Schedule change! Thanks to all the positive response, I'll be posting chapters bi-weekly through the end of August, and weekly starting in September!

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When it was finally time to go back out and meet Nat, Dennis rattled the cupboard again. This time, the magnets just read KISS GIRL.

“Et tu, Dennis?” Aspen asked sourly as they left.

After a year of living in downtown Toronto, Aspen still found it unnerving how extremely dark the Island got at night and opted to grab a ride share back to Nat’s gym rather than risk biking unfamiliar roads in the pitch black to get back home.

Their ride pulled up just as Nat came outside. Somehow, Aspen found Nat’s cold weather attire – a leather jacket and oversized grey sweater over black leggings – just as distracting as her gym wear had been. “Hey! Perfect timing!” Nat said brightly. “Sorry you had to get a ride in. If I’d known, I would have offered to pick you up.”

“Oh. Uh. Yeah,” Aspen hesitated over whether to go for a hug, then cursed themself when the moment passed. “Aunt Marcy didn’t have a car so,” they said with an embarrassed shrug. “Neither do I.”

Nat smiled. “I’m pretty hungry, and I was thinking we could go to this great little taqueria around the corner? They’ve got amazing carnitas.”

Aspen smiled. “Sounds perfect.”

The carnitas was every bit as good as promised, but the tiny storefront obliged them to eat quickly and move on. Nat was apologetic as they were leaving. “Sorry. Maybe not the best spot for catching up, but I really wanted tacos. We could go for a walk if it’s not too cold for you?”

Aspen grinned. “It’s okay. The tacos were delicious, and single digits in March is balmy by Toronto standards. I’m okay if you are.”

“Grand.” Nat gestured down the street and the two of them easily fell into step beside one another.

“So help me out here. How did you end up on the Island when the last I heard, you were off to study Engineering in Alberta?”

Nat groaned. “Yeah, that ended up being a complete disaster. Being away from my family and my church for the first time meant I got to meet and hang out with actual queer people for the first time, which accelerated me headfirst into getting my egg cracked. Plus, I hated engineering – I only picked it to make my family happy. I was so miserable that I spent more time skiing than studying and failed half my exams at the end of first year, so I dropped out of the program.”

“Oh no.” Aspen grimaced sympathetically. “That sounds awful.”

“My parents were furious,” Nat admitted.

“I’m sorry,” Aspen said after an uncomfortable moment of silence. “I didn’t mean to bring up something difficult.”

“It was more than ten years ago and I’m mostly over it now.” Nat said with a shrug. “Anyway, tl;dr: my family cut me off when I came out. So I stayed in Calgary and worked several seasons as a ski instructor, then relocated to Whistler after I went to a friend’s wedding and fell in love with this part of the world.

“By the time I got tired of the seasonal employment life, I’d made friends with my boss. He offered to hire me on permanently as a personal trainer, so I got my certification and came out here to put down roots. I’ve been in Parksville almost three years now.”

Aspen whistled. “Wow. You must have had some crazy adventures along the way.” Aspen hesitated, then added, “I’m sorry about your family, though. That sucks.”

“It is what it is,” Nat said, clearly trying to be philosophical about it. She paused and pointed inquiringly at the sign that marked the trail down to the beach, and Aspen nodded their assent. “So what about you? There’s obviously more to how you ended up moving out here than your aunt dying?”

“Well. I went to school for witching, obviously, and finished, and for a long time I honestly wished I hadn’t bothered. It’s impossible to get public sector jobs in Ontario, and I was never able to get enough work to go full time with freelancing. So finally, I gave up trying and took a job in corporate magical support to support my partner through his last year of law school and studying for the Bar.”

“Your partner’s a lawyer?”

Was it Aspen’s imagination or did Nat look worried? They found themself flustered by the implications. “Was. I mean. Is.” They made a noise of frustration, then tried again. “William was my partner, still is a lawyer.”

“Oh. So you’re not…”

“God no. When Aunt Marcy died and left me her house, it was contingent on relocating here and opening my own practice. Except for the part about my aunt dying, it was my dream come true, and the first thing William said when he heard was that I shouldn’t take it because his firm didn’t have any offices in Vancouver.”

Nat wrinkled her nose in disgust. “Gross.”

“Yeah. Unfortunately, that was pretty typical. He, uh. Didn’t take me breaking up with him very well, so Becks and her wife, Rachel—”

“Oh my god!” Nat exclaimed delightedly. “Your sister’s gay?”

“Oh yeah. The gayest.” Aspen grinned. “She moved to Alberta to be a farm lesbian.”

Nat squeaked in excitement and gestured for Aspen to continue. “Sorry. Didn’t mean to interrupt.”

“Um. So, Becks and Rachel flew back to Ontario with me, helped organize the move, and kept him away from me. My stuff arrives tomorrow, actually.”

Nat’s eyes were wide with dismay as she placed a sympathetic hand on their shoulder, causing Aspen to flush embarrassingly as their heart skipped a beat. “I’m sorry. That’s so much, and you’re still right in the middle of it.”

Aspen suppressed the urge to shrug, not wanting Nat to think that they didn’t want to be touched... because they very much did. “It’s okay. I hadn’t been in love with William for a long time, so coming out here got me away from him and my job.” Their delivery was casual, but Nat’s expression grew even more intense. “So I think it’s for the best,” they finished weakly.

“That’s awful,” Nat said softly. “Could I – I don’t know if you do hugs. Do you? Could I give you one?”

Aspen nodded, unable to find their voice.

Nat wrapped her arms around Aspen’s waist and tucked her face against their shoulder as she held Aspen closely, if not quite as crushingly as before. After a moment’s hesitation, Aspen wrapped their arms around Nat’s shoulders and leaned into the hug, distressingly, blissfully aware of every point of contact.

When she finally let go, Aspen’s brain was too full of static to manage anything intelligible. They looked away in an effort to hide their blush and found themself arrested by the glorious sunset - a riot of pinks, oranges, and purples which silhouetted the dramatic rises of distant islands. “Oh wow. What an incredible view.”

“I never get tired of it,” Nat said softly.

They stood in silence for a long moment, taking in the sound of the waves hitting the shore. “I hated living in downtown Toronto,” Aspen finally said. “It was crowded and ugly, and it took forever to get anywhere that actually felt like nature. But this…” They shook their head, too overwhelmed by how much their life had changed in such a short span to know how to finish that sentence.

Thankfully, Nat took this as her cue to change the subject. “So. Tell me about Becks’ wife! Rachel, you said?”

Aspen seized on the new topic with relief. They told Nat about Rachel and the small farm they lived on just outside of Calgary. An off-handed mention of Rachel’s insistence that William was the definition of ‘a face in need of a fist’ prompted a full re-telling of The Coffee Incident. Nat’s uproarious laughter was so infectious that Aspen found themself relating their more humorous funeral misadventures, from getting kicked out of the coffin showroom to Uncle Robert to their photo introduction to Cuddles the corn snake. Nat was a gratifyingly appreciative audience, and bit by bit Aspen’s worries that they wouldn’t know how to talk to her anymore began to fade. Finally, not wanting to monopolize the conversation, Aspen asked Nat what it had been like working as a ski instructor, which led to the two of them swapping their craziest job stories.

They talked for hours, wandering aimlessly through town once it got too cold to stay on the beach. Aspen could have suggested adjourning to somewhere indoors, but Nat had slipped her arm through theirs shortly after turning back from the water and they would have endured just about any discomfort to prevent her from removing it - and not just because they were extremely attracted to her. Nat’s easy affection soothed a wild and restless hunger, making them realize how long it had been since William had been physically affectionate as a matter of routine.

When a face-splitting yawn prompted Aspen to check the time, they were shocked to see that it was nearly nine o’clock. “Sorry,” they said sheepishly. “I’m still not fully on BC time, I guess.”

“Then I’ll get you home so you can get some sleep.” Nat smiled and turned the two of them around but made no move to withdraw her arm until they arrived back at the gym and Nat’s car – a small blue hatchback with a roof rack – parked out front.

All too soon, they were pulling into Aspen’s driveway. They put a reluctant hand on the door handle, suddenly unsure of what came next.

Either unaware or unbothered by their confusion, Nat smiled and put a hand on Aspen’s knee, causing their stomach to give a lurch. “I’m so glad we ran into each other. This was really fun.”

Aspen’s chest felt as though it might burst trying to contain the welter of feelings they were having. “It was,” they managed.

“Do you want to get coffee later this week?”

The combination of Nat’s warm hand on their knee and the prospect of getting to see her again on possibly-a-real-date made Aspen feel like they might explode. They smiled, hoping the expression looked like a normal human smile, and reminded themself that if they could be polite to their idiot HexaTech co-workers every day they could fake being a functional human for a few more seconds. “I would love that.”

Nat beamed at Aspen before opening her contacts and handing them her phone. “I’ll text you tomorrow after I check my work calendar to figure out a time.”

Aspen added their number and handed it back. “Looking forward to it,” they said, grinning like an idiot.

Their heart was pounding as they got out of the car and watched Nat drive off, the cold night air extra crisp against cheeks that were nearly feverishly warm. They could still feel the burning imprint of Nat’s hand on their knee, which summoned the even more inflammatory memory of holding her in their arms and being held by her in return.

“I’m in trouble,” Aspen sighed, confronted with the undeniability of their feelings, which burned just as bright as they had before their decade apart. They could feel the fear that they were doomed to repeat those years of tortured pining lurking in the corners of their mind, but they were too full of luminous hope for it to find any real purchase.

They stumbled into the house, their movements made clumsy by a combination of giddiness and fatigue. Once inside, they pulled out their phone by habit, opened the Messages app, and snorted at a message from their mother.

Your sister tells me you met someone?

Aspen rolled their eyes and dropped their phone back in their pocket, deciding to keep their mother and sister in the dark a little longer.

They went through their bedtime ablutions in a haze before dropping gratefully into bed. However, sleep eluded them as they fell into an obsessive interrogation of their feelings. Was coffee with Nat a date? They very much wanted it to be a date, but did Nat? And what about Rav? As overwhelming as the resurgence of their feelings for Nat was, thinking about Rav still evoked the same feelings of attraction. Maybe Rav wasn’t interested, but maybe he was, or would be. What would they do then?

The questions chased themselves in seemingly endless circles until finally exhaustion overcame anxiety.

✯ ✯ ✯

The following morning saw the arrival of the moving van with their things. As the van was only half-full, it took less than half an hour for the movers to unload the van into the house.

“Well, Dennis,” Aspen said thoughtfully, looking at the pile of boxes in the reception area. “It’s okay if the answer is no, but do you want to help?”

From the kitchen, one cupboard slam. Yes.

“Great. We’ll start with the kitchen then.”

Becks and Rachel had kept the contents of the boxes well-organized and labeled, unlike previous moves when Aspen’s belongings had ended up haphazardly shoved wherever they would fit. This made it easy for them to locate the several boxes of magical tools and spell ingredients, which they hauled into the kitchen and set on the counter. However, they were only halfway through emptying the first box when they were completely overwhelmed by the number of decisions they would need to make about how to merge their supplies with Aunt Marcy’s pre-existing storage system.

“Do you have any opinions about this stuff, Dennis?”

One cupboard slam, then magnets rearranging themselves. ME KITCHEN. YOU BEDROOM?

Aspen blinked in surprise. “Really? You sure?”

One slam.

“Thanks, buddy.” Aspen happily left Dennis to deal with the kitchen and dragged the several boxes of clothing and shoes into the bedroom. It was arguably the more laborious of the two tasks, as there was a full closet and chest of drawers to go through before they could put away their own clothing. But as Aunt Marcy had been quite petite, there was no question of needing to make decisions about what they might be interested in. After unpacking their own clothing onto every available flat surface, they packed all of Aunt Marcy’s clothing neatly into the boxes their own clothes had arrived in – setting aside only a few particularly sentimental pieces for Mum and Becks.

When their own clothing was finally put away, there were no signs of activity from the kitchen, so Aspen decided to investigate. “All done, buddy?”

One cupboard slam. Yes.

“Amazing! Let me see.”

Dennis gave them a tour by opening each door and drawer in turn. By the time they were done, Aspen was extremely impressed with the poltergeist’s organizational skills.

“Dennis, this is incredible. Thank you so much,” they enthused. “Every other time I moved, the kitchen stayed packed for weeks. This is such a help.”

WELCOME.

“What are these?” Aspen asked, indicating the small pile of magical implements that had been left on the table.

There was an uncertain flurry of magnets, as though Dennis didn’t have enough magnets for what he wanted to say. POTIONS IN KITCHEN. The magnets froze for a moment to Aspen to read them, then rearranged themselves again. RITUAL TOOLS ON ALTAR.

Aspen grinned. “Dennis, I’m super impressed. I didn’t think you’d know so much about magic!”

THANK YOU. HAPPY TO HELP. Then, unexpectedly. DOOR?

“Door?”

GO LOOK.

Curious, Aspen did as directed and went to the front window. There, they saw the same teenage goth they had seen before. By the time they opened the front door to invite them in, however, they had already fled.

“Well thanks for the warning, at least, Dennis.” They sighed, eyeing the remaining boxes reluctantly.

Two emphatic slams. No. SIT. EAT.

“Called out,” Aspen laughed. “But you’re not wrong.”

They cheerfully ate a quick lunch, then drifted into the living room, wanting a more comfortable spot to catch up on notifications before getting back to work. Phone already in one hand, they flopped onto the couch, careful to avoid the spot in the middle where the elderly springs sagged badly - only for the front leg to snap off with a loud crack and dump Aspen onto the floor.

“Rude!” Aspen said to no one in particular, surveying the ruins of the couch - which looked well and truly dead. Not only had the leg snapped, but the frame had cracked in the middle. For a moment they had to fight down a surge of panic until they remembered that William wasn’t there to be mad about a large, unexpected expense.

How did you buy a new couch? Aspen was over thirty and had never bought furniture that hadn’t come from a thrift store - William had made all of the furniture decisions for their Toronto apartment.

Before Aspen got to Oogling, they took a rueful selfie and sent it to Nat.

Aspen
My couch just died rather dramatically.

Aspen’s heart jumped as three dots started dancing immediately.

Nat
Thoughts and prayers.
My condolences in this difficult time.

Otherwise, stay tuned for the next chapter on August 12th!