4. Nova

Chapter 4

Nova

“ C rystal, stop!” I yelled across the thin wall separating our bedrooms. “You know I can hear you!”

“I know! That’s kind of the whole reason I’m doing it.” I rolled my eyes. Even though she wasn’t in the room with me, she was phantom-whispering in my ear, so I heard her clearly.

Crystal was a Whisperer, meaning her voice could reach anyone at any time, regardless of how far they were from her. All she had to do was think about them and say the words out loud. Whenever she employed her ability, it sounded like she was talking right next to you. It was incredibly helpful a lot of the time, but it made it difficult to ignore her. Right now, she was trying to convince me to raid her closet without having to leave her bedroom.

I admired Crystal’s fashionable style, but she was more risqué with her outfit choices than me. I embraced the other side of the spectrum. While Crystal was a fan of crop tops, painted-on jeans, mini skirts, and sky-high heels, they all seemed uncomfortable. I had nothing against them, and she looked incredible every time she left the apartment, but they weren’t my style.

I made my clothes the majority of the time so they fit me exactly how I wanted them to. I loved sewing and arts and crafts, so making my own clothes was more cost-effective, and I could get creative. I loved it, but it just gave the town another reason to see me as different. Knee-length skirts, flattering but loose shirts, and many dresses hung in my closet.

“Come on, Nova!” Crystal startled me, swinging the door to my room open and actually walking into it this time. She was already dressed and ready, and I regretted agreeing to go out tonight. Her outfit was a human depiction of an angel. Her skin-tight white dress contrasted nicely against her dark skin, the white pumps made her grow four inches, and a halo was held by a piece of wire emerging from a headband hovering over her head. We could have cast a spell to make the halo hover for real, but humans might ask too many questions without the wire. “Come on. We need to get you dressed in a costume so you can blend in with the dressed-up humans.”

“I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I already blend in,” I said, pointing at what I had worn to work earlier. “I look like a witch all day, every day. I’m just missing my hat.”

“No, no, no,” she said, shaking her head. “You know I love and admire your style, but this cute dress won’t do. I’m choosing what you’re wearing tonight, and you’re going to look so hot.”

Crystal and I had been on the same community soccer team growing up. She was one of the few people who didn’t care that I was different, and we became fast friends. When I moved back to Hidden Creek after college, she offered me the extra bedroom in her condo so I didn’t have to move in with my parents again. I loved them, but they were too meddlesome in my life, and being under the same roof again would have driven me to madness.

I groaned as she gripped my wrist and pulled me to her bedroom. I was tired of going back and forth with her, so I didn’t put up much of a fight. At this rate, we would never make it to the club, which might not be the worst thing that could happen now that I was thinking about it. Crystal pushed open the door to her bedroom, and it looked like a retail store had exploded over her bed and floor. Clothes littered the ground, makeup crowded her vanity, and it smelled like a noxious cloud of pumpkin spice.

“Here,” she said, shoving two pieces of clothing into my chest. The shirt looked barely wide enough across the front to cover my boobs, and I wasn’t confident I would be able to sit or move in the skirt, much less dance. I skeptically eyed the items, but she pushed them and me further toward her bathroom. “Don't judge it until you have it on.”

Once dressed, I inspected every inch of the outfit in the mirror. I adjusted the orange crossover top to cover my chest completely, and Crystal gave me fashion tape to stick the fabric to my skin. There would be no wardrobe malfunctions on my watch. I smoothed out the fishnets under the black mini-skirt and slipped on my combat boots. Crystal handed me a pair of angel wings, but I adamantly refused to put them on. If I were going to a club wearing a swimsuit for clothes, I would keep my emotional support witch’s hat and stay within that comfort zone. I didn't need to maneuver around drunk humans wearing cardboard attached to my back.

“I will get cold wearing this!” I complained. The halter looped around my neck, exposing my arms and the stars and constellations sprinkled on my collarbone in full view. Crystal pointed at the chair in front of her vanity and instructed me to sit. I held down the skirt's edges and ensured it stayed put as I sat.

“So? Ezra will just give you his jacket again.” Crystal shrugged and rolled her eyes before her mouth dropped open, and a devilish smile spread across her face. “Oh, my Gods! Maybe he’ll see how hot you look tonight and finally make a move!”

“What?” I crossed my arms in front of me, and she walked behind me to fix some of my waves. “Ezra?” My brow furrowed, and I felt my face get warm thinking about how he had draped his jacket over my shoulders without me asking this morning—like he did most chilly mornings. It was a move he had nailed down since we were kids, and I continually forgot a jacket when it was cold. “No. Absolutely not. He doesn’t see me like that, Crystal.”

She stopped messing with my hair and leaned over my shoulder, laughing. Her face lit in amusement when she made eye contact with me through the mirror, and her expression went still. “Oh, you’re serious?” she said, moving back to doing my hair. “Really, Nova, I didn’t think you were that oblivious.” She paused, looking up at the ceiling and mulling her words before turning her brown eyes back on me. “Uhh…sweetie, how do you think Ezra sees you?”

I thought about all the years that Ezra had been by my side. He made me laugh; he took care of me; he protected me. “Like a sister to care for.” I shrugged, feeling my shoulders deflate. My black nail polish was already chipped, but I continued picking at it while squirming in my seat. “Like he always has.”

“Incest is very wrong, Nova,” Crystal cackled. “That man does not see you as a sister.”

She inspected my hair, searching for strands that weren’t wavy enough. “What? How do you know?” I asked.

“I have fucking eyes.” I waited for her laughter to subside as she put the curling iron down and moved to grab the hairspray. “Sweetie, trust me, there’s nothing friendly in his gaze when he looks at you.” I furrowed my brow as she sprayed me with enough hairspray to smoke out a room. She capped the can and pointed it at me. “I’m pretty sure he would do you—right now—in the town square if you asked him.”

“Crystal, stop.” I shook my head. “He’s my best friend.”

“That you’re totally in love with.”

“What I feel is irrelevant. He doesn’t feel that way toward me.”

Crystal scoffed as she started working on my makeup. Makeup was the one thing I was good at, but Crystal wanted to practice since she was studying to become a cosmetologist. She hated her graphic design job and wanted to ditch it as soon as possible. Her skills were incredible, and I was glad not to squint with one eye to put on eyeshadow. When she was done, she pushed back and looked at me. I grabbed a handful of bobby pins and dug them into my hat to keep it in place.

“You actually think Ezra has nothing but platonic feelings for you, don’t you?” She crossed her arms and shifted her weight to her back leg, looking at me.

“He’s been my best friend since we were toddlers, Crystal. If he felt some way toward me, he would have made a move by now.” I stepped back from the mirror and admired my outfit. Crystal had been right; I did look hot.

“Well, have you ever tried making a move on him?” Crystal asked as we walked out of the bedroom.

I would never consider making a move on Ezra. I would die if something happened between us and he wasn’t in my life anymore.

“Of course not! I don’t want to lose him.”

“Well, then, what makes you think he hasn’t made a move on you for that same reason?” Crystal shut and locked the condo door behind us.

I opened my mouth to rebuff her comment but had to admit that she had a good point.

“Let’s test my theory that Ezra is as in love with you, if not more, as you are with him,” she proposed as we got in her car. Crystal drove us because she intended to go home with Bryan or a handsome stranger tonight. Ezra was meeting us there, so we would have his car to come home with. “Hit on him tonight. Invite him to dance. Do something outside of sitting at the bar and talking to him the whole time. You look smoking hot, and he won’t be able to resist.” She chuckled to herself before continuing, “Hell, he already looks tortured when you walk around in your food-coloring-stained sweatpants.”

“I can’t hit on him!”

“You absolutely can!” She rolled her eyes. “We’ll walk in, take a handful of shots, and then you can flirt with him. If he doesn’t reciprocate, which I know for a fact he will, then you blame it on being extra friendly because of the alcohol.” She tapped her fingers against the steering wheel, contemplating her idea for a second. “You’re a lightweight and get friendlier when you’re drunk anyway.”

“I don’t know…” My heart began thumping in my chest as we crossed out of the protective barrier surrounding Hidden Creek and into the human territory.

“Nova, trust me,” she said, side-eyeing me from the driver’s seat with a smile. “I know what I’m talking about. This plan will work."

I sunk into my seat, resigned that Crystal wouldn’t let this go until I put her plan into action. The thought of flirting with Ezra raised my blood pressure and flushed my cheeks.

Ezra was the only constant in my life, the only person who liked me for exactly who I was and wasn’t constantly trying to change me to fit whatever mold they wanted me to fit into. Everyone in town looked at me—at us—as damaged goods, and sometimes it hurt my heart to know what people thought of us, but Ezra always managed to keep me together. Sometimes, I felt like I was from a different planet altogether, destined never to find my place in the society I lived in.

But at least I had Ezra. No matter what happened, I always had Ezra. He was my safe space, my best friend. I had considered telling him about my feelings many times throughout the years, but the prospect of losing him had stopped me every time.