Says Stella. She immediately looks at Demon.
"You let your boyfriend get shot?" She says annoyed.
"I didn't let him…" starts Demon. I nod.
"It wasn't his fault," I say. It was. But I don't say anything and continue with a fake smile. Stella shakes her head and tends to the wound, grabbing a book from her bag of supplies. I shift uncomfortably.
"Mhm," she says. I watch her confused. She's gonna heal me with a book? She says no words and flips through the book, settling on a page.
"Just watch," Demon says with a smirk. Stella quotes a line from the book and I feel a sudden sharp pain in my arm.
"Ah!" I don't expect it. Demon grabs my wrist protectively.
"Stella?" he says with a demanding tone.
"It's a gun wound, hurts more," says Stella shortly. The pain goes away suddenly, as though it was never there. I look at my arm, Stella removes the bandages. The wound is gone, healed completely. Demon smiles.
"Good," he says satisfied.
"Wha-?" I start. Demon laughs at my reaction and Stella hurries off to put the book away. Hiding it safely somewhere. "what was that?" I ask.
"Healing magic, obviously," Demon informs me.
"Uh yeah…? But how is that even possible?" I frown. Maybe it is possible… I'm not as surprised as I should be since I discovered Demons weird power to heal instantly. Stella comes back and I thank her, putting my fake smile back on. She leaves and goes upstairs somewhere. Leaving the two of us alone.
"She's from a different planet, that's all I can say," Says Demon shrugging.
"Literally?" I ask. Demon nods. I laugh.
"Your joking," I say. Demon shakes his head. "Wow."
…
I don't understand how Stella could be from a different planet, it's all so new and strange to me. Demon takes me out of the shop after calling bye to Stella. He walks to I don't know where and I just follow him. We stay in silence leaving me to my thoughts. I don't want that.
"Demon play a game or something with me," I insist.
"Uh…? What game?" asks Demon not too impressed with the idea, "I'm shit at coming up with things." I put my head down and try to think. Nothing comes to mind. "Star?"
"Actually… I dunno," I say with a frown. Demon smiles.
"Its fine, I'll come up with it," he says. I look at him questionally.
"Even if you said you shit at coming up with things?" I ask.
"I was joking," says Demon. I don't know what's real anymore.
"No jokes," I tell him. He sighs, seeming to understand.
"Sorry… I won't," he says, the smile from his face gone. "Lets… just take turns telling each other random things about ourselves."
"Boring," I laugh.
"I know, I know," replies Demon, "I can cook." He starts the game… wow he's actually going alone with the most stupid suggestion in the world.
"I know you can cook," I say, "The heart marking under my eye was tattooed on me when I was little. Or so I was told." Demon glances at me.
"Pretty," he says. I shrug. "I like cats."
"I can't swim."
"I'm allergic to cats."
"What? But you just said."
"I know what I said," smiles Demon. I laugh. Demon takes me out of the city and to a hill. It looks out over the city; a lake is behind us. There are no people here. "I teach you to swim one day…" Starts Demon.
"Uh… it's okay you don't have to," I say, and I try to smile. It's not that I can't swim… I won't. Demon picks me up and starts to carry me towards the lake, sliding his backpack down onto the ground.
"Ah Demon! Stop!" I yell.
"Ssh sh, I'll teach you," he reassures me.
"No!" he's standing in the lake now, about to set me down.
"Its not deep here," Demon says. I know it's probably not, he's standing in it.
"Fucking stop! You Demon!" I cry. He stops before I touch the water. I'm shaking. Please no, please no. Not again. Too deep, too deep. These things keep replaying in my head. He takes me out of the water.
"Fucking hell… I'm sorry. I didn't know you were serious," says Demon. He's worried about me. Holding me close to him like something could take me away from him at any moment. I clutch his arm, calming myself. I think he's sorry.
"You dick," I mutter. Demon frowns. Yeah, he deserved that. He loosens his grip on me.
"I'm sorry…" he whispers. I nod.
"Yeah, you didn't know," I tell him.
"Something happened?" he asks.
"Yeah… when I was younger," I say with a frown. He puts his hand on the side of my face. We are both sitting on the ground now. When I was younger, I didn't know how to swim either, and I was in deep water, unable to get up. No one came to me, but when they did, bad thing happened. My parents… I don't want to tell him what happened or remember it. Maybe one day.
"How can I make it up to you?" He asks me. I trace a heart on his arm.
"More pancakes?" I ask. Demon smiles.
"of course, Star."
…
Star and I admire the view for a bit until the lights in the city go on. Then I take him back to the apartment and make him some more pancakes. He asks me to take him back there soon and I promise I will. I still feel bad about what happened, but Star says he forgives me. So, I try to forgive myself too. After he eats his pancakes, I let Star listen to some music. We have a similar taste and we both enjoy death metal, so we listen together, one earbud each in our ear. We are sitting on the floor at the end of my bed. Star picked the first song.
"Star… I'm gonna follow them," I tell him.
"If you say so," Star laughs.