Forever

Chapter 31

Linh's POV:

I picked a stray string off of my white pink-diamond embroidered sleeve. I adjusted my crush cuffs. Deep breath. I clutched my basket of delicacies. I grasped the crystal he gave me to the island he gave me the crystal of.

"I'm fine," I promised myself. Lifting up the glass-like crystal, I allowed the light to whisk me away. No wonder Wylie always smiles. To feel this all the time, it must feel amazing. 

I reformed next to the small bilboleafberry garden, scents of sweet and sour filling my lungs. I loved visiting his beach house! I walked up through the glass-screened porch and pulled the chain. It played a four-beat measure of some music, the sounds of waterfalls and wind. 

My favorite Flasher opened the door, his outfit on point as always.

"Hellooo, Linh! Nice to see you, as always." Wylie gave me a big bear hug. "How are you?" He pulled back.

I smiled. "Hi, Wylie. Good to see you too. I'm... good. You?" I didn't want to tell him about my accident. To take my mind off of the matter, I stood on my toes and kissed him on the cheek.

"I was going to say 'fine,' but now I'm great. What was that all for?" The dork grinned from ear to ear.

"I dunno. Felt like it. Where will we be going? I brought my food." I raised my basket and popped the lid to show him the things I made. His eyes widened. Smells of pumpkin custard bursts to his favorite chocolate chip muffins wafted out.

"Goodness! How much did you make?" His grin spread even further.

"Let's say... it took me all day?" I scrunched up my face, trying to count the hours. I could cook twice as much as the gnomes on a good day! "Some hours." I shrugged.

Wylie's POV:

Linh seemed so happy today, but I could tell there was something she wanted to tell me.

"Shall we head to the place?" I offered my arm. I dropped my smile a bit - my cheeks got sore.

"We shall," Linh answered, taking the arm. I raised the crystal, and we leaped away. We appeared in a vast meadow surrounded by a forest. At the part we were facing, there was a hill that went up, the sun near it. "Oh my..." She didn't finish her sentence.

"Let us sit, m'lady!" I mocked the British movies that Marella showed us. I opened the basket my wonderful Hydrokinetic brought and grabbed a muffin right away.

"Yes, yes. Eat, and sit." She snatched her hedberry and tequilnan sandwich, savoring each bite. "This is so good, I eat it every day, and I still love it! I can't believe you don't like hedberries!" She tried to speak around the mouthful she had in her mouth, chipmunk-style.

"Hedberries are gross," I muttered, my next muffin halfway to my mouth. The only person who enjoyed Linh and Biana's muffins more than me was no one.

"I highly dislike their peppery taste and the after-hint of curdleroot." I really didn't like hedberries.

"What? They are peppery, but there is no hint of curdleroot! You're hallucinating." I waved my finger that had smudged hedberry paste on it.

"I am not hallucinating! Get that finger away from me! Bilboleafberries are better." I chuckled as she chased me around, finally wiping the paste on me. "Ewww!" I laughed harder.

Linh's POV:

I decided to tell him after he calmed down from the hedberry paste catastrophe.

"Wylie... I need to tell you something... I was at a lake with Tam the other day, and then I lost control over the water for some reason. It came over me, and Tam said it was like a wall between us. I don't know what happened." I looked up sadly. He just hugged me. "I love you," I murmured.

"And I you, Linh. You're fine now, anyways." He paused for a second. "Wait, if you can control water, and our bodies are seventy percent water... could you fly without levitation or telekinesis?" I pulled back.

"I've never really thought of that," I wondered what could happen. "I don't want to risk it, though, like what if I took the water out of me?" We sat there, thinking if it was yes or no. We settled on no.

I finished my sandwich, for him it was his fourth muffin (then I shoved some healthy veggies in his face. Too many carbs!). We talked for a while, asking each other questions and climbing up into answers, finding branches of more topics to talk of. 

We watched the sun make half of the sky a bright orange, the other half blue and starry with the moon slowly rising. It was kissing the top of the cliff, and below the cliff was the most wonderful shade of dark blue I have ever witnessed, from shade and a lake, reflecting the warmth and having a beautiful contrast. 

The darkness was cool, the sun, a fire keeping us alive. I was leaning my head on his shoulder, when -

Wylie's POV:

"Come with me," I looked over at my girlfriend. I stood up, and she followed me. I started to walk towards the cliff, the one I saw earlier and was studying now. The green grass was golden, flowers on fire. We walked up, to the top, and there I sat, legs crossed, staring at the horizon we were closer to now. "Isn't it divine?"

"I..." she was at a loss for words.

"Linh. I know I've said this to you many times, and you to me, but I love you Linh, I love you." I reached out and pulled her close to me, my hands cradling her head, and I kissed her. She reached up and slid her hands up my arms and wrapped hers around my neck. We broke for a second - "I love you too, Wylie" - and she kissed me with more force than I could ever bring in a thousand years.

 I don't remember when I had started to want those soft lips to touch mine, but now here I was. We didn't know how much time passed, minutes? Hours? Days? We didn't care.

You know the word 'breathtaking'? It's not just a word, it's a feeling. You see something absolutely gorgeous and you actually lose your breath, like it punched you in the ribcage. It fills you with awe, you want to study it forever, not just through painting or picture, not memory or words, just there. 

Forever. 

Or when you do something and it's vivid, true, and staggering. You want to experience it with the person you're with, until the end of nothing. After a spell, we stopped, and watched the moon hover over our heads, and we pointed out constellations, staying close to one another, sharing the occasional peck, watching the fish leap and whales 'breach, the tide grow and trees wave, the wind whisper and the love stay. I don't remember what time she left or time I went home, but I do remember her.