the nymph ☼ sean diaz ✓

- ten .

•

"Lyla." Sean breathes out, pulling Lyla into his arms.

Lyla laughs and hugs him back.

"It's so weird seeing you change every time you come back." Lyla says softly. "It's like, I have to keep unfocusing and focusing again. You could've came when we were done our conversation."

Lyla pulls away, her hands resting on her hips. "It's rude interrupting us like that."

Sean looks at her, a sheepish smile on his lips. "What were we talking about?"

Lyla pulls out a pack of cigarettes. "About party stuff." She puts a cigarette between her lip and offers the box to Sean.

Sean grabs one. Can he actually interact with stuff here?

"We're going to a party?"

Lyla nods. "Well, the other Sean and I are." Lyla looks at Sean. "Doubt you can sleep that long."

She lights her cigarette with a match. Before blowing out the flame, she lights Sean's cigarette too.

Lyla sits down on the edge of their porch, the burning cigarette rested between her fingers. Sean quickly follows.

"So what is real Sean up to out there?" Lyla asks, exhaling smoke.

"I forgot I haven't told you about that." Sean pauses to inhale smoke. This feels oddly real.

"I'm just travelling with a girl named Honey."

Lyla wiggles her eyebrows at him. "Honey."

Sean flips her off, the other hand to his mouth. "She's like three years older than us."

"You always had a thing for older people, Sean." Lyla suggests, flipping him off back with a smile. "Have you guys ever, you know—" Lyla pauses to show Sean a finger going into a circle she made with her other hand.

Sean chokes on the smoke, erupting in a coughing fit.

Lyla laughs, watching him cough out his lungs. He taps his chest, trying to collect his breath.

"Fuck...you." Sean says between coughs.

"I was kidding!" Lyla laughs, her mouth covering her smile. "You better put that out before you wake up." She motions to the cigarette.

Sean drops the cigarette and smushes it with his foot. "Is the other Sean like-"

Lyla shrugs. "I always have to explain shit to him. He never remembers what happens when you're here." Lyla puts out her own cigarette. "But he's too dumb to question it."

"Did you ever tell him about—"

"No. Sean, think about what could happen if you knew shit before it happened, what if you change the present?"

Sean grabs his head. "I'm waking up, Lyla."

"You can tell now? That's new."