***FIONNA***
Kensi and I hide in silence in Kelly's room while they try to sneak back into the house, only for their dad to verbally tear them new ones for being unaccounted for all day. As far as either of us can tell (the wooden walls, though not at all soundproof, do enough of a good job muffling the yells on all sides that we can't make out much more than the occasional "independence" or "ball and chain!"), they're basically grounded all weekend.
"I'm sorry," I say as Kelly comes back, kicking her bed in frustration.
"We're sorry," Kensi pipes up.
"Don't be, boo." Kelly looks around, wondering where we both are - she hears our voices, but we're still invisible, so she can't locate us exactly. "Haha, I can't remember the last time I called anyone that." She's whispering, but I still get the feeling her dad's going to overhear us. "Now I can start calling Alex that...oh, but it wouldn't be a special nickname just for him."
"You're dating him now?" I cover my hand to smother my laughter. "For real? That's some expert timing there." I smile, first at her, then at the poster on her wall. Though she's nowhere near as poster-happy as Ty - most of her wall space is dedicated to her own artwork of birds, butterflies, and fairies, because like most of us demons, she's got a certain case of wing envy - she's made room for that one shot of Michelle in Spider-Man: Homecoming saying "You guys are losers."
I bet Alex and Kelly's first relationship fight will be Who Wore It Better, Spidey-Suit Edition, with Kelly supporting Tom Holland and Alex in Andrew Garfield's corner.
"Yeah, don't count on me getting to see him anytime before Halloween at this point, though," Kelly snickers. "Maybe not even till Christmas if I'm especially unlucky."
"They wouldn't ground you that long," Kensi says, patting her hand reassuringly.
"You're probably right," Kelly says, "but I'm still just immature enough that I'll plot my parents' deaths in my head as revenge."
"Cool," says Kensi.
"Yeah, but you know what's more fun?" I creep over to the bedside table where I know Kelly keeps her nail polish. "Salon day."
Kelly can't help but clap her hands in delight. "Oh my God, you read my mind. Step into my office, ladies. When you go home, you'll be the best-looking girls in the whole damn afterlife!"
"Well..." Kensi wiggles her fingers in anticipation. "Best nails, at least. Give 'em to us good and maybe they won't go invisible with us either."
"Which wouldn't do well in the event we need to camouflage-"
She covers my mouth, and I find myself gently nipping her palm with my teeth. "Shh," she whispers into my ear. "Let me enjoy things."
I'm not saying you can't.
"Haha, then don't."
Kelly holds up two bottles of nail polish - orange and silver, but she has tons more colors to go around. "What do you want, then, huh? Whatever you ask, I'll do my damnedest."
I consider pan pride colors - pink, yellow, blue - but change my mind in the end and ask for black and silver, to alternate on each nail. "I'll just pretend I'm a Raiders fan now that it's coming up to football season again," I laugh.
"You sure it's not some kind of secret Black Mirror thing?" Kensi asks.
Kelly takes my left hand and starts painting my pinky nail black. "'Whatever Lola wants, Lola gets.'"
I giggle so hard that my hand starts to shake, and Kelly has to let go before she attempts to keep painting and possibly paints my skin instead of my nail. "I'll do yours too, then. But I'm still really bad at this, so-"
"I want Fall Out Boy crowns on each thumb, VFD eyes on each pinky, and my initials in cursive on the rest of my fingers," Kelly deadpans.
I close my eyes and shake my head, trying to look like I'm about to cry. "No, no, no, that's not gonna work for me. I'm only a novice!"
"Oh, relax!" She wags her finger at me. "No, seriously, relax. I almost painted your knuckle silver."
Kensi leans over to watch as Kelly applies the silver polish to my next finger. "You should've done it," she says. "Then it'd look like she had a ring on it."
"As a lifelong member of the Beygency..." Kelly reaches back to turn on her iHome and play "Single Ladies."
Black and silver nails for me, then Kensi gets mirror-imaged rainbow heart emojis, and for Kelly, I paint her nails scarlet and gold. Not red and gold, not Niners colors to be the enemy to my Raiders colors, but scarlet and gold for her Gryffindor pride.
"Next time we have a whirlwind adventure," she says when I finish her last nail, "I'll wear my Gryffindor hat too."
"Is that a promise?" I ask.
"No, but I won't forget it."
During the night, the three of us share Kelly's bed, with Kensi in the middle as I spoon her and Kelly on her other side, lying on her back. It doesn't last as long as I wish it could, though, because I soon hear someone making a bit of noise downstairs. The others are too fast asleep to take notice, but I'm not. Gently, so I can avoid waking Kensi up, I slide out of bed and creep downstairs, where I spy Ty mechanically feeding himself spoonfuls of what looks like cold chili straight from a refrigerated Tupperware.
"Double dipping?" I ask him. "Triple? Quadruple? Rude, rude, rude."
He takes a spoon out of the drawer and hands it to me. I take it and join him in eating. "Judge me," he says. "Like my parents would. Can you believe they're trying to ground me when I'm an adult now?"
"Yeah, how old are you again? Twenty?"
"Nineteen, but close enough."
I stare down at the cold brown sludge that is the chili. Ugly as sin, but so, so tasty, and I can't resist. "Mmm..." I hum to myself while sucking down another couple of spoonfuls. "You're gonna need to really work this off, though, aren't you?"
"I'll just run another mile or two tomorrow morning."
I check the clock. "It already is tomorrow morning."
He sees that I'm right. "Literal midnight snackage here." He reaches under his hood and scratches his head. I don't know exactly how long he's been hanging out with Alex, but it seems like long enough that he's starting to pick up his habits.
"Maybe I am," he laughs as he hears me think about Alex. "It's so weird, Fionna. I've only known him for a few days, and here I'm thinking he's a beautiful guy, and...and I just don't do that, normally."
"He's one of those guys," I say. "You feel like you've known him forever the second you meet him."
"I could say that about you. But I wasn't attracted to you. Mostly 'cause you were always more Kelly's friend than mine." He sticks his spoon into the chili and lets go of it. "I've thought for years I was demi, but...now I'm starting to question it again. Maybe I'm graysexual or something like that."
I squirm in my seat, trying to process it. "I'm sorry," I say.
"What about?"
"Demon culture in general. We're so open about exploring our sexuality that we often forget maybe some people are less interested."
"It's all right," Ty says, even though I'm sure he's trying to tell me not to feel guilty. "I just wish I had more energy to advocate...but I got my hands full trying to make a life for myself."
"You mean as a racer?" I ask. "You still wanna do that, right?"
"Hell yeah, I do. But..." He fiddles with the spoon's handle. "Did you see me driving today? I raced after the Peppermint truck that had the Black Mirror in it. But...you know that guy Freddie? The one with the red hair?"
"Oh yeah, I remember. Wait, so he died in that..."
"He was in the car with me. And they shot the car up. That's how he died."
I watch him tear up under the single shaded light. "I don't think you could've stopped it." I get up from my seat and come around the kitchen island to hug him. "If Alex were here right now, he'd tell you not to feel guilty."
He slowly returns the hug. "I'd almost rather you were dating him than Kels," he says with a gurgle of laughter. "I don't wanna have to kick his ass if he hurts my sister."
"I've kinda given up on the idea that I'm in a universe where I'll get to be his girlfriend anymore."
He lets go of me and goes back to eating the chili for a minute or two, then asks, "You want any more?"
I shake my head. "I'm good. I'd rather not fart all night and stink up Kelly's room."
"Might be a little late for that." He closes the Tupperware as silently as possible, then puts it away in the fridge. "Like it's a little late for me to, you know, not feel guilty about Freddie."
"Nobody blames you," I tell him, "and that should include yourself."
"Whatever you say," he says with a really fake smile. As he closes the fridge door and the light dies away from its other side, I get a split-second glimpse of his Pikachu boxers, which I hadn't even realized he was wearing.
Really, I forgot how cute Ty was.
But I know someone a little cuter, and after hugging him good night, I spoon that cuter someone all over again in Kelly's bed.
And, finally, for the first time in a very long time, I feel myself sinking into swampy, cozy dreamland and welcoming the trip.