Room 186

Chapter 10

Lyric yanked his mask off and took a deep breath. Amari did the same.

"Wow," she said. "That was close."

"No kidding," Lyric replied, shaking his head. He pulled his smaller stone out of his jacket pocket and checked the time. "Shit! Amari, we have trials tomorrow."

Amari turned to face him. Lyric's eyes opened wide. In that moment, with the light illuminating her dress, making her tan skin almost appear as if it were glowing, and glinting off the golden crane necklace she always wore, Lyric thought she was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. God, she's beautiful, he thought.

"So?" she said, blinking.

"It's past midnight, so maybe we should head back?"

Amari snapped her fingers. "Ah." She turned back to Esse and Iti, who were now hunched over a stone that was the smallest Lyric had ever seen, about the size of two thumbs put together side by side. "Esse, Iti, we're heading out."

Esse and Iti looked up in unison and grinned. They even had the same silver-capped teeth, Lyric noticed. Esse kissed Lyric and Amari on both cheeks, then Iti did the same. "I hope we see you again," Esse said.

"Have a great weekend," Iti added.

Lyric and Amari nodded, turned and started walking. "I wonder if Sage snagged their girl," Lyric commented.

Amari inclined her head. "They're funny and not too bad looking, especially with whatever magic Allegra did. I wouldn't be surprised."

"There!" Lyric said, pointing at Sage, smiling, and the girl with the one hoop earring. "They seem like they're bonding."

"Sage or them both?" Amari asked.

"Both of them," Lyric said and rested his chin on his hand. "They look so happy!"

Amari studied the pair. "That's the first time I've ever seen Sage smile."

"They don't do it often," Lyric admitted. "Should we leave them be?"

Amari furrowed her brow, considering. "Let's find Allegra first."

Lyric offered her his arm, and they began walking again. Amari snuck a glance back at Sage and the girl and smiled at the image of her dark fingers winding a strand of Sage's hair into the rest, then that hand resting on their cheek. Amari sighed happily, then turned back to face Lyric. "Any idea where she is?"

"Nope," Lyric said, scanning the crowds. "Day sure does know a lot of people."

"She seems nice enough that she could invite someone she'd only known for five minutes and they'd say yes," Amari commented.

"True," Lyric acknowledged. "Do you know Day? Like, extensively?"

Amari tilted her head. "Kind of. I have seen her around town, chatting it up with people. She's never spoken to me, though, till an hour or so ago."

Lyric nodded. Privately, he thought that Amari was the best judge of character he'd ever met, but he thought saying that right to her face might seem creepy. "Is that her?"

Amari turned to look and saw Day straddling Allegra's lap. As she watched, she saw Day kiss Allegra on the cheek, then on the lips. As they started making out, Amari blushed, feeling as if she were intruding, and looked at Lyric. "Maybe we shouldn't bother them either."

Lyric nodded once. "Let's head home. We can send them messagewinds once we get there."

Amari started walking, and Lyric followed her. As they walked out the doors, he thought about Day and Allegra. He'd had no idea that Day was - whatever she was - but he did know Allegra was a lesbian. She'd came out to him, rather aggressively, when they first started talking about buying a house together. "I'm lesbian and trans," she'd said. "I've already transitioned, MTF. I knew when I was seven, and my parents were supportive. If you can't accept me, I can't do this." Lyric had assured her that he really didn't care one way or the other and asked if she was unusually stressed about something, to which she smiled and replied, "No, I just get scared about coming out. I've had some bad experiences with 'friends' treating me like shit. I got this scar from someone punching me when I first told them."

She'd also told Sage when they took them in, one rainy night when they showed up on the doorstep soaking wet and crying. Allegra had waited till morning and then told Sage, "I'm lesbian and trans, MTF. If you can't accept me for that, I can't keep you in this house. We'll help you find another, but you can't stay here."

Lyric inwardly smiled to think of Sage's response. They had said, "And I'm agender and a biromantic ace. Allegra, I don't give a shit. Ooh! Can I make pancakes for you guys? I've got the best recipe."

Lyric darkened again to think of Sage's story. After the two friends had dried them off and given them fresh clothes and something warm to eat, they had told Allegra and Lyric about why they'd needed a place to stay. At seventeen at the time, Sage was younger by a few years than either Allegra or Lyric, who had been nineteen and twenty, respectively. They'd still been living with their parents when they had gotten into an argument with their parents about their gender identity. Mr. and Mrs. Zhao had accused them of "pretending" and "role-playing" and told them that agender wasn't a legitimate identity. Eventually, it escalated to the point where Sage's mother had slapped them across the face and told them to get out. Sage had run outside to the next house down, which had just happened to be Allegra's and Lyric's. The pair had taken them in, and the three quickly became a family.

"Are we going to our separate houses, are you going to my house, or am I coming to yours?" Amari asked.

Lyric blinked and turned to her. "Uh, whichever. You can come to mine if you want, wash off your makeup."

"I'll do that," Amari yawned, and covered her mouth with her hand. "I don't have a single makeup product at home, let alone something to wash it off. My face has felt so cakey all night."

"It looks nice though," Lyric remarked. "Although you look like you have it on, even when you don't, what with your long eyelashes and clear skin and defined cheekbones and strong jaw and all that shit that I don't have."

Amari smiled. "Yes you do."

Lyric smiled back as they walked out of Day's house. Amari shivered as they stepped out into the frigid night air. "Oh, that's cold."

Lyric took off his suit jacket. "Here," he said, and draped it over her shoulders.

Amari took it off and tried to hand it back. "You're gonna be freezing if you don't have it, Lyric," she chided.

He shook her off. "I was sweating back there. This breeze feels amazing. You need it more than I do."

Reluctantly, Amari wrapped it around her shoulders. "If you get cold, I can give it back."

"Okay," Lyric replied, smiling, with absolutely no intention of letting her know that his fingers were starting to go numb.