Harper repeats the demon's words, and Jack braces for the truth to sink in.
"Two," she says. "She said you were two. As in two years?"
Jack nods.
"You were born two years ago. In 2017."
"May 18th," he adds.
At first, she takes it like a champ.
Then, she starts muttering to herself, swimmy eyes bulging out of her head. (It makes her look like Theodore from Alvin and the Chipmunks.)
Her hand skitters to her elbow, where she starts picking at a scab. (It's the one she'd gotten from fighting the Cougar: mushy, not even healed enough for the scab to dry out.)
When her muttering gets louder, the cashier starts shooting them furtive, suspicious glances. If she's going to have another one of her meltdowns in the middle of Burger King, he'll have to drag her out to the parking lot.
And all he wants right now is a glorious Spicy Tendercrisp.
"...yesterday," she whispers.
"Yesterday?" he pushes, hoping that she'll snap out of it.
She turns to him, blossoming into a beautiful, too-bright smile that has several passers-by stopping to stare.
"I said, 'you're my Born Sexy Yesterday.'"
He blinks at her. When she says nothing, he waits for her to explain, as she often does to the point of overload.
"Gosh, Jack. Don't you read?"
He's told her time and time again that he's a 'TV guy,' so he just rolls his eyes and offers up a new spin on the truth, "I read lore."
She seems to ignore him.
"You're my Adam from Blast from the Past, Jack, or- or maybe my very own George of the Jungle. Except more clothes, of course."
"I haven't read either of those," he says.
"They're movies."
"Oh."
Now he feels dumb. They move up in line.
"Actually, I think this is a good thing for us," she says.
He hadn't been expecting that, but he's not about to push.
When they reach the register, she orders a Fish n' Crisp, and Jack finally secures the promise of Spicy Tendercrisp.
"I was worried, you know. The way you're so strong and how you handled those demons made me think there was this...big power imbalance between us. I mean, it was one thing to learn you're a Hunter, but an Angel? I thought I'd have to cut ties and run."
Jack doesn't bring up that she's already tried to leave him behind on three different occasions.
"But this? That you're so new to the world? I think it's a perfect equalizer between the two of us. You're way too strong for me, like, you could probably break me in half.” She seems excited when she says it. “But I can teach you things about how the normal world works. I'm like Alicia Silverstone!"
"Okay," he says. He cranes his neck and hopes that it's their order the worker is finishing up.
"And she doesn’t fall in love with Brendon Frasier because of his inexperience or childlike wonder or fear of the world around him. She loves him because he's kind to her and tries to be the better, more experienced man that she needs. I'm not gonna be your Humbert Humbert. Okay?"
"Okay," he agrees.
He doesn't know a single person she's naming in today's psycho-babble.
"I'm not afraid of your rejection. You can reject me, Jack. I don't mind. In fact, I- I'm expecting it."
When Jack looks at her again, her expression's changed. It's harder somehow, strange and a little aloof.
Their staring gets broken by the clatter of a tray, announcing the momentous arrival of Spicy Tendercrisp, Fish n' Crisp, and a side of extra fries.
Finally.
As Jack eagerly grabs the tray and ushers them down the aisle to a booth, he almost misses her next diatribe.
"Just, don't be my Vision," she says, faux-sadly. "I'd hate to become so grief-stricken that I become a dark witch, you know? That's a comic book. Surely you read those."
Jack doesn't point out that she's already a dark witch. It'd be like kicking someone who's already down.
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It Just Took One Dance
How can a heart break for one who’s never held it?
How can a heart break despite being so full?
How can a heart break after just one dance?
The truth is, when I looked into your eyes and you smiled,
The world didn’t stop.
No, it spun and it spun
Until the intensity proved too much and I looked to my feet,
Pretending to watch my steps.
You smiled a smile so small, but you seared it into my soul.
And now I can’t get your eyes out of my mind.
There was so much I wanted to say to you in that moment.
But when every possible path leads to heartbreak,
How could that simple phrase slip from my lips?
My head tied my tongue while my heart fought to set it free.
2 minutes felt like an eternity and your proximity
Made my heart race until I feared you’d hear it through the beat of the music.
Still, you smiled down at me.
Although we exchanged easy words I felt the silence
As much as I felt your hand on my waist and the sweetness in your gaze.
Everyone melted away and there was nothing left except for you and I.
For the briefest of moments, I wondered what it would be like
If I threw caution to the wind.
If I told you there and then how I felt about you.
If all the stars aligned and I had even the slightest of chances.
But it was not to be.
Entertaining these thoughts made me a larger fool when you glanced to the side.
You left me on the dance floor mid-song.
You let my waist go first and my hand last.
You walked away from me without one look back, and I
Left in a daze.
Yet how could I be angry?
I couldn’t blame you for my own cowardice
Or the irrationality of my heart
Anymore than I could blame the moon for her loneliness.
The only thing now that I can do really,
Is to lock that night away in an unlabelled box in my heart
Because I doubt so much that it’s love.
If it’s not love, why does it hurt so much?
As the ending chords play,
The infatuated haze around my eyes dissipates
As the smoky outline of people sharpen
And my steps hasten away from you.
I see clearly now,
Despite the ghost of your touch lingering on my hand.
7 June, 2022
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