Together - A Marelinh Short Story

Marella

This part takes place at around about the end of part 5 in the Fedex Story.

I held my head in my hands, trying to slow my breathing until it was nothing but shaky wheezes. The ground was blanketed with ash, the walls were charred, the smoke squeezed my throat. I'd lashed out. Let my emotions get the better of me. My mum was with Elwin, probably still passed out. I didn't understand what had happened - maybe all of her emotions overloaded and she just... snapped?

I didn't understand. It was frustrating to not understand. Frustration was anger and anger was fire - the very essence of it. Brant had proved that. Oh no. I banged my head against the blackened wall. Of course I had to think about Brant- another cursed one. All of the pyrokinetics are cursed. Cursed to go bad. It was just a matter of time I went bad too.

I looked at the two smudges in front of me - my vision was blurring. I blinked furiously, partly trying to fix my sight and partly trying to hold back the tears welling up in my eyes. After everything had cleared, I realised it was my shaking hands that I'd been looking at. If I had been holding anything, I would've dropped it for sure.

"Marella?" I heard a voice whisper. My head snapped up. I took in the figure's kind, silver flecked eyes that you could so easily get lost in and their smooth, silky, highlighted hair. "Linh," I croaked my voice shaking. Having her here made it so much worse. She started to move toward me but I stuck my frail hands out. "Please, please don't come any closer - I'll just make things worse." Linh didn't seem afraid of me, though. Everyone was. Why wasn't she? She smiled softly at me and said, in her usual soothing voice, "I don't think you will." Linh slowly walked closer to me and took my still shaking hands into hers. She then tucked a few loose strands of my hair behind my ear. "I think that... you're trying your best, Marella," she told me. I looked to the floor. "It isn't enough, Linh - it's never enough," I muttered. Linh laughed softly. "It rarely ever is," her silver flecked eyes met mine, "But... it's enough for me."

A tear rolled down my cheek. I couldn't believe that someone would say that kind of stuff about me. "Oh, sorry. Did I say the wrong thing? I don't-" Linh said worriedly.
"What? Oh! No, Linh - these aren't sad tears. They're... they're happy ones," I said, smiling.
"Oh! Happy tears... happy tears. That's good then!" I laughed. Man, this girl was amazing. Amazing, right... Maybe it was time. Maybe it was time to... tell Linh how I feel about her. The worst she can do is say she doesn't like me back... right? Or she could say that I was a weird, pathetic, lesbian creep that- Okay, Marella, stop with all the negative thoughts. "Uh, Marella? Are you okay? Is this another way of showing you're happy? If so, you have a very weird way of showing it," Linh said, worry flooding her face again. I took a deep breath, not realising I'd started shaking again. "No, uh... Look, Linh, I'm just going to tell you something and you have to promise me that you won't freak out, okay?" Linh frowned and nodded.

I gulped, trying to bring moisture to my suddenly dry throat. "I, um. I..." Come on, Marella - just say it! "Linh, I... I like you." I held my breath, waiting for her reaction. She was going to say no. She would obviously say no. Linh smiled at me. Was this her way of letting me down easy? She then laughed. Oh no. She probably thought I was some sort of joke. "I like you too, Marella," Linh said.
"What?" I asked. I was confused. "But... I'm a girl?" Linh laughed again and smiled at me. "So? I'm pansexual, Marella - I don't care about that sort of thing." Relief flooded through me. Linh liked me back! Linh Song liked me! (YES BITCHES CUE THE PARTY MUSIC-)

"So... do you want to...?" I was too scared to finish the question. What if Linh wasn't looking for that sort of thing? Linh gave my hand, that I hadn't realised was still entwined with hers,  a comforting squeeze and said, as if reading my mind, "Of course, Marella - I would love to be your girlfriend." I smiled, not my usual snarky smirk, but an actual smile - something only Linh could do. Or, I guess I should say, my girlfriend, now.

I started to walk out of the room when Linh stopped me. "Uh, Marella - you do know that you've burned down the girl's bathroom, right?" The girl's bathroom. After the whole thing with my mum, I'd run into a random room in Foxfire, not realising which room it was. "Oh, uh... blame it on Keefe?" I suggested. Linh giggled. (*evily*) "He'd gladly take the credit," she replied. The mention of Keefe made us remember something, though. What were we going to tell our friends? "Do you... think they'll support it?" Linh asked, chewing her lip. I hated seeing her so worried. "Linh, it's gonna be fine, okay? We can... we can tell them eventually. But, for now, let's just... keep this on the down low, okay?" Linh nodded. "Yeah, it'll be fine - as long as we're together." I rolled my eyes. "That was so cheesy," I said. Linh smirked at me. Since when was she the one who smirks? "You'll have to get used to it - like it or not, you're stuck with me, now." To be honest, that didn't seem so bad.

Yay! There were words!