“I’m hungry,” she shot back. “Aren’t you hungry too? We’re ordering something.” Her own blue eyes gleamed, pouty lips pulling upwards in her best Cheshire grin. How long had she been up? I studied her, wondering just how much sleep she had gotten and knowing she wouldn’t want to talk about her experience if I pushed her.
“Ugh.” Begrudgingly I sat up, running my hands through my unkempt hair. Bed head was always such an issue, whether I laid down for five minutes or fifty hours. It was always a rat’s nest when I woke up. I stretched, linking my arms over my head as I arched my back.
A moment later a second pair of ears, these white furred and lupine, flicked atop my head. A fluffy tail lay curled around my leg, and I brushed tangles from the fur absently before tucking my blonde and pink hair behind my human ears.
“Haven’t seen your ears in awhile,” Aveline observed as she sat down beside me. “You ever show them to anyone at school?”
“Nope,” I yawned, my tail flopping back onto the sofa. “Everyone knew me as a witch. I didn’t want to complicate that,”
With a shrug, Avi leaned over on me, phone in hand, to show me our options for delivery.
“On me,” she added. “For y’know. Driving down here and saving my life and all. I texted your mom, by the way. Told her you were sleeping but everything was fine, so she won’t tell my mom.”
“I really appreciate the food. Can we get Chinese?” I grabbed the tv remote off the ottoman, flipping the smart tv on, and starting up our usual streaming service.
“You’re so predictable.” She thumbed down the app and tapped once on a logo, then gave me the phone. I scrolled through the options, finally ordering myself sesame chicken and wontons, before handing it back to her. “Oh! get me soy sauce,” I added. “For the rice.”
She made her own selection, then finished our order before tossing her phone on the table beside her.
“Little Children, Large Crowns?” she asked hopefully.
“Your fixation with those reality shows is disgusting,” I sniffed. “And I love it. Let’s do it.” Navigating to her marked favorite took only a second, and by the time I laid the remote down on the ottoman once more, our shared guilty pleasure was showing in 4K on her wall.
It took the length of an episode for our food to arrive, and by the time the next one was starting, we were set with a small buffet of food and a six pack of Vanilla Coke. As far as I knew, we were the only two people who enjoyed it in our family, if not in the entire country itself.
My rice was dark with soy sauce and I happily polished off the container before starting on my sesame chicken. Aveline had ordered some kind of teriyaki beef, and we had negotiated the release of three pieces of my chicken for two of her steak. We shared the wontons, and by the time we were finished there was nothing left except fortune cookies.
“Move in with me,” Aveline said suddenly, both of us drowsy from the food and last night’s adventure, as we half-watched another episode.
“What?” I didn’t move from my spot curled up on the sofa.
“I have extra bedrooms. Move in with me.”
“I’m moving back in with my mom,” I reminded her with a sigh.
“Well, don’t do that. You can’t tell me you actually want to go back to Ohio.”
I did not in fact, but I stayed silent.
“What are you going to do in Ohio anyway with your degree in fantasy?”
“Mythological studies and Folklore,” I corrected automatically. Originally, I’d dreamed of going on to be an anthropologist, but as my time at college dwindled I’d gotten less and less sure of what I wanted. Finally I’d picked up a minor in traditional witchcraft before finishing, but that didn’t do much for me either.
“You could get a job here,” Aveline was saying. “It’s the capital of the preternatural, and places always want to hire a witch.”
“And that’s how you became a burlesque dancer?” I asked, not turning to look at her.
She scoffed. “No. I got that job because my boobs look fantastic with pasties on them.”
“What an image.”
“But I’m serious. I don’t need you to help with bills, so you could stay for free until you found a job. You’d have your own bedroom, bathroom, and your mother won’t be taking your temperature every hour.”
“She doesn’t do that anymore,” I told her almost sharply.
“Uh huh.” Aveline wasn’t at all put off by my tone. “Besides, I miss you and this house is too big for just me.”
There was no reason not to, I reasoned. I had all of my things with me in my SUV, and it wasn’t like I had anything promised in Ohio. I did have some money, enough to get a bed at least, and I’d always wanted to come down here to see Aveline and the city itself.
“Can we get a cat?” I asked, only half joking.
Aveline shrugged. “Fine with me. So long as we can go get one from the humane society.” Glancing over at me, she tried to fight the smile spreading across her face. “Does that mean you’re staying?”
“Only because your tits look so good in pasties,” I replied sweetly. “And because you’re my favorite cousin.”
She cackled, not needing to point out that she was my only cousin. “Come on, let’s get online and find shit for your room.”
Chapter 5
“Mom–stop. Stop!” My words finally broke through my mother’s monologue, and I heard her huff in irritation. “It’s fine. I’m fine.”
“And what if you’re not?” she snapped. “You haven’t even looked at switching your prescriptions or finding a new doctor back in Ohio. Who’s going to make you get it done? Aveline?”
Being that she was on speaker, my mother’s voice was
