Page 28 of In the Light of the Moon

“We stopped hanging around with him after that summer. His dad’s cool, but Jasper got really weird. Gave me a bad feeling even back then, ya know?” Josie explained when I inquired about what happened between them. He’d seemed as much a part of her group of friends as everyone else, but I did recall him being absent when I came back to visit the next summer.

“What about Graham Thompson?” I asked. Josie’s lips turned down, and her expression spurred on the bubbling enmity I’d felt toward Graham since I caught him staring at me. He’d always had a punchable face, but when I thought about the way he’d looked at Orion then me, it made my hackles raise.

“Unpleasantly pleasant. Acts like he’s untouchable because of who his father is. Even the chief’s wife doesn’t say anything bad about him. And he’s the evidence of his old man’s infidelity. Might feel bad for him if he didn’t seem like such an asshole.” Josie lifted up her thumb to chew on a nonexistent nail. I was still disconnected from the town in a way that Josie and Granna weren’t. But it made me feel better that she wasn’t susceptible to Graham’s looks or confidence. Hopefully I’d never have to deal with him again.

“Hey, isn’t that your professor over there?” Josie actually pointed, rarely one for subtlety, and I was about to argue with her that since we were on campus, parked right beside the English building, seeing one of my professors walking around was a given.

But when I turned over my shoulder, I saw white curls and light green eyes that met mine as soon as I found them. He’d been heading into the building, walking beside Dr. Vanders who was chatting animatedly and waving their arms about while Orion listened silently and smoked.

As they’d drawn closer, Orion’s eyes had casually passed over the quad, but as soon as he found me, he returned my grin with a soft smirk of his own. He jostled Dr. Vanders to get their attention, and when he must’ve mentioned me, Dr. Vanders looked over in my and Josie’s direction. It felt a bit weird, since I was dating Orion, and Dr. Vanders was one of my teachers, but they gave a kind enough wave and peeled away toward the English Department building. Orion was still smiling while he walked over to our little picnic.

Making literal kissing noises, Josie started gathering our trash together and stuffing it all into one big, grease-stained bag.

Orion’s pale face was lightly flushed, and he wore another plain, nicely cut shirt. It was a dark brown today, and his boots thudded softly on the dead grass of the quad. After waving him down to sit, Orion crouched beside me with his ever-present satchel slung over his shoulder. “I have a meeting in a few minutes, but I’m happy to see you.”

I refrained from kissing him, unsure of what the protocols were but certain it would be pushing past some boundary we hadn’t quite established yet. Instead, I just placed a hand on his arm for a second, hoping the growing affection I felt for him transferred within the touch. “I’m happy to see you, too. How’s your day?”

Orion’s eyes were crinkled in good spirits. Talking of Graham and Jasper and the tense tarot card reading melted away, and my mood brightened. So much so that I was barely bothered when Orion took a drag of his lit cigarette, blowing the smoke over his shoulder so as to not trail in Josie’s or my face. “It’s better now that I’m seeing you. But fine. Yours?”

“It was good before, and it’s great now.” Josie scoffed in mock offense, so I gestured toward her, “Josie was sweet enough to have lunch with me today. We were just finishing getting up to some witchy things and gossiping.” Despite Orion’s appearanceand loose posture remaining unchanged at my dropping of that little detail, I braced myself for him to express displeasure in the same way my father had whenever I mentioned Granna’s craft.

Orion’s head tilted while he took another inhale from his cigarette. After the moment of silence, wherein I was becoming enchanted all over again, his face softened even more, reassurance shining in his eyes. “That sounds fun.”

I was melting. Orion’s words were simple, but the whoosh of comfort and delight under my skin whenever he was around threatened to reduce me to a pile of longing looks and stammering words.

Before I could say anything, Josie brought her legs beneath her, gearing to stand, and snickered, “Didn’t they ban smoking on campus a few years ago?”

Orion just took another puff and shrugged, though the break in our eye contact helped me gather more of my wits from the puddle they’d been. I was delighted to also notice that, while he answered her question with an air of defiance, something in him seemed more closed off when he looked at Josie. Not in rudeness or fear, but it was as if however he acted around me was reserved for the moments between us and never somewhere else.

“They did, but no one has said anything to me. And if they did, I wouldn’t care.”

“Touché,” Josie muttered and finally stood. Orion and I followed, and after I folded the blanket for her and gathered my things as well, Josie brought me in for a hug. In my ear, she whispered, “Remember my hunch. Don’t be afraid, Sylvie,” and then she waved at Orion before walking toward the parking deck, heavy combat boots flattening the brown grass.

When I turned back to Orion by my side, his translucent brow was raised, matching the questioning tilt of his head.

“What?” I asked. Remembering that he’d mentioned having a meeting, I started us toward the English building. I would bea bit early for my next class, which in of itself was a fucking miracle, and Orion’s presence was a heavy grounding. Like my weighted blanket that I kept at the foot of my bed.

Orion hummed as he took the final pull from his cigarette and tossed it into the outdated receptacle that stood outside of the entrance. He seemed entirely unconcerned that his was the only cigarette butt, and he smoothly bounded up the steps and held the large, heavy door open for me.

It was an undergraduate faculty meeting he was now almost late for, apparently, and I followed Orion to the second floor to see him off before I would have to sit in the student lounge to bide my time before my Multicultural Feminist Literature class.

When we stood outside of one of the meeting rooms, he didn’t kiss me, but I thought I caught the slight dip of his head like he’d started to. Instead, we exchanged simple goodbyes that held lingering excitement for the next time we’d see each other again. Another professor arrived, heading inside for the same meeting Orion was to attend, and I began my short walk further down to the student lounge. And, if I again made an effort to swish my hips in an exaggerated sequence, that was my business.

Trying best to ignore the mustiness of the old spongy sofa I perched in, I retrieved the novel we would be continuing to discuss in my next class. My phone chimed a minute or so later, and when I pulled it out, there were two texts. Clicking my phone to silent, I read the one from Josie that had assured me she’d made it the short drive to her apartment safely.

The other, was from Orion.

I think you’ve put a spell on me. I miss you already.

Biting my lip to keep from smiling, and ultimately failing, I put my book down to text him back.

You’ve caught me. I am a witch, after all.

He texted back immediately.

I knew it. Lucky for you, I’m quite partial to being enchanted by you. Do your worst, my little witch.

Maybe he was joking, but his words made my heart soar all the same. Josie told me to be unafraid, to trust the hopeful prediction she’d given me the night of my and Orion’s first date. Maybe this was the change, the upheaval that the cards predicted. That I’d be able to have all things—a future with Orion where he knew of and accepted all parts of me. Because I was also starting to feel that, no matter what he had in store for me, I liked him enough to do the same for him.

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