Wings

After about ten seconds he gestured to her and leaned forward, his eyes trained on her mouth. She forced herself to focus as she leaned forward to meet him. Their lips touched gently at first and Laurel almost forgot herself and breathed in a nervous gulp of air. Then David pressed more firmly and blew into her mouth. She let her lungs fill.

He pulled back and Laurel made the mistake of meeting his eyes. She smiled, then had to look away as she counted to ten. Then he was leaning back in, his hand tugging softly on her shoulder.

Laurel met him halfway without any hesitation this time. His mouth pressed to hers and he opened his lips just a little. She blew all the air from her lungs back into his mouth and felt him inhale it. He lingered for just a moment before pulling back and breaking contact.

“Wow.” He exhaled and ran his fingers through his hair. “Wow. That was amazing. My head’s spinning a little. I think you’re exhaling almost pure oxygen, Laurel.”

“You’re not going to fall off your stool, are you?” She placed her hands on his legs.

“I’m all right,” David said, breathing slowly. “Just give me a couple more seconds.” He let his hands slide down to cover hers, where they were still braced on his legs. She looked up as he sucked on his bottom lip, then grinned.

“What’s so funny?”

“Sorry,” David said, reddening again. “You just taste so sweet.”

“What do you mean, sweet?”

He licked his bottom lip one more time. “You taste like honey.”

“Honey?”

“Yeah. I thought I was going nuts the day…well, you know, that one day. But it was the same today. Your mouth is really sweet.” He paused for a second, then grinned. “Not like honey — like nectar. That makes more sense.”

“Great. Now I’m going to have to explain that to everyone I kiss for the rest of my life unless it’s you or…or another faerie.” She’d almost said Tamani’s name. Her fingers flew to the ring around her neck.

David shrugged. “Then don’t kiss anyone except me.”

“David…”

“I’m just offering up the obvious solution,” he said, hands up in protest.

She laughed and rolled her eyes. “I guess that’ll keep me from being one of those girls who kisses everyone.”

David shook his head. “You could never be like that. Your feelings are too soft. You’d worry that you were breaking the heart of every guy you kissed.”

She wasn’t sure if he meant that as a compliment or not, but it felt that way. “Um, thanks. I think.”

“So what is that?” he asked, pointing to her necklace. “You keep playing with it.”

Laurel dropped the ring down the front of her shirt. It was like a talisman that sent her thoughts straight to Tamani. She wondered if Tamani had known before he gave it to her that it would do that. She was a little surprised when the thought didn’t irritate her. “It’s a ring,” she finally confessed. “Tamani gave it to me.”

David looked at her strangely. “Tamani gave you a ring?”

“It’s not like that.” Guys. “It’s a baby ring. I guess all faeries get them when they’re little.” Against her impulse to keep the ring her own special secret, she pulled the chain out from under her shirt and showed David the tiny circlet.

“That’s really pretty,” he said grudgingly. “Why’d he give it to you?”

Laurel tried to shrug his question away. “I don’t know. He just wanted me to have it.”

David looked at it for a long time before dropping it back onto her chest.

SIXTEEN

“JUST IN TIME,” MOM SAID AS LAUREL WALKED IN THE door from school the next day. “The phone’s for you.”

Laurel took the phone. She’d just left David at the corner. Why would he call her already? “Hello?” she asked questioningly.

“Hey, Laurel. It’s Chelsea.”

“Hi,” Laurel said.

“Are you busy? It’s a sunny day, so I thought you might like to go see the Battery Point Lighthouse.”

Laurel had heard of the historic landmark but hadn’t yet seen it. “Yeah,” she said. “I’d love to.”

“Pick you up in five?”

“Great.”

“Going somewhere with David?” Laurel’s mom asked after she hung up.

“Chelsea, actually. She wants to go to the lighthouse. Is that okay?”

“Sure, that’s wonderful. I’m glad to see you branching out. You know I like David a lot, but you should have more friends. It’s healthier.”

Laurel went to the fridge and opened up a soda while she was waiting.

“I got your midterm grades in the mail today,” her mom said.

The soda seemed to stick in Laurel’s throat. Up until she blossomed, she’d been doing quite well in school, but she wasn’t sure how much of that she’d been able to keep up when her life went crazy.

“Three As, two Bs. I’m pretty happy with that,” her mom said with a smile. Then she laughed and added, “Honestly, part of me is proud of myself. I must have done an okay job for you to be doing this well.”

Laurel rolled her eyes as her mom handed her the grades. The B in bio wasn’t surprising, but then neither was the A in English. All she had to do was make it until the end of the semester now. Shouldn’t be too hard. The worst was definitely behind her.

“Why’s Dad’s car here?” Laurel asked.

Her mom sighed. “Dad’s sick. He’s been sick all day. Missed work, even.”

“Wow,” Laurel said. “He hasn’t missed a day of work in forever.”

“Yeah. I made him stay in bed all day. He should be better tomorrow.”

She heard a horn honk in the driveway.

“There’s Chelsea,” Laurel said, grabbing her jacket.

“Have fun,” her mom said with a smile.

Laurel slid into the backseat of Chelsea’s mom’s car and Chelsea turned and beamed at her. “Hey! The lighthouse is awesome; it’s totally classic. You’ll love it.”

Chelsea’s mom dropped them off in the parking lot. “I’ll be back in about two hours,” she said.

“Bye,” Chelsea called, waving.

“Where now?” Laurel said, looking out at the ocean.

“We walk,” Chelsea said, pointing to an island about five hundred feet out from the shore.

“We’re walking to an island?”

“Technically it’s an isthmus when the tide is low.”

Shading her eyes from the sun, Laurel squinted out at the island. “I don’t see a lighthouse.”

“It’s not like the lighthouses you see in paintings. It’s just a house with a light on the roof.”

Chelsea led the way as they walked on a small strip of sand that connected the little island to the mainland. It was fun to be so close to the ocean without actually being in it. Laurel liked the tangy smell of the salt water and the fresh breeze that caressed her face and sent Chelsea’s curly hair swinging. It was ironic, really, that she enjoyed the smell of the ocean when she hated salty water.

When they reached the island, there was a gravel road that led up a hill. It was only a few minutes before they came around a small bend and the lighthouse came into view.

“It really is just a normal house,” Laurel said, surprised.

“Except for the light,” Chelsea said, pointing.

Chelsea played tour guide, under the watchful eye of a security guard, as she showed Laurel through the small house and explained the history of the lighthouse, including its role in the tsunamis that Crescent City fell victim to every few years. “They’re awesome,” Chelsea said, “at least, when they don’t get too big.”

Laurel wasn’t sure she shared Chelsea’s enthusiasm.

Chelsea took her out to a small yard and pointed out the purple flowers that grew up the rocks on all sides of the tiny island. “They’re really pretty,” Laurel said, bending to touch a small patch of the tiny blossoms.