“I know.” She did a half twirl. “That was the idea.”
“Wow.” I shook my head a few times in awe. “I wish I’d gone to such lengths for a dress.”
“Well, you had to design around Bump.” She patted the little mound on my front. “But, I’ve seen your dress on the mannequin, Ara. You are going to outshine everyone. Even if it’s not all full skirts and puffy fabric.”
“I doubt that. But thanks anyway.”
“Ara, you’re going to look like an angel.” She grabbed my hand and led me to the dressing room. “I promise.”
“Actually, Magda said it’d be more like a Greek goddess,” I added, closing the door behind us.
“Oh. Yes. Much better comparison.” Em folded her arms and stood back, taking in the greenish fabric on the half-mannequin in the corner of the dressing room. A singular strap sat delicately on one shoulder, the silky fabric bunching under the breasts before dropping like a cape over the hips in a progressively darker green, the front open over a lighter panel. A swarm of little black butterflies fluttered from the floor to halfway up the legs where they faded out into the fabric, which was so light it wavered even in the small breeze left behind by the closing door, and so thin that, had my few extra pounds landed on my thighs, the dress would have shown every lump and bump in my body. As it was it didn’t really leave anything to the imagination where my breasts and belly were concerned. The flowing drop along the hips and around the back would hide my bum crack, but anyone standing in front of me would get the full mental picture of where my nipples and belly button were. Magda assured me that it gave the appearance of beauty and femininity, though. I, on the other hand, felt like my mother would strongly disapprove.
“Pity David’s not here,” Em said. “One glance and he’d be forced to fall in love with you all over again.”
“If only it were that easy.” I turned the mannequin around and unzipped the dress. “Can you help me zip up?”
“Of course.” She grabbed the dress and motioned for me to undress. “God, this fabric is so light!”
I lifted off my shirt and unclasped my bra. “I know. I hope it’s not see-through.”
She spread her fingers out under the fabric and held it up to the light. “Hm. How dark are your nipples?”
“Uuumm…”
“I’m not asking to be rude. I just heard they got darker in pregnancy.”
I cupped mine. “Not for me.”
“Then you should be fine.”
“Do you think it’ll embarrass my dad?” I asked. “You know, seeing as it shows my shape so much.”
“He’s a grown man. I think it’ll be fine,” she assured, squatting down to my feet.
“I wish I was as convinced as you are.” I exhaled, stepping into the skirt.
She shimmied the airy cloth up my hips and over Bump, holding it in place while I slipped my arm through, and as she zipped it up and I relaxed my lungs, I felt a cold shiver run down my spine.
“Emily?” Jason called into her room.
Em and I looked at each other, making a face.
“Why is
he
here?” I asked as Emily opened the dressing room door.
“Because I needed to see you,” Jason said, standing there like a lost little boy. “Falcon said you’d be in here.”
“Everything okay?”
He nodded once, dropping the gentle reassuring smile as he passed a suggestive look to Em.
“I’ll … just leave you two alone for a minute,” she said, gliding away.
Jason’s bottom lip sat firmly between his teeth, his gaze staying downward until long after Emily closed us in the room together. He was dressed more for a day out in the sun than a costume party, in his light denim jeans, with his baseball jersey open, a white shirt underneath, and his blue cap on backwards. I felt warm in my chest seeing him that way—how he could so easily look a good six human years younger than he was.
“Is that what you’re wearing tonight?” I asked with a grin. “’Cause it’s actually a pretty formal event, you know?”
“Um. No.” He leaned one side of his body on the wall, both hands in his pockets. “I’m not going tonight.”
“Why?” I reversed a step or two and stood in line with the mirror, checking to see if Jase was privy to my nipples or any other parts I didn’t want showing out from under this dress. “I thought you were looking forward to dancing with me.”
His white fangs appeared beneath the pink of his smile, but his green eyes fell to the floor again. “This is hard for me, Ara.”
“What is?” I asked with a sudden sense of dread, turning my full attention from the mirror to the vampire.
“I, uh … there’s no easy way to say this.” He stood up off the wall.
“You’re saying goodbye.” I stepped into him quickly and grabbed his hand, standing back a few inches after. “Jase, please look at me.”
He hesitantly obeyed.
“Why are you leaving now? I thought you were staying for the festival. Did someone—”
“It’s time, Ara,” he said, but I could hear in his tone that he didn’t know if he believed that. “If I linger here any longer I might never leave, and without being influenced by that spell, David will have room now to love you again if he so desires. I can’t be here getting in the way of that.”
My bottom lip trembled. I bit it, tasting the sticky strawberry gloss. I didn’t want to see him go, but we both knew it was for his own good as well as mine. He needed to move on. I’d miss him terribly—miss his friendship, counsel, miss the way he could always make me feel better when David was being shitty. But if there was ever a better time for him to move on in his life, it was now. Now, while he had the attention of the community to which he always wished to belong. Now, while he and David were no longer at odds. Now, when I needed someone to love me back to life again—when I needed that someone to be David, and only David.
“Let’s not do the goodbye thing, okay?” He tilted my face upward with the tip of his thumb. “I’m not going to die or disappear. I’m just moving on. And I will always be only a phone call away.”
“I know.” I placed my hand over his and gently drew it from my face. “I just … it just crept up on me is all. In the chaos I just forgot you were going today. Have you said goodbye to David?”
His eyes smiled but his lips rolled together, making a thin line. “He’s not back yet. And I told my new boss I’d be there by ten tonight.”
“New boss?”
“Yeah.” The reticent grin broke free then, splitting his lips open with perfect joy. “I start tomorrow at the IVRS. I’m being shown my new executive apartment tonight, and they’re starting me on an annual salary of a hundred and forty Gs.”
“Holy cow!” My rising brow drew my whole head forward. “Congratulations, Jase.”
“Thanks.” He put both arms out. “Do I get a congratulatory hug?”
“Of course!” He stumbled back a step when I threw my arms around him. “I am just
so
happy for you!”
“I knew you would be.”
I gave one more squeeze of his ribs, feeling them push out against mine as he drew a very long breath in, his nose buried in my hair, then I stepped back, readjusting the folds of my dress. “And you’ll come back when the baby’s born, right? To visit.”
“Do you think I’m gonna miss seeing my first and only niece grow up?” His warm, deft fingers circled my bump, staying there against the dress for maybe just a moment too long.
“Jase?” I laid my hand over his, running my fingers down his wrist slightly until he looked at me.
“This dress is very beautiful, Ara.”
We both lowered our hands and I toyed with the edges of the skirt for a second. “I kinda feel naked in it.”
He laughed once. “I got a shock touching you. It’s like there’s nothing there.”
“Is it too … much? Should I change?”
“No.” A pair of green smiling eyes studied every curve of me that the delicate fabric did not conceal. When his imagination seemed satisfied, he brought his gaze back up to my face and reached across to bounce a curl. “I can imagine now how it’d feel to hold you against me while we danced.” His grin sparkled with a hint of mischief. “Good thing I’m not sticking around for that.”
My mind invaded his for a flash of a second then as he let his guard drop, and I saw a cheeky thought—a scenario where he held me so close as we danced that he was forced to keep me there a while after to conceal his unwelcome erection. “You shouldn’t think like that.”
“Sorry. You weren't supposed to see that.” He stuffed his hands back in his pockets. “I
will
always love you, you know?” he added. “I can’t help it if I sometimes think beyond the borders of right and wrong.”
“Which is why you’re right—it is best that you leave now.”
He nodded, glancing back once at the door. “By the way…”
“Mm?”
As he stepped closer, hands still tucked away, he lowered his head and his voice. “Your father knows about what happened with Arthur.”
A thick wad of dough expanded my throat. “Uh, which what that happened?”
“The Training Hall.”
With a slow and very deliberate intake of air, I rolled my spine straight. “What did he say?”
“I don’t know. I wasn’t there.”
“Was David? Because he can’t know, Jase. He—”
“He wasn’t there, Ara. Don’t worry.” A reassuring hand landed on my arm. “But your father wants Arthur to tell David.”
“Why? David will kill me!”
Jase laughed. “He won’t
kill
you. But I don’t think it’ll help the rift, either.”
“No.” I folded my arms, blinking a few extra times. “Then again, keeping it from him while we’re trying to mend that rift certainly won’t help. If it comes out later it could undo any mending.”
“You’re right.” He clicked his tongue, looking sideways. “But I’m just not sure David could take any more right now. I’d leave it a bit. And I told Arthur the same.”
“I’ll know when the time’s right,” I said. “He’ll need a few days to sort out his own head, you know, now that he can freely be with his own thoughts and desires. I’ll stand back and just give him space for now—”
“And one more thing,” Jase cut in.
“Uh-oh.” The corners of my eyes and lips sharpened with temerity. “You’re nervous. What’s wrong?”
“He … David’s asked me a few times to show him what happened between you and I.”
“I know.” I nodded, half shrugging at the same time. “And?”
“And…” he said, dragging the word out awkwardly. “He’s only seen stilled images—flashes of things I’ve touched on you … places my mouth has been, but he wants the whole story.”
I cringed. “If I was him, I’d be totally creeped out by that.”
“He’s not creeped out, though.” His head moved gently side to side. “He’s glad he saw it.”
“Well, then
I’m
creeped out!” I had to move back from Jase—get some space. How could he have let David see those things?
“I didn’t
let
him, Ara.” He followed me across the room. “He’s stronger than me. I had a hard time stopping him.”
“Why would he
want
to see it?” I spun around to face him.
“Because sometimes the not knowing can be worse than the truth.”
“Well—” I grabbed my shoes from the floor by the mannequin and slipped them on, hooking my finger into the end to slip it over my heel. “I don’t think it’s a good idea.”
“I know. But just … consider it,” he said. “Because, if it were me, I’d want to see.”
“Fine.” I stood tall again, completely ready for the festival. “I’ll think about it. But it’ll come with a disclaimer.”
“What kind of disclaimer?”
“That what I felt back then and what I feel now are
not
the same. He’ll be seeing—
feeling.
A memory. And things have changed for me.”
Jason opened the dressing room door. “I’m sure if he’s gotten to the point where he can ask you to show him, he will well and truly understand that you don’t still feel that way about me.”
Emily looked up as we stepped back into the room, then turned away and went about dabbing her lipstick on.
“I’ll see ya later, Em,” Jason said as he walked past.
“Later.” She waved absently.
I walked Jason to the door and opened it for him. “I’d say good luck, but I think that’s actually bad luck, isn’t it?”
He reached down and took both my hands, then leaned in and planted the sweetest, softest, most delicate kiss on my cheek. All my hairs rose to linger on his lips, clinging to the small spot of moisture they left behind when he drew away. “Don’t say anything, Ara. Not goodbye. Not good luck. Not even I love you. We both already know.”
I felt the corners of my eyes swell a little in response to the strong emotion of farewell, but my mind had greater control of my actions, reminding me that this was best for all of us. “Have fun then. Okay?”
“I will.” He broke away, but stopped a few steps into the corridor and turned back. “And, Ara?”
“Mm?”
“I left something in your room for you.”