounds were melodic and beautiful as they played an old Motown song that I didn’t recognize immediately, but I knew was something my parents had listened to. We stood there for a second, listening to the band play out their song. I wrapped an arm around Quinn’s waist, and she wrapped an arm around my shoulders while we listened. When they finished, we along with a few other couples and folks clapped. They nodded in appreciation.

The band paused for a second to catch their breath before they started another song. This one, I knew immediately, and I wasn’t the only one.

“Is this Luther Vandross?” Quinn asked.

“What do you know about Luther?” I raised my eyebrows.

Quinn chuckled before she took my hand in hers for us to dance. We were in perfect sync, even though we were both drunk. We never stepped on each other’s toes or went offbeat. Instead, I knew when she was going to spin and dip me. Her hands never left me, whether they were resting on my hips, lower back when she dipped me, or in my hands. We gripped each other tight as if we were afraid to let each other go. The moonlight was our spotlight, its beams bathing us and blessing us like a caress. I didn’t know if we had an audience or not. I didn’t even know when “Never Too Much” became something else and when that changed to the next and so on. I also didn’t care. Quinn was my everything in this moment. When we leaned in to kiss between dancing, it was more laughter between us than actual kissing. It was just like the first time we had met at the party.

We were breathing heavily and intertwined in each other when Quinn’s phone buzzed in her pocket and mine vibrated in my purse. Still holding on to each other, we checked our phones at the same time. Simone had texted the group chat between everyone to say that they were thinking of going club-hopping after the thirteen courses finished. They were on the tenth one right now.

“What do you think, baby girl?”

“Hmm, a bunch of sweaty strangers, too loud music, and bad drinks? Or going back to the house with you, seeing what desserts we can make in the kitchen, and cuddling while watching a movie on the one-hundred-inch TV? Whatever will I choose?” I put my finger on my chin as if I was really thinking over the options.

Quinn beamed, and I swore it was like the sun in the night with how bright it was. My heart squeezed with affection.Gods, I loved her so much.

After Quinn tipped the band handsomely, we made our way back. Walking past the restaurant, we had to take another path different from the one the driver had taken to stay on the sidewalk. Eventually, we came upon a post with signs pointing in different directions to other areas of the island. One sign in particular caught my attention, reading “Lavender Beach.” In all my years of coming to the island, we had never walked down this way for me to see this. I pulled Quinn to a stop using our held hands.

“Can we go? Pretty please?” I begged as I pointed and bounced on my heels in excitement.

“You are so fucking adorable.” Quinn laughed. “Of course, sweetness.”

I squealed and led her where the sign pointed. The sidewalk diverged and ended in a wooden stairway and railing. It was covered by an archway made of verdant palm trees and fernleaves. It was dark, but there was something fantastical about seeing the dazzling stars through so much plant life. It was intimate, too, with its close quarters.

The last stair and exit revealed the pink sands of the beach ahead. Quinn stepped down, took off her Oxford shoes and socks, and rolled up her pants legs to mid-calf. Then, she bent and took off my heels for me. Her hands lingered longer than they should on my ankles, feet, and toes. It was so affectionate and sweet, my heart skipped a beat. She kissed my shins before setting our shoes near the stair side-by-side. She held out her hand for me. I smiled and took it happily, our fingers intertwining.

The sand was cool under our feet as soon as we stepped down. Before us was a breathtaking painting of pastel colors. The sands glowed a light and blushing pink like an early sunrise even in the night. Turquoise waters lapped at the pink, giving the shores the illusion of being lavender. The stars and the full moon reflected in the deep dark blue of the sea. Everything floated in the sky and ocean, mirrors of each other.

“Ouch!” I cried out as we reached where the water was just receding.

“Are you okay?” Quinn turned to check on me.

“Yeah, I just stepped on something.” I crouched down to examine the offending item. It was partially hidden by the sand before I plucked it up to examine it. The rock felt warm in my fingers despite the cool water and sand where it had been. It was about the size of a golf ball. I blinked, and my eyes instantly and painlessly adjusted to allow me to see. I’m not sure when that became as easy as breathing for me to do and something I didn’t even have to think about, but I appreciated it nonetheless. I dusted the sand from the stone to see more of it. It was a smooth, shiny light and greenish blue stone streaked with white, just like the waters in front of us. I had never seen anything like it before.

I rose up to show Quinn the stone as it sat in my palm. Her eyes lit up with intrigue. “That is beautiful! Definitely not a quartz or anything like that.”

“Wait, you can see this? Without your phone light?”

“Kind of a supernatural, remember? It’s a perk of it.”

“But back at Universal on the Hogwarts ride, you couldn’t see?—”

“I didn’t know you were a supe at the time, so I kind of had to act a bit.” Quinn shrugged sheepishly.

“Wow, I don’t know how I didn’t see past that, considering your acting skills.”

“Ha ha. What do you think the rock is, sassy? Doesn’t look like quartz or like anything I’ve seen before in a crystal shop.”

I glanced back at the stone. It was truly mesmerizing. The more I looked, the harder it was to deal with the idea of looking away. It felt so warm in my hand, so familiar. I turned the stone over with my finger. “You are so right. It’s not quartz. It’s not quite a lapis lazuli, either. The color is too bright. This is something else?—”

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