#ftf2

For a moment, it was like her very essence flickered. For a moment, she had felt alive. It was like something inside of her had yawned wide after slumbering for far too long. It had been months since she’d felt the warmth of it kissing her skin like a summer breeze. Months since she had felt awake and aware. It was like for the first time in ages she saw everything with such bright clarity, not in a faded fog. 

In the mirrored wall behind the bar she had even seen the physical change and wondered what Rowan thought of it. In that flicker of a moment, Aelin had looked like herself. Her hair had rippled with the golden rays of the sun, the core of her eyes had shone so bright it had been impossible to miss even with three meters between her and the mirror. Everything about her glowed. Everything about her had become beautiful again. 

And gods above had she felt good, too. The magic zinging through her, the palpable energy vibrating between her fingers she had channeled it through. Then there was the smile on Rowan’s face, so wide and unrestrained like he couldn’t help himself. Like this was what he had been waiting for every day the last few weeks that she’d sat at his bar and watched her drink become nothing until he filled it with ice flowers or, once, ice penises. 

“So, fire.” Rowan was leaning against the bar now, freezing the ice in her glass again. This time it took the shape of lilies. 

“Fire,” she confirmed, daring to weave strands through her fingers. Gods it felt good to get it out, to see the yellow and orange flame flicker against her skin. It felt good to feel the slight warmth of it, only ever as hot as she allowed it to be. It felt so good to let it out that she nearly moaned. 

“It makes sense. I always thought that you looked like the sun,” he said, pausing to offer her a small smile before he turned and walked away, leaving her to play with her flames while he tended to other patrons of the bar. 

For the first time in months, Aelin looked at her hands and smiled. 

~*~

From that night on, once he got the bar closed, Aelin stayed late and let her magic play with his while they talked. She liked to watch him send her drinks on a cool breeze, loved watching him keep her drink cold without a single thought. Even more, she loved when he used his wind to stoke her fire into bigger flames. Not that she needed the help, he knew that. But it seemed to light her up when they played together. 

They went on like that for weeks, for well over a month. Talking about anything and everything. Aelin finally confessed the depths of her relationship to him. The mental abuse she had endured made Rowan want to kill her boyfriend, but found it in him not to. 

For so long she hadn’t used her magic, but the little she used brought the color back to her face when they twined ice and fire together. 

Aelin told him everything, and in turn he bared his own soul. He told her about his past relationships. about his regrets and pain that he carried on heavy shoulders. Aelin told him about the car accident that ruined her life, about how her boyfriend at helped her onto her feet shortly after. 

One day she finally told him how he hated magic, and that she refrained from using it anymore because he was worried that there was no way to check her power. While he insisted he wasn’t anti-magic, he sure didn’t trust it. He was on the fence somewhere but Aelin couldn’t handle the way he seemed to shy away from it anytime she used it. She couldn’t handle the look on his face, so she had just stopped using it at all. 

That killed Rowan most of all, he thought. That the man truly has stifled everything bright and wild about her until she was whittled to nothing but a shell. 

Yet here she was with him, her flame melting his ice and she was smiling at him so brilliantly that it took his breath away. 

When the last patron left for the evening Rowan locked the door and moved to shut off the juke box but Aelin ran over to him with a hand on his chest. 

“Wait. I love this song,” she breathed, biting her lip as she began to sway to the slow music. It started out like some sort of ballet that she thought would fit the music, rising up on her toes and spinning in circles. 

Until Rowan caught her hand and twirled her until they were chest to chest, one of his hands on her hip and the other holding hers carefully. They were wordless while they swayed back and forth, Rowan resting his temple against hers after awhile. 

They danced like that until the song changed to a slower one and kept going, kept swaying and moving together. To be honest, He wasn’t sure how long they danced, he just knew at some point he turned his head ever so slightly so his nose was grazing hers. When she didn’t move away, didn’t balk at the gesture, he let his eyes fall shut so he could breathe her in, breathe the moment in. 

It wasn’t enough, they weren’t close enough until she slipped her arms around his waist, his running up and down her back. The moment was so intimate, swaying together to the quiet sounds of the jukebox with tension so palpable a knife couldn’t have sliced through the air. 

Rowan slowly turned his head, lips brushing along her cheek, down to the corner of her mouth where he placed the softest of kisses there. And then another, until she shifted her head and their lips brushed in a whisper of a kiss. 

“I can’t,” she said against his mouth, taking a step far enough back that it felt like miles between them. “I have to go.” And then she was unlocking the door and disappearing into the night, leaving Rowan with one hand still outstretched, his lips still forming the words that he didn’t want her to go. Words she wouldn’t ever hear. 

@notprincessleia

Jane bit her lip as she made her way up Leah’s driveway to pick her up for their date (not a date - completely not a date, she thought to herself). Her and Leah hadn’t seen each other in weeks, though it felt like months, and Jane was honestly caught off guard when Leah admitted she wanted to see her. It wasn’t like either of them were angry at each other or their situation - it was the complete opposite. Jane was more... sad about what had gone down between the two of them. And to be honest, she didn’t know how Leah felt. All Jane knew was that it still hurt her heart to think about, but she loved Leah. She really and truly did - so what broke her heart more than anything was that they barely spoke anymore, because they were friends first - even before they fell in love. So she reached out and rang Leah’s doorbell, heart speeding up as the light sound echoed through the house. She nervously rocked back and forth on the balls of her feet as she waited, doing her best not to think of all the things that could happen that night. She just wanted to have a good time, and more importantly, she wanted Leah to enjoy herself. 

On Friday morning, Rachel woke up energized and ready for their trip to Pompeii. Everything in Italy had been so great so far, and she was sure that their trip to Pompeii would be just as great; there was just so much history to take in. Not to mention that hiking on Mount Vesuvius would be one of the coolest moments in Rachel’s life.

After their History of Italian Magic class, Rachel met up with the rest of their group at the University of Rome’s portal that would take them to Pompeii. She found Sam right away and made her way over to him. It was strange for her, being friends with a Bloodline. Sam was one of the people she was closest to at NYADA, next to Adam and Santana. When she’d started NYADA, she’d told herself she wasn’t going to befriend any Bloodlines. The last experience she’d had with that hadn’t ended well at all, and she didn’t want to repeat it. But Sam was different. He was kind, and not narrow-minded like some of the  other Bloodlines she’d met. She was still kind of cautious around him, because old habits die hard, but she strongly doubted she had anything to worry about with Sam.

She tapped Sam’s shoulder when she finally got over to where he was standing. “Good morning, Sam! Are you ready for today’s activities?” she asked with a smile.

The house had been empty most of the day and Alyssa got bored of sitting around pretty fast. After texting Elijah most of yesterday and today, they'd agreed to meet up at Starbucks. The brunette felt nervous, and she had absolutely no idea why. Maybe it was because she hadn't seen Elijah in so long, or maybe it was because she felt something she used to years and years ago. But either way, Aly couldn't help but smile when she saw him approach her. "Hi."