Page 24 of Scars Like Wings

“So, who do I owe the pleasure, ladies?” Thompson interrupted me with a blush across his face. It made me laugh again.

Everett gave Thompson a smile of pride that also made Thompson wink at him. It was my first time seeing them interact together in person—I had read some of their texts at Everett’s behest, so I could check that what he was saying was okay—but they were so cute together. It made me smile like a lovesick goofball.

Iwasa hopeless romantic, after all. I had been dreaming of my wedding since I was two. The first board I ever made on Pinterest was a wedding board with sections dedicated to rings, dresses, and themes. I almost exclusively consumed romantic everything: books, rom-coms, fairy tales, whatever, unless I was watching anime or video game playthroughs like a total nerd. Often, I scrolled through dating apps into the wee hours of the morning, hoping my love story would start soon. I had been on so many dates that my friends came to me for love advice while saying I had a Second Date Curse from being ghosted or broken up with after the second date. Maisie had tried to cleanse my love life, but nothing quailed the longing and ache I felt when I came home alone. Or right now, looking at the way Everett watched Thompson. I guess I would have to settle on living vicariously through my guncle for a while, even if he refused to admit he had found the real deal.

The five of us made our way to the counter to eat, drink some wine Everett uncorked, and play catch-up. Between bits of conversation, the food transported us all to nirvana, proving to be as ridiculously delicious as it looked and smelled. Still, we settled into our usual comfort as we dove into everything we missed that we didn’t want to discuss on the phone. Thompson proved to be a welcome addition to our flow with his occasional jokes and input. I would say we picked up right where we dropped off, but we never dropped anything. My friendship with my girls was this: a stream of love and fun that never took abreak. It continued alongside the flow of time and maybe grew more powerful because of it.

As always, I went first. My life was bland without my girls, with only work, books, nerd shit, and Uncle Everett’s love life to occupy my time. I was a homebody by nature, preferring playingAnimal Crossingto being a party animal. So, I just let everyone know about my shit day with the commute, where my knee got bit by a rogue shifter toddler, to my shift full of the patrons from hell, to almost missing the train. Hearing the laughter fill the condo warmed my heart in a way I hadn’t realized I missed.

Maisie went next. She was getting her doctorate in modern witch studies with a focus on folk witchcraft. She went back home to California to do some research for her dissertation, discussing motherhood and its connections to a witch’s power. Unfortunately, her research had been a dead-end with her mother and grandmother.

Normally, a witch received her powers—fire, earth, wind, water, light, shadow, or shifter—from the maternal side. Maisie was different. Her mom was so weak Maisie didn’t even know what kind of witch she was. She could read tarot decently enough and castverybasic spells to bring good tidings for a few hours, but it was nothing compared to Maisie’s abilities to teleport, use telekinesis, or cast major spells like shifting the weather or changing someone’s appearance. Powerful witchery rarely skipped two generations, like it did in Maisie’s family. That meant her dad was a powerful witch. But her mom and grandmother refused to talk about him. So, Maisie was at an impasse and unable to keep going with her research, despite her professor begging for an update. She ran her hands through her hair, her eyes flashing purple in frustration. I immediately got up from my barstool and hugged her, feeling her tension disappear instantly. She squeezed and returned the hug with a smile.

Finally, it was Simone’s turn. She could barely contain her excitement as she gushed about her trip—the faucet started to leak at her joy. Simone had gone undersea to see her family after her mother had been begging her for months. Simone’s father was the king of Atlantis, ruling over the Western Hemisphere, and her mother was his, well, wife. She had no real power except being the royal baby producer, but she was the First Lady of the Ocean, setting an example for how mermaids should dress, speak, behave, everything—the ocean was very fifties, minus the racism. So, Simone’s mother valued appearances and what the clams had to say over the happiness of her sixteen merchildren. Simone’s father only valued the first three children as heirs to the empire. You can only imagine the gaslighting, manipulation, narcissism, and abuse that Simone has had to endure as the ninth born in all this. As one last try, though, she went down to be the “guest of honor” at a party to celebrate her return. She should have known when her four younger siblings didn’t attend—the ones she saw on holidays on land but never went back undersea—that it was all a lie. Bored and over her mom’s lies, Simone snuck out and went to the surface to catch her breath.

“When I surfaced, I was in the Everglades, I think, or nearby. Y’all, I was so freaking tired from the swim and from all the emotional turmoil. I literally just wanted to float and figure out what to do next. But I never got the chance because a freakingharpooncame toward me. I dove back under and swam a little further to surface a ways. When I surfaced, I saw a, like, pontoon thing with—no joke—the hottest guy on there.”

“What on earth was he doing out there?” I asked.

“He had gotten reports of some river monster and had been out to investigate it.”

“Hot,” Maisie said, making us all laugh.

“That’s some kind of meet-cute! What a cute little romantasy your life is!” I caught Everett raising his eyebrow at me over hisglass of wine. “What? Simone never tells a story about a guy unless she ends up dating him!”

Simone giggled. “It’s funny you mention that! He was so worried he hurt me. After I showed him I was okay by getting on the boat, we sat together and talked for hours. It really was like something straight from the movies! We just clicked immediately. He’s so stinking cute and funny and sweet.”

“I love a romance as much as the next guncle charged with looking after a romance fiend, but are we going to skip over him hunting ariver monster?”

“Hey now, babe, there are folks who hunt invasive species like pythons and shit for a quick buck in Florida. My students do it all the time to blow off their Bio homework I assign. I give them extra credit if they can explain why they are invasive and why the government pays for their capture.” Thompson took one of the last bites of his pasta.

“So adorable that you’re a teacher! Mad respect for you because kids suck, and you do not get paid nearly enough,” Simone remarked.

“Also, that sounds very Florida,” Maisie joked. “So, is this guy human or a shifter or what to be hunting like that? It’s giving big Swipe Left Energy, like he’s one of those profile pictures dressed in camo and posed with a dead animal.”

Simone waved her off. “Not everyone is Garrett and Bethany or whoever you had that threesome with in Alabama last year.”

“I haveoneLong Island too many on the way to the beach, and yourefuseto let me live it down.” Maisie rolled her eyes, but there was mirth in her smile she couldn’t contain.

“Well, to answer yourrude assquestion,” Simone said, focusing the conversation back. This always happened when the three of us got together, and it only got worse with Everett around. “Coleisa human. His family owns a real estate business for both supers and humans. One of their lots for sale is nearwhere I surfaced, and it has a really bad gator problem,andthere was a rumor of a river monster, too. Cole was trying to help fix it to make the place sell. And before any of you ask, they had exhausted animal control and all other options before he was asked to take care of it by the boss so they could finally sell the property. Colecertainlyknows his way in the water, so he was perfect for the job!”

“The sex was bomb, huh?” I laughed.

“Cole’s such a sweetie pie and an absolute gentleman?—”

Maisie and I both gave her the same look.

“Okay, it wasbomb.”

I pointed at her with my fork. “I know you too well.”

She rolled her eyes but laughed. “We met every day we could. He invited me to stay with him at the property. And y’all! It was sogorgeousand huge. It’s this stunning riverfront property straight out of, like, a reality TV episode. I felt so spoiled. We talked, hung out, went on dates and stuff—and yes, we did bang a bunch, shut up. It wasamazing! There wasn’t a real river monster, but I did manage to get the gators to move elsewhere by calling a favor in from an ex?—”

“That gator-shifter with the tour boat and the dick tilted to the right?” Maisie interrupted. “Or that weird swamp fairy with the chode, who literally became obsessed with you because he liked how ‘smart’ you were?”

“Ew, gods.” Simone scrunched her nose up. “I haven’t spoken to Mike since I blocked him. He had some weird black girl fetish.”

“So, it was Right-Dick John?”

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