Violet Shadows

38

"He's not someone who changes easily." She said, partially honest. Through everything, he was still a character in a book. What Wish So Haunted wouldn't stop existing even if she wished it.

Eric wasn't interested in listening to restless excuses. "You'd be surprised. Just ask him." The hard line of his mouth twisted into a wince, then a steady line. "If it's you asking, I think he'd do it in a heartbeat."

Suddenly she was taken aback. "And why is that?"

He sighed, purple eyes no different than the sky ahead. "Roma, I hate to barge in on your affairs but I think Nicol likes you more than... a friend."

She shrugged it off like a breeze of wind. "I would too if my only means of investments disappeared over the span of a few minutes."

"Romantically. Idiot."

It was like being immersed in ice water. "What?"

Eric blinked. "Are you that dense not to notice?"

Christine stumbled back a step. "It's... I, um..." Eric wasn't blunt out of malice, but out of a sense of honesty. One that he determined everyone to know, though she understood he knew no better. But the image of that idea poured over her like the weight of a hundred glaciers. It was a tittering alarm, one she couldn't just ignore. Cold shock continued to wash over her, dulling all thoughts of worthlessness aside. "Fuck me." She breathed.

His jaw hung loose. "It can't be that bad."

"And why would it be good?" She said, shrill. "He's him and I'm me." And the freaking protagonist of this book hasn't arrived yet.

Only Eric knew none of the real danger of this implication. "Is the thought of you two together that unnerving?"

"Careful now, or it might sound like you're trying to pair us together."

"You didn't answer my question." He said, eyes cold.

She harrowed underneath that bluntness. "Even... even if I like him, who's to say he would like me back?" Her head dropped down, voice a fraction of a normal volume. "You know how he is with all those girls. What if I get the wrong idea and he hates me all of a sudden. I would make things awkward for everyone." Painful enough to ruin the company she's been enjoying until leaving.

"Everyone knows he likes you." She shriveled further with the fact that it was that obvious. Eric sighed at her badly-kept panic. "Would it be that bad to fall in love with Nicol?"

She—She never considered the possibility. "If our relationship is as good as you say we are," She said, hoping the simple explanation was enough to dissuade him, "I don't want to ruin it on a fleeting whim." A stupid idea and a stupid result. God forbid it worked.

"Then test it out." Eric walked over, pressing a friendly arm to her back to continue on their walk. They paced until they were on the steps of the church, a foot into the rustic cobble paths. "Pretend you got a love letter from a man that you're planning on accepting, and see how he reacts."

"I sense Henri inspired such ideas?" She asked as they reached the entrance.

"On occasion." He confessed, spilling open the doors to an empty dome.

This time Eric went to fetch Haleema, leaving Christine to settle around the lonely pews within her distilling thought.

The very idea of you hurt drove me insane.

She blushed at the words. Even if they weren't meant that way. Or what if it was? Now that the painfully obvious answer was within her, the answer could be yes. Or no. But why?