Kiss Me. [GOLDRIC]

Epilogue

   I sat on the air mattress Luz's mom let me borrow. It has a hole in it, so it has to be refilled every couple hours once I get sick of sinking to the floor. Hunter sat in my lap, reading a book. Sometimes he would point out a word or two to me, and I nodded along to it, but I almost never followed what he was saying about it. He was a much faster reader than I was, so I gave up trying to read other him.

   "Ooh, look at this, babe," he pointed to a line. "I think it's foreshadowing to either William dying or getting both of his legs amputated."

   William was a side character in his book. I chuckled.

   "Oh really?" I replied, resting my chin on his shoulder.  Hunter hummed and returned to reading. Since we got stuck here—which was about two weeks ago—Hunter's gotten really into dark fantasy books. I admit they're pretty cool, but I prefer light-hearted comedy.

Quick, light thumps on the stairs behind us grabbed my attention, and I turned to look at them.

"Guys, dinner is ready! Ms. Noceda made something called "chicken alfredo,"" Amity announced, air quoting "chicken alfredo."

"Alright, be there in a second," I replied as Amity went back upstairs. Hunter sat up and I climbed to my feet. I held out a hand to help him get up and we went to get the food.

   Once we got up there and sat at the table, Ms. Noceda passed out plates of an odd food choice. It looked like white spaghetti with shredded chunks of meat and green stuff in it. I thanked Ms. Noceda for the food before hesitantly taking a bite of it. I moaned as the flavors began to dance on my tongue.

   "This is great!" Hunter exclaimed with a mouth full of food. I hummed in agreement. Ms. Noceda laughed.

    "I'm glad you kids like it," she responded.

*****

   After we had all finished dinner, we went to our seperate rooms. Amity with Luz and Hunter with me. Hunter and I had seperate mattresses, but he let me sleep in his because I kept complaining about having to wake up to refill it with air. We laid beside each other, staring at the ceiling. After a while, I thought Hunter had fallen asleep and I was about to fall asleep too. However, he whispered, "Do you think we'll ever get back to the Boiling Isles?"

   I hesitated before responding. "I don't know."

   "I think we will," Hunter said. "Luz has been working really hard to get that portal working again." I hummed in agreement before a short silence settled in the air. It was broken soon after. "Is it okay for me to not want to go back?" Hunter asked softly, surprising me.

   "What?" I asked.

   "It's not that I don't want to see Darius again or rescues Gus and Willow, I just.. I like it better here. The nice home, good food. Ms. Noceda's so nice, too," Hunter explained.

   I sighed. "Hunter, it's okay if you want to stay here, I get it," I paused, "But staying here means you'll have to leave everything in the Boiling Isles behind. Is that something you're wanting to do?"

   Hunter fiddled with his hands. "No, I don't want to leave you guys. And I'm not going to. I just wish there was some way for me to have best of both worlds, you know?"

   I pulled Hunter into a hug. "I know. And who knows? Maybe one day, while we're in the Boiling Isles, we find a new portal door. Then we could travel between worlds as we please."

   I heard Hunter sigh as he hugged me back. "That'd be pretty awesome. I love you, Edric."

   "Love you too, Hunter."