Page 10

Levi

By the time I finished cleaning up after dinner, I still wasn't anywhere close to having a plan for our date tomorrow. Every idea I came up with felt silly or overdone or just not good enough for Finn.

It wasn't like I hadn't dated before. Hell, I'd even had a few semi-serious relationships. But what I could have with Finn—if I didn't fuck up—was more important and better than any kind of relationship I'd ever had.

"Greta, this is killing me!" I whined as I trudged over to the living room and threw myself onto the couch on my front.

Greta clambered up onto my back, then sniffed at my neck, her nose cold and tickly.

It made me laugh, and I turned around, grabbing her before she could run off and pressing her to my chest .

"Give me some ideas, Greta. Where should I take Finn? If I only knew what kind of stuff he likes, I'm sure I could come up with something good."

My phone pinged, and I eyed it. Was it Finn, asking about our plans tomorrow? What would I tell him if he did?

I supposed whatever I said couldn't be worse than not replying, so I picked the phone up, then realized it was a text from an unknown number.

Unknown : Hey, Levi, it's Amelia. Got your number from Finn.

"Oh!" I sat upright, making Greta smack me in the arm before running off. "Sorry!" I called out to her before quickly saving Amelia's number and then hitting reply.

Me : Ames! It's good to hear from you. How have you been? Are you back in Mistvale?

Amelia : Yep. I'd love to meet up when you're free.

Me : Me too. I'm busy tomorrow, but maybe sometime in the week? We could grab lunch?

Amelia : Date with Finn tomorrow? Lunch sounds good.

Me : If I can figure out where to take him, yeah.

Amelia : Struggling?

Me : Like you wouldn't believe! He picked such a perfect place for our first date, and I'm worried I'll let him down by picking something lame.

It felt weird to admit something so personal to someone I hadn't talked to in close to fourteen years.

At the same time, it didn't feel strange at all.

Despite all the time that had passed, I still felt like I could trust Amelia with this.

Maybe because Finn trusted her, or because our friendship had formed under the worst of circumstances and was stronger for it.

Amelia : I'm sure he'll like whatever you come up with. But you are talking to one of the few people he's closest to.

Me : Oh! Do you have any suggestions?

Amelia : Hmmm... I'm not sure if I should tell you.

Me : Pretty please? I want to give Finn the date of his dreams.

Amelia : Aww, that's sweet of you. Okay, I'm gonna give you one word, and then the rest is up to you.

One word, huh? I could work with that.

Me : Hit me.

Amelia : Stargazing.

That certainly wasn't what I'd been expecting, but the more I thought about it, the more romantic it sounded. My mind was already coming up with a few different scenarios.

Amelia : Levi? You still there?

Me : Yeah, sorry. I was just thinking. Thanks for the help. I owe you one.

Amelia : You're welcome. I'm gonna let you plan because I have a feeling you'll be useless in a convo now. How about lunch on Monday? You can come to my place. I'll cook.

Me : Sounds good. Send me the address and I'll be there.

Amelia : See you then. Have fun on your date!

I put my phone away, then stared up at the ceiling. Stargazing, huh ?

Closing my eyes, I imagined all the best spots in or around the town. I'd done a lot of driving around over the last week, and I could practically build a map of the town in my mind by now.

I must've drifted off at some point because the next thing I knew, I was surrounded by the scent of musty, dank walls, unwashed clothes, fur, and blood.

Blinking hard, I turned my head and came face to face with a younger, more haunted version of Finn. He was paler than normal, his skin sallow and sickly, but his eyes were the same bright green, and not hidden behind glasses.

"Levi, you were talking about the stars," he prompted, and I blinked, then followed his gaze to the basement ceiling. My eyes couldn't stay on the cracked ceiling for long before they were drawn back to Finn.

On his other side, Penny and Dean were asleep, curled up around each other. The twins were on their other side, and Amelia had her arm around the boys as she slept. We were the only ones awake, because Finn had woken up from a nightmare, which had woken me up too.

Stars... yeah, I'd been telling him about the constellations, making him imagine the stars on the basement ceiling so he'd be able to recognize them once we got out. Because we were going to get out.

"Right. Sorry, kiddo. Hmm, where were we?"

"We were talking about the bear. "

"Yes, the Giant Bear. It's also called the Ursa Major. It has seven main stars, the brightest ones."

"Like us," Finn whispered, and I smiled.

"Yeah, exactly like us."

Something soft and wet pressed against my cheek, pulling my attention away from Finn. When I turned to look, there was nothing there, but when I glanced back at Finn, he was gone, and so were the others. I was alone in the dark.

"Finn? Finn!"

The cold and wet sensation returned, and I jerked upright, making Greta fall to the floor with a screech.

"Shit, sorry, girl!" I picked her up, and she rubbed her head against my hand as I tried to get my breathing under control.

That had been a vivid dream. No...not a dream.

It was a memory, one I'd forgotten or buried away when I'd thought I'd been too late and the others were dead. When I'd thought Finn was dead.

I checked the time on my phone and realized it was almost midnight. I couldn't sleep yet, though. I had a date to plan, and another promise to keep. I was going to show Finn all the constellations I could find.

Finn

I got a text Sunday morning from Levi saying he'd pick me up for our date at six thirty tonight.

I was still not quite awake, which was why I almost sent a message asking him how he knew my address before remembering Greta had visited me all week while he was at work, and if she knew where I lived, so did he.

The idea of spending the whole day waiting for our date didn't sound the least bit fun, especially when I could feel my dads' eyes on me all through breakfast. They clearly had questions, but they were trying to be 'good' and not bombard me with them.

I didn't mind, honestly. I liked how interested they were. I liked knowing they cared, and that they would tell me if they thought I was making a mistake.

"Oh, don't make dinner for me tonight, please," I said as I was finishing up, and Dad grinned. Papa shot him a warning look, and he tried to tamp it down, which made me smile.

"You have plans?" Dad asked, failing in his act of appearing unfazed. He was practically buzzing with excitement.

I nodded, then just because I was having fun, I added, "A date."

Dad's eyes went wide, but it was Papa who spoke, which was a surprise. "With Levi?"

"Yeah," I agreed, then decided I might as well tell them the rest of it. I'd told Penny and Dean last night because I'd been feeling a little gushy, but for once they'd kept it to themselves. "He's my mate."

They took five whole seconds to absorb this news. Then they were both around the counter and sandwiching me in a tight hug .

"That's amazing, Finn. We're so happy for you!" Dad exclaimed before squeezing me again. He pressed a kiss on top of my head, making his blond hair fall into my face.

"When are you bringing Levi over to meet us?"

Oh wow, nope. We were not going there.

My head filled with amusement, and I mentally scowled at my basilisk side. He was such a little shit.

"Not anytime soon. Now let me go, you two."

Dad huffed as Papa chuckled, but they let me go, and I dragged in a deep breath, adding a touch of drama just because.

"Is this your first date?" Dad asked as he returned to the other side and resumed working on the dishes. Papa joined him, and I debated making a run for it, but going back to my room would mean obsessing over tonight's date, so this was the lesser of the two evils.

"No, that was yesterday."

Dad raised a brow, and he didn't have to say a word for me to guess what he wanted.

So I told them about our date, and they seemed to enjoy the retelling almost as much as I'd enjoyed the date itself.

I imagined some of it was because they'd once had a similar date when they were first going out.

It was where Dad had revealed to Papa that he was a mage, back when he used to work at The Happy Place.

It was what had given me the idea in the first place.

Dad had told us that story a million times.

"I'm glad you both had a good time," Papa said, and I smiled. Yeah, so was I.

"Do you know what you're doing tonight? "

I shook my head, and Dad clapped his hands. "Ooh, a mystery date! That could be fun."

"Yeah, I'm looking forward to it."

Dad watched me for a minute, then nodded to himself. "Okay, since it isn't until this evening, how about you make yourself useful until then?"

"Huh?"

"Since Penny's coming home for a few days, I thought you could clean her room and change out the sheets. You know how she is about us going into her room."

"Penny's coming home?" How did I not know that?

"Oh, she didn't mention it? She has no lectures on Thursday and Friday, so she's coming for the weekend," Dad said, and I frowned. How come she didn't tell me?

"Angel, I think she wanted to surprise Finn," Papa said, a hint of reprimand in his voice, and Dad's eyes went wide as saucers.

"Oh no! Damn it. Sorry, Finn," he said sheepishly, and I waved him off.

"It's fine. I would've figured it out anyway. You aren't exactly chill when she's about to come home," I teased. She'd been in college for three-and-a-half years by now, and in that time, he'd never once been able to hide his anticipation.

I spent the rest of the morning deep-cleaning Penny's room, where the dads weren't allowed after the first time Dad found a note some kid in school had written to Penny talking shit about her because she was adopted and/or because she had two dads.

I never found out what exactly it said because neither Dad nor Penny would tell me, but they had an argument where Penny told him she could take care of herself, and then got suspended the very next day for punching a senior in the nose.

The guy was a shifter, so it wasn't like she misused her supe strength either.

Dad was proud, Papa was flabbergasted, and Penny declared her room a no-entry zone for the dads. Fun times.

"What the hell," I muttered when I found a half-full laundry basket from the last time she was home. You'd think she would put her clothes in the wash if no one was allowed to come in to do it for her, but no. Whoever she ended up with would be one lucky guy.

After lunch, I ran a load of laundry for her clothes and some of mine, then made a grocery run to get some of Penny's favorite snacks, which was anything spicy that had the potential to make you tear up. How she ate any of it, I didn't know.

It was only when I returned home and took a peek at the clock and discovered it was five p.m. that I remembered the date. Somehow, I'd kept myself distracted all day. Then again, thinking about my siblings tended to have that effect on me.

I quickly put the groceries away, then jumped into the shower, washing off quickly.

Since we were going out in the evening and I had a tendency of getting cold despite being a supe—a side effect of being constantly drained of blood, according to Dad—I wore a dark brown sweater and pale blue jeans paired with my brown boots.

Getting my hair slicked back and tidy took some time, but I was ready with ten minutes to spare.

I spent the next ten minutes waffling between excitement and sheer terror that I would mess things up somehow. It was fun.