Some Kind of Magic

“I don’t know what to wear!” I cried with my hands fisted in my hair. On Friday night, I had had a fashion emergency because I didn’t have a single thing in my closet that I felt was appropriate for my date with Ryan. So I called Emma and Elsie over to help me out. Luckily, it was my mother’s late shift so she wasn’t going to see me leave, but unfortunately she’d be home when I got back. Although, by then it would be too late for her to say anything like "don't you leave this house, Isabelle Lillian Donahue" or "get your butt back up to your room and keep it there for the rest of the night". She made my name far too gentle to have it seem threatening when she yelled it.

“What about this?” Emma held up one of my dresses that I had worn to a dance at my last school. It was a nice dress, but not right for the occasion. I shook my head and she hung it back up in my closet.

“How about that one?” Elsie said from my bed, pointing to the dress I wore to her barbeque.

“No way. Too casual, and it’s not warm out anymore,” I said, sitting down next to her.

“Something black?” Elsie suggested. “You can never go wrong with black. It’s very classy.”

“That would work for me if I owned a black dress,” I said. “Oh God, why didn’t I think about this earlier? I should have gone shopping or something. I don’t even have shoes to wear! Where am I going to get a black dress at this time? I’m supposed to meet Ryan at seven-thirty but I can’t do it wearing something as simple as jeans! What am I going to do?!”

“Okay, well first, breathe,” Elsie laughed, putting a hand on my shoulder. “We’re going to figure this out, okay? There’s no need to get upset so just calm down and we’ll find a solution.”

“You don’t need to get rid of them, Chris. You can wear them again once the baby comes,” I heard Blade say suddenly from across the hall. I walked over to them and poked my head around the corner.

“Is everything all right?”

“Chris wants to toss out some of her dresses,” Blade explained.

“Well it doesn’t fit anymore. Why would I keep it?” she asked harshly.

“Because you’re pregnant?” I said, trying not to make her sound stupid in case she suddenly snapped and decided to pound someone’s face into the ground and I’d be the obvious choice after that comment. I tried lifting my shoulders innocently and continued. “I’d say keep them. They’re really pretty and once you give birth to your baby, you’ll be able to fit into them again.”

"After the baby weight," she reminded me.

I shrugged. "Well, yes."

She frowned at her closet. “I don’t know. I don’t like having them in our bedroom because I hate looking at them and thinking about what I used to look like. Being pregnant is no walk in the park, especially when it comes to self-image.” I could understand that. “I wish I could just get rid of them for another five months so I don’t have to picture my old body. Baby bumps aren’t as fun as you may think. Hey!” She looked at me, holding five hangers of dresses. “Why don’t you take them?!”

“Oh, I don’t know,” I said, looking at my brother. He obviously wanted Christabelle to keep them, since they were her clothes. “You’re a lot . . . taller than me, Christabelle.” She wasn’t, really. We were about the same height because for her age, she was a bit short but for mine, I was just average. I just didn't want to accidentally say something that might offend her. She wasn't exactly voluptuous in high school like she was now. “I don’t know if they’ll fit.”

She scoffed. “Nonsense. The only difference is the boobs, and you’ve got a lot more to fill it up then I ever did. Really, take them. You never know when they’ll come in handy.”

“Actually, I do,” I said quietly, taking the dresses she offered to me. This would definitely keep me prepared for formal outings for the next little while. This was one of the rare times I could actually say that I loved how she was pregnant. “Thanks, Chris.”

“Any time,” she said, and continued to shuffle through her closet. I walked back to my room stiffly and placed them on my bed. Elsie immediately stood up and looked back down at them with wide eyes.

“Where did those come from?” she asked.

“My fairy sister-in-law,” I joked.

“Someone up there likes you,” Emma giggled, pointing straight up at my ceiling.

“It looks that way.”

They started going through each dress and listing the positives and negatives about it, why it would necessarily be the best or worst dress for me tonight, but for four of them, it just came out as the same; too formal or not formal enough. Finally, we got to the only black dress in the pile, which was a thin-strapped black dress that reached the knee-point, and had a thick white silk sash wrapped around the waist. That specific part also had a white bow, and the straight, longer ends of it reached almost to the bottom of the dress, which flowed outward from there and was a material almost like lace but a bit rougher, and not as distinct. It all outlined the silk black underlining of it, and was definitely one of the most refined dresses I had seen in a while. Christabelle had good style.

“Hey Chris,” I called out to her. She came waddling across the hall to see me. “What was this dress used for?”

“Oh, I bought that for one of the semi-formal dances we had when I was in high school. Actually, that’s where I had my first ‘date’ with your brother,” she replied. “As you can imagine, it’s pretty old but it’s in good condition and I’ve only worn it a few times. I swear, it’s the most comfortable dress ever.”

She lingered at the door while I eyed up the dress. Then finally, she gave me a light nudge in the direction of the bathroom and I disappeared into it to get changed. As I expected, it didn’t fit, but not because it was too large; my breasts were. I had to do some major loosening and adjusting of it before it finally felt comfortable in the bosom area and when it did, I stepped back into my bedroom and held out my rooms, readying myself for the comments.

“You look so pretty!” Emma squealed. “Ryan’s going to die when he sees you. I like your hair like that.”

My eyes widened and I put my hands on the top of my head. “Oh my God, I haven’t even thought about what to do with my hair!”

“Relax,” Elsie smiled. “We’ll help you out. But Emma’s right; that dress is smokin’ hot. I would judge Ryan if he didn’t drool all over you.”

For the next half of an hour, the two of them decided on my makeup and tugged and twisted my hair into different styles, but they didn’t seem pleased with any of them. Finally, they told me to go into the bathroom alone and do whatever I felt was appropriate and then they would judge me on what I could come up with. I couldn’t think of anything, but as it turned out, they liked my hair natural the best. They left when Blade and I did, because he was my ride. We had planned on driving his car but Christabelle demanded we take hers, because it was “a lot cooler” and we could “roll up in style”. I had a feeling she played people’s lives as movies in her heads and she pictured me stepping out of the back door like some millionaire would. We lived in a tiny town that was barely even on the map; no one could ever be famous here, and I had a feeling she often forgot about that. I sat beside Blade in the front seat and when he pulled up to the side of the street, I didn’t even have a chance to undo my seatbelt before he threw opened his door and leapt out. Then he ran to my side and opened my door for me. I stepped out, thinking he was going to play some kind of prank where he would push my head back in and close it again, but then I remembered my brother wasn’t a total asshole.

“What was that about?” I asked him, fixing my grey coat which was hanging wide open to show the dress. Open my stepping out of the car, it turned a few heads of the people waiting in front of the theatre, which was odd considering I had never had people staring at me before; at least not this way.

“Chris would kill me if I didn’t treat you like a princess,” he smiled. “Do you want me to wait with you until your friend gets here?” I spotted Ryan just as he said that—he walked out of the front theatre doors and looked around until he noticed me and started to head over to us. My mouth dropped a little at the sight of him in his suave tuxedo and red tie. I could have died.

“He’s right there,” I said to Blade, nodding at Ryan.

“Oh, okay. That makes my job a lot easier. He has impeccable timing,” Blade laughed. Then he leaned down to my level to give me a kiss on the cheek. “Have a good night, and call me when you’re ready to go home.” I nodded and he walked back around the car and drove off. I smiled at Ryan immediately when he came to my side.

“You look beautiful,” was the first thing he said to me. The heat alone, radiating from my cheeks, could have kept me warm in the cold November air.

“Thank you. You look pretty handsome yourself,” I said. “I like your tux.” And then I scolded myself inside of my head about how idiotic I sounded. ‘I like your tux?’ Really? Was that the best I could come up with?

“Let’s go inside. You’re shivering,” Ryan said, putting his hand on my back and leading me to the doors. I handed the woman in the booth my ticket and she ripped it, handing back only half of it to me which said my seat number. I started to walk into the theatre to find my seat but Ryan stopped me. “Where are you going?” he laughed. “The show doesn’t start until eight.”

“I thought we were going to sit down,” I said, confused.

“I have something else in mind.” He took my hand and pulled me through the crowds of people, then around the corner into a thin, secluded hallway. He put his hand on the rusty doorknob of a black door that, when it opened, revealed a very deep and dark staircase. The atmosphere went from warm and friendly to dark and ghostly in a matter of seconds and it didn’t matter how safe I felt with Ryan and his hand in mine; being here and not knowing where we were going freaked me right out. Finally, our feet touched the soft red carpet as we turned to the right. Dark brown walls with soft golden lights all the way down illuminated the way down and around the theatre stage, and now I knew where we were headed. A few people rushed around between the left wings and one of the rooms where the door was left opened and lights shone brightly out of it.

“This is it,” Ryan said, and we stepped into the room. Duncan sat on the other side with Cassie, his arm on the top of the couch while his other hand held a small orange ball in front of her face. She stared up at her father, fascinated, in a red princess-like dress that suited a girl her age, and also matched her mother’s silk red dress that pooled around her feet beautifully. It cut across her shoulders to reveal a long, slender pale neck, which she had accessorized with a simple pearl necklace. Her deep black hair hung in curls down her back. She really was a gorgeous woman, and for someone who had two children she knew how to make it look like she didn’t. If people had had their eyes on me, then they probably would have popped right out of their heads the minute they saw Elizabeth. This must have been a family affair, because all four of the Chaney’s were matching.

“You see, the thing about magic isn’t to concentrate on your tricks; it’s to keep your focus on the audience. Always maintain eye contact,” Duncan explained to Cassidy, rapidly switching the ball between his fingers so fast I could hardly keep track of it. “That way, if you mess up, at least one person won’t notice.” Cassidy covered her mouth and giggled at her dad’s joke. “So tell me, what do you like more than anything in the world?”

She bit her lip, and then said “my brother.”

Duncan laughed and I looked at Ryan, who grinned. “Okay, non-living things,” he corrected himself.

“Chocolate,” she decided.

“All right.” He covered the ball in his hands and Cassidy, probably out of force of habit, climbed onto his lap and pushed his sleeves up to make sure he wasn’t just letting it slip down there. “You can see through my fingers that the ball is still in my hand, right?” he asked her and she nodded. Then he clasped it tighter and, with his other hand, reached between his thumb and index finger and pulled out a white handkerchief. Then he opened his first hand to show that the ball had disappeared. With a quick flick of his wrist, Duncan somehow managed to transform the handkerchief into a thin slice of dark chocolate. I was amazed; it was nearly invisible to the naked eye. How in the world had I missed that? He smiled and handed the square to Cassidy, who seemed to hesitate before eating it.

“Don’t worry, it’s real,” he assured her and she popped it in her mouth instantly.

Duncan ruffled her hair and stood up. He walked over to Ryan and me, since we had been standing at the door for the past minute that he performed his trick. “Isabelle! What a pleasure it is to see you again,” he smiled, taking both of my tiny hands into his large, frail ones. They weren’t exactly what I had visualized as magician’s hands, but then again he was an older man and wasn’t in his prime anymore. He had passed off the talent to his son, and it showed because Ryan’s hands were strong and well-defined.

“I’m glad you could make it tonight,” Duncan said warmly.

“Are you kidding? I wouldn’t miss it for the world,” I smiled. “I’m really excited to see what you’ve got. I know Ryan is an amazing magician so I can imagine that since you’re his father and have however many years more experience, you’re going to blow everyone’s minds.”

He howled with laughter and looked back at his wife. “Did you hear that, Liz?”

“I did,” she said, taking Cassie’s hand and leading her over to us. “See, and you thought your comeback would be unpopular.”

“It’s definitely not. We had trouble just getting inside the theatre, let along back here,” I said. “It’s really packed out there.”

“A bunch of old geezers, I’ll bet,” Duncan said, rubbing his hands together and stepping back. “Then again, I’m one of them.” He started laughing profusely. “I’ll probably recognize every one of them from my golden years.”

“Golden years?” Elizabeth snorted.

“Hey now, don’t make jokes,” he said with a frown in her direction. “Just remember that you fell for this guy.” He poked himself in the chest. “And quite hard, may I remind you.”

“Oh, I remember. See, you won’t let me forget,” she smiled. “Anyway, you two should probably go find your seats now, am I right? I know it gets pretty crazy around the last fifteen minutes before the show starts.”

“We’d hate to keep you longer than you need to be here. How about one last trick?” Duncan offered, pushing up his sleeves. “All right, so have long have you known my son?”

“Uhm . . .” I looked over at Ryan, who was trying to calculate it in his head.

“It was just past the beginning of September so around two months now,” he answered for me.

Duncan then asked, “And can you remember the exact date?”

“Well it was the second day of school, so that would be the seventh,” I replied.

“Okay.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a deck of cards. Of course that was the necessity a magician would have hiding in his pant pockets. “If this works, then I should be able draw the seven of spades; the seven representing the number of the month and the S in ‘spades’ to represent the first letter of ‘September’. Understand?” I nodded. “Here. You can shuffle them as much as you like." I took them from him and Duncan turned his back to me. I moved the cards around quickly and then made sure they were relatively neat before I handed them back. “Now, I need you to hold out your hand and I am going to deal out these cards to you, face down, until you tell me to stop. The top card in your hand is what we will flip up to see what it is. Are you ready?”

I held out my hand anxiously and he began to lay out the cards into my palm. Two cards, five cards, eight cards passed, and by the tenth I said “stop”. He reached back to my pile and flipped the card up to reveal none other than the seven of spades. My eyes went wide.

“There you have it. Don’t believe me? Here, take these and reshuffle them. Then pass them to Ryan to let him do the same and when you’re both done, hand them back,” he instructed, once again turning his back to us. I did as he said quickly and Ryan followed suit, then passed them back to his father. “This time, there will be two important cards and I’ll explain them both after. I’ll switch between you and Ryan, so both of you hold out your hands.” We did as we were told and Duncan switched over to Ryan once I said “stop” after the first five cards this time. Then he said “stop” as well and Duncan stepped back.

“Right. Flip your top cards over,” he said. Ryan received the seven of spades again but this time, my card was the five of hearts.

“Amazing,” I whispered, “but what does my card represent?”

“What’s the date today?” he asked me.

“November fifth.”

“And what does a heart symbolize?”

“Love—” I cut myself off when I understood what he was hinting to. I looked at Ryan and he was staring right back at me. Then I turned to Duncan again for some sort of explanation but he just smiled and wiggled his eyebrows suggestively at the two of us.

He started to walk past me to leave the room and join the others in the wings of the stage but stopped for a moment to whisper in my ear, “every day is significant.” Then he disappeared, just as I had expected, while Elizabeth winked at me and patted me lightly on the shoulder as she walked by to join her husband. Cassidy trailed behind, leaving Ryan and I alone in the room.

He cleared his throat. “We should . . . get you to your seat,” he said and scurried out of the room, feeling awkward. I followed him, privately smiling to myself. Oh, how I loved to see him so flustered when I already knew that he was interested in me. It was kind of refreshing to know that little things like that could set him off or make him nervous. It was a sort of reassurance that he still liked me enough to be embarrassed about it, but then again, it was his dad who had made the comment. It was such an obvious hint too, but I didn’t know what exactly he was leading up to; was he expecting something to happen between Ryan and me tonight, or was he just referring to how we were on a date?

Nevertheless, I didn’t allow myself to dwell on it for too long. I followed Ryan back up the stairs and into the foyer, where the crowds had cleared but a few people were rushing in at the last minute to find their seats. Ryan led me to mine and I sat down but when he started to walk away, I grabbed his wrist.

“Where are you going?” I asked him.

“I just have to check on Cass,” he replied.

“But you’re going to miss the beginning if you leave now.”

He smiled. “Trust me, I won’t.” Then he walked down the aisle and out the back doors. And as I had thought, the theatre lights dimmed exactly when the clock struck eight o’clock and Ryan wasn’t anywhere in sight. Duncan walked out on stage and everyone around me stood up to clap. I hadn’t expected it but luckily I was in the second row and the person in front of me was just a young boy so my view wasn’t blocked but I didn’t want to be the one person in the crowd that just stayed sitting so I stood up and clapped as well.

“Well hello there!” Duncan said with a big smile, clasping his hands together. “I wasn’t expecting such a warm greeting. Tell me, how many of you have already seen me on stage before?” I looked behind me as more than half of the theatre lifted their hands. I believed Ryan when he said that his father used to be the most popular magician in the city, but I wouldn’t have guessed it would be such a turn-out. The Victoria Theatre was even bigger than Westwood’s and sat nearly double what our school did; to be honest, I was surprised that Duncan didn’t pass out from being so nervous. After all, there were so many people looking down at him, and it was only him on stage. That type of thing would certainly intimidate me but then again, a teenage violinist didn’t get as many spectators as a famous city-wide magician did. He was well-known, had practiced with crowds these large, and he actually appealed to the general public. School bands definitely didn’t do that.

“Regardless of if you’ve already seen me perform or not, I’m happy you came. I’m sure I’ll recognize a few of you. As for you newcomers, you’re about to witness the most fantastic display of magic and illusions in your life. But first, I’d like to introduce a few people to you,” Duncan said and swept his arm out to his side, gesturing to the left side of the stage. And out walked Cassidy, Elizabeth and Ryan to the light applause of the audience. I couldn’t help but laugh and clap as well. Ryan stood beside his dad and in the spotlight, I could really tell how alike they looked. Now I understood what was up with the matching formal wear; it wasn’t just Duncan’s night, this was a family affair. All four of them were going to be performing. Ryan looked down at me and winked, then lifted his head to watch the audience. “As you can see,” Duncan continued to say to us, “my wife, Elizabeth, and I took a very long leave of absence from this scene but for good reasons. I’d like you to meet my daughter, Cassidy, and my son Ryan.

“I’m sure all of you returning guests recognize Elizabeth but everyone who is new is just thinking ‘shut up, we want to see some magic’.” The audience laughed. “Well tonight, I thought it would be even more special to share this last time on stage with my family, so we are the Chaney Quartet, I guess you could say, and you’ll get to experience several different levels of magic,” Duncan said and put his hand on Ryan’s shoulder. “Now tell me, Ryan, how old are you?”

“I’m nineteen,” he answered. I smirked. I knew it!

“And would you say you’re fairly well educated in mathematics?”

“I like to think so,” Ryan laughed.

“Fantastic. Sir, can you hand me your deck of cards, please?” he asked, pointing to the man in the front row, who looked very confused. He started to deny having any until he looked at his lap and there they were. He couldn’t do anything but stare in shock and his wife rolled her eyes and passed them to Duncan. “Thank you, Madame. Now, Ryan, put your palms together but turn them to the side so they’re horizontal. There’s nothing between your hands, is there?”

Ryan shook his head and opened them to look again, just for good measure. “No, they’re empty.”

“Okay, now ladies and gentlemen, these are not ordinary cards; they’re not playing cards, they’re just blank. You can all see that, right?” He held them up and spread them between his fingers. It was a set of fifty-two, that much I could tell, but they were only plain white cards. “Well, if you’re a good math student, tell me, what age were you when you had your favourite birthday?”

Ryan thought about it for a moment, and then said, “eleven.”

“And take that away from nineteen for me, please,” Duncan said, still shuffling the cards rapidly.

“Eight.”

Duncan stopped switching hands and tapped the top of the deck. “Open your hands please,” he said, and crossed his arms. Ryan did as he was told and there was a card between them now. He held it up and written on it in black marker was a number eight. The audience clapped and my mouth opened slightly. Was Ryan in on this? He played off a good face of surprise if he was but if not, his father really was capable of astonishing everyone. Ryan handed the card back to his father, who shook it like he was shaking off a sore hand after punching someone, and then lifted the card for everyone to see that both sides were, again, blank. “Okay, next. Pick any number from one to nineteen.”

“Uhm, six.”

“All right, and also, what is the day of your birthday?”

“The fourth,” Ryan answered.

“Open your hands.” Ryan did so again and held up a card with a six written on one side and a four on the other. “Now, if you turn it around twice more, the first side will have changed to a ten, which is the six and the four together, and the other side will be your age minus the ten, so it will be a nine.” He held it in the air and turned it and like Duncan had said, the first side held a ten now and the second had a nine. I sat back in my chair, stumped, and covered my mouth with my hand. I had seen magic before, but nothing like this. There was no way he could have just slipped it in there; his hands weren’t that quick. Ryan smiled and passed the card back to his dad to heavy applause from everyone in the audience.

“I just felt like fooling my son. Now it’s time to say goodbye to the cards,” Duncan said, lifting his one free hand and snapping his fingers. A small spark shone out from his fingertips and everyone gasped. Then he put up his other hand that had previously been holding the cards and showed it to now be empty. “Time for some real magic. Cassidy, can you come out here please?” She had walked off stage with Elizabeth for Duncan’s trick with Ryan and skipped back out to see him. A man followed her, pushing a large brown wooden box on wheels across the stage. “Cassie, honey, can you get in the box please?”

She nodded and climbed inside.

“As you can see, there’s no way for her to get out. The back is secure, the sides and the front are solid and the bottom has wheels so unless we wanted her to get crushed, she can’t get out,” Duncan said. “I’m going to close the lid and count to three and when I do so, the box will be empty and my daughter will be gone somewhere. You okay with that, Cass?”

“Mhm.” She lied down and pulled the top of the box down while Duncan counted down from three and when he got all the way through, he lifted the lid up and tilted the box enough to show us all that it was empty.

“Now, one thing you should know about my daughter is that she absolutely loves to play Hide and Seek, and she’s excellent at is as well. Can you all try to find her for me, please?” he asked. People began moving around and trying to find her, but since there was at least fifteen hundred people here, she could have been anywhere and no one would know. And after about thirty seconds of no results, Duncan clapped his hands. “All right, Cassidy. It’s time to stop playing games now,” he called and made several people laugh, considering we were at a magic show. I knew he meant it as a joke though. “Can you come out here please?”

And from beneath the chair of one of the people about five rows back from me crawled little Cassie in her bright red dress with a giant smile on her face. Ryan came down the steps and she ran down the aisle toward him. He held out his arms and picked her up, and immediately she planted a large kiss on his cheek. Everyone was caught between saying “awh” and clapping but it really was quite magnificent that it had happened so fast, and so flawlessly as well. As Ryan and Cassie passed by me, she caught my eye and waved. I smiled and lifted a hand back to her, then sat up straighter to watch the rest of the show with as much concentration as I could muster up.

I was in for one hell of a night.



I waited for Ryan outside of the theatre after the show. I didn’t want to stand outside in the cold without him, since it was after ten o’clock when the performance had ended so I stayed just outside of the doors where the woman had taken my ticket, and sat on one of the chairs. It was a good ten minutes before Ryan walked around the corner from the hallway he had shown me before with his black jacket on his arm instead of being worn over his shirt and tie. He spent a while looking around trying to find me until I just stood up and came over to him.

He was facing away from me when I said “fantastic show tonight,” and he whipped around, startled.

“You surprised me,” he smiled.

I scoffed. “Please. I surprised you? You’re one to talk with your whole disappearing act two hours ago. I had no idea you were actually going to be in the show. If I did, I wouldn’t have spent my time panicking, thinking ‘oh my God, he’s going to miss his own father’s return?’”

Ryan laughed quite hard at that. “I would never do that to him. Plus, I was hoping you wouldn’t be expecting it. That way, it would have been more miraculous. You’ve seen my do my own magic but never with my family. We’re all very involved in it.”

“I could tell. Especially your mom,” I said with a whistle. Elizabeth had pulled a mind-blowing illusion with Duncan where a mirror had been placed in front of her and everyone could see her reflection, and somehow she walked into the mirror, so she became her reflection. I had been so shocked that I had to cover my mouth to keep from gasping or swearing. “She was amazing. Has she been helping your dad with his performances more than just this once?”

“Oh yeah, for sure. After they became an official couple, she was his partner for everything . . . but mostly because his last partner suffered from a severed leg,” he replied with a shrug. My eyes went wide and he stilled when he realized what I was thinking. “Oh God, not from my dad. The guy was in a skiing accident; it wasn’t a magic trick gone wrong or anything like that.”

“Okay,” I said, letting out a deep breath. “I know how brutal those things can get. I’ve seen the movies.”

He chuckled. “Well the movies are a little different from real magic tricks. Their style is a lot rawer but we enjoy the fantasy and the mystic qualities of it all.”

“Well it was great. I had an awesome time, and I loved seeing you up there,” I smiled.

“Hey, do you have another few minutes before your brother picks you up?” he asked suddenly. “I want to show you something.” I looked at the clock on the wall.

“I have about five minutes or so, why?”

“Just come.” I didn’t even have the chance to follow behind him because, just like earlier, he took my hand gently in his and walked me to a staircase in the opposite direction of the first one we went to. There were a lot of winding hallways on our way up because apparently a conventional stairway was too complicated, and we had to weave our way all around the theatre before we got to where Ryan wanted us to be, which just so happened to be the rooftop of the theatre.

He held the door for me and I grabbed at my jacket with two hands, clutching it closer to my neck. I loved the view but the fact that we were even higher in the air than when I got out of Blade’s car made the blistering cold so much worse. But I didn’t have much time to pay attention to that because when I grabbed hold of the railing and stepped out onto the rough roof pavement, all I could focus on way the sight of the lake and all of the beautiful lights and the hill the theatre rested on. The view stretched out for miles, and I had a feeling that if I squinted, I could see my house but that sure would have been a trick.

“What do you think?” Ryan asked, coming up beside me. He slipped his coat on and put his hands in his pockets. I looked over at him, amazed and he turned his head so he could smile at me.

“Ryan, this is just . . . this is beautiful,” I gasped. “But are you sure we’re allowed to be up here?”

“Absolutely. You’re probably not supposed to know this but my parents actually help pay for half of this place. We can go wherever we want,” he said. “I used to come up here all the time when I was a kid. My dad had shows put on at this theatre all the time and when I got bored or wasn’t on stage with him or he allowed me to take a break from practice, I’d sit here and just watch everything, everyone. It made me think, you know . . . it’s a big planet and we all think that where we live is the center of the universe because we’ve spent so much time here that it’s become our home. We can’t imagine spending our life anywhere else.” He let out a deep breath that I saw push through the cold night air like a knife through butter. He laughed lightly and pushed his hair back. “It’s weird too, actually. You look out there and you can’t make anything out but somewhere is the one person on the face of the earth that was just made for you.”

I smiled. “Does that mean you believe in true love?”

“I want to. After seeing how much mom and dad look at each other after all of these years, I can’t help but think it’s possible,” he responded. “I’d love to have that kind of special bond with someone one day too. It really makes you appreciate things. I mean, I know it’s not for everyone but for me . . .” He looked back at me, his eyes serious. “You know how much magic means to me, Isabelle but it would be nothing in comparison to feeling that strongly for someone.”

I had seen Ryan talk passionately about several things in the little time we had known each other, but none of it had been like this. And it wasn’t like it was complicated; I just hadn’t been expecting to have a conversation such as this one. Learning his opinion on relationships and falling in love just made me like him so much more, but at this point, I was actually questioning how that was even possible.

“Anyway,” he jumped in, staring forward again after I hadn’t said anything. “I promised Cassie I would take her up here when she got older. A theatre rooftop with no railing around the ledge isn’t exactly the place for a three year old to be.”

“Ryan,” I said quickly, putting my hand on his arm. “Look, I don’t know what it is exactly that we have going on with each other—hell, I didn’t even know your age until I saw you behind the bar at your restaurant—but I want you to know that I really like you, a lot more than you may think. And every time I see you, I learn something new about you that I would never even suspect of you because you’re so mysterious to me. But I love that about you because it’s not like it’s a bad boy quality that you have that keeps me on my toes; it’s the fact that you’re the complete opposite of that but I could never get bored of you. And I don’t know if you see anything serious happening between us in the future but I will wait as long as it takes for you to feel that you’re ready to be with me.”

He was taken aback. “Isabelle—”

“Unless you don’t actually want to get involved with me, in which case I guess I just humiliated myself for no reason,” I said with an embarrassed laugh.

“That’s not it,” he said, and took both of my hands. “Of course I want to be with you. If I didn’t feel the way I do about you, I wouldn’t have asked you to come tonight. Not even my closest friend from childhood knows that my family and I have put on magic shows together for pretty much my entire life. I don’t think he even knows who Cassidy is. If I didn’t like you, I wouldn’t come to your bedroom window nearly every night just so I could see you or spend even five minutes talking with you. I also wouldn’t set myself up for situations that give me excuses to see you.” He sighed and shook his head. “I should have told you that I was nineteen, but if the fact that I’m two years older makes you uncomfortable, then—”

“It doesn’t,” I cut in without delay. “I just . . . I don’t know the first thing about relationships. I’ve never been in one, I’ve never kissed a guy, I’ve never even had a friend that’s a boy; at least not until September. But I’ve also never had to deal with liking someone this much, and truthfully, I don’t know what I’m supposed to do about it. And I—”

“Isabelle!” my brother’s voice shouted suddenly. I looked around, thinking maybe he had come up the staircase but he wasn’t there. “Iz!” he called again. This time, I recognized where his voice was coming from and took a step closer to the ledge while my hands held tightly onto Ryan’s. I wasn’t exactly scared of heights, but being this close to possibly plummeting to my death was very scary. “What the hell are you doing up there?!” Blade yelled. A number of people passing him looked up at me and exchanged concerned whispers with each other, most likely about whether I was going to commit suicide or if I was just up there for the fun of it all.

“Just planning the ideal spot to jump!” I joked, and I distinctively saw Blade’s eyes narrow. “Relax, I’ll be down in a minute.” I stepped away again and looked back at Ryan. “I should go,” I said. “My brother . . . he’s waiting for me and he has a temper when it’s after ten o’clock.”

“And when his little sister is on the roof of a theatre?” Ryan smirked.

“Yes, that too,” I said with a blush and quickly scurried off down the stairs. Ryan followed me into the lobby and I pushed the doors opened, stepping back out to the cold. Blade was leaning against his car, spinning his keys around his index finger impatiently and when he saw me, he raised his eyebrows. He was very testy right now.

“Well,” I said, turning my back to him so I could face Ryan one last time. “Thanks again for tonight. I had a really great time and your entire family act just blew my mind. Please tell your family that for me.”

He nodded. “I will. I’m glad you came.”

“So am I. Have a good night.” With one last smile at him, I turned and dragged myself to the car. It wasn’t exactly a glamorous exit, but it would have to do for the night. And then he changed his mind.

“Wait.” I looked over my shoulder at Ryan as he stepped around a group of people leaving the theatre and moved straight for me. He stopped in front of me and lifted his hands out of his pockets, wrapped one arm around my waist to pull me against him, while the other grabbed at the side of my coat. Then he dipped his head and pressed his lips against mine.

The colour of my skin was probably that of a tomato. I could practically feel my heart melting right through my body. Since I had zero experience in kissing, I had to guess. I was probably thinking about it way more than I should have while I went over every romantic movie I had ever seen and tried to think of where to put my hands and what to do with my lips but then I also thought of how Karlee and I had spent an entire day practicing on our teddy bears just for fun, because she thought that Trey considered her to be an awkward kisser. As it turned out, he didn’t and she was also thinking too much. I didn’t want to make that mistake so I tried to make it as natural as I could and settled on putting my hands on Ryan’s arms. As for my lips, I just had to wing it. Thank God for him taking the lead, because I was clueless.

It was a little awkward at first, because his forearm was crushed between the two of us after he had pulled me forward and I had also taken the extra step just to get as close to him as humanly possible. But then he tilted his head a little and moved his arm around my waist like the other one, which not only allowed me to be pressed right up against him, I could wrap my arms around his neck. Then again, he was still very tall so I had to go on his toes, but I didn’t mind. I liked the feel of being close to him like this. As corny as it was, I really couldn’t have cared less about the people walking around us and making little comments about how we needed to “get a room”; it wasn’t that bad. It was a very sweet kiss. And then he tilted his head for the better angle, which really helped me with neck strain. I was left-handed; I didn’t like having to accommodate for my right side but Ryan was also left-handed, so this was clearly going to work out perfectly. I sank into him, my arms falling helplessly down his chest. Oh God, his chest . . .

So this was what kissing felt like. I could definitely get used to this.

Ryan pulled away first, out of breath, and grinned. “I’m ready to be with you right now.” He planted a light kiss on my forehead and let his arms slide back to his sides. “Have a great night, Isabelle.”

“You too,” I exclaimed lamely, and turned back around when he started to walk back into the theatre. Blade looked beyond uncomfortable.

“What exactly was that?” he asked me as I slipped by him to sit down in the passenger seat. He wasn’t pleased with my answer and walked around the car to sit down on the driver’s seat. “Hello?” he said, waving a hand in front of my face to get my attention but I was in dreamland, just staring out the window with the biggest smile on my face that had been missing for far too long.

I looked over at him. “I think that was my boyfriend.”

“You think? You mean you don’t know?”

I shrugged. “Well, one can only assume.”

“Iz, you know I’m pretty lax on the rules about boyfriends and kissing and stuff since I’m not your parent but I’m still your brother. And as much as I like Ryan, it doesn’t exactly please me to see him with his hands all over you,” he mumbled.

I sent him a doubtful look. “They were around my waist, Blade. They were hardly all over me.”

He scoffed. “Oh yeah, right. Put you two in a bedroom together and he’d be pawing at you like a lion,” he said and I squeezed my legs together, rubbing my hands on my thighs.

“You talk about being uncomfortable and look at what you’re doing,” I said, shaking my head. “Can we please not talk about this? Ryan isn’t that kind of guy.”

“I sure hope not. Because I like him, but the idea of you two and—”

“No no, don’t even finish that sentence,” I said, pointing my finger at him and frowning. “Don’t spoil it for me please, Blade. I love you but I don’t want to have to call you annoying for pulling the overprotective brother when you don’t have anything to worry about. Just be happy for me. Can you do that?”

He sighed dramatically as if this was going to be hard on him and I smiled. “I guess,” he said. “Just be careful. I know how much he means to you and I’m assuming he feels the same way about you but as much as you may try to deny it, we men are not the most charming creatures out there.”

I laughed. “Now you’re making no sense. Can we just go home now? I’m exhausted.”

“Okay.” He turned his key and started the car and was about to switch gears to pull out onto the street but paused and looked at me one last time. “I am happy for you, Iz,” he said and I glimpsed at him again. “You know that, right?”

I nodded. “Yes.”

“Good. Because I think Ryan’s awesome. I just hope he treats you the way you deserve to be treated. You’re honestly one of my favourite girls in the world. You’re tied with Chris, obviously, and if anything happened to you, you know I’d take a pitchfork to the sorry idiot that did you wrong,” he said. This was one of the many reasons why I could never get mad at him, and why I absolutely adored having an older brother. “I’d hate to do that to Ryan. He’s a good guy.”

“I know,” I chuckled. “I don’t think you have anything to worry about with him.”

“Good. Deliver my warning, if you have to. I will come for him.” He pulled out onto the road and I looked back out the side window at the sidewalk. Thinking about tonight made my lips part into an ecstatic smile, and going over that kiss with Ryan made my skin heat up all over again. Then I thought about Duncan and his unique repesentation with his cards, as if he had seen this coming all along. God, he was good. As I drove home with Blade, I couldn't help but go over all of my past encounters with Ryan and consider what the upcoming time with him would be like.

I knew it was going to be impossible to resist him.