A Shadowed Romance

Chapter 11: Reality's Escape

Five months later:

Chelsea:

"You're beautiful." Harrison says walking up behind me wrapping his arms around my waist and pulling me into his bare chest. I close my eyes and savor the moment that'll only happen when we're alone. He picks me up and I wrap my arms around his neck as he walks over to the bed and lays me down before laying down next to me. I wrap my arm around his torso and curl into his side letting him intertwine our legs my head resting on his chest I let myself fall asleep.

Harrison shifts positions and wakes me up. I blink trying to adjust to the dark. It's midnight. I carefully untangle myself from him and get dressed. I unlock and quietly open my bedroom door heading up to the roof. Theo sits up their already.

"Couldn't sleep?" I ask him sitting next to him both of us dangling our legs over the side.

"Too much on my mind." he says.

"Like what?"

"Like how my parabatai is an angel with three boys hopelessly in love with her." He says. "How she's afraid to love any of them back. How her ex-boyfriend is still hung up on her. How she'll never have a parabatai for life since angels never actually die, they age on earth, but they never die." He doesn't look at me but stares up at the stars. "How one day, those are the things that will separate you from me."

"Angels do die, their human form anyway. We'll be together again." I promise Theo. "Falling in love is like giving your heart over to be broken. It's not worth it."

"The guys here are good guys." Theo says.

"So was Connor," I defend.

"Yeah, because good guys rape their girlfriend when they're twelve." Theo scoffs. I look down at my hands looking at the runes that dance across my skin.

"I thought he was a good guy." I whisper, "Everything about him was nice, until that."

"Then he got out of hand."

"You and Andy were there, and I will forever be grateful for it." I lace my fingers with his, "But falling in love wasn't in the cards for me. And I'm okay with it."

"There are three boys in there who are head over heels in love with you." He says. "You're really going to sit here and tell me that you don't love them too?"

"I don't know what their kind of love is. Love is sex." I stand up and head back inside to the only boy here aside from Theo that I haven't slept with.

I quietly open my door and see Harrison sitting up in bed.

"Are you okay?" He asks walking over to me.

"I couldn't sleep." I tell him changing back into my pajamas.

"You didn't answer my question."

"I'm fine Ace." I tell him laying back down on my back looking at the witchlight pieces that light up my ceiling. Theo and I put them up when we turned thirteen. We'd heard mundanes had glow in the dark stars, why can't I have a few pieces of broken witchlight to remind me of the freedom of the outside? Harrison lays down next to me and laces our fingers together.

"Elsie, you and I both know that's not true."

These private nicknames for each other, do they mean anything? Am I just over thinking everything? Has Theo finally succeeded in getting into my head? "I'm fine, please just drop it." I reiterate. Turning on my side so my back is to him. He wraps his arm around me pulling me into his chest.

"I'm sorry." He whispers pressing a kiss to my head keeping his arm around my waist his thumb rubbing circles on my stomach. His legs intertwining with my own.