With Tongues of Fire

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Ai took a sip from her margarita, watching as her love smitten best friend swayed with her husband and daughter on the dance floor. Her heart fluttered ecstatic for her friend, but her gut, her gut soured.

Her parents had not let up, and as soon as Ai had messaged them back to remind them it was Rachel's big day, they had gone overboard. Apparently any talk of weddings was enough to completely set them off, it was far too much for them to think about the fact that their 26 year old daughter was unmarried.

If Ai had her way, it would stay that way for a long time. It wasn't that she wanted to spend her life alone, but she had never met any man that understood her— not in the ways that were most important. Besides, she had a career to think about, the last thing she needed getting in the way of that was a man with idealistic notions of having a family. There was no way she was ready for that.

If her parents had their way, on the other hand, she'd be married off within the next few months and giving them grandbabies before the end of the year.

A sigh pulled from her lips. She had promised herself not to be miserable today, that she would put all of her own problems out of her mind for a few hours and be a good friend. So, she tried once more to do just that.

All she had to do was look over at the brawny man, Sebastian, who's touch had set her aflame earlier. Whenever her eyes met him, she found herself unable to look away— it didn't help that 9 times out of 10, he would already be looking right at her.

Ever since the end of the ceremony, he had been caught up in conversation with the people around him— a dark skinned woman with an afro like a crown; a tale pale blonde man who's blind wife sat on his knee; a dark haired olive skinned man who's eyes stayed locked onto his curly haired wife and son; and another couple, a man with wild hair and open shirt and his partner who had kicked off her shoes.

These people were entirely eccentric, and that ceremony...? She had expected the run of the mill christian ceremony, or a court like affair— but it was different. Ai had found it hard not to burst into a thousand and one different questions about who the moon Goddess was, and all this talk about soulmates. It took her a while to realise they weren't just using it in a romantic sense.

She was definitely going to be on the phone with Rachel after her honeymoon trip.

She drained her glass, nodding at the bartender to fill her another. She watched the tall broad man as he mixed the alcohol, making a flashy display when he went to shake the metal mixer.

Warm tingles burst across her skin, travelling down her spine. There was only one person who had ever made her react that way, and she had known him less than 10 minutes. She looked up, Sebastian leaning on the bar just beside her.

He had taken off his jacket, pushed up his sleeves, and unbuttoned the first two buttons on his light blue shirt. The fabric was tight enough that she could see the very defined plains of his chest, and the bulging muscles in his arms, not that she was really looking.

Well, that was what she tried to convince herself when she looked away, thanking the bartender for her newly refilled drink. She was on her 4th drink of the night, and was only just starting to feel just a little bit tipsy.

It was a stupid decision she knew and she would have to call an uber to get home, but between her joy for Rachel, her strange attraction to the dark skinned man she didn't know, the even stranger people, and her own personal woes, it didn't exactly seem like a night for good decisions.

Another message buzzed onto her phone screen— Ai glanced down at her phone, her heart stuttering in her chest. For a minute, her finger hovering over the notification unsure of whether she should respond to it or not.