Page 18 of Batty About You
Chapter Seven: Kelly
“I’m sorry I never told you. I really didn’t know how to.”
I can’t stop staring at him. We walk over together, me still in sneakers, him with his head bowed and shoulders dragged down with the weight of his wings.
How could he tell me? I would have thought he was crazy.
But...WouldI have thought that? My family believes in so many things that others don’t, like angels, demons, ghosts, and other things likeLa Llorona, the weeping woman. We celebratedDía de los Muertosevery year growing up, even though our celebrations got smaller and smaller as my parents became more “Americanized.”
“I’m sorry you couldn’t tell me. I wouldn’t have told you, either.”
“And now that you know... I know it can’t continue.” Bogdan tries to give me a brave smile, but it crumples down at the corners, and he blinks hard.
We’re walking with our arms linked, and I suddenly lock my arm so tight through his that his wing presses to my bare shoulders, and I have to hold back a shudder.
Leathery skin on skin.
Skin on skin.
This time the shudder is lower and smaller, a wave of desire I thought fear and shock would have killed.
I’m here with Bogdan. I love him, and my feelings haven’t changed. They’ve just gained new layers. I struggle to explain that in words, and finally go with, “I love you.”
He stops. “You do? Still?”
My head bounces hard in a nod. “I’ve loved you for so long. As a friend, and a confidant, and then with secret hope that you would be mine one day... I’m in love with you.” I look at his face, and I can see the shape of the man I know under the fur. “Mi novio,” I whisper.
“My love,” he whispers back. “We can go slow, okay? I’d wait another seven years for you to learn to like this side of me.”
“What is this side of you?” I pluck up the courage to ask what I dread. “Do you have to fly at night? Eat bugs? Make blood offerings or eat people?”
Bogdan looks shocked, and it’s comical.
And cute.
Oh, something is wrong with me, or love really is blind, because with his eyes as round as saucers and his mouth opened in shock, I think he looks like a startled teddy bear—and I’m so here for it.
“No! I don’t drink blood or worship evil entities. I don’t do anything! Well, I stay inside and study. I can’t go out like this.” He shrugs. “I mean, I can turn into a little bat and go out, but it’s not like I can talk to anyone, so why bother? I’d rather stay inside, writing to you, or talking to you on the phone. See, I can shift from bat to man-bat in the night, but not human. And in the day, I’m human with limited power to shift. Like a one-way street that’s controlled by the moon.”
“So... you mean... All that changes is the way you look? Not what you do, or how you feel, or what you eat?”
“Nothing changes except my ability to run to Target and fit in my clothes. Oh, and driving at night sucks in my little car, but I’ve been thinking about getting a Jeep when I get my firstjob after college.” Boggie rubs the back of his furry head with one hand, the wings stretching out like a brown sail behind his shoulder. “Once I tell my family about this place—if it’s like the policeman said—I might look at the NYU campus here for my PA degree.”
My heart quickens in delight. “We would be on campus together for a year!”
“I know! And I could be your new roommate! I mean, if we were together, we could live in your apartment near campus. I’d get a part-time job and pay half the bills, obviously. I’m not a freeloader.”
“I’ll be teaching full-time after next year. There are only a handful of schools here, and they only need one or two music teachers among them, so I’m not sure where I’ll end up going.”
“I hear there are teacher and medical shortages pretty much everywhere,” Bogdan says eagerly. “Wherever you go, I’d be willing to go.”
