by Skye Grace
“I still use DVDs and just learned how to tweet like a week ago,” Aura laughs. She sits down next to her and glances up to see what she’s streaming. The Protectors, of course. The man she’s falling for at an exponential rate appears on the screen and she melts just as she had the first time she’d ever watched. With Rowan of course, who’s listening in guiltily. Aura blushes.
“God, you don’t have any privacy anymore, do you?” Rowan smirks.
“Not with the three of you around,” Aura admits.
“So you have to tell me what it’s like- you start dating someone you’ve been in love with for 12 years and they just fall for you, just like that? So you can’t read people like we can but what? You have the power of a thousand love spells or something?”
“Hey! You’re a card carrying coven member! You know love spells are bad news and don’t you dare accuse me of that!” Aura grins, chucking a pillow at Rowan’s head, missing and knocking the spoon out of her dessert.
“Okay, okay, so what the hell is going on? Wesley looks at you like you’re the most interesting painting he’s ever seen and Jacksen’s thoughts are all goo-goo gaga, ‘Aura’s perfection incarnate, she’s Aphrodite wearing crotchless panties covered in chocolate sauce.’
Aura rolls around on the bed laughing hysterically in between shoving big bites of Cherry Garcia into her mouth, “He does not think that about me, shut up!”
“He might as well, girl. I don’t know how you’re like, controlling these beautiful men, but like, way. to. go.”
Aura throws an ice cold cherry at Rowan’s forehead and a thick crease forms between her eyebrows, I am not controlling them, bitch pants, we’re just close.
“I know I know,” Rowan sighs, flipping her silvery locks over a shoulder, “Things are just happening really fast, yeah?”
“Yeah,” Aura answers, failing to hide how happy that makes her, pretending to be really interested in a scene where Blaise and Brody save Graylan from a powerful werewolf pack.
“Twelve years of Bachelor Blaise, Mr. Sexy Never Settle Down and you end up getting to play the one he falls for at the end of everything. And now you’re dating the guy that plays him IRL. This isn’t nuts to you, Aur?”
“Of course it’s nuts,” she responds. “Jacksen wanting me as much as I want him is insane. I don’t know how to explain it. But everything’s been so crazy that it feels almost normal. I mean, not normal but like, within the realm of possibility because anything is, apparently.”
“I do get that part,” Rowan muses.
“I’m sure you do, Mrs. Ethan, Mrs. cutest guy in drama that everyone was secretly in love with.”
“Including me and you,” she sighs. “I will tell you it’s more than a little alarming to wake up to a husband you don’t remember marrying. Thank god we went to school together or I would’ve called the cops… or worse.”
“But you’ve fallen in love with him now?” Aura pries.
“Of course, it wasn’t hard at all, and my memories came back a little more each day, the more I spent time with him.” Aura’s heart swells to see Rowan so happy, baffled that it’s so easy to talk to her like this again but not daring to jinx it with any sore subjects, if they’re even still sore at all.
“Well Ethan is...was... pretty amazing,” Aura agrees.
Rowan finds her phone and shows Aura a picture she’d recently taken of Ethan on the Seattle Great Wheel. He’s grown up but just as adorable as she remembers, but with an added dose of handsome.
“Is,” Aura nods, “Definitely is.”
“And having him as my tech director doesn’t hurt,” Rowan laughs. “Turns out working with someone that wonderful every day is a pretty foolproof way to fall for them almost instantly.” She eyes Aura suspiciously, “You’re really not mad?”
“Why would I be mad? I’m ecstatic for you, babe.”
“Yeah I know, but you liked him first and… I just feel like the reason I started seeing him was to get back at you, I mean the timeline fits. We started dating right after what happened in New York.”
Le sigh. You were ridiculous to think you could get through this night without having to discuss the Jameson thing. “I don’t care if you did, I mean I deserved it, Rowan. It was an absolutely shitty thing that I did to you in the city. I’ve spent time with Jameson with week. Enough time to remember why I was attracted to him, I mean he’s like a Greek god only taller. I just don’t know why I did it, when it meant hurting you. I was so freaking selfish back then. I just don’t get it.”
“I do,” Rowan scooches back towards Aura so they’re face to face. Aura stares at her and just wonders, Why, why was I so selfish? Why aren’t you more pissed at me?
“Well, I saw into Jacksen’s thoughts and heard about his ass-kicking via you so I don’t want to piss you off, for one thing…” Rowan jabs Aura in jest. “No, really, I know you Aur. I know you've always wanted to find that great love, more than anything. You thought maybe you’d found it with Jameson and you thought I’d understand but I didn’t then. Pretty sure I spent a lot of time feeling hurt, and being really mad at you, because I didn’t get it, but I do now. If you felt the way about him that I do with Ethan, I get it.”
Aura grabs Rowan’s hand and thanks her silently, I don’t think it was quite like that, I mean maybe I thought so at the time. I try to bury the memories as soon as they pop up, honestly. But I just need you to know that I really am sorry. Rowan’s eyes are getting a little moist so she continues, If I promise never to screw you over again, can I get my sister back? Please?
Rowan nods, wrapping her arms around Aura’s shoulders. I should have never left.
Chapter Twenty
The following morning, Aura is so amped for her Late Show filming that she actually has to put her third cup of coffee down at the insistence of Rowan while they have breakfast on the back patio. “I love waking up to the Puget Sound everyday but there really is something about the Pacific Ocean outside your door,” Rowan swoons at the view.
Aura agrees, but is barely listening. She knows everything will go well tonight, but still has an all-encompassing nervous energy just begging to be burned off. She thinks and drums her fingernails on the table, “Oh, we have these gorgeous surfboards Alexis won at some teen awards show. Wanna go surfing?”
After digging out all the gear and putting on their bikinis and getting the giant boards down to the water, they realize the waves are much too small for such big boards. They sigh, staring down at the heavy board and then up at the long staircase leading back to the house. “Thank god you have a pool, I’ll be sweating my butt off by the time we get these back up there. What were we thinking?”
Rowan jumps into the pool, laughing, as soon as the boards are stashed, and Aura quickly jumps in after her. They begin a splash fight followed by racing freestyle laps like they did as kids after swim lessons at the Y. Aura wins, screeching as she jumps up on Rowan’s shoulders to do her victory yell when they hear voices already yelling over them. Jacksen and Wes shout down from the patio, “Are you glad we’re here to play chicken?”
The girls are dying to pull the boys into the pool but, “They’re just dressed too well, it would be a travesty,” Aura grins.
“How are you both so perfect looking all the time, anyway?” Rowan teases.
“Oh I’m sorry, we’re kind of magic. Did you not know that?” Wes smirks.
“There’s kind of a show about it, every Tuesday at nine. Oh god that’s a bad habit. Not on Tuesdays at nine anymore, damnit,” Aura yells up at them.
“Aww poor guys, no more TV show for you. As if 12 years wasn’t long enough of a run!” Rowan snarks, “Now you have to do a movie, poor you.” The guys just shake their heads and throw down a couple towels for the girls.
“So why are you guys dressed so nicely, anyway?” Aura inquires.
“Hey!” Jacksen laughs. “Be a little nicer to the guys taking you out to sushi before your Late Show filming!”
The girls squeal a
nd maul and climb each other trying to be the first one out of the pool to go get themselves stuffed full of sushi.
Aura is further from nervous now than she thought possible but assumes it has something to do with the little crew she’s assembled.
She feels Jacksen’s fingers idly tug lightly at the bottom of her curls as she inhales plates of poke and spicy tuna. Rowan ops for inari and cucumber rolls. Wes and Jacksen discuss the scene they’ll begin filming together tomorrow.
“We got these together, didn’t we?” Aura whispers to Rowan, gesturing to the little matching Space Needle tattoos they both have.
“The first time you came back home to visit,” Rowan smiles. “You hung out in my dorm for days, we walked the Ave and got these before you left. Ethan and I were having dinner and drinks at a Thai place next door to where we got these. It was a few days after we, what? Fell down the rabbit hole? It was so weird, I didn’t remember or even recognize the place till we went back outside, must’ve been all the Thai basil mojitos with dinner.”
“I know the feeling well,” Aura commiserates. “Monroe tried to bring me to get a new tattoo with her on my birthday. Our artist kept wanting me to pick something that showed the real me. It was like he saw right through me, I had no clue who I was, not really.”
“But you do now, I can tell. You were always this amazing, you know, it just took you a while to realize it.”
Aura nods, only faux reluctantly. Her cheeks flush a light pink when she notices the boys are eavesdropping adorably into their conversation, though.
“Oh come on, you’d get one if the rest of us did, right?” Rowan chuckles to Wes after hearing the thoughts of his needle phobia loud and clear.
“Sure he would,” Jacksen laughs, clapping Wes on the shoulder.
Aura imagines what she’d get, something big and colorful and very her, she’d promised Atticus that, but what? What made her her, what she loves most about her life now, the people that surround her now, the crashing waves outside her window every morning, her job, the coven, the beautiful way that the two Aura’s had become one… She has no idea what she’d choose or how to combine everything that’s happened into one inked image. Jameson tries to wipe the grin off his face but the more he thinks of her, thinking of getting a permanent picture of their time together put on her body, the harder it is for him to stop grinning.
Sitting in the makeup chair, there are so many hands on Aura’s face and in her hair that the number is nearly indecipherable. The chatter of the stylists surrounding her mingling with the laughter of Jacksen, Rowan, and Wes behind her are so calming that she’s self-assured yet practically giddy when they pull her into wardrobe. The outfit she’s brought is tight black leather with a hint of lace, very Bianca, which to Aura is the perfect way to announce her role in The Protectors’ last hurrah of a film.
She’s whisked to the wings and prepped to go on, her veins pulsing with the same electrical static as when she’s in contact with Wes, Jacksen, and now, Rowan. Her mind mulls over where the connection could be, and what it means. Then her name is called and a curtain is pulled open for her, dazzling stage lights streaming onto her face as she forces her body forward and her brain off the questions funneling through it.
She flashes her megawatt smile and is hoping to see the three of them, her personal coven, a little disappointed as her eyes scan the first row. The rest is a blur as her hand lands securely in the hand of one Darren Darling, the charming blonde, British dream of a late night host giving her a dazzling grin. He leads her to her seat and after commending her on her attack on body shaming this week on social media, he begins joking with her a little, asking a lot of silly, personal ‘TMI’ questions about Lizzy, her character on ‘Girl Gang’ and she laughs, relieved that the nosey questions aren’t entirely directed at her own personal life. She even does a little of the British accent for him and starts feeling supremely goofy, the audience eating it up, until he starts in on something slightly more invasive.
“I think we were all a bit surprised when you didn’t mention any of the handsome men you’ve been spotted with lately to Falco when you were on his show last. What happened to the Aura not afraid to spill about her love life?” Darren pries.
“I guess when it’s bad, it’s too depressing to report and when it’s good, you don’t wanna jinx it,” she shrugs.
His eyes sparkle, “Do you have something you don’t want to jinx?”
“Maybe” Aura grins.
“That’s interesting,” he starts, “Because Stephanie, one of my favorite PA’s, runs in to see me in a complete panic earlier after leaving your dressing room. She looked just ghastly, muttering something about these gorgeous male witches and her ultimate crush. I mean she was bloody shaking! Stammering, a complete mess. Do you have any idea what she might have been referring to?”
“I might,” she giggles. “I kind of reacted the same way to a certain someone in there.”
“Oh yeah? Well, I had to see for myself. I went back and there was a lovely girl who introduced herself as your oldest friend ever, a beautifully gangly man who looked awfully familiar and described himself as your new best friend and then someone I could only describe as… maybe a male underwear model perhaps?”
“Sounds about right,” she counters with a laugh. Screw it, I don’t care, what I’ve got back there is too good to hide, anyway.
“Well we all had a chinwag, it was a proper chat and they really were just lovely. I decided they should all come out for a little hello, yeah?” He asks the audience more than he asks her and they cheer with excitement. She realizes he’s bringing them out one at a time and that Rowan is first. She jumps from her seat and meets her halfway, hugging her tightly while the audience “awww’s.”
“We’ve been apart for way too long,” Aura adds to the crowd before Rowan is ushered to her seat in the front row. Then out comes Wes and multiple people in the crowd squeal or holler. Wes just eats it up, waving and smiling at them in his own adorably awkward way, and then hugs her so tightly her feet dangle nearly a foot from the stage floor.
“I think I’ve figured it out, all of it,” Wes whispers in her ear. “You’re the key.” He lets go of her and she stares at him, dazed, as he winks at her and joins Rowan at their seats. She wants to ask him, ‘The key to what?’ but he’s long gone and Jacksen is already being announced.
Jacksen comes out and she’s speechless from Wes’ unexplained revelation. He picks her up and spins her around, the crowd cheering louder now. “Ron said we could make an announcement,” he smiles, whispering in her ear. “So I’ve decided to make two.”
“Two?” she asks him, incredulous, as Mr. Darling ushers them both back over near his desk. He offers Jacksen the seat next to hers and begins explaining his backstage revelations to the crowd.
“After my gobsmacked assistant stopped hyperventilating and could make sense again, she informed me that these two fit gentlemen were actors on a series called, ‘The Protectors.’ Have you all heard of it?” He asks the crowd and gets a loud, excited response. A surprised little laugh escapes Aura’s lips, I thought this was supposed to be a cult following?
Darren turns back to Jacksen. “Apparently your fans refer to themselves as members of ‘The Coven,’ because the show revolves around witchcraft, is that right?”
They both nod and Jacksen flashes his gorgeous grin, “That’s right, cast, crew, fans, we’re all a big family. After we finished 12 seasons, we became the longest running horror drama in history and decided to go out with a bang - there’s been a lot of rumors floating around so we’re beyond ready to announce - We begin filming the Protectors movie this week, and Aura is the newest member of our coven.”
After the applause dies down, Darren asks, “You’re playing opposite this chap here? In the film?” Aura’s head bobs excitedly. “You must be ecstatic?”
“Darling, I own Protectors earrings, sweatshirts, even a few pairs of panties. I must have made them thousands in merchandising ove
r the years so yeah, saying I’m thrilled would be an understatement,” she says with a laugh.
“It’s funny that you mention merchandise, love, because I’ve also learned a lot about that. Apparently you can go to any mall and get just about anything with this bloke’s face on it, except for um, that,” he gestures to Jacksen and she whips around to face him. He’s holding open a small, black ring box with a little pin of his Season 1 baby face.
“After we wrapped our first season, the crew made everyone in the cast these buttons of themselves, long before anything had been made of us merch-wise. It meant so much to me that I kept it all these years.” His hand shakes a little and he pops the little pin from the box and opens it. “But now I’d love for you to have it.”
“You’re asking me to wear your face?” The audience laughs along with her, out of all the ridiculous things that had happened to her in the whirlwind since her birthday, this most definitely takes the cake. “Like go steady? Have you told them we’ve only known each other for what, a week?” she chides gleefully.
The crowd aww’s at that too and a few even gasp. He smirks because he is secretly loving how hard she’s making him work for this, but reading her thoughts makes him confident enough to know that she’s fallen for him too. Not the TV crush she thought she loved, but the real one, flaws and all.
“You know when I say it doesn’t feel like a week, it feels like forever, that I mean that in the best possible way right? That I’ve never met anyone that makes me feel the way that you do?”
Aura nods, grinning ear to ear, while Darren Darling makes goo goo eyes at them both, and Jacksen can’t help but laugh, “So then will you wear the damn pin?” She nods excitedly, mouthing her YES because she’s too moved to speak, and the crowd erupts into laughter and more cheering, Wes and Rowan probably being the loudest.
The second he’s secured the little button, Aura launches onto Jacksen’s lips and he pulls her in closer.
