Under The Moonlight

Chapter 27

"I'm genuinely worried Haze. She hasn't been answering, and now that I know what she went through I'm really worried because it didn't seem she had anyone else that really cared much for her, and breakups are tough, and I was really mean, and I don't want her to get the wrong idea because she's not even reading my texts and-"

"Darling, please, you're losing your mind over this," Haze placed zirs hand on Cassey's shoulder, "Please, just breathe and grab your stuff. Your shift starts soon, I wouldn't want you to be late. And please, let it go. If she doesn't want to talk to you, you should respect it. It's the right thing."

"Why are you always so reasonable," Cas groaned, "See you in the morning, I guess... You'll be asleep by the time I get back."

"Ey, don't go off so fast," Haze stopped Cassey from going outside and hugged him tight, "You ain't leaving this store without a hug."

"Awe, you love me," Cas giggled, returning the hug.

"Yes, I do. Now you are free to go. Make some good coffee down there, 'k?"

"Alright, see ya!"

Haze watched zirs best friend leave the store, sighing once she was out of sight. On normal situations, ze would encourage them to move on and forget ex partners, but there was a debate when it came to the cute gal. Haze was fond of her, she seemed very nice, and she made Cas happy since the moment they saw her. Also, the reason they've broken up was a miss understanding. It made zir incredibly mad that she was just ghosting an amazing person such as Cassey, but ze still believed things had had to go better. And that's when a plan formulated in zirs brain, to end the debate and finally know what sort of advice to give to zirs best friend.

...

The store had closed already, Haze was supposed to go back home. Emphasis on supposed. Instead of doing so, ze took out his phone, a device ze didn't use often, and wrote in an address in Google maps. A 20-minute walk... that's reasonable. Even if by now the dryad normally would just want to go home and watch TV until ze felt zirs eyes closing, this was an important task. It didn't matter the sun was starting to set either; in fact, this was an advantage.

Finally, Haze arrived to the destination. Ze was wondering how zed get to the apartment successfully without getting kicked out or anything, when a lady who passed next to zir opened the front door.

"Oh hello pretty boy!" She said, giving Haze a warm smile. She must've been around the age of late 50s, with silvery grey hair and wrinkles at the side of her eyes, probably from smiling, "What you are doing here looking so awkward?"

"I- Um, I was planning on visiting a friend, but I forgot if she lived in the 5 a or b," Haze replied, which was technically true. There's a reason ze had written the address down, ze forgot easily. But it wasn't the whole truth either. Still worked.

"Well, I'm the one who lives in 5a, so I bet you're referring to my neighbor. You look a bit too young to come visit me," The lady laughed. Haze politely smiled, "Come in! You give me a hand with the groceries, I let you in. How does this plan sound to you?"

"A great one actually," the smile in Haze's lip was a genuine one now. Ze picked the bags the lady had left in the floor, following her inside, into the elevator.

"I warn you boy, if I hear the slightest sound of trouble, I'll call the police. I see your fae ears, and judging by your face, you are a dryad. You seem like a nice one though. My good girl Mei is a vampire, so I have no reason to believe there'll be trouble. Still, you can never be too precautious, can you?"

"Yeah, I guess," Haze nodded, now feeling uncomfortable.

The bad rep dryads had was basically the reason ze left the forest. Their violent and traditional ways made it very hard for someone like Haze to live amongst them. Ze was calm, pacific, anything but traditional. Comments like the one the lady had just made weren't something of Haze's everyday life, but they did occur more often than ze'd wish for. In a perfect world, ze wouldn't have to feel sunken down by the legacy zirs people had given zir. But this wasn't a perfect world. That was fine; in a perfect world ze might've never met Cassey, one of the best moments of zirs live.

Once they got to the 5th floor, each one went separate ways. Haze gave the lady back her groceries back. Once she was away, ze turned to the cute gal's door and rang the bell.

After a minute or two, the door creaked open, just enough so that the vampire could interact with the visitor but not enough so ze could get in.

"Haze?" Mei asked, eyes wide open and brows crossed in confusion.

"The one and only," Ze smiled.

"... what are you doing here? How did you get my address? Did Cas send you?"

"I'm here because I believe we should discuss some things, I hacked into Cassey's phone to get your address, Cas has no idea I came here, I have no intent on him finding out."

"That's- I'm not sure how to feel about that."

"Happens to the best of us. Anyways, allow me to elaborate on the reason of my visit. My beloved Cassey has been very troubled by your breakup, and you seem to be ghosting them. I just came by to see what your final decision on your situation and relationship with her was because it's very hard to give advice when I myself am debating if you two have a shot together," Haze explained, "Now, I don't mind staying in the doorway, but it'll make it more comfortable if I could see your face, to get a better conclusion."

There was silence for a bit, but the cute gal ended up opening the door completely, altho she stood in the way to stop Haze from coming in.

"I'm still confused on what this is about," she said.

"It's not that hard darling. Look, Cas is my best friend, they are going through a rough time with this breakup. They love you so very much and I'm not sure to tell her to move on or to try and win you back. So, would he potentially have a chance with you again?"

"You understand how weird this all is, right?"

"Yes I do, but you are avoiding my question."

"Look- I don't know, alright?" Mei sighed, brushing the messy hair off her face, "Yeah, Cas is cute, I like them a lot and all that, but I feel it's not meant to be. A lot of stuff has happened and I'm not sure if having a relationship is the best plan at the moment."

"Alright, I'll note that down," Haze nodded, "Anything else I should keep in mind for my verdict or is that all?"

"Why are you doing this? Why are you taking the bother to come to my house and ask all of this when Cassey didn't even told you to come?"

"Because that's what friends do. Also, I'm fond of you, you're a nice gal, much better than some of the other people that my man has dated. I'd rather you to stay, but I respect your decision if you believe you two aren't compatible," With this, Haze did a small bow and started to walk away, "It was nice talking to you. If you wish to contact me, you know where to find me."

Haze didn't get any new reply form the cute gal. Ze got to the elevator, turning to wave goodbye. To zirs surprise, she hadn't closed the door. In fact, she even waved back. Ze took yet another mental note of this, watching the elevators doors close, planning up the speech ze'd give to Cassey in the morning.