Sea Foam

“Must be.” Cris mused, walking along beside her. He smiled at her reveal, though. “Secret cookie menu? I like the sound of that. I think I might have to, just to make sure I get in on all the hidden gems and extra cookies.” He was amused by her but he still needed to see if she was a wolf or not before he fully committed to any kind of friendship or even good feelings about her. He was starting to hope she wasn’t a wolf, though. 

“I like you, you understand the importance of good sweets,” Kendall stated with a wide grin. “I don’t discriminate against any sweets, but cookies are the classic favorite, with a nice side of milk for dipping.”

Lea rolled her eyes as she scoffed, “I think you could probably get us both drinks on your own but if you insist on dragging me into it…I won’t say no.” It was a rare night out for the fae but since coming back to town she’d been reconnecting with a few people and Kendall was one. They didn’t speak about what had happened and Lea didn’t think they needed to. It was as though an invisible understanding was between the two of them, both having gone through something most people wouldn’t want to talk about and neither did they. It was more of a relief, in fact, to be around someone who understood this rather than others who didn’t seem to get why Lea wouldn’t want to talk about what had happened. So getting drinks with the mermaid was actually a welcome alternative to the long talks she’d been roped into the past few days, talks she’d rather not have in the first place 

It felt nice not to have to think about being okay. She was healing and okay was her default experience most of the time, but if a moment passed where her face fell or she got quiet, Lea didn’t ask. They filled in the silence for each other, worked around their broken pieces in a wordless dance. She laughed, bumping shoulders with the fae. “Like you couldn’t get enough drinks on your own to make a liquor ocean. Look at these cheekbones, I am so jealous of your cheekbones.” She affectionately patted Lea’s cheek and then began to eye the room. “Alright, we need to find some people with deep pockets who will get us the top shelf alcohol.”

“You did .” The brunette snorted, attempting to root through a pile of fabric for a place to leave the skirt she had finally returned to her friend. “Ok. Here’s what we’re gonna do. I’m gonna collect all the skirts, you’re gonna get all the shirts. Can we do that without burning anything, you think?”

This was half the reason Kendall let Chrissy borrow skirts and jackets and other items. It was an excuse to drag her back into the closet and beg for help. “Unless the fabric catches on to how hot we are and spontaneously combusts I think the most we have to fear is blunt force trauma from the shoe rack,” she answered with a laugh. She moved to begin collecting shirts, though the curve of her lips said it wouldn’t be all work and no play. “So catch me up on Chrissy things? How goes life for my favorite fae?”

If they were to fall in love, who (or what) is their ideal?

“Okay, so . . . feel free to shoot me down here. But you are in a bar. And I am in a bar. And we are both pretty easy on the eyes. If we combine forces I bet we could both get free drinks for the night.”

He cocked a brow at the revelation, curious. “That right? Huh. Didn’t hear about anyone else being spared… not that I’ve asked around, I was blind as a bat at the time.” Henryk smiled at the joke, though it burst into a chuckle at her worry.

“I’m just gonna order some pie, but a turkey sandwich sounds good too,” the vampire said, flagging down the waitress to press his order along with a drink. “Feels like it’s been a while since we had a chat. How’s it going? Anybody pissed you off lately? You know I’m willing to add any names to my special menu.”

“You . . . shit man, that sounds awful,” Kendall murmured. She let genuine sympathy touch the syllables of the first few words, but knew her new boss well enough to be aware he wasn’t the type to like much coddling. He was like her . . . much better soothed by a snarky jolt of playful sarcasm. “I mean, you missed out on all the times you made folks faces get all twisty when you pissed them off. I know that’s one of your favorite sights.”

“I can see why.” Cris gave her a look. “Wait, are you telling me there’s one place that sells both at the same time? If this town got a bakery/pizzeria and no one told me about it I’m gonna be real upset with a few people.” 

“Oh it’s a very carefully guarded secret,” Kendall answered with a grin, hands tucked behind her. “Technically speaking it’s a pizzeria, but for the very special and favored loyal customers there is a top notch cookie menu. Stick with me and you will always be well fed, my friend.”

“I am going to trust you on this, you’re the one providing me with a cookie cake”

Kendall gave a satisfied smirk. “Oh I like you. We’re going to be friends. Now do you want a regular standard chocolate chip cookie cake, or do you want to get creative with the ingredients because they can do anything you can imagine and sometimes I like peanut butter fudge and white chocolate and shit.”

“Hey, when someone offers you pizza and a cookie, you don’t turn ‘em down.” It just made sense to Cris. “No, I’m just checking. Sounds like you’ve got a good routine, though. Hopefully you won’t have to put it all into practice any time soon.” 

“Consider the week of chaos most of the town had, I don’t know. Not feeling particularly hopeful,” Kendall murmured with a shrug. “Pizza and cookies, off we go though. I know the best place to get both.”