WESTON

Nora gladly took the new position to get comfortable, moving a little closer and settling her golden head onto his arm. “And what is that supposed to mean? I do not know whether or not to be offended by your statement,” she asked him, faking shock and hurt. “Walking anti bad vibe shield? Rabbit on red bull? What even?” she asked, laughed again. It did feel good to really laugh again.

"Never be offended, Electric Girl. Or should I start calling you Anti?" He laughed at the sound of her own laughter, it boomed outwards and he felt her shake next to him. He didn't have to ponder on it to know that they were just two people trying their best in a quiet town. "You don't hang out with homeless people enough, they have all kinds of nicknames for everyone."

Welcome to the real world then.

Thanks, do I get a welcome basket?

His words really hit home for her and he didn’t even know her full story. It didn’t matter if she could pretend to be something else, she was now always going to a succubus. And she was going to have to deal with a lot of past and a lot of memories come the years. “It will be,” she said to him. Nora always tried to think positive, to hold on to whatever hope that she could. “I think that would hurt quite a lot,” she laughed. “You can be very silly you know.

He nodded in agreement and outstretched an arm for her to rest her head on so she could get a more comfortable position. "Maybe, I suppose we're all full of pleasant surprises." But really, she looked like she needed the laugh. "And you, Nora, you're like a walking anti bad vibe shield, or maybe a rabbit on Red Bull." With his free arm he looked at the ticking watch, one of those automatic rewinding ones that had a life of two days before they had to be rewound again. It was almost two in the morning already and he was surprised at how fast the time had passed.

Her hot anger began to thaw the cold face she put on, she was utterly and completely done with having to explain herself to everyone about everything, she was done with being underestimated.

What was funny was that he thought that was what he wanted to hear this entire time, to realize that it was okay to hate what she did, to hate her. But now he realized that it wasn't what he wanted, it wasn't what he felt. Even when she though it was okay because he would be okay and because he had his parents and friends to help restore him, it wasn't what he wanted to hear from her. "I don't hate you, Roslyn." His features softened up as he spoke, the realization of this evident on his face. 

You’re living under a rock if you haven’t heard it by now.

Actually in a cave, building fire.

"Yeah, don’t let it sink you down." she agreed with a nod but let out a long sigh as she ran her fingers through her curls. How could she not it get her down though? Because of Jackson she had lost her family, her humanity, everything. She used to say that he had ruined her and perhaps that was still partially true. She would never be the same Nora that she had been before she had met him. But at least here with Robert looking at the stars she could pretend that she was. "I think that’s what the internet is for," she teased with a small giggle.

"There's no point. I mean, the past never stays where you think it will. Nothing is ever just over. It creeps into your meals and into the air and sits in your clothes when you’re not wearing them. It’s hiding behind every corner, and it lives to take you by surprise, to make you remember everything you tried to forget. But eventually it all becomes a memory, you just have to wait till it starts feeling like one. Then, it's okay." At least he hopes so. He laughed at her comment then. "Welcome to the twenty-first century. Maybe you can learn how to swallow fire, so with a belly full of it you can see what it’s like to burn like a star from the inside out."

"If not a coincidence, than what is it?" she asked, crossing her arms stubbornly, her body language daring him to disagree, as it did in almost every conversation she had…With anyone, really.  It had been a long time since she hadn’t done, since she had felt comfortable enough to let down the wall of cold arrogance and wit.

He hadn't been expecting her to say anything, just like back then when everything happened. But he was angry and frustrated so he turned around. "Because coincidences are chance events meant to bring two things together, and this isn't that. They're suppose to happen when both parties want them, that's not the case here." He looked at her, he had been so good at reading her. Even now, the only difference was that he didn't want to. He simply wanted the truth without having to scope it out of her. "For leaving without any explanation, for dropping off the face of the earth thinking that it wasn't something selfish to do. For thinking that there would be no consequences to it. For not giving me any options, Roslyn."

In the Fault in our Stars the boyfriend dies so.

You could have said spoiler alert. But then maybe not a YA novel. 

"You got your heart broken?" she asked him gently. A broken heart was a sore subject, one that she knew very well many times over, not just by Jackson though he had been the worst heartbreak of all so far. "Thank you," she said to him, her smile growing when he called her Electric Girl. She was trying, she really was. Trying to adjust to this new life and new identity and the reality of her immortality. It was hard but at least she had Adrianna. Nora followed his lead and laid down on the cool and slightly wet grass, laughing at his lack of knowledge at the stars. "I have no idea too."

Robert nodded once. "Yeah, it happens." And it did, to most everyone so he shrugged against the crystallizing grass. "No point in letting it sink you down, right?" Especially not when the realization comes that pain isn't unique to the individual, it had been felt by many people, it doesn't belong to just one person yet it feels fresh like an open wound. He looked over to her as she agreed with him, revealing her own lack of astrology knowledge. "Maybe we'll figure out what's what one day."

"Well then, looks like we have a divine coincidence on our hands." she stated, her eyes drifted from his face and she attempted to make the action look relaxed, as if it were out of habit rather than emotional distress.

As much as he willed himself to look at her and try to make the conversation light, Robert had never been one to force things. He couldn't pretend that even after so long seeing her didn't bring up any old feelings, and old feelings with personal growth didn't mix well. "It doesn't have to be a coincidence." He said turning around to leave. He had so many questions, but he knew she wouldn't answer them. Not now, not like this. Closure wasn't something people got in real life. "I deserved an explanation." Robert called out, barely audible as he walked.

Young Adult. Think Twilight, Fault in our Stars and all that.

Do they have a happy ending?

Roslyn managed to grab ahold of her skill of being cold, cool, and collected, though it desperately tried to get away from her.  Looking up, Roslyn’s face betrayed none of what she was thinking.

"And to be fair, I didn't know that. I'm at Penn State." He didn't have to tell her that, he didn't have to tell her anything. But part of him hoped that by offering a piece of information, she'd do the same. She looked stoic, just like the day she broke it off.

Nora gave a little breathless laugh and then let out a long sigh. She was proud of herself for not crying. Talking about Jackson made her cry most of the time. “Where were you back in the spring to tell me that?” She had been so desperate for a happily ever after, for true love, for a beautiful life away from her toxic parents that she had let Jackson get her without even a blink of an eye. When he took her hand, Nora gave his a gentle squeeze and smiled at him. “I’m working on it, being alright.”

"Getting over a brunette." He said honestly, it had taken a long time, but he as functional and that was a giant leap after what happened after the breakup. "Isn't everyone? I think you're making a valiant effort, Electric girl." He chuckled and let go of her soft, small hand before laying on his back and crossing his arms behind his head to look up at the sky. "Do you see that constellation there?" He said, pointing to a cluster of stars. "I have no idea what that's called."

Didn’t know we were in a YA novel.

I'll pretend I know what that is and still laugh at the almost insult.

Why so curious?

It's a natural instinct to want to know, that's how we learn everything and anything.

Yeah, it’s beautiful; I’m actually surprised by it. Thank you though.

Not much else. He scooped a few sugar cubes out of the metal bucket and handed them over to the brunette. You look oddly familiar.

"Yes, and no. I mean, who knows? These textbooks could fill in the gaps to whatever you don’t understand. You may just thank me for making you do this in a couple of years."

"If I live that long, I feel my life shorten with bored already. Can't we take a break, Tay?"