Right Before Your Eyes

“This must be the eleventh bar we’ve tried tonight,” Tay sighed, trudging along and thinking about how much her feet hurt. Doc Martens were not a good choice for trailing all over the city. “I’m thinking we should call it quits soon and pick back up tomorrow.”

No! We have to keep trying, my true love could be in one of these places tonight, not tomorrow! Keep going.

Lynn’s little voice sounded in Tay’s head, and she glanced down at where the small frog was peeking out of her satchel. Even when Lynn was a frog, Taylor couldn’t deny her puppy-dog eyes. Or puppy-frog eyes. She sniggered out loud at her own silent joke, and if it were possible for a frog to glare, Lynn would be doing that.

Tay sighed. “Fine, fine, I’ll keep going. But only three more bars tonight. I can’t feel my toes and I’ve gotta work tomorrow, y’know. It would be nice to sleep at some point soon.”

Lynn just croaked in triumph and Tay sighed, unable to believe that having conversations with a damn frog had become a regular everyday occurrence for her. Ever since that fateful day over a month ago now, it had been.

Witches were known about, talked about, sometimes encountered. Most were harmless -- there was even two sister witches that ran the pet store just streets away from Tay’s apartment where she bought her cat’s toys, and they were two of the kindest people Tay had ever met. That’s why it was such a shock to find one who was… less sweet.

She was by no means evil. It seemed like she just cast spells on people for the pure fun of it, dabbling in a rather advanced form of magic.

Her name was not known, but her hair was a fiery red, and her small frame had been cloaked in a multicoloured robe. She didn’t look in the slightest bit sinister; in fact, she just looked like a rather quirky young lady taking a lone walk in the woods on the outskirts of town. Tay and Lynn had been walking Lynn’s dog. Just an ordinary day. Until the witch stopped right in their path.

“You two look like you need to learn a lesson,” she’d grinned wolfishly, a glint in her eye.

Both girls stalled, glancing at each other nervously. “Did we do something wrong?” Lynn vocalised.

“Not necessarily. It’s just such a crime that you can’t see what’s right before your eyes,” the witch explained vaguely, off-handedly. She reached into her sleeve, and it was only then that Lynn and Tay panicked. But both were frozen to the spot as this red-haired stranger produced a wand from within her clothing, beautifully carved but a possibly deadly weapon to yield. “Good, I have your attention! I want to help you see what you’re missing, and I’m going to use a classic old trick to do it.”

The wand was waved and it was all over.

The witch ran away laughing, yelling the conditions of her spell over her shoulder as she went.

Lynn was a frog. Their only means of communication was Tay now having the ability to read Lynn’s mind when Lynn allowed her thoughts to be ‘vocalised.’ She was a true frog so actual speaking was out of the question. And all they knew, was that Lynn had to find her true love and kiss them, to be human again.

Since then, she had been fired from her job as a waitress since she hadn’t turned up and had no way to call them and tell them she couldn’t come in. Tay had tried her very best to call them up making excuses for her best friend, but after two weeks, the restaurant had had enough, and the manager told Tay quite rudely that Lynn’s time was up.

Lynn just counted herself lucky that her family didn’t live nearby, and she could get Tay to blag them off with emails once a week so that they wouldn’t call. What was she supposed to do, croak down the phone to them?

The two best friends were roommates, which made it even easier on Lynn, but she was going stir-crazy. Stuck in the house all the time, nobody to talk to but Tay who couldn’t even be around 24/7 since she had a job and a life to lead, and Lynn had to eat insects.

She’d been disgusted at the prospect at first, but soon enough, she was too hungry to refuse. Tay had comforted her by saying eating flies wouldn’t make her sick -- frogs were designed to digest bugs, so it wouldn’t be harmful. It was a small silver lining to know she wasn’t going to poison herself, but she still telepathically asked Tay to crumble up biscuits for her to eat sometimes anyway.

The two girls had made plans to go out every day that they possible could when Tay wasn’t working, to try and find Lynn her true love.

“True love’s first kiss will break the spell, but be cautious in your search! They’ll be closer than you think.”

That’s what the witch had yelled over her shoulder as she disappeared into the woods that day. Tay figured that must mean Lynn’s true love lived in the city, somewhere. They’d spent countless hours in parks, in cafes, in bars, in restaurants, in libraries, at the gym… absolutely anywhere that they might meet a potential love interest. Sometimes Tay kept Lynn hidden in her bag while she sought out people herself. Other times, they were direct and open about the situation -- waltzing right in somewhere and telling any prospective spell-breaking kisser that Lynn had been cursed by an unknown witch. People would often laugh and brush them off, or grow fearful and turn away. Most had never encountered an ‘evil’ witch, or a spell as bad as this. Some people just didn’t believe them, figuring Tay was playing some trick just to make people kiss a frog. It was understandable, but frustrating. They came home every day in despair. They’d even got a few people up for kissing Lynn -- usually drunk young folks, but it was better than nothing. However, none of the pecks on the lips they had given her amounted to anything. She was still a frog.

They went through another two bars, and Tay finally traipsed into their final location of the evening before they went home. It was appropriately, or perhaps crudely, named Frog & Toad.

“Maybe it’s fate,” Tay said optimistically, smiling down at Lynn, where she now perched in Tay’s hands. Once more, going for the direct approach.

Or maybe it’s just the universe playing a sick joke.

Tay sighed at Lynn’s cynical attitude, but she supposed it was hard not to become completely pessimistic when you’re a frog.

The human of the two stepped into the bar, glancing around. It was mostly old men. Not really ideal.

Tay, none of these guys are going to be my true love. Forget it, let’s just go home.

“Hey now, you don’t know that… maybe you marry an older dude for money,” Tay whispered, laughing to herself.

But that means he still wouldn’t be my true love! Not everybody who marries is in love. Anyway, I know I’m bisexual but I definitely prefer girls over guys. Young girls and guys. Not these old crabs.

Tay rolled her eyes, but Lynn did have a point. She was just trying to make light of the situation, but Tay too was feeling kind of beaten down after another day of no success. She tried to stay positive about it though, because if she wasn’t, Lynn would be so depressed.

“There’s a young guy in the corner, do you want to try him?”

I suppose. Worth a shot, right?

So Tay made her way over to the young man, smiling as she offered out her hand for him to shake.

“Hello, my name’s Tay Jardine. This is Lynn. I have a proposition for you,” she started, deciding just to get straight to the point. They were both exhausted, so she might as well be direct.

“Hi,” the young man smiled, looking a little bit bemused, but he wasn’t telling her to fuck off, so that was a good sign. “My name’s Alex Babinski.”

He had dark hair and tunnels in his stretched earlobes, forearms littered with tattoos. Just Lynn’s type when it came to guys. Plus, he looked just about their age, so that was perfect.

“Hi, Alex,” Tay smiled, sitting down at his table and placing Lynn on top of it. She took a couple of cautious hops towards the man, peering at him. “Like I said, this is Lynn. Full name Lyndsey Gunnelfsen, but she prefers Lynn.”

“Nice to… meet her? She’s, uh, cute,” Alex chuckled, unsure of where this was going. Tay could be a crazy person for all he knew, which, right now, she certainly seemed like. “So… proposition?”

“Well, I’ll just get straight to the point. Lynn isn’t actually a frog. I mean, she is, but she never used to be. She’s my best friend, and we encountered a witch just a little over a month ago… I don’t know who she was, but she turned Lynn into a frog for fun and told us that the only thing to break the spell, was having her kiss her true love. So we’ve been trying to find her true love ever since, so she can be human again. We just want to get as many people as possible to kiss her. Just to see.”

Alex stared at Tay for a moment, before he started laughing. “Oh, wow. Okay.”

“You don’t believe me, do you?”

“No, no, honestly, I do. I’m just-- what did this witch look like?”

“Um. She had bright red hair and multicoloured robes, and I’m almost certain she was barefoot. We weren’t really paying attention to her feet but we met her in Greenoak Woods on the outskirts of the city, walking Lynn’s dog, so it would be weird if she had no shoes. Although that’s certainly not the weirdest thing that happened that day, obviously.”

Alex’s face fell slightly. “Oh, fuck. I know the witch you’re talking about.”

Tay’s eyes lit up and Lynn hopped back towards her, seemingly excited by this. “You do? Who is she? Do you know where we could find her?”

Alex shook his head quickly, holding his hands up in surrender. “No, no, I don’t know her like that, I just know of her. I’ve encountered her myself. Her name is Yelyah.”

“Yelyah?” Tay repeated.

“I’ve researched her a lot. Her real name is Hayley Williams, and she was born to non-witch parents. Supposedly they hated the fact that she was a witch who wanted to explore the sorceress side to herself, so they forbid her from practicing magic. So she ran away as soon as she was old enough, living alone somewhere unknown, and taught herself everything she knows. Supposedly she dabbles in a little bit of black magic, although I don’t know if turning humans into animals counts as black magic, but it’s pretty dark. She’s not malicious, but… well, all that is just theory from the information that people have gathered over the years,” Alex explained, turning his drink on the table. “I’m sorry it’s not a lot. She started going by the alias Yelyah when she left home, from what I know. She wanted to separate herself completely from her parents.”

“How do you know all that?” Tay asked, her voice hushed as she drank it in.

“My best friend, he, um… dated her, for a while,” Alex shrugged awkwardly, looking uncomfortable to be sharing this information now, but Tay wasn’t about to let him stop.

“Dated her?! Dated a witch?” Tay exclaimed.

“Keep your voice down!” Alex hushed her, waving his hand,glancing around the room worriedly. “Yes, yes, he dated her. It’s not as random as it sounds. He’s a witch too. Well, a wizard. It was maybe two years ago now, he discovered her in his yard one morning. She was sick, really sick, but refused to go to a hospital. Supposedly her parents took her to various doctors when she was a kid to ‘cure’ her of being a witch, so she’s not too fond of them. My friend took her in and nursed her. She trusted him since he was of the magical persuasion too. They started up a relationship but he never told me great amounts about her. All I know is from what I researched and what he did let on.”

“Wow,” Tay breathed, glancing down at Lynn. “So… what happened to them?”

Alex swallowed, looking quite sad. “Well. She has a tendency to disappear off places, vanish for days on end, not tell anybody where she’s going. She could never stay in one place for too long. My friend, Taylor -- oddly enough -- couldn’t handle that. He wanted a steady girlfriend who would be there for him, so he broke up with her. She, uh… she didn’t take it too kindly.”

Tay just sat for a moment, scared to keep pressing for answers. She glanced down at Lynn, who no longer appeared excited. Instead, the frog turned and crawled back to Tay’s arms, and Tay gently petted at her back.

“What, um… what happened?” she whispered, clearing her throat afterwards.

Alex just sighed, licking his lips before he spoke. “Taylor ended up… Taylor ended up a little like your friend Lynn is right now.”

Tay’s mouth quite literally fell open, and the fear that Yelyah was actually very evil indeed was beginning to grip her quite tightly. This could be some cruel trick -- Lynn could be kissed by people forever, even by her true love, but none would change her back.

“He’s a frog?”

“Worse. He was a fly. Try keeping track of that. He’s not any more. But, yeah. She turned him into a fly, for nearly five months.”

“Five months?! How did he get turned back?”

“She turned up at his house in the middle of the night one night, gave him a kiss that changed him back, gave him another kiss in his human form, and left without saying a thing,” Alex concluded with a slight shrug. “That was the last Taylor saw of her. And that was a few months ago now.”

Tay blinked, frowning slightly. “But that must mean that she is Taylor’s true love.”

“Yep.”

“So why would she not want to be with him?”

“Just because someone’s your true love, doesn’t mean they’re good for you,” Alex said softly. “I think Yelyah realised she and Taylor weren’t good for each other, and that punishing him by turning him into an insect for the rest of his days wasn’t the way to go about a break-up. After all, she must still be in love with him. I don’t think she wanted him to suffer any more.”

Tay nodded, fingers absently stroking Lynn’s back. “Makes sense… I think. That’s a pretty wild ride.”

“Yeah,” Alex agreed, reaching across the table to gently touch Lynn’s head. “I’m sorry this happened to you.”

Tell him it’s okay. I’m glad we found him so he could tell us all this, at the very least. I don’t know if the information will be useful, but it’s good to have it.

Tay smiled at the sound of Lynn’s soft voice in her head; she’d been a little worried that Lynn hadn’t spoken in so long, but perhaps all the knowledge about Yelyah was overwhelming. Plus, she’d gotten less talkative now that she was, well, a frog without her own voice-box.

“Lynn says it’s okay, and she’s thankful that you told us all of this,” Tay explained.

Alex looked dumbstruck. “What?”

“Lynn said it’s okay,” Tay repeated, still smiling brightly.

“How do you know? She can’t-- she’s a frog, she can’t speak! She didn’t say anything,” he gaped, staring down at the frog in front of him.

Tay blinked, surprised. “We can communicate telepathically, ever since Lynn became a frog. Well, I can hear Lynn’s thoughts if she chooses to reveal them to me, she can’t hear mine. But if I hear hers, that means we can still speak to each other. I guess Yelyah had some mercy. Did… did that not happen for you and Taylor?”

“N-no,” Alex shook his head, astounded. “That’s amazing…”

“Wow. I wonder why she did it for us and not you guys.”

“Maybe she just wanted Taylor to suffer more. Y’know, living as a fly, nobody to talk to. He couldn’t exactly do magic as an animal to change himself back. It sounds like the kind of punishment she would put him through.”

Tay just nodded, and the three of them sat in silence for a moment longer. Alex took another long gulp of his drink, and then sighed as he lowered the bottle down on the table again.

“Listen,” he said softly, looking directly at Lynn. “I don’t think I’m going to be your true love. Like, I’m gay. I’m actually waiting for a guy I’ve been seeing to meet me here right now. But I’ll kiss you because this isn’t a life anybody should have to lead. I saw what it did to my best friend, and I wouldn’t wish that on anyone.”

Lynn nodded up at the man, looking back at Tay briefly before hopping forward across the table into Alex’s waiting hands. He lifted the frog slowly and carefully to his mouth, pressing a surprisingly sweet kiss to the side of Lynn’s tiny face. She held her breath, waiting, same as Tay, but long seconds passed and nothing happened.

With a sad shrug, Alex lowered her back down to the table.

“I’m sorry,” he apologised, frowning as Lynn hopped back to Tay.

Tell him it’s not his fault. He was sweet to try. Thank him, please.

Tay nodded as she heard Lynn’s words in her head, repeating it back to Alex. Alex just shook his head, glancing back towards the door of the bar when he heard it open. A young man was walking through, with dark hair and thick eyebrows and a sprinkling of freckles across his nose.

“Oh, that’s my, uh, date, Brian,” Alex spoke up, standing to greet him. Brian walked over with a smile on his face and the two men shared a quick hug. Alex turned back to Tay and her frog friend, but Tay had hidden Lynn away in her bag again. Alex was thankful for that; he and Brian had only been on a few dates and he didn’t want to freak him out by telling him he’d just made friends with a human-turned-frog. “Uh, this is my friend Tay. We just bumped into each other.”

“Yeah, I was just leaving,” Tay stood quickly, giving Brian a polite smile and reaching to shake Alex’s hand. “Thank-you for talking with me, Alex. It was nice to mee-- uh, see you. Nice to see you. Have a good night.”

“Tay, wait!” Alex held onto her hand to stop her from going, turning away from Brian to speak to her privately. “Do you have a pen in that bag? I want to give you my number. Just in case you and Lynn want more help with this. I know I wasn’t much use but I’ve went through this too, so if you need somebody to talk to, just give me a call.”

Tay rummaged for a pen and let Alex write his number on her arm before they parted.

They went their separate ways; Alex, to enjoy his date, and Tay and Lynn, to mope about their lack of progress. But getting some back-story on Yelyah, or Hayley Williams, and maybe even making a new friend with some small link to her, was better than having nothing at all.

+++

Later that night, Tay was slumped on the sofa watching Friends re-runs while Lynn tapped away at her laptop. It took a lot of effort with her tiny webbed feet to reach the keys, and the trackpad was temperamental at best with the non-human touches, but she persevered. Tay hadn’t questioned her when she asked for it to be put on; she knew Lynn had to be bored. Her activities as a frog were certainly limited.

As it happened, Lynn was researching. And she finally snapped.

Tay, did you know the average toad only lives to be about five years old? What if I only live a frog’s lifespan? It could take years to find my true love and I’ll be dead before it happens! We don’t even know what age I am right now. Am I aging in human years? In frog years? Is there even such a thing as frog years? This is hopeless! We’re being so fucking naive to think we can find my true love within a couple of months. There’s billions of people in the world! I can’t kiss them all! And they won’t all kiss me! I’m a freak. I’m going to die a frog, Tay. A fucking frog. An ugly, stupid frog.

Tay sat up on the couch, listening to her now-tiny friend’s worries. She gently picked up Lynn and shut down the laptop, deciding she shouldn’t be stressing herself out even more with that. It was so strange that she could pick up her best friend and hold her in her hands now -- Lynn had always been taller than Tay. Not any more.

Tay, you can close the laptop but I still know, and you still know, we could take years finding my true love. And I could die before then. Because I’m only a frog.

“Lynn, stop it! We’re going to figure this out. You still have human traits. You can still read. You still know how to write, even if you can’t hold a pen. You understand human speech and you can still talk, sort of. I don’t think you’ll die after living a short frog life. And I won’t let you die as a frog. We’re going to find your true love. Have faith in me. I won’t give up on you. I promise.”

Lynn never used to cry. But if she had been human, she might have cried right then.

+++

It was a couple of weeks after originally meeting Alex that Tay heard from him again. A simple but slightly alarming text that read, What’s your address? I have to see you immediately. It’s about the whole… frog situation.

Tay texted him back immediately with the address and invited him over, unsure what to expect. Rather than the panicked flap she was expecting to open the door to, Tay found Alex looking quite smiley, holding a travel holder with four coffees and another man in tow -- not Brian. Someone else.

“Hi, I got you a latte, I wasn’t sure what you might like… and I got one for Lynn too, I thought we could maybe just put it in a little dish so she could sip it,” he said cheerfully as he walked into the girls’ apartment. The man behind him followed, giving Tay a polite nod and a shy smile.

Tay turned to follow them in too, struck dumb by Alex’s forwardness, but she got the answer to the question in her head soon enough. Lynn was sitting on the coffee table watching television, or she had been, but was now perked up upon seeing Alex arrive with someone they didn’t know.

“Tay, Lynn… this is my best friend, Taylor,” Alex introduced them, patting Taylor lightly on the back as some sort of encouragement. “Taylor, this is Tay, and Lynn is… uh, the frog.”

Tay and Lynn shared a look, and Lynn also shared a thought to Tay.

Does Alex think Taylor will be my true love?

Tay chose not to answer her, simply giving Taylor a polite handshake.

“Hi, Taylor,” she nodded with a smile, but then turned her attention to Alex. “Um, not to be rude, but… what’s going on? I mean, your text sounded really urgent. Something in regards to Lynn?”

“Ah, right,” Alex nodded. “I feel like I should let Taylor explain that himself. After I told him about meeting you two in the bar the other night, he was insistent on coming to speak to you. Speak to Tay, specifically. How about you two talk in the kitchen, and I’ll sort out Lynn with being able to drink her coffee and we can watch TV?”

Tay could only really nod in response, getting a saucer for Lynn’s coffee and then leading Taylor into the kitchen to speak to her. Alex certainly didn’t mess around.

“So. You gonna tell me what this is all about? I’m getting kinda freaked out,” Tay said once they were alone, hands clutched around her to-go cup.

“Yeah, sorry about that. Didn’t mean to scare you or anything, and sorry about Alex’s text. He can be a little… dramatic. Um. I just wanted to come and talk to you in person about what Hayley can be like. It might shed some light on your situation,” Taylor explained, looking a little uncomfortable to have to say her name.

“But why me? Why not Lynn too?”

“Because it might be you and you alone that Hayley wants to figure out the answer.”

Tay was silent for a moment, staring at Taylor. “...Why?”

Taylor sighed, looking increasingly uncomfortable. “Hayley is… is fixated on teaching people lessons or making them see the good in their lives that they didn’t before. But she does it in twisted ways.”

“Forgive me, but is that why she turned you into a fly?” Tay responded, feeling a little angered -- but only by Hayley.

Taylor hung his head.

“I’m sorry,” Tay followed up quickly. “I’m sorry. I just… I don’t understand how she could do that to someone that she loved.”

“She was angry. Trying to teach me a lesson about what I was missing out on without her, make me suffer. But nothing hurt more than having to lose her. In a way, I understand it. But that’s not the point -- you don’t have to listen to my sob story about it,” Taylor raised his head again. “The point is, she likes doing this sort of thing. I tried to make her stop, so many times. But I think she’s trying to teach you a lesson about love more than Lynn.”

Tay had to think about that one, but she didn’t get it. “Meaning…?”

Taylor sighed, really hoping he wasn’t going to have to spell this out. “You’re supposed to figure it out! She wants Lynn to find her true love. Lynn is a frog. It’s kind of up to you. What was it Hayley told you? That Lynn’s true love would be closer than you think? You’re not supposed to go on a worldwide search for her one and only. Her one and only is already here. Tay, think.”

The petite girl went quiet for a few moments, staring down at her coffee cup and starting to breathe quite heavily. “Do you mean… do you mean that I’m meant to be her… her…? You can’t be serious!”

“Keep your voice down! You don’t want Lynn to hear this right now. Yes, that is what I mean. That’s exactly what I mean. Hayley saw something in the two of you. She wants you both to see it too. I-- there’s a chance I could be wrong, but I know her. This is what she does. I’m just asking you to mull it over as even a small possibility.”

Despite the fact that Taylor could have just brought them so much closer to breaking the spell, Tay felt more panicky than relieved.

“What if that is the answer?” Tay breathed, her words coming out short and quick.

“Then… then that’s the answer. Happily ever after?” Taylor offered, making a face.

“But what if I’m not her… what if I’m not the one to break it because I don’t feel that way about her? Will she just be a frog forever? And it’ll be all my fault?”

“Um…” Taylor was kind of at a loss now, and beginning to panic himself slightly that he had freaked Tay out. “Uh, I’m sorry. Please don’t panic. I know it’s a lot to take in, but you don’t need to tell Lynn anything right now. Just take a few days to think about it. Okay? No rush.”

Tay took a few deep breaths and nodded, sipping her coffee. Okay. That was doable. She could do that.

“I’ll be okay. Thank-you, for telling me all this. You’ve been a really big help. I did have one more question though.”

Taylor swallowed, nervous now in case Tay was gonna flip for whatever reason. “Yeah…?”

Tay cracked a small smile. “I’m wondering why Yelyah-- uh, Hayley, turned you into a fly but Lynn into a frog. Seems like those creatures go kinda hand-in-hand, no?”

The older boy breathed a sigh of relief, even laughing slightly. “I don’t actually know. But I think she wanted me to suffer so she picked a pretty low lifeform. Whereas with Lynn… well, kinda like that fairytale, right? The Frog Prince? He has to be kissed by his true love to turn into a prince again or something.”

“Yeah,” Tay smiled, taking another sip of coffee. “Y’know, Lynn got all worried when Alex brought you here. She thought Alex figured you and her might be true loves. Since you went through the same thing.”

Taylor laughed. “Ah, fortunately for her, no, that’s not what this was. Although it is really cool Hayley blessed you with the ability for her to share her thoughts. Something that would’ve come in real handy for me, but like I said, she wanted me to suffer. Still… I’d take her back in a heartbeat.”

“You would?” Tay asked, genuinely shocked.

“Yes, I would. Really. I know she did a bad thing but she’s always been reckless. I just think she lost her way. She adores the idea of true love -- hence what she’s trying to show you two. I truly believe she and I are right for each other. It just wasn’t the right time for us. I would forgive her. There would be a lot of rebuilding and trust to form all over again, but I forgive her. I still love her. I’ll always love her.”

Tay almost felt tears well in her eyes, moved by how dedicated Taylor seemed to be to this girl who wasn’t even his any more. “That’s really… mature of you. Quite admirable.”

“I don’t know, it’s probably more stupid than anything else. But love makes you stupid,” Taylor shrugged, but he was grinning. “I’d be stupid for Hayley any day. But, anyway. Enough of me being a total sap. Let’s get back to those two goofs and just have a quiet afternoon. I think you and Lynn deserve some down time instead of worrying about this whole thing for a bit. Just… think about what I told you, yeah?”

Tay nodded solemnly, and the pair re-entered the livingroom to join their best friends.

+++

Tay stayed up almost all night that night. She couldn’t sleep, thinking about what Taylor had told her. And when she did sleep, she had dreams about Lynn in her human form. Dreams she’d never had before. Or so she thought, anyway. She awoke feeling sweaty, butterflies in her stomach. Dreams from years past resurfaced in her mind; all of them about Lynn. Touching Lynn, kissing Lynn, holding Lynn close while she slept. Tay had no idea how she hadn’t remembered any of these dreams before. Or perhaps she had just suppressed them, banishing them to a dark abyss in her mind, never to be thought of again.

Until now.

In fact, for days and days, Tay was awoken time after time due to dreams about her best friend, leaving her to wonder if she really could be in love with Lynn.

Confused didn’t even cover it.

+++

A month passed.

A whole month. Taylor told Tay to take a few days to think things over, but a month passed before she even really realised. She had been drifting along in a blur despite constant texts from both Alex and now Taylor asking for ‘updates’ -- AKA, Have you decided you want to be with your best friend forever yet and get married and live happily ever after?

Well, they weren’t that forward, but that’s what it all came down to.

The thing was, Tay still couldn’t figure it out.

The dreams, the thoughts of human-Lynn that now plagued her… it was a lot to take in, even over the course of a month. Lynn was a very open bisexual, and often vocalised her preference to women. Tay, on the other hand, was much more of a… quiet bisexual. She’d experimented through her teen years here and there, but ultimately thought she preferred men, despite having a four-month relationship with a girl a couple of years back. They’d decided they were more like friends than girlfriends. So that had ended that. And Tay still talked to this girl, still thought her attractive. She just… preferred men.

And sure, Lynn was hot. Gorgeous in every aspect, sure. Tay could admit that. She’d had passing thoughts about sex with her in the past, when she’d been particularly needy. And Tay would do absolutely anything for her. But surely that was just normal best friend behaviour?

The most worrying part was that Tay desperately wanted to kiss Lynn to see if it would turn her human, but what if it turned her human and Tay didn’t want her in that way any more?

It was all very scary. This was the biggest decision of Tay’s life and she had no idea what she wanted to do about it.

But she did know one thing for sure.

She could not let Lynn stay a frog forever.

+++

It took another few days, but Tay had finally made up her mind. It took a few encouraging texts from Alex and Taylor too, but she knew what she had to do. She couldn’t let her best friend down.

It was around midnight, and Tay had placed Lynn in her bed hours ago. As a frog, she just cuddled up on her pillow and slept there.

But while Lynn slept soundly, Tay sat up in the livingroom to think things through. Not that there was much to think about. She was just going to have to do it and hope for the best -- what other option was there? She ended up having a couple of glasses of wine for bravery, mindlessly watching game show re-runs until she couldn’t put it off any longer.

Creeping into Lynn’s bedroom and seeing her tiny frog form asleep on the pillow made Tay’s heart ache. She approached until she was right at the edge of the bed, feeling tears prick her eyes. This could mark the end of their friendship, or the start of something absolutely beautiful. There was fear and hesitation clouding it though. Tay’s only option was to take the leap.

Tay leaned forward towards Lynn, her heart hammering so loud in her chest. She squeezed her eyes shut as she got closer, tears beginning to leak from them regardless. Tay jolted when her lips made contact with Lynn’s tiny frog mouth, but she kept contact between them, and she kept her eyes tightly closed. A warmth rushed through her, and Tay could swear she felt a breeze pass over her, hair being blown from around her face, but she refused to open her eyes. Not until the feeling had passed, and when she did, she was met with exactly what she’d wanted.

Tay straightened up, clasping her hands and holding her breath as her best friend blinked awake.

Her human best friend blinked awake.

“Tay?” Lynn’s voice came out in a tiny croak, which Tay found endlessly hilarious. The older girl laughed; laughed so hard she was wheezing, that tears were running down her face. She laughed in relief, in happiness, laughed just for laughing’s sake. Lynn sat up, a disbelieving smile on her face as she stared down at her human body. Granted, she was naked, but Lynn had always been a little shameless. She started laughing too, shouting this time. “Tay! I’m-- I’m a human! Did you--? You kissed me.”

Tay laughed all the more, clutching Lynn’s hands. “I kissed you. I thought-- Hayley told us the answer might be closer than we think and Taylor told me she likes ‘teaching people lessons’ in twisted ways even if it’s meant to be for a happy ending and-- and he asked me to consider if maybe I was the one who would be able to--”

Her babbling was cut off when Lynn threw her arms around Tay’s shoulders and kissed her in return. Tay’s fears were needless; Lynn wanted to kiss her, and she still wanted to kiss Lynn.

“You broke the spell!” Lynn finished Tay’s sentence when she pulled away, squealing with glee. “You did it. That must mean you’re-- you’re supposed to be my true love?”

Lynn’s voice was unusually small and a little timid, and Tay blushed.

“I guess it does,” she smiled, pecking Lynn’s nose. She was shocked to find how naturally it came, after all that stress and worry for weeks about whether or not she even saw Lynn in that way. “This doesn’t mean you should forgive Hayley for that though -- this might be a happy outcome but what she did was wrong.”

Lynn looked thoughtful. “I think I already have, actually. She might have done it in a strange way but she wanted to show us… happiness that we were missing out on.”

“That’s what Taylor said!” Tay nodded, and Lynn laughed, both girls feeling like they had finally cracked it. “So, um… what do we do now?”

Lynn smirked, her hands gently touching at Tay’s waist. “Well, it’s the middle of the night. Not a lot to do in the middle of the night. Except, we could get used to making out a little more? Figure we’ll be doing a lot of that since we’re supposed to fall in love and stuff.”

Both girls giggled, Tay nodding at this proposal as they fell into Lynn’s bed.

+++

In the tree outside in the garden of the apartment block, Hayley sat, perched on a thick branch, seeing the transformation happen with her own eyes through Lynn’s window.

She smiled, content. Her work was complete; the spell had come full-cycle.

Love had developed right in front of her, when it had been right in front of Tay and Lynn all along, but it was never seen.

Hayley stood on the branch, grinning as the two girls laughed and fell into bed together. There were two happier people in the world. Happier, more appreciative.

Fearless, she jumped down, landing unharmed on her feet at the bottom of the tree. It was time to let her own love reignite itself. Determination in her eyes, she swung her cape and turned, running for Taylor’s house.