The Tale of Two Singers

XVI : what a time - julia michaels ft. niall horan

"Nat, listen to me," Aida whined to her brother's girlfriend as they walked the streets of Velaris one winter evening.

"I'm listening."

"Business has been so slow lately it makes me want to cry. I thought buying close to the high school would be a perfect idea, getting the kids in after classes let out and whatever. But that's all there is. At least the apartment's nice, I've been renting out the rooms."

"So you're telling me that even as Ms. Business women, our dear little Aida is still broke as shit?" Natalie asked. Asshole.

"You need to advertise it better. Setting it up in a decent part of town won't change the fact that you have no customers. Make flyers or something, or get some of Ophelia's friends to stop by. Have her spread the word." She suggested. Aida pouted.

"But I want to do it by myself. I've furnished everything by myself, paid for all the appliances, and bought the place. I want it to be completely and totally mine."

"You won't be able to call it yours if you don't have any customers keeping the place running. Step off your high horse and ask for help. More than enough people are willing." Aida hated how much Natalie made sense. Her pride was a gargantuan mountain that was hard to climb. She had already backpacked off of Ophelia for years, she was the person who recommended her for her first job, and for her and Drew's third apartment before they moved in with her.

"Let's talk about something else," Aida said as they rounded the corner into the artist's district, the Rainbow. She forever wished that she had been born with artistic talents, she envied the people who could convey emotion through paper. She couldn't complain all that much though, she had been gifted with the voice of an angel, as her mother liked to call it.

"Has my dearest brother asked you to marry him yet?" Aida asked, a cheeky smile plastered on her freezing-cold face. It was well into October, but the weather mirrored that of what they usually got during Solstice. That didn't stop people from milling about, however, dashing through the streets to the next event in their lives.

"Is he planning to?" Natalie asked with a raised eyebrow. Natalie and her brother met when they had moved to the city twenty-some years ago. Aida had never seen her brother so flustered, a fact that she never let him live down. They had started off as friends, and gods that had to be the most painful part of their relationship. It wasn't until a year later that either of them got the balls to ask the other out.

Aida had welcomed Natalie into the family the second she met her. Callahan also adored her, it had gotten to a point where Drew had chastised his elder brother for making advances on his girl. Stirring the pot in typical Callahan fashion, he challenged Drew. Aida knew it was to get him to fess up his feelings for her, but he didn't have to go about it that way.

In the end, Cal's gamble had paid off, resulting in Natalie confessing her feelings to Drew. And Cal was thankful for it. He didn't know what he would have done had she actually fallen for him. He'd never been with a woman romantically or sexually in his life, and he didn't plan on ever starting.

"Not that I know of. He sure is taking his sweet fucking time though," Aida said.

"I have to agree with you there. Maybe once he stops pissing himself he'll find the courage." Aida and Natalie both shared a laugh at that as they stopped in front of an artist's display.

The painter sat on a bench as they finished the last details of a beautiful mural along the wall of a building. They stood in silence for a while, watching with the other onlookers as they added details, color, texture, and whenever the hell else it is that you add to a painting to make it a work of art.