Chapter 6

CHAPTER 6

Meic

I push open the door to our dorm room and flop down on my bed. “I have a problem,” I announce to Cethin and Afan.

“A fated mate problem?” the merman grumbles from the top bunk.

“As a matter of fact, yes.”

“Then count me out, you know how I feel about that nonsense.” He picks up his phone and starts scrolling, clearly checking out of the conversation.

“What’s up?” Cethin asks, looking up from his book and seeming much more interested.

“Where around here is good for a date?”

He raises an eyebrow, his bat-like ears revealing even more of his surprise. They make him very easy to read, even if he doesn’t realise it. “You asked Nati out on a date?”

“Yes.” Sort of , but I’m not about to tell my friends that she told me I should and that’s where I finally got the courage from.

“And just to check, she did agree to go with you, right?”

I roll my eyes. “Yes, she agreed to go with me. But now I have to make sure it’s a good one so she’ll agree to a second date.”

“Why would you want a second?” Afan mumbles.

“Ignore him,” Cethin says. “He’ll change his tune soon enough.”

“Over my dead body,” Afan shoots back.

“What kind of date did you have in mind?” Cethin asks me.

“I don’t know. Where did you take Anja for your first date?”

“We went on a picnic in the grounds.”

“They say it’s going to rain for the next week.” Which means that’s out.

Cethin closes his book and looks at me. “You should go on the kind of date you think you’ll both enjoy.”

“Yes, but what is that?”

“How should I know? I’ve been with Anja for a few months, it’s not like I’m some kind of master of dating,” he points out.

I sigh. “You’re supposed to know.”

“I know nothing more than you do. And I only know what Anja likes.”

“But she must have said something about what Nati enjoys doing?” This date is hopefully going to be the start of the most important relationship of my life, I don’t want to mess it up and make Nati want to reject me. At least, not any more than I’ve already been messing things up and making Nati want to reject me with my stupid approach to talking to her.

“Isn’t that what you’re supposed to find out?”

“Eurgh, you’re as impossible as Afan.” I turn around and head out of the door, not really sure where I intend to go. I need to get out of my room, especially if neither of my friends is going to be any real help. And I’d even go as far as saying that Afan is currently the anti -help.

And none of that gets me closer to working out where to take Nati on our date. Cethin’s picnic idea isn’t terrible, but with the weather, I’ll need to find somewhere inside to hold it, which also poses the problem of where we can possibly do that without being interrupted.

Or need to end things when curfew happens.

I turn a corner, only to stop in my tracks when I come face to face with the person I’m thinking about. “Nati,” I murmur.

To my surprise, she smiles at me. “Evening, Meic.”

My heart constricts at the way she says my name, without the same level of annoyance she’s had before.

“Isn’t it a little close to curfew for a stroll?” she asks.

“I could ask you the same thing.”

She laughs. “That’s fair. But I like the view of the stars better from here.” She gestures to the window and steps closer to it.

“I didn’t realise that was something you were interested in.”

“There’s a lot you don’t know about me,” she points out. “That’s kind of the point of us going on a date.”

“So you haven’t changed your mind?”

She flashes me a surprisingly shy smile. “Even your terrible pick-up lines won’t scare me away.”

I chuckle, summoning one of the snakes from her hair. He doesn’t seem to have changed his opinion of me, as he takes the opportunity to hiss loudly.

“Oh, shh. I don’t need your permission to date someone,” Nati says to the snake.

“Can he understand you?”

She shrugs. “I’ve no reason to think he doesn’t.”

“What’s it like?”

“Having snakes for hair?” she checks.

I nod.

She sighs. “I don’t have anything to compare it to.” She undoes the catch on the window and pushes it open, letting in a slightly chilling breeze.

I lean against the windowsill and look out. “It took me years to come to terms with the fact I’m a ghoul.”

Nati turns, her attention on me and not the outside.

“I had to understand what was going on inside me and the cravings I had, they made me different to everyone around me, and a lot of them thought I was abnormal because of it.”

“Or that you’d eat them.”

I snort. “Or that.”

“What? No comment about how you’d eat me?” she jokes.

I suppress a groan. “You don’t know what you’re saying.”

She shrugs. “It only seems fair with the number of jokes you’ve made about me turning you into stone.” Her lips quirk up into a smile, betraying her amusement. “I suppose it would probably make me scream,” she muses.

I swallow hard, trying to get the image she’s conjuring out of my mind.

“What? No comeback?” She leans against the wall and studies me. “I rarely manage to actually think of these.”

I step closer, placing a hand on the wall beside her so there isn’t much space between us. “You’re playing with fire, Nati.”

“I thought I’d be playing with stone.” Her amusement is clear on her face, like she’s getting some satisfaction from turning this around on me.

I clear my throat and pull back, worrying that if I don’t, I’m going to snap and she’s going to find out exactly how much I want her.

“I’m sorry,” Nati says, her voice laced with something that sounds like pain.

“You have nothing to be sorry for,” I respond, my voice hoarse and full of need.

“I made you uncomfortable.”

“You were doing nothing I haven’t done to you,” I point out. “Though I also realise that was out of line.”

“It’s fine.” The way she says it makes me think it isn’t.

I look out at the sky, disappointed to discover that clouds cover most of the stars. “I should have known better. I don’t want people to think of me in terms of me being a ghoul, but that’s exactly what I did to you. About being a gorgon, I mean.”

A hiss sounds from within her hair, but it doesn’t seem to be as hostile as it has been in the past.

“So I’m sorry. Genuinely. I should never have made jokes like that.”

“Thank you,” she says softly.

I give her a weak smile.

“For what it’s worth, I didn’t even know you were a ghoul until about a week ago. And it doesn’t change anything about the way I feel about you.”

“And how is that?”

“That you’re infuriating when you make some of your jokes, but when you’re not trying too hard, you’re actually kind of funny,” she admits.

I chuckle. “You really think I’m funny?”

“In a dorky way,” she responds. “But I don’t mind that. There’s something about you that makes me want to spend time with you, even if I don’t know why.”

“It’s because you’re my fated mate,” I respond.

She meets my gaze and I can see a sense of hesitancy in them. “So you said.”

“Don’t you feel it?”

Her lips part, drawing my attention to them and making it almost impossible to think straight.

“I feel strange,” she admits, her voice barely above a whisper. “Like I actually want you to touch me.”

“You do?”

“Yes. And it’s weird. I never want people to touch me.” She glances down at the floor. “But with you, I think I do.”

“I didn’t realise you didn’t like it.”

She bites her bottom lip. “No. I know that makes me weird...”

“It doesn’t,” I assure her. “If you don’t like people touching you, then you don’t.” And it’s something I should be careful of now I know. I don’t want to change her feelings towards me for the worse.

Nati gives me a weak smile. “I’m sorry if that ruins some of your date plans.”

“Why would it ruin my date plans?” I ask.

“Well...kissing involves touching. And beyond that.”

My whole body heats in response to her words. “Is that what you’re thinking about?”

A blush spreads over her cheeks and she looks away. “Not immediately, but I’m not not thinking about it.”

“We’ll go at your speed,” I assure her. “Whatever you need.” It would be torture, but I don’t want to risk losing her, not when I’m so close to getting exactly what I want.

There’s a lot of indecision written all over her face, and I want to reach out and touch her to offer some kind of comfort, but I can’t. Especially after what she’s just said.

“I should get back to my dorm room before curfew,” she says.

“I thought you wanted to see the stars.”

“I did, but we’re not going to see any from here.” She gestures to the cloud-covered sky.

I nod. She isn’t wrong about that.

“I’m looking forward to our date, Meic.”

“Me too.” I flash her what I hope is a friendly smile. “Sleep well, Nati.”

“Same.” She looks as if she wants to say something else, or maybe even do something else, but she doesn’t give any indication of what that might be.

Instead, she waves and disappears in the direction of the dorm rooms, leaving me standing in front of an open window, looking out at a starless sky.

She seemed disappointed that she didn’t get to see anything, but maybe I can use that to my advantage.

If stars are what she wants, then stars are what I can give her, I just have to work out exactly how.