Page 1 of How Not to Date an Angel

Rami

Rami’s steps were slow and calculated, so as not to rush the woman they were leading to the exit.

“Thank you so much for your time today,” Melissa said.

Rami paused by the backdoor as she collected herself, and smiled soothingly.

“No thanks necessary. This is what you pay me for, you know,” they teased, and leaned in to elbow her casually.

It got a chuckle out of her, and what a relieving thing to hear after such a hard session.

Melissa, like many of Rami’s clients, would find that their bills were lost in the mail, never to be inquired about again.

It wasn’t like Rami needed the money, but their clients needed the help, and, well. Rami liked to be helpful.

“Get home safe. Are you alright to drive?” they asked.

Melissa stuffed the last of her tissues in her purse. “Oh, yes. I’m fine now. Thank you, though.” She cupped her hand over theirs and squeezed. “Thank you.”

Rami felt warmth swell in their chest at her genuineness. “You are so very welcome, dear. I’ll see you next week, same time?”

She nodded, and stepped through the doorway when Rami opened it. “I’ll see you and those pretty birds next week.”

Rami chuckled politely and sent her off with an extra little blessing of safe travels home to her family and her struggling marriage, and ease with her newly discovered childhood trauma. Despite the fact that Melissa was still holding something back, she was making tremendous progress.

It was that progress, and clients like Melissa, that made Rami love Earth.

They shut the door only once they saw her get into her car, her headlights splashing their drive as she reversed into the street.

Once they were alone, Rami locked up and retrieved their mobile device from the office. It was a night-in kind of night, so they ordered food right to their door.

Humans—they’d thought of everything.

In the meantime, they tidied up their session room, turning off the incense and lights and making note of their appointments the next day. Before they pulled the French doors shut, they glanced toward the tall arched windows on the opposite wall, an old tree visible through the panes. The branches were empty, not a single bird in sight.

What was Melissa on about?

With a soft snick they locked the office and retreated to the kitchen, where they retrieved a bottle of wine from the rack and a single glass.

They poured themself a healthy drink and headed upstairs to change into something a little more comfortable. Less buttoned-up, fewer layers.

It was in moments like these, when they donned cozy pants, a rather basic tee shirt, their cardigan, and their feathered wings, that they felt most human.

They knew what it was to take a disguise off at the end of the day and finally relax in their own skin, like many of their clients. Rami sipped their wine and sighed as it burst over their taste buds.

Humans had a lot going for them down here. Technology, community. Rami just hated that so many of them were so…hurt. By each other. Parents and children and family and friends and lovers. So much pain, passed from one to the other.

They’d never understand it.

But they could try. It’s why they were here, after all.

Pushing the thoughts from their mind until the “work” hours tomorrow, they made their way back downstairs, checking their device for the timing on their food.

Their wings twitched, the eyes amongst the feathers blinking slowly as they sensed a shift in the air, the energy of…everythingstuttering, caught, snagged for a moment before smoothing out again.

They froze, wondering what that was about, finger hovering over the black screen of their phone, when they heard it.

A knock.

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