~Beauty~
Nothing could fill up the vast space that was forming in between them.
Most of the house was striped bare. Teigan was moving into an apartment - Bethany knew that much. Therefore, he would have no use for most of the furniture in the house. The couch was much too huge to take with him. He didn't need multiple beds or five different lamps. It's new owners had no use for it either so it was all being sold online by Carina.
Overall, the house was simply fragments of what it used to be. It was broken down into pieces, lacking personality, no longer capable of telling the story of everything that had happened inside of it. It was unsettling to stand in.
Beth pulled her flannel closer to her. It was the same outfit she had on the day this whole thing started. It would be hard to explain to the police why she was coming back with brand new clothes so she kissed them all goodbye. She needed to keep her explanation of what happened as simple as possible in order to protect Tiegan and Carina.
She was locked in a room and fed consistently. She only ever left the room when the Beast went after Ryan Daniels and then at the masquerade ball. She doesn't know why he took her. He hardly spoke to her. She never saw him without a mask on. He was the only one she dealt with. He randomly took her out on a drive blindfolded today and let her go in the middle of nowhere. She flagged down a car driving on the road and a nice woman named Carina picked her up. She drove her to the police station.
It was the only story that could protect them. Trying to explain away what Teigan or the Beast did would only raise more questions, possibly supporting the strange theory that it was all planned.
Not even the man who reported he was saved from a mugging by the Beast could do anything to save the Beast's reputation. Whoever thought he was a dangerous, murderous vigilante still thought so and the people who thought he was a hero remained firm on their opinion. She had to stay out of it as much as possible. She could never share the truth about what happened with anyone - which she knew would prove to feel isolating. To think that she would have to keep what happened to her to herself, to have no one to unpack it with, to share it with, was maddening.
She secretly hoped that she could share it with Grayson. If anyone was going to listen to her without judgement it was him. He had always believed in her. He wouldn't dismiss her claims as trauma or sickness. She was sure of it.
Also, she didn't have to lose Carina. There were plenty of reasons for Bethany to keep contact with a woman who drove her to safety. She would have her to call and talk to. She would maybe be able to hear about Teigan through her, she could let her know if he was doing okay.
Bethany sat on the couch, hugging herself. Carina would be arriving any minute. She was wrapping up an interview for a new job and then she'd pick her up to drive to a police station in the city.
Beth hadn't seen Teigan all morning. She woke up and he had gone off somewhere without a word of warning. The night prior they spent like any other night: listening to music and playing board games. There was nothing off about it except the lingering tension in the quiet moments. It was to be expected. She didn't see why he was hiding from her now.
She checked the clock. It was the only remaining decoration on the wall.
Carina would arrive soon.
Was he not going to say goodbye?
There was far too much hanging in the air between them for him not to. She had too much she wanted to say. She accidentally began to care. She accidentally started to be curious about him, to root for him, find comfort in him, admire him, care for him. She wanted her normal life back but she wanted him in it.
That's when she spotted it. Beside her on the couch was Teigan's phone. Instinctively, she picked it up and wondered why he didn't have it on him. She turned on the screen. It was on his favorite music app. The playlist that was opened was titled Bethany.
"I didn't want to have to say goodbye but I couldn't stay away."
Teigan had snuck up on her. He was standing behind the couch in a hoodie.
"Are you waiting for it to hit play by itself?" His voice was light but his expression betrayed him.
She shook her head. "No. It's just . . . You named it Bethany. Not playlist number ten or something."
"Well, yeah -" he shrugged, walking around the couch and sitting on the opposite end from her, "I made it for you - like I always do. It made sense to name it after you - just so I would remember."
"Who else are you making playlists for?" She gave him an easy grin but her eyes were far more intentional. He glued his own eyes to the ground.
"This one is special. I can't hear any of these songs without thinking about you."
She grew silent, scrolling through the songs and reading the titles. The majority of them were love songs, all indie-rock because it was her favorite genre. She recognised some of the titles but not all of them. There was no denying that the gesture was incredibly intimate, especially when coupled with his words. There was a subtext to what he was saying. It was one she had been contemplating herself.
"Teigan -"
"Hit play already!" He forced a laugh as she complied, whatever she was about to say lost in the music. The first song blared out from the speaker on the fireplace mantel, filling her with dread from head to toe. Dread because she knew the playlist would be beautiful and make it even harder to say goodbye.
The two found themselves up and making use of the abundance of empty space around them. Beth had been the one to start it. There was a more upbeat song in the middle and the weight of an impending farwell was getting too heavy to bear. She got up and did her best dance moves to lighten the mood, pulling Teigan off the couch to join her. He still owed her a dance for the masquerade after all.
When the slower songs came on they slow danced, to the fast songs they did their best solos. It was enough to distract them from what was to come. The hollowness of the house was filled with their laughter and the sound of their sneakers scuffing the floor.
A slow song came on, one perfect for a slow dance. With a three step turn, he lifted her off the ground. Her heart leaped in her chest, reminding her of when Teigan had jumped the roofs of the buildings on the night he had taken her. She hadn't trusted him at all then. Dancing with him now, she couldn't imagine him ever letting her fall or ever letting her go. Despite that, he was about to. In the next hour, she would be in the city. He would become a distant memory - his face becoming more and more blurry until it was nothing but a haze. It would all feel like a dream. Her life would go on, paving over the last few months like it was just a hiccup.
Her feet grazed the ground again and he drew her closer to him. She wished he would drop the guarded face for a moment - even if it accidentally released all the hurt - all the feelings he had vowed not to share with her. Feeling shame at her selfishness, she realized she wanted to hear them. She wanted him to tell her he loved her.
She rested her head on his chest. Bethany wanted to tell him she loved him.
But what good would that do?
A song filled with drums came on, momentarily washing the sorrowful thoughts away. They were back to jumping about, making complete fools of themselves. It was a private concert made for only the two of them. She was certain that even if they were in a crowd of people, Teigan would be the only one she saw.
"That was the best dance move I've ever seen in my life! I think you should do it again."
She threw back her head, laughing. "You're just saying that so you can make fun of me!"
"No, no. It's just humbling that even a relatively good dancer like you is capable of such atrocious moves." Teigan collapsed onto the couch almost as out of breath as her.
"In my defense, this isn't the kind of music that's easy to dance to." She looked down at the phone. "Oh, that was the last song."
"Did you like it?"
Beth wanted to say more than a simple 'yes'. She knew that Teigan wasn't much for the kind of genre of music she preferred and she also knew by the careful selection of each track he had gone through a great deal to put it together. It was plain to see how every song related to her - to them. It was incredibly thoughtful and extremely different from the other playlists he had made for her in the past. The other were songs he had come across and saved to show to her later. This playlist had been crafted with purpose. It crafted a clear message: he saw everything she was and he loved all of it.
But she had already known that.
"I loved it." He gave her a tight smile. Something was off about him. He kept shifting back into the stiff postured, quiet man he was when they first met. Was it because he wanted her to give him an answer on how she felt? She knew the answer. It was just the consequences of that answer that made her hesitate.
"I'm glad," he said, standing up. "I think I heard Carina honk outside."
Beth inhaled sharply. "Okay, then."
"I'll walk you out."
Carina's car was pulled into the driveway behind Teigan's. It was her means of escape, her knight in shining armour according to the story she would tell the police. Oh, what a lie that story was going to be.
She turned to Teigan as they stood in the doorway.
"I'm not going to tell the police anything about you. You'll be safe, I promise."
"Thanks." He bowed his head, staring down at his feet.
"You heard I got fired?" Carina stood outside of her car, a black scarf pulling her hair back. She gave a lazy smirk. "Doesn't matter. He was cheap with his pay, anyway."
"Carina . . ." Again, she was at a loss for words. She knew this wasn't her goodbye to her but it was the ending of their relationship in this context. It was the end of Carina looking after her better than her own mother had in years.
"You two say your goodbyes, I'll be in the car." The woman hesitated on turning around, her eyes fixing on Teigan. "You're a good kid. If that lady with the powers had her head screwed on straight, she'd see you changed from night to day."
"Thank you." He pressed his lips together. "For everything."
Bethany wished she had picked Carina's brain more on how the two met. How did she react to realizing he looked the way he did, that he did the things he did? Why did she decide to stay despite it? All she did know was that she had been loyal to him all these years, more loyal than his own family had been.
Bethany threw her arms around Teigan without a further thought. "I'm going to miss you."
His stiff posture melted away.
"I'll miss you more," he said, engulfing her in a hug.
"Does this mean I'll never see you again? I never got to help you break the curse. It's not fair for you to stay like this forever."
"I don't know."
"What about your mother? What about you? You aren't going after criminals anymore - which is great - but it means you won't have anything to do -" Beth cut herself short. There was no use in voicing all the concerns Teigan already had swirling around his head. She took a breath and spoke with conviction. "You'll be okay. You'll break the curse and then you'll come find me."
"I don't - "
"Promise."
He sighed. She could tell he didn't believe it. "I promise. I'll break the curse and come find you."
"Good." She blinked back tears as she tore herself from him. "I'll see you then."
He nodded, shielding his own eyes from her with his hood. "See you then."
She used all her will power to turn away from him and keep her feet walking towards the door. She didn't look back at him for a final wave because she knew if she did the words would come flying out.
She tried not to feel sorry for herself as she climbed into the car and the house grew smaller and smaller in the distance until it disappeared from sight. She shouldn't have been as distraught as she was because falling in love with someone you couldn't have was a tale as old as time.