Kings and Queens of Promise

A week. It took an entire week for Em’s wings to stop growing. They were each five-and-a-half feet long and were already covered in brown and black feathers. Em was in constant discomfort; she could no long lay on her stomach because, at 25 weeks (almost 6 months), she was getting big, and she couldn’t lay on her back without irritating her still-sensitive wings.

We watched her in shifts, fearing to leave her alone, even at night. Some nights, we would give her mild sleeping pills that wouldn’t be harmful to the baby. Pierre had left the mansion again and no one knew where he’d gone. Good riddance, right?

I was very worried about Em. In three months, maybe less, it would be time for her to have her baby. There was no possible way to hide her wings. The whole story was going to come out then and the big question was of who would stick around to be exposed? Pierre had already fled, and I wasn’t sure what Brian would do. Jack was definitely going to stay, as would Frank and as a result Zacky, but Brian was a closed book. I didn’t want to pry, so I didn’t read his mind.

Still, it was torturous.

“My turn,” Brian said, laying a hand on my shoulder. I looked up at him and gestured to the chair next to me. He sat and the room was silent.

“There’s a storm coming,” I acknowledged.

“I know,” he replied, not taking his eyes off Em. He leaned forward, brushing a strand of hair from her face. She smiled in her sleep, which made Brian smile.

“You’re a lot different now. Six months ago, you were a jackass.”

“People change,” he said, still not looking away from Em.

“Love changes them.” Those words hung in silence for a little while. “What are you going to do in three months, when the press gets hold of us?”

“Pray,” he sighed.

“You’re not going to leave?”

“Pierre is a coward,” Brian said harshly. “He never deserved her. Are you ever going to propose to her?”

“I wasn’t planning on it,” I said, raising my eyebrows.

“You should. She loves you, a hell of a lot more than she loves anyone else.”

“I don’t think I beat out her own brother,” I chuckled.

“You just might.”

“What’s that in your pocket?” I asked quietly. Brian smiled bitterly and reached into his pocket, pulling out a ring.

“If she hadn’t broken up with Pierre, I was going to propose to her. I couldn’t let her marry him,” he said, twirling the ring between his fingers.

“That’s not the only reason,” I said, resting my chin in my hand.

“No, it’s not,” Brian sighed. “She makes me want to be...better.”

“That’s good, Brian. I’m sure she’ll be pleased. I’m sure she doesn’t miss that guy that showed us all her bra.” Brian chuckled, shaking his head.

“That was fun. Those days were fun. It was fun bossing her around,” he smiled. Gently, he picked up Em’s hand and slipped the ring onto her middle finger. “That’s the perfect finger for me.” I laughed quietly and shook my head.

“She loves you, too.”

“Just not the right way,” he sighed.

“She told me something, when we were visiting her mom,” I said slowly. “She said we were all wasting our lives here, staying away from people. Look at us, Brian. She’s right: we’ve given up our lives because we’re afraid.”

“I know, that’s why I took her advice,” he said, smiling at me. “The band has been writing again. I even wrote a song.”

“That’s cool. That makes one of us.”

“When she feels better, I wanna play it for her,” Brian said, reaching up and lightly touching Em’s cheek. His hand slid down her shoulder and arm. When he touched her hand, her fingers curled around his. She smiled in her sleep.

“Well, this is as good a time as any for me to go,” I said, standing up and stretching. “See you in the morning.”

“Yeah,” he said distractedly.

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Normal POV

After another week in bed, the guys let me go out into the backyard, where I sat between Jared and Frank. I had a ring on my finger that Brian had given me as a gift. It was really sweet of him. Strangely, I didn’t regret what had happened to me. I was enjoying experimenting with my wings, giving them a few feeble flaps every now and then. I wondered when they’d actually work.

The warm June air was pleasant and I leaned on Jared’s shoulder, smiling. It was good to have him back. The four weeks without him had been absolute torture.

“How are you feeling?” Jared asked me.

“Exposed,” I smiled, gesturing to my bare legs. Basically, all I was wearing was an extra large maternity shirt over my underwear. My messy hair was covered with my beanie and I was wearing my glasses for once. My hair was an unbelievable mess. Not only was it greasy, but my roots were showing terribly. I mean, seriously, I had 4 inches of dirty blonde growing from my scalp and the rest was still black. When it grew a few more inches, I was cutting all the black off.

“You still look good,” Frank assured me, patting my hand. There was definitely a pink elephant in the room (yard, whatever): everyone was avoiding looking at my feathery wings. They were a pretty shade of brown and currently folded against my back so they didn’t take up so much space. I felt a little bad for having to cut holes in the back of this shirt, but there wasn’t really an alternative other than going topless, and that wasn’t an option for me.

“Jared, where’s Brian?” I asked after awhile.

“He’s with the guys, writing songs,” Jared happily informed me.

“Really?! They’re gonna start the band up again?”

“Yup, and it’s all thanks to you nagging us to stop putting our lives off.”

“Yay,” I said smugly. “What about you? Is your band gonna start back up?”

“I dunno. I might call Shan. Then again, I think I need to stay here to make sure you don’t do anything else stupid.”

“Shut up,” I grumbled, standing up.

“Whoa, what’re you doing?” Jared asked, jumping to his feet. Frank copied the motion.

“Stretching my legs,” I said, shrugging as I walked around the pool. Jared watched me like a hawk as I circled the pool house once, twice, three times. After a few times, he sat back down, still watching me. I walked behind the pool house and, once I was out of his view, I broke into a run. I shot into the yard, running as hard as I could.

“Em!” I heard him shout, but I kept running, beginning to pump my wings. The feeling was strange and strained, but I kept it up. I began to jump, my jumps being higher than normal. Finally, I pushed off the ground and found myself airborne as I flapped furiously.

It was completely exhilarating. I felt the wind rushing past me as I rose about ten feet off the ground, awkwardly trying to straighten out my body. Then I got a wing cramp and descended, landing on my knees and getting several scrapes. I laid still for a moment before getting up again. This time, I didn’t run. I just took a few steps and jumped, furiously fighting to stay in the air. I rose up to twenty feet this time and struggled to turn myself around. Hovering up in the air, I saw Frank, Alex, and Jack all in the yard watching me. Jared was stand beneath me, probably hoping to catch me if I suddenly plummeted.

I angled my body and flew toward the guy, swooping down to ten feet and then landing clumsily in front of them.

“Okay, I don’t know about you, but that might have been the coolest thing I’ve ever seen,” Alex declared, pulling me into a hug.

“That was wicked,” Frank agreed, patting my shoulder.

“You...are...insane!” Jared gasped as he reached.

“How was it?” Alex asked, ignoring Jared.

“It was...amazing,” I grinned. “It’s like, twice as exhilarating as riding the bike!”

“Whoa,” Alex said with wide eyes. “Can you take me flying sometime?”

“Maybe, but I can barely lift myself off the ground right now.”

“Give me a little warning next time,” Jared breathed.

“Sorry, I wanted to see if I could fly,” I grinned. “I’m sowwy I scared you.”

“It’s nice to have you back,” he chuckled.

It was nice to be back.