Chapter 35

School days breezed by with Jade around, and Janice and the others not bothering them, other than a small cupcake as a going away gift.

Why is it Friday already? Can I go back a week to before Leo showed up? Ugh, I shouldn't be so horrible, even in my own thoughts.

After a light supper, Jade cleared the table and turned to her. "I can clean this up while you get ready for our date."

"Get ready? Do I need to dress fancy?" Ariel asked, wondering what she had to wear.

"You don't have to, but I thought you might want to for our special occasion. As such, I've left a present for you in your room."

"A present?" What would he get me? And when did he even have a chance to? He's right beside me ninety percent of my waking hours.

"If you're curious, why don't you see for yourself?"

Unable to contain her curiosity, Ariel bounded upstairs to her new room. Sitting on the king-sized bed was a big, sparkly silver box with a golden ribbon on it. She took a deep breath, pulled the ribbon undone, and opened the box.

Inside, a long flowing purple dress waited for her, along with matching low-heel purple shoes.

She touched her necklace. The colour matches. It's so smooth and silky. She couldn't help herself and lightly slid her hand along it. Not sure the last time I dressed up. Without another thought, she changed into the dress and reached for the zipper.

Oh, crap.

No matter how much she stretched or what angle she came at, she couldn't get the zipper to move.

"Oh, come on. Arg."

Knock, knock. "Ariel, is everything okay?"

"Uh, well..."

"Can I come in?"

A bit awkward, but how else am I supposed to do this? Attach a hook on a string and hope for the best? "I guess."

Jade peeked in from the door and his eyes widened, a slight blush tingeing his cheeks as she faced him, wearing the dress. "You look beautiful; what's the problem?"

Don't react to it; anyone would look good in this dress, even a potato. "I'm... not flexible enough to zip it up on my own." She pointed at her back.

"Oh, I can help you with that." He slipped into the room dressed in a black suit and turned her back to him, his hand on her shoulder.

Zip.

He slowly brought the zipper up. "It suits you perfectly," he whispered into her ear from behind.

"Oh." Ariel clamped a hand over her mouth. "Ahem." She cleared her throat and turned to him. "I could say the same thing to you. You look quite dashing."

"Thank you." Jade held his arm out for her. "Shall we?"

She hooked her arm around his and resisted the urge to cuddle up to him. "Where are we going, anyway?"

"A special spot." He escorted her downstairs and outside to where her brother was waiting with his car.

"Conner?"

He smiled at her. "You didn't think someone as noble as Jade would ask you out on a date without talking to me first, did you?"

"Well..." I guess I should've known, but didn't Jade count going shopping and whatnot as a date, too? But Conner doesn't know about that...

"Besides, who would drive if I'm not here?" Conner took a picture of the two of them with his phone and opened the back door to his car.

Ariel stopped at the door to the car and gazed up at him. "Thanks, Conner."

"Of course." Once they were seated, he shut the door behind them. "And we're off."

By the time they pulled up to their stop, the sky had darkened and filled with stars.

"Where are we?" Ariel asked, as Conner opened the door for them.

"A little place outside of town with a magnificent view of the city, nature, and the stars above. Look how clear they are over here."

"Wow..." Ariel blocked Jade's exit as she stared, awestruck, at the stars filling the sky.

"You two enjoy. I'll be napping in the back if you need me."

Ariel stepped away, her eyes drawn to the massive view of the city and nature below.

"While I do enjoy the view, I have more planned than gazing." Jade rested his hand on her shoulder and turned her towards a tiled floor set up near a playground. "One moment." He rushed over to the monkey bars and flipped a switch, lighting the playground up with a trail of small lights. "I know we have the stars, but I didn't think you'd want to dance in the dark."

"Dance?"

Jade pulled out a mp3 player, turned it on, and set it on Conner's trunk as an instrumental ballade played. He bowed to Ariel and held his hand out. "Will you do me the honour of joining me for a dance?"

I can't dance. She gripped the skirt of her dress. Her hand shaking, she reached out to take his hand. "I'm sorry in advance."

"For what?"

"Probably stepping on your feet because I can't dance."

"Don't worry about it." Jade pulled her close, an arm around her waist. "Trust me to lead you, and everything will be okay."

They swayed together to the dreamy melody, glued together as they both thought about what was to come.

"I-is this Chopin?" Ariel asked. "It sounds familiar."

"Yes, it is. It was the closest thing I could find to music from my world that I'd want to share with you. Conner helped me find it."

"I don't know how you manage to do all this without me knowing. When do you find the time when you're beside me so much?"

"I made time because it was important to me. And I have your brother to thank for a lot of this. I'm quite lost when trying to come up with a date you'd enjoy."

"Spending time with you is enough for me." Ariel rested her head on his chest as they continued to dance.

"But I wanted it to be memorable. A moment with me we'll both always remember."

"Every moment with you is memorable to me. You've changed my life; you've changed me."

"You've most definitely changed me as well. If Orsted saw me now, he'd think I'd been possessed. Not that I mind."

When the song ended, Jade stepped back. "See, my feet are perfectly fine. Do you want to rest on the bench and stargaze? Conner tells me you like pointing out constellations, and I'd be interested in seeing what there is to offer from the stars here."

"O-okay."

Jade dusted off a spot on the bench for her first and sat with his arm around her shoulders. "It's still odd for me to only see one moon."

"I can only imagine what it's like to have multiple moons. Let's see." Ariel pointed up at the sky, off to the side, and called out all the constellations she could see. When she finally stopped and turned to him, he was staring at her. "Oh, I'm sorry; was I boring you?"

"Not at all. I was admiring how animated you get when you talk about things you love."

"Oh..."

"And I wanted to burn this moment into my brain. I never want to forget it." After a moment, Jade pulled a small box out of his inner pocket. "I got you something."

"You didn't have to. You already bought me this dress."

"I did because I wanted to. It's custom made." He opened the box to show her a silver rune necklace. "It should sit well with your current necklace. It's a bindrune of Gebo and Eihwaz."

Her eyes widened. "What do those mean?"

"It's a bit complicated." He clasped the necklace around her neck and stayed leaned in close as he stared into her eyes. "Te amo. I love you." Jade kissed her on the lips.

Oh! A jolt ran through her whole body, and she closed her eyes, giving in as her toes curled.

He pulled back and rubbed his nose against hers. "I'm sorry I didn't ask first."

"Don't be sorry."

Jade smiled. "I'd keep going, but I'm sure Conner would intervene as soon as he noticed."

"Probably."

"And I'm sorry for being selfish, dragging you along through this, despite what's coming. Please know that this is extremely hard for me, too."

Ariel nodded and bit her lip, unable to say anything more.

"You might hurt yourself if you bite too hard." He bumped his forehead against hers and ran this thumb along her lip. "Is there anything you want?"

"Want? You've given me so much already." Ariel touched her necklaces.

"But I haven't given you anything you've asked for. It doesn't have to be something you can buy. Anything that's within my abilities, I will try to get you before I leave."

The red on her cheeks deepened, and she was glad it was dark out.

"And that won't make your brother want to kill me."

"I wasn't thinking anything dirty! I just..." She touched her ear. "I've always wanted to touch your real ears since I saw them."

"That's... Intimate for us because of how sensitive they are, but okay." Jade's ears reverted, and he turned his head to the side, eyes closed.

Ariel reached out and stroked his pointy ears, and they twitched as Jade clenched his fists. "They're so soft and cute."

"Ahem," he cleared his throat. "I hope you're satisfied, because I can't handle more of this." He took a deep breath, calming himself.

"Oh, sorry."

Jade shook his head. "It's okay, but I think it's time to head home."

"Okay." I guess the dream is over.