There was something different about Lavender now that our status as a couple was made official.
She let herself become entirely infatuated with me and marvelled over every little thing I did for her.
She loved my public displays of affection I gave her. Whether it was a quick kiss outside my school gates, or the feeling of my tail twined around her waist; it sent her giggling and blushing all over again.
The fact that Mum and Dad had both gifted us with new bicycles only made it easier for Lavender to spend more time with me on the way to and from school. Mine even had a tail basket at the back that was quickly installed after my first ride ended in pain when it got caught between the spokes. That basket was a lifesaver, despite its odd looks.
Having Lavender see me off at the front gates was a spectacle I enjoyed. I made it known that the human the other demons gawked at was taken, which only made me laugh when thier faces fell in disappointment when we embraced.
Lavender loved the attention when I showed up to her school after mine had finished. It was only a few more minutes of biking to reach the front gates that I lingered at for her to rush out to me.
I lapped up the attention it bought me. Demons were not allowed to set foot on a human school, so the sight of one right there definitely caused gossip amongst the students.
Some even swooned over my looks and chattered behind raised hands from their classrooms towering above me. If Lavender was in one of those classes, she became the centre of attention and was bombarded with questions about me.
My ego always became inflated at the sight of other girls taking notice of me, along with the usually sour boys.
My horns were the spectacle that drew them in. They were perfectly curved back and free from any imperfections or breakages. My slender tail easily reached the nape of my neck, but usually hovered above the ground that it curled at.
A healthy diet of homemade foods had been kind to my body as well that hadn't grown fat from temptations. It wasn't rippling with muscles like some of the fitness focused students, but it wasn't too scrawny either like some of the new students fresh out of primary school.
My denim jacket with a wool lined collar was my favourite choice, and my trademark to recognise me by when I pulled up to Lavenders school every afternoon. The zipper at the front dangled with the tarnished monster spray key-chain that swung from Lavender's school bag. A red heart she had sewn into my breast pocket was the only other pop of colour amongst the distressed denim.
Bringing Lavender bouquets of flowers was my favourite thing to surprise her with. I quickly found that her favourite was orange marigolds. To her, they had the same hue of orange that reminded her of a radiant sunrise.
I found that gifting her with lavender was a little on the nose. There was only so far I could stretch the 'lavender for Lavender' joke before it got old and became its own running gag amongst her friends at school.
As I waited outside the school gates with a fresh bouquet of orange marigolds, I could feel new nervousness filling me.
The bell rang and I listened to the scraping of chairs on the floor as desks were shuffled. I saw Lavender's hair flip past the window without her smiling or waving like she usually did.
My heart hammered at the sight of her in the parting crowd spilling outwards, but that was before I noticed her tearful eyes.
"What's wrong, Sprig?" I tried to peer at her face that turned away quickly. She unhooked her bike by the front gate, still ignoring me.
"I got you flowers, birthday girl."
"I don't feel like flowers" she mumbled and pushed them away when I held them out to her.
"I learnt more about demons today" she finally looked up at me. The pain behind her accusing eyes sent daggers through my heart.
I couldn't think of what she had learnt that would make her suddenly not want to even look at me. She was trying so hard to hold herself together while we had an audience.
"Is it true all demons can't have kids?" she whimpered.
I pushed the flowers back into my basket so that I could go to hold her. Lavender stayed on the other side of the line separating the school grounds from the outter boundaries I was only allowed to stand in.
"Why should that matter?" I tried to smile at her "you're fifteen, soon to be sixteen; you don't want kids."
"But I do one day!" she cried out and choked back a sob "or I did..."
"Sprig..."
"Don't 'Sprig' me" she glared and held up a hand so she could wheel her bike over the line "I don't want to talk to you right now, Teddy."
I was aware of the silent observers we had. None of them looked away when I peered around at them all for some privacy.
Lavender kicked off and pedalled up the sidewalk. I dragged my bike around to chase after her as the gossip started behind me.
"Lavender!" I called out as she cried ahead "it's not my fault! There's billions of stars and..."
"...so there's no need for me to have what I want?" she called back through her tears "I wanted to have kids, Teddy, when I was old. Now I'll never have that!"
"I don't know what I can say to make you feel better" I spoke when I pushed myself to catch up to her "I only want you to be happy."
"Well, I'm not" Lavender turned from me again "and I can't even do anything about it because of our stupid Bonding thing!"
The daggers stabbed again; twisting this time.
"I don't think it's stupid" I felt myself tear up now "do... don't you want to be with me?"
Lavender tried to sigh through her sobs, but it only came out as a weird noise.
"That's not what I mean" she muttered back and finally came to a stop on the roadside. I dragged my bike to a halt ahead of hers and carefully approached her.
She was trying to wipe the flowing tears that were blinding her. It sounded like she was struggling for breath as she cried around her balled hands.
"Sprig" I whimpered to her "I'm sorry. I really am. I have no say in what the spirits want."
"The spirits are stupid!" she choked out, swiping up a stick to throw it at the sky and scream loudly.
The anger and frustration of her raw emotions made the tears drip down my face now. It felt like all of it was aimed at me, even though that wasn't the intention.
"I HATE YOU!" she screamed at the sky again and threw another stick that hit a tree "I HATE YOU SO MUCH!"
She went to grab another stick but I clutched the other end. Lavender tugged once, pitifully, before letting it go. She saw my tears but didn't try to stop them.
"I HATE YOU TOO!" I screamed up at the sky and lobbed the stick into the tree branches "STUPID SPIRITS!"
"STUPID SKY!" Lavender added as I passed her a stick "STUPID STARS!"
I could hear the anger subsiding as she started to realise how useless her anger at the sky was. I hunted for more sticks and passed her a handful.
Letting it all out sure was making me feel better. I could see the same was true for Lavender as well.
"Don't even think about coming out tonight!" I threatened the sky "we hate you, spirits!"
Lavender chuckled.
"And that means you too, moon!"
We both yelled out when we threw our sticks, just screaming at the tree opposite the road until snorts of wavering laughter burst from our lips.
"Feeling better?" I smiled to her.
Lavender nodded and let me hug her tightly.
"When we are both much, much, older" I began with a soft kiss on the top of her head "we can find other ways around all of this. But for now, I want to enjoy what we have together."
Lavender nodded and pressed her head into my chest. I wrapped my jacket around her and just stood there with her snuggled in it.
"Besides, how am I supposed to give you your birthday presents when you can't see them?" I added cheekily "you don't even know what else I got you."
"There's more?" she blinked up at me, wiping her nose on my shirt.
"Do you think I only got you flowers?" I parted from her to head back to my bike and fish for the wrapped gift in my tail basket "this is what I wanted to give you before everyone else hogs you tonight."
Her face lit up when I held out the cube to her. The paper around it was bulky, uneven, and sealed with far too much tape to try and stick down my terrible wrapping skills. The twine bow with a small sprig of lavender nestled inside a scroll of cinnamon seemed like overkill.
Perhaps I should have left it off?
Lavender tied the scroll around her wrist and inhaled it with a smile. She wiped her eyes so she could see clearly to tear open the paper.
"Bath salts" she smirked at me, shaking the jar she read from "sage, chamomile, and oranges; are you trying to roast me, Teddy?"
I smiled at her joke to try and hide the nerves rattling inside me.
Just tell her. Just get it out there.
"I... was hoping you could use them tonight before everyone comes over" I mumbled out to her, glancing down at my feet that scuffed the side of the road "and, uh, I could..."
So embarrassing. Of course she wanted to soak in peace.
"I could... join you?"
Lavender shook the jar and pressed it to my chest so she could focus on the rest of the gift.
"You know that Mum and Dad will not allow that" she said, tearing the paper further "plus, our poor bath is not that big."
My heart sank with my hopes. Of course I had overlooked logical reasoning in my stupid fantasy.
"But... we do have a perfectly good river with some little swimming areas in it" Lavender hinted "and I see you didn't gift me any swimmers in here, so..."
My heart soared at what she was suggesting.
"But you did get me a camera" her voice lifted too when she discovered the light yellow instant Polaroid printed on the front "is there something you wanted to tell me about these two things? Hmm?"
She grabbed the salts and the camera, weighing each one in her hands with a sly smirk.
The connection between the two had been purely unintentional and made me bury my face in my hands.
"So keen to get a good shot of me in the nude" Lavender teased "you are naughty, Teddy."
"You know exactly that's not what I had planned!" I jabbed her shoulder when she skipped past me to her bike. I lifted mine from the tree I had rested it against and saw her lean over to place her gifts back into my tail basket with her flowers.
"I think it's very thoughtful. Thank you" she smiled and planted a kiss on my nose before pedalling ahead happily.
River and Darcy were already in the front field outside the boundary of the house when we pulled up, dressed up in their smartest clothes for the occasion.
Three large logs formed a triangle seating area around an empty oil barrel Darcy was rolling towards the middle. Dad was checking the stability of wooden pillars that had been erected around the massive seating area. The frame was being woven with string- lights by River who easily twined them from up on the top of the frame with his long hands.
Behind the frame was a wall of lush green foliage that spanned past the frame and had golden numbered balloons hanging in the middle.
"Sprig!" Mum and Dad chimed out when we pushed our bikes up towards them.
Dad had on his blue collared shirt and black jeans. Mum matched his colour scheme with a dark blue dress and a black bow belt.
"Lavender!" River and Darcy called out cheerfully, River waving to make him briefly lose stability.
River looked odd in his purple collared shirt. His dark grey shorts came to his knees that scuffed on the wood between them.
Darcy went for a light yellow collared shirt and dark blue denims. He didn't look comfortable in the formal clothes that already had smudges down the jeans.
I could have sworn Darcy was also wearing foundation.
"This is all so much" Lavender gasped in awe at the preparations and started to tear up again "it's beautiful."
"Your Dad hammered his heart into this" Mum waved a hand over the frame proudly "and may have hammered a finger or two along the way."
Lavender giggled with Mum who saw me retrieve the flowers from my bike. She grabbed them from me and gestured for us to follow her.
Mum took us behind the foliage wall where more beauty laid.
Lavender began to cry with happiness at what her parents had created for her.
"Can't have a sweet sixteen without a garden party" Mum murmured and kissed Lavender on the head.
The foliage wall served as the backdrop for this side of the new addition.
Rustic pallets lined the middle of the area that was boxed off with another wooden frame strung with lights. The pallet table had a runner of more foliage down the middle of it, each side dotted with candles in crackled glass containers. An assortment of pink and sand coloured cushions were spaced out around the ground-level table. There were ten in total.
At the opposite end of the frame was a table with Lavender's name on it. Both corners of the frame were draped in orange daisies and yellow sunflowers to frame the table perfectly.
"We are going to move the fence later on" Mum pointed to the one bordering the house "and make a nice garden walkway up to the house between the party area and another one we have planned for Teddy when New Years Eve comes back around."
"You shouldn't have done all this" Lavender hugged her mother tightly, running to her father next "thank you so much for it all! It's seriously amazing!"
"We had some help" Mum glowed at Darcy and River "and the best thing is that those boys will work for food."
"And a birthday kiss!" River called out, hanging down from the frame with puckered lips.
Lavender laughed when he spread his arms open wide and waited. She kissed him on the cheek then shoved him back to make him swing gently as he whooped and pumped his fists at me.
"In your face, Teddy!" he jeered loudly, before seeing how uncomfortable Darcy was with his celebration and falling silent.
Lavender saw her time was running out and took the opportunity to pull her mother aside for a private talk inside while I helped River with the string-lights up on the frame.
I could already guess what she was talking to her about while she still had some privacy before her other guests turned up.
I didn't know how badly Lavender had motherhood set in her sights in the future. Seeing her so upset about it earlier only made the guilt of it all twist further inside me.
River watched Darcy leave to get firewood for the empty bonfire drum with Dad. He sat there, marvelling what we had accomplished, while sneaking peeks at Darcy that made him smile.
He looked so happy. And Darcy never complained once about River either.
They were a true match for each other.
"I kissed him today, you know" River boasted with a nudge of my side before smiling at the oblivious Darcy "after all this time."
"I bet it felt great" I grinned back as I remembered the feelings that had exploded within me when Lavender had caught me by surprise under the house in the flower field.
"Not really" he grimaced "his mum caught us. I'll feel it soon enough, I guess."
I turned to him in shock now.
"She hit you?"
"I only got in the way so she would stop hitting him" he shrugged and tried to play off the seriousness of it all "I changed again after that."
River held up his claws that were now serrated on the insides.
"I don't know how much more I'm going to change. I was kind of hoping it wouldn't be too much before coming here tonight. I don't want to scare Lavender and her friends. I just want..." he trailed off briefly and hesitated before speaking again "...to look like you."
"Like... me?"
"A demon only changes to protect their human. If I don't change, then that would be proof Darcy is in a nice place. I think everyone knows what's going on by now just by looking at me. I'm going to keep being what is best for him either way."
I looked down at my hands clasped in my lap. Lavender was still inside with her mother.
"Lavender found out about infertility today" I mumbled to him "I thought I was what was best for her too, but she was so upset and angry about it all on the way home. She even blamed our Bonding for a little there."
River inhaled sharply and grimaced.
"That's rough" he sympathised with a giant hand on my back "and she realises that there's nothing you can do about that?"
"Nothing at all?"
River shook his head.
"People don't let demons adopt because we don't categorise as a 'proper entity'; whatever that means" he frowned and shrugged "and they won't take a demons eggs to implant them that way either because it's not 'ethical' to carry something that originates from the spirits. And since Lavender is Bound to you, she's instantly out by getting a baby through surrogacy. And of course, your swimmers aren't going to do the job, so...."
I held my head in my hands as it took in the weight of the situation I had been blind to.
"Look; she's taking it really well" River commented "she's still smiling at least. There's a reason they don't teach that to them until year nine. It's heavy stuff for those who are Bound."
"Because she still had hope" I groaned out "and, well... she's not going to want to be with me anyway after her mum fills in the gaps."
We watched the first of the car's start to pull up at the front of the property and slowly make their way up towards us.
"I've got your back" River forced a smile at me as Lavender rushed out of the house to greet her friends cheerfully. I felt his tail twist around mine before my eyes met his and he quickly released it.
The two boys emerging from the car chattered to Lavender happily. The parents met with Mum and Dad to exchange hearty conversation. All had shining, pure soul lights.
Both boys had sandy blonde hair peppered with brown streaks. The taller one had black tips while the shorter kept his natural. Both had light brown skin marked with darker spots like Lavender's. The taller one had light blue eyes while the shorter had deep green.
"Teddy, River; this is Braidon and Brenten" Lavender called up to us.
"Who?" River whispered to me as we waved back.
"Old friends" I muttered when they passed under us to make their way around to the table to put their gifts on "from Sprig's old school. They go to this school now too, apparently."
"Apparently" River scowled at them when they introduced themselves to Darcy.
I thought Lavender had left all her old friends behind. I didn't have anything to worry about then. But now that the uncertainty of the future was laid out for her, I was worried about what it meant for me and Lavender.
They were human. They could tempt her with things I couldn't. A field of teenagers was a recipe for disaster.
And for the first time in years, I felt insecure and jealous.
We watched from the safety of our frame as more cars rolled in to the heightening party.
Three girls joined the boys, each one peering up at us with a mixture of delight and fascination. They all wore their best party dresses and had their hair done up in bows on each side of their heads. Two had pure lights while another was silver like Lavender's.
The first had chocolate brown hair with a light blue dress. The second was a red head with a silver dress. The third sported blonde curls over a light pink dress.
They all looked like they had met up to do their matching makeup together; each one coloured with corresponding eye-shadow around their brown eyes.
The blue dressed girl was accompanied by a young demon that River recognised before I did, jumping down to greet him enthusiastically; which scared the girl with the silver soul.
"It's Oxley!" River forced his head around so I could see the missing eye clearly before River was swatted away by him.
I joined both of them excitedly and saw Oxley's face light up in recognition at me when River reminded him of our familiarity. He made sure not to make skin contact with any of us, and kept his hands to himself as others were offered to him in passing warm welcomes. The short sleeves of his white shirt offered no protection to shield his exposed arms that had a red bracelet bound to each one. Only his long ripped jeans covered the rest of his body.
"This is Sophia" Oxley introduced his scared friend to us as the other two girls rushed off "she's my new human."
I saw them smile at each other and felt my insides melt at Oxley finally finding happiness. And it didn't look like he had mutated, so it truly was a happy relationship between them.
Two more cars promptly showed up with their occupants. Oxley made sure Sophia was out of the way when two boys emerged from the first and another lone girl slipped down from the second.
Five new boys and four new girls. Mum and Dad must have had a say in the selection to make it almost even.
The two new boys looked older, like Braidon. Only about a year or two at the most from their height when they walked past us to greet Lavender.
The first had skin so dark he almost looked like a demon himself. His blue eyes were striking against his copper curled afro nearly packed around his head. His dark purple shirt matched River's shade, and his shorts were only a few shades darker as well.
The second boy was pale with an obvious scar over his lip and down his neck. He tried to hide the extensive injury under his light green shirt and black pleather jacket. His black jeans went with the jacket to give him sleek look, his short brown hair spiked up to add to the effect.
His grey eyes met mine as he was pointed in my direction, taunting my appearance. The boy wasn't bothered by the demons mixed with the humans here and obviously thought he was untouchable through his arrogance. He and his friend both hid something within their jackets that the other teens swarmed to peer at mischievously.
How on earth did Lavender meet these people only from school?
The other girl looked so nervous and out of place here. From the way Lavender rushed to her with an excited squeal, she was another old friend.
Her frizzy black hair fell over most of her blue shirt. Her jeans were clean, with only a distressed patch over one knee to give it character. Her skin was pale in contrast to Lavender's, and speckled with moles and freckles. She was also the only one of the group to wear red rimmed glasses that complimented her blue eyes.
"It's getting too busy" Oxley mumbled to us nervously when the parents gathered together for their own conversations "I don't like it."
I understood his discomfort clearly. There were too many strangers hovering around Lavender that were too close for comfort. She was laughing a lot at what Braidon had to say too; a lot harder than usual.
It was just jealousy. There was nothing else about it.
But when Lavender peered to me through the crowd, I saw all of her emotions clearly from behind the mask she was bravely wearing.
Mum had filled in those gaps for her that I couldn't. She had decided on her path into the future and was letting her eyes wander instead of lingering on me.
She knew, and I boiled with anger.
ns 15.158.61.8da2
