Damn. She’d hesitated. Dexter had looked up from the book he was reading and smiled that damned smile at her again, She’d hesitated, and the spell had failed.
Get it together, Mia. Her internal monologue chided her. Gripped tightly in her hand, hidden behind her back, were the required ingredients for the spell. Ironically, given the nature of this particular spell, Mia found them incredibly easy to remember, thanks to the rhyming names: An eye of newt and ginger root. Wing of bat and hair of cat. The words had bounced around in her head all morning so far with such rhythm that she’d practically sung her shopping list to the shopkeeper earlier.
It had, at least, kept her mind off of the hangover that had followed last night’s drinking. Fortunately, the potion she’d picked up at the same time had, by now, also dulled the worst of that too. All that was left was to address the other consequences of her drunken actions.
The consequences set his book down for a moment so he could pick up the coffee Mia had bought for him. He blew on it gently, sipped at it, and smiled at Mia again. This time, he silently said “thank you” with his deep ruby-red eyes before he turned them once again to the leather-bound tome he’d been engrossed in for the last 15 minutes.
That stupid, beautiful smile. Mia silently cursed at herself. If it wasn’t for that smile, she wouldn’t even be in this position. That’s the same smile he gave her when he offered her a drink at the bar last night. The smile that shook her from the funk of her best friend ditching her for her own misguided hookup with a wizard they’d known from school years before. The smile that led to talking. The talking that led to dancing. The dancing that led to kissing. The kissing that led to Dexter sitting in her living room this morning, reading one of her books over the coffee she’d made an excuse of buying just so she could quickly head to her nearest magic store.
No more delay. Just concentrate and say the words, Mia. She took a deep breath and momentarily closed her eyes. If she could have just kept them closed, this would have been so much easier. But the spell specifically required her to be looking at the subject. She just needed him to stop bloody smiling so generously at her.
The smile didn’t help, but so much of her already didn’t want to perform this spell. A part of her was busy fantasising about spending long days doing nothing in his arms. Of the mundane daily tasks that suddenly would become events to look forward to just because she was doing them with him.
She remembered the surprise she’d felt last night at just how much they had in common, beyond the magic, of course. A shared love of the same books, the same weird esoteric music, the same strange, random spells like the one that turned sunsets into a specific shade of gold for no other reason than they both thought it looked particularly pretty. They’d even both failed their potions exams the first time - something most full-time witches and wizards would scarcely admit to if they even had stumbled on one of the most basic first steps in their chosen profession.
But all of that was why she had to do this spell. There was too much danger here, too great a risk that she might really fall for him. For one fantastic night, she could indulge in that dream. But now it was morning. It was time to wake up. She’d known this couldn't work from the second he flashed those beautiful gemstone-like eyes at her, even if she’d spent all of last night pretending that she hadn’t.
She knew those gorgeous red eyes were the unique trademark of the Mystwood Covenant. Such things honestly didn’t mean anything to Mia, but a blood feud that goes back literal centuries would still mean enough to the elders in her own clan that a relationship between them would be impossible. Mostly on account of at least someone ending up dead because of it.
As much fun as last night had been, it wasn’t worth sparking a magic civil war or ‘doing a Romeo and Juliet,’ as Mia had put it to her own thoughts earlier. So, as much as she wished that she could just forget it all and go over to the sofa and kiss him again, she had to ignore all of that, ignore all of the noise in her heart and head, and concentrate.
Concentrate…
She gripped the ingredients in her hand tighter than ever, stared dead ahead and prayed that Dexter would just focus on the words on the page in front of him for another few moments. She took a long, deep breath and, as quietly as possible but with all of her focus, slowly said,
“Tabula Rasa.”
As quietly as they’d been spoken, the words hung heavy in the air. A thick but invisible fog slowly cut its way across the room until it enveloped an unwitting and still unaware Dexter. A small and brief fire scorched the palm of Mia’s hand as the spell used up the ingredients stashed within her grip.
Finally, she could relax. She sighed and headed over to where Dexter was sitting. He was still holding the book, but his gaze was fixed into the middle distance, and the rest of the page had gone unread. She knew she only had a moment’s grace before the spell would fade and Dexter would come to, so she had to be quick. But that didn’t stop her from taking one last longing look into his bright red eyes while she set the book down on the coffee table.
She took his hand, and it triggered a memory of him holding hers last night as they danced. She had to ignore the stinging in her eyes as she led him to her door and whispered in his ear a command to find his way home.
By the time he got downstairs and out onto the street, he should wake up already knowing where he was going, but with no memory of why or where he’d come from. No memory of last night. No memory of Mia.
She could barely stand to watch him thoughtlessly walk down the hallway, but she made herself do it anyway. When he turned the corner and headed down the staircase, she waited until she could hear the heavy front door close behind him before finally going back into her flat.
This is for the best. She repeated to herself, leaning against her door almost like she was barricading it against her own dreams and longings from breaking back in.
For the rest of the day, she tried to drown out her sadness with those words, but eventually, it was 9 pm, and she still hadn’t been successful.
She knew it was a mistake, and she knew it wasn’t a healthy response, but to hell with it, she thought.
“A negroni, please.” She held her credit card out while she ordered her drink. The bar was mercifully quiet tonight, and she was even able to sit on one of those uncomfortable tall stools. The bartender set the drink in front of her and tapped his reader to the card in one motion.
This is for the best, she thought once more and emptied her glass in a couple of steady gulps all at once. The bartender didn’t look especially impressed, particularly since the cocktail had taken longer to make than for her to drink it, but he didn’t say anything as he took the empty glass away.
Mia was about to ask for another drink when a shadow emerged beside her and stole the bartender’s attention. Instead, she just rested her chin on her hand and waited.
“Just an ale, please.” The shadow said and then rested his hands on the bar beside Mia.
The alcohol had hit Mia quicker than she’d thought. She was already hallucinating Dexter’s voice. And his deodorant. And his aftershave. And the thick silver ring he wore on his right thumb.
“Sorry,” the hallucination of Dexter said. “I hope you don’t mind me saying this, but… you look really sad. Are you ok?”
Mia blinked her eyes closed and opened them again as slowly as she could, almost as if to hard reset her brain and dispel the illusion it had apparently chosen to cast on her. Slowly, she turned to look at the shadow beside her. All the breath in her lungs evaporated, her heart seized, and her stomach turned inside out all at once. Dexter smiled at her, his red eyes glittering in the dim spotlights around the bar.
“I…” Mia stammered.
Of course, he’d come back here tonight. Why wouldn’t he? He didn’t even remember coming last night. He’d even told her that he liked to pop in after work once or twice a week. Did she subconsciously come here hoping that he’d come back again? Stupid. She silently swore at herself.
He kept smiling but turned to face the bartender as his beer was set down in front of him.
“I’ll pay for whatever she’s having, too.” He said.
“Negroni?” The bartender looked at Mia, one hand already reaching for a clean glass. Slowly, air started to find its way into her lungs once again, but not enough to actually answer him. Instead, she just nodded.
“If you want to talk, my Covenant has told me that I’m a very good listener,” Dexter said, reaching for his drink and slowly sipping at it. Mia was instantly reminded of this morning and the coffee. Her heart hurt. And then he smiled again.
It wasn’t a smarmy smile, and it wasn’t even an “I find you attractive” smile. It was that stupid, genuine, friendly smile. Again.
“You… You know what, sure.” Mia sighed and admitted defeat. The universe and her heart had won this round. The bartender set her drink down in front of her, and she could swear he shot her a look of ‘Please don’t just neck this one’ as he did so.
“Just, just give me one second…” She turned away from Dexter and his perfect smile for a moment and pulled out her phone. She opened the alarm app and created a new one for early tomorrow morning with a name made up entirely of emojis: ‘🦎🫚🦇🐈➡️🏪’.
“Sorry about that. It’s just something that I’ll forget.” She smiled back at Dexter and put her phone away.
As Mia sipped at her drink and Dexter began introducing himself - again - she thought to herself, …maybe I’ll pick up a bulk order…