"Hullo, Laura." She waved at me, smiling her angelic smile, like butter wouldn't even melt in her mouth.

"It's so good to see you found someone to bring with you, Charlie. I have to say, I wasn't expecting dear Laura here." She gestured at me. "You know, Margarathe was quite worried that you wouldn't have an escort for the wedding--she even asked me if I knew anyone who could be gotten--last minute."

I moved away from Alice, trying to get to where I could get past this blockade and get out of here. I really didn't like where this was going--it wasn't like that with me and Charlie. We were just friends! But of course they were going to think differently. That's just the way that people like Alice and Aries are.
Finally I got away and said my goodbyes to Charlie--he apologized for Alice and Aries and I told him not to worry about it. It'd take a lot worse than them before it'd ever get to me.

When I got home, there was a note from Finn waiting for me, asking me if I could meet him at the club if I got home before eleven. Finn was one of the boys I knew from work. He didn't work with me, per se, he worked at the fish store next to the newspaper office where I worked. Sometimes we caught a ride home together in the storms. He lived down near us, with his aunt, Ella. His parents were still alive, and lived near us too, I don't know why he didn't live with them, but neither he nor his twin brother did.

He was waiting for me near one of the alleys at the club. Like Chase, he was someone that my mother would never approve of me even knowing, let alone going somewhere unchaperoned with. But I figure that my mother decided she didn't want us in her life, I didn't have to live by her rules anymore.

He told me that Marie-Leah had told him that I had plans for the day and asked me what they were. I told him and something flickered across his face, too quick for me to read it.

I don't think either of us really knew what we were supposed to do then, because we spent most of the next while just standing around not really talking about anything. I was feeling painfully shy and awkward and he didn't seem any less awkward than I felt.

Finally one of the tables opened up and we sat down. I started to ask him about the cuts on his cheek, they were new and showed the broken line of a previous scar very well. But he just looked at me for a long moment with those big blue eyes and I couldn't say anything.