Resonant

Chapter 5

Fen

I was on a date with my soul mate.

Just thinking about it had me squirming in my seat with excitement. Sure, he hadn't done much other than stare blankly at his menu so far, but he was here. And I had promised myself I could tell him about our bond just as soon as we got through one conversation without him looking annoyed with me. Surely, that would happen tonight. I had already made him laugh, and I knew how rare that was. And he wouldn't have come if he didn't want to be here with me. Zale wasn't the kind of guy who did anything he didn't want to do.

"Have you decided what you want?" I asked to get him talking. Besides, maybe he could help me figure out what to order.

He glanced up at me for a moment and his eyes glimmered prettily in the low light of the restaurant even though he was kind of glaring. "Yeah." Then, after a pause and almost like he had to drag the words from himself, Zale asked, "Have you been here before?"

"Nope! I've never actually had seafood before. I'm excited to try it."

It was only because I had spent so much time observing him that I saw the little spark of amusement buried in the depths of his gaze. "It's not for everyone. I hope you like it."

Which seemed like a really nice sentiment until he added, "I'm not going to another place if you don't like this one."

Why was he so snappish? It was like Zale couldn't help sticking barbs into everything he said. I swallowed and imagined I was gulping down the hurt. I used to know people like him when I was younger. After my best friend went to Earth without me – and without even telling me he was going, in an uncharacteristically thoughtless move that had been utterly shocking – I had a really hard time connecting to my classmates. That was, until I learned how to be pliable. How to become what the people around me wanted, and bend myself to their expectations. It was easy once you had the knack for it.

The most important thing was to figure out what the person wanted out of their interactions. Usually, that meant praising whatever aspects of themselves they either loved or hated the most. Then there were those like Zale, who wouldn't respond well to adulation at all. The ones who had been hurt deep down and who lashed out their pain at the world instead of dealing with it. I didn't know what or who had hurt Zale, but it was obvious something had. No one could be this angry at the world without a reason.

I was trying to be patient with him. I really was. But I couldn't help wanting to be near him all the time, and he was starting to seem really annoyed by my very presence. So, it had seemed like time to stop sticking to the shadows. But I didn't know how much more of his lashing out I could take.

"You should try the tilapia," Zale said.

"What?" I asked, hardly believing my own eyes. All the hard edges of his usual expressions were gone, and he was looking at me with beautiful, soft eyes and a gentle smile.

"Tilapia. It's a good starter fish. Very mild."

"Um, thanks. I'll try it," I said. Zale nodded and went back to looking down at his menu, though I didn't know why he was still studying it if he already knew what he wanted to eat. Maybe he was just avoiding having to look at me. My heart ached again, and I quickly shoved away the thought. I was getting ahead of myself and making assumptions again. Better to stick to facts rather than painful guesswork.

The waiter came and wrote down our orders, then took the menus. Now that the excuse of the menu was gone, Zale finally looked at me for more than a couple of seconds. "So, what are you doing teaching at a school on Earth? Shouldn't you be off in faery land?" he asked. His tone was flat and had a bit of a sarcastic edge to it, but I thought he looked genuinely curious underneath all that.