In Exchange for Magic

"Wake up!" Ez was screeching, panic lining his voice. "You guys, wake up!"

I snorted out of a twisted dream where I was running from a pixie, and blinked in the bright light of day.

"What's going on?" I mumbled. "Are we being attacked?"
The elf girl rolled her eyes and started picking leaves out of her long hair.
"No," she informed me. "Ez overslept."

I huffed in annoyance.

"Then maybe he should go back to sleep? Hint... Hint..."
Ez scowled. "I didn't mean to fall asleep in the first place! I read about half the book, and then I figured I'd close my eyes for a while."
"Ugh," I grunted and heaved myself up off the ground.

With a bit more complaining and some light arguing, we started on our way. It took a few hours until we were ready to be nice to each other again.

Ez hung back and walked with me while the elf girl plowed tirelessly forward.

"Wait... Wait, explain it again?"
"Maybe it was a mistake to tell you about-"
"You have little people who live in boxes?"
"They don't actually live there, Ez. It's just a recording."
"Recording?"
"Yeah, they move around and say stuff. It's captured on a camera."
"Camera?"
"And then the image is sent out to a satelite-"
"A satel-"
"Yeah, okay," I sighed. "It was a really big mistake to tell you about TV."

He kept staring at me.

"Humans..." he muttered, smiling. "You know something? You're pretty fascinating."
"Coming from the boy with fangs."
He chuckled. "I never got to thank you for helping me out back there."
"That elf girl did more than me," I told him. "If it wasn't for her, you'd be dead."
He shook his head. "No... You knocked out the guard. You broke me out of the dungeons. You thought of the idea to disguise me-"
"Okay," I interrupted. "Enough already! I helped some."

He laughed and moved his hand as if to rest it on my shoulder. I tensed, readying myself, but I never felt his touch. I looked back over at him and saw that he had his fist clenched at his side, and his face was flushed deep red.

"What the hell?" I demanded, slightly angry.
"What?" he asked, pretending not to know what I was talking about.

I rolled my eyes and walked on next to him in silence.

-_-_-_-

"Ouch," I protested. "What was that?"
"I threw an acorn at your head."
"Yeah, I know that." I snorted. "Why?"
"I'm bored," Ez whined.

We were sitting across from each other, our backs pressed up against different trees. The elf girl was gone, looking for firewood that wasn't wet from the morning dew.

I rolled my eyes.

"I'm sore from last night," he said. "I fell asleep sitting."
"Interesting," I grumbled sarcastically.
Ez huffed in impatience. "What's wrong with you?"
"Me?" I scoffed. "You're the one telling me random boring facts about-"
"Sorry," Ez sighed. "Sorry... I didn't mean it like that."

I raised an eyebrow. "Okaaay... So how did you mean it."
Ez flushed and turned away from me.
"Don't do that!" I yelled at him. "Whatever it is, you better say it, you baby!"
"Nothing. It's not important."

I got up and walked over to his tree.

"What's wrong?" I asked him.
He laughed hesitantly and rubbed the back of his neck. "Seriously, Rose! It was nothing. I was just... I was just going to... Uh..."
"Why aren't you looking me in the eyes?"
"What?"
"You're talking to my forehead, Ez!" I accused. "What the hell reason do you have to be nervous around me?"
"I don't... I'm not..."
"Don't pull this bullshit!" I knuckled his chest. "Tell me what's going on!"

He pushed my hand away and looked me straight in the eyes.

"Why aren't we close any more?"

I choked on the air I was breathing.

"W-What?" I sputtered.
"You heard me." He looked at me with an intense glare.
"Ez, we're close-"
"No," he protested. "You know what I mean!"

He ran his hands through his hair and slammed his head back into the tree.

"It's like... We kept getting closer and closer... And then we went to the Palace. And then it was like you didn't-"
"Okay," I muttered. "You don't have to spell it out for me."
He sighed. "I'm not good at this."
"At what?"
"Words."

I took his hand. He tightened and his ears flushed pink. His eyes fell to the floor.

"Ez, you don't have to say-" I began, but stopped abruptly.

He'd wormed his fingers away from mine.

I swear! One second he's all concerned that we're not close, and the next - He's as distant as Mars!

"What was that?" I asked, rolling my eyes.
"What?"
"That!" I cried.

Laughing, I took his hand again. He wouldn't have it. Stubbornly, he whipped his hand away and sat on both of them.

My mood instantly changed. And I realized something. Ez is completely and undeniably scared of getting close to anyone. He wants to, but he's just being a child about it.

I sighed and stood up, shaking my head. I shot Ez a dirty look and spun on my bare heel to walk away from him.

"Hey, wait!" he called, confused. "Where are you going?"
"Ez, I swear," I warned. "You better get your head on straight before you try to talk to me again."

I don't know why I was so upset, but I just was.

"Rose!" Ez scoffed. "One second you're trying to hold my hand, and the next you're-"
"The key word being trying!" I yelled, throwing my hands up in the air.
"You're crazy!" Ez yelled back. "You are a crazy woman!"

I felt anger rising in my throat, and it pushed up buried - and unwanted - emotions.

"Ez, I like you!" I shouted, my voice scratching my throat. "I... I mean..."
"What?"
"When you were stabbed, I... I don't know. Something clicked. I thought I lost you."
"What?"
"It's not that hard to comprehend, you bonehead!" I accused angrily. "And what about you? Huh?"
Ez barked a cruel laugh. "Me?"
"Yeah! What was that whole 'You can fall in love while being an outlaw' thing?"
"I don't even know what you're talking about," Ez spat.
"You said it to the King! I was there, idiot! He said that you can't find time to fall in love when you're on the run, and you said that you could!"

Ez's eyebrows knitted together. I could tell he knew exactly what I was talking about.

"You're insane."
"Ez!" I pleaded in disbelief.
"Sorry to break it to you, sweet, but I don't love anyone."

I felt a foreign sting in my eyes and gave Ez an incomparable death glare.

"What's going on?"

Ez and I were startled out of our heated staring match as the elf girl had arrived back at the site, her arms full of dried branches.

"Were you guys fighting?"
"No," Ez and I answered together.
The elf girl raised her eyebrows.
"We weren't" Ez protested and slung an arm around my shoulders. "See? Everything is fine!"

As she stooped to drop the wood, I turned and sucker punched him in the gut. He grunted and bent over, glaring at me.

He didn't think so, but he totally deserved it.