Reaper's Touch

Hex: The Gifts

"A gift given in love has the power to wipe out any storm."
-unknown

Now when Hex visited Adam's bridge, there was always something waiting for her there. Sometimes it was candy. Sometimes picked wildflowers held together with a rubber band. Sometimes a pretty hair clip. Sometimes a little stuffed animal on a keychain. Sometimes a note, like today.

The square of paper had been placed in her usual sitting spot, where she and Adam used to sleep, Ember and Jesse to the right, Gus on the other side, Adam's side. Hex reached for the square and unfolded its tight creases.

"Hey it's me Gus. Come see me after work if you can. We can eat. Bye!"

The gifts had never been discussed, but Gus had started leaving them after their last visit here. Now Hex came each morning before her lunch shift and found something new. They never talked about it, either. It was an unspoken ritual. Gus would come here on his way to the tattoo shop, drop something off, and she would come a few hours later before her lunch shift to pick it up.

The gifts meant more to her than Gus knew, and he had no idea how much she looked forward to finding them every day. It had become a welcome distraction, but more than that it was a growing feeling of comfort. It was such a simple and sweet thing to do, a thing that only Gus would think of, and it made her feel something she didn't understand.

After her shift ended later that afternoon, Hex made the familiar trek to the tattoo shop. She still had the note in her pocket, where it would stay until she got back to Ember's. There she kept the gifts from the bridge inside a pink cosmetics bag Ember had loaned her, and she tucked that bag under her pillow on the couch. After all, that was the only space she could really call hers. Ember didn't know about the gifts yet, but that was fine with Hex. Conversations about Gus were awkward enough.

"Okay, you've gotta be able to tell how obsessed Gus is with you," Ember told her one evening while they were sitting on the couch watching TV.

"Of course I can tell. I'm not that dense. Plus he's so obvious," Hex replied with a roll of her eyes.

"So why haven't you made a move?"

"A move? Like what? I mean... it's Gus," Hex said. She picked up the remote to turn up the volume, hoping that Ember would take the hint.

Ember kept going though. "Oh come on! He is not the same whiny Gus we used to know with that stuffed dog. He's grown up a lot and... he's grown up pretty hot, if I may say so," she said, winking.

Hex smiled and shook her head. "Okay that may be true, but Gus is not strong enough to handle someone like me! I'll go off on him or say something one day and make him cry! He's too fragile and sensitive."

Ember started laughing. "He's stronger than you think. Being strong doesn't always mean being tough. There are other ways to be strong."

"I don't know."

"Well do you feel anything for him?"

Hex bit her lip. "I feel something about Gus, but I don't know what."

"A good feeling or bad?"

"It's good."

"Well don't wait too long. Some other girl will snatch him up quick," Ember said.

"Or guy. He told me he's bi now," Hex said.

"Oh good for him! He musta finally figured out he was in love with Adam all that time!"