Smoke and Wishes (Best Wishes #1)(4)
"Well, I'm ready," I closed my menu and slapped it onto the table, rubbing my hands together in excitement. "I'm always down for some Lamb Vindaloo."
“Oh no, I cannot handle spicy, it fucks up my system like no other. I'm going with the good ol' Chicken Tikka Masala," she licked her lips exaggeratedly, making me laugh. The waitress came by, jotted down our orders and took our menus to return them to the hostess stand. Once she was gone, I turned to Sadie, a wave of nerves washing over me. You can do this, you can make small talk.
“So, um,” I started, picking at the cloth napkin wrapped around the silverware, “tell me about yourself.” Sadie’s turquoise eyes widened with excitement, the purple frames that were perched on her button nose emphasized the pink and purple flecks in the bright blue iris’. Do all supes have such vibrant eyes?
“Well, as I said earlier, I flew in from Baltimore, not that I live in Baltimore, mind you,” she rattled, her hands fluttering about with each turn of her words. “But I grew up in Maryland with my parents. I also have a little brother, Silas, technically he’s only a half-sibling since my dads had to get a surrogate to have us,” she paused as the waitress returned with our drinks and after a warm thank you, Sadie continued.
“He is my dad, Brandon’s son, and they’re both humans. I’m half fae,” she gestured to herself, “pixie if you want to get technical, because my dad, Harrison, is a fae. We’re both super into art and painting while my brother and his dad are all about soccer and sports, all that nasty physical stuff,” her facial expression at the thought of anything resembling exercise was comical. “Silas’ dad is actually the soccer coach at the University of Maryland, where my dad is the Head of the Arts department. Silas plays soccer at his high school,” she trailed off taking a sharp inhale, replenishing the lack of oxygen she hadn’t been getting during her speech. “What about you? Any family? Cool stories?”
She leaned forward to sip her lemonade, but missed the straw a couple times. It was almost like she forgot she had hands and could grab the straw to hold it still. My cheeks were starting to hurt at the amount of smiling and laughing I’d been doing since we sat down, I like her already.
“I actually just found out I was adopted when I was a baby by a human, so I don’t really know anything about supes or the community,” I admitted. I took a deep breath, willing my voice to remain steady passed the nerves I felt threatening to take over. “Did you grow up in the more human-prominent community or the supe community? Is there a separation between the two? Because I came from a small town that was in the middle of nowhere,” my barrage of questions didn’t seem to phase Sadie at all. Her easy going, bubbly personality helped coax me out of my shell. My words and questions flowed easier with her smiling warmly at me.
“We were in an area where it’s an equal mix, but with my brother and one of my dads being a human, I spent more time with humans than supes. Especially since most supes don’t come into their powers till late teens, so almost all of us go to the same primary and high schools as humans,” I felt my eyebrows creep up my face, I had no idea supes were so integrated, but it's nice to know I’m not alone in this transition. "So, how do you like campus so far? It's pretty in my opinion, I can't wait to get out and go paint when the leaves are changing more and the weather is a bit cooler," Sadie expressed, changing the direction of the conversation as she took a sip of her lemonade, opting to pick up the glass this time.
"I love it. I haven't had a chance to explore the town around it too much, but I had the chance to look around most of the campus. I'll show you one of my favorite spots to go and meditate when you want to go out and paint," I offered up. Thinking of the small pond surrounded by stones offset by the nearby greenery and trees put me at ease, soothing the slight tremble in my hands. It is one of the most peaceful places I've found since leaving home. Hopefully, it'll stay undiscovered by other students come tomorrow, I grumbled.
"Oh hell yeah, that would be awesome!" She emphasized her point by pumping her fist into the air, freezing there for a moment like a still frame. "Painting scenery helps offset the scenes that I paint when my powers go all wonky."
"What powers do you have?" I felt my curiosity piqued at the mention of powers. I tried to recall what I had stumbled across during my reading over the summer at the library but came up blank.
"Well, I'm fae as I said, and I have a form of precognition that, when it manifests, it kind of puts me in a trance and I'll draw or paint whatever I'm seeing. I don't remember any details of the ‘vision’,” she finger quoted, "afterward other than what was drawn. It's like a compulsion, so don't freak if I look like I'm sleepwalking, well, sleep painting," she laughs. “The shitty part about it is it’s still relatively new for me. They’re sporadic and learning to interpret what I’ve drawn or painted is still a guessing game. It’s getting a bit easier though,” she added cheerfully at the end. “What about you miss Lucie, any awesome powers?”
"Nothing yet. Although," I hesitated, trying to figure out how to explain what happened in the library. Sadie wasn't showing any red flags of distrust. Yeah, like you were so good about reading those before, I scoffed at myself, shaking my head to clear my inner musings. "I was in the library yesterday, trying to put a book back onto the shelf, and I was just out of reach, but before I got down to move the ladder the entire bookshelf just curved. Like it was malleable and made of clay, it just folded sideways, so the slot was right within reach. And then, as if that’s not crazy enough, as soon as I pushed the book in, it straightened back out!" I whispered frantically trying to keep my voice down for any potential prying ears. Mr. Nguyen mentioned it had been a while since he’d seen that power, that admission made me a little wary.