If I Know You

Chapter 9

The stupid rectangle buzzed, waking me up. If I ever went to Earth, I most certainly would not use one of these fones. All they did was give Jo a means to bother me by sending me strange pictures of animals in clothes.

I pulled it out of my pocket, just about burning my eyeballs out of my head when I pushed the button to illuminate it.

UR MOM

Jul 13, 2:34 a.m.

Pretty sure I accidentally put you into a coma? Looked it up. Not sure. You might die but you'll probably be fine? idk. Anyway, probably gonna be back at the tower in like ten hours. See ya tomorrow dude

Tomorrow. My heart sputtered.

I rubbed my eyes and stretched out like a noodle, making the bed creak.

Wait. Something wasn't right here. I was on a mattress. On a bed. That meant that...

...this wasn't the floor.

After solving the mystery, I frowned and looked towards the fire, where a little bathtub of honey was curled up on the ground in an adorable ball.

She had given me the bed. Again.

I told her not to, but that didn't last long, apparently. Years of hard work had given her the kind of muscles I'd only ever dreamt of having, and she had sneakily picked me up off the floor and put me into the bed, just like she did that first night.

The floor was hard and lumpy. She couldn't have slept well at all. I tried to take any comfort from the fact that she wouldn't have to do that again, but it simply made me hurt.

Everything hurt. It had only been a short time, but it was my last day with her already.

Jo had been combing through books they were summoning from the castle library in Ki, and they'd found out about a special root that grew in Senya's Tomb. One that allowed fae to fall asleep. And if their message was right, then they had the root and were on their way to the tower. They would be here soon.

Pippa wouldn't be mine anymore tomorrow. Not that she was now or would ever be, of course, but there was a miniature, manly, bearded version of me that had taken up residence in my head and had already decided that we were married and wanted to ignored my lack of muscle mass and carry her off into the sunset.

Surprisingly, I wanted to indulge little-bearded-manly-Rory.

I wasn't going to pretend that I could lift her, because that would only end in bruises or possibly death. But I could make today special. Give her a tiny piece of Roran of Ki that she could carry around with her forever, because she'd just given me a taste of everything I'd ever wanted. Even if she were in love with somebody else and I was going to lock myself in my room for the rest of my life, I would have happy memories. And maybe after today, she would have a happy memory or two too.

If I was being realistic and pragmatic, which I always was, she probably wasn't going to ever think of me again. However, it was still nice to pretend that I might be able to make her smile someday later.

Yes, she had turned me into a mushy piece of goo. I'd fallen farther than anyone I didn't care about it anymore.

The past three days, without any exaggeration, had been better than any cake I had ever had, and while I would never speak about it with anyone except my brother, I wasn't going to deny that she had turned my life into a continuous heart-sneeze.

Pippa was right that no one would come to bother us. We heard members of the happy horde outside now and again, but for the most part they left us alone, and being alone with her was a colorful, beautiful blur.