Hrida
“Blue looks good on the sky, looks good on that neon buzzin’ on the wall, but darling, it don’t match your eyes.”
Some old country singer serenaded Hrida and the other restaurant customers through an equally ancient speaker. She looked out of place, a bright spot of color tucked into a corner booth, surrounded by dirty brick walls and neon signs.
Neon, just like the song, she thought, swirling a finger around the rim of her glass. Tracey had an unfortunate habit of being late for things, even regular outings such as this one. As if those thoughts had summoned her, Tracey came bouncing into view.
“Hey,” Tracey said, not even out of breath even though she’d probably speed-walked to get there, “sorry I’m late. I got carried away with-”
“Painting?” Hrida finished. She raised her eyebrows with a wry smile.
“Pfft, how’d you know?” Tracey rolled her eyes. “But yeah. The kitchen’s finished now. You should come over and see it sometime.”
Hrida thought about that, sipping her drink to buy her some time. She kept her eyes politely focused on the table, but Tracey wasn’t buying it.
“What’s up with you? You’ve been acting strange lately. You don’t talk as much, and you only buy basic coffee when we go to the cafe.”
Hrida kept her head down, not trusting herself to speak. Tracey was the closest thing Hrida had to a best friend, and she could be annoyingly perceptive despite Hrida’s best efforts to appear like she had it all together.
“This situation is enough to make anyone unsettled, Trace.” The nickname had taken a while to get used to, but now it just slipped out naturally in conversation. While Hrida wouldn’t admit it, she liked being close enough with someone to give them a nickname.
Tracey suddenly stopped picking at her appetizer. She locked eyes with Hrida just long enough for it to be uncomfortable before she slammed a fist down on the table.
“Hah! I’ve got it.”
“Calm down!”
“Sorry.” But of course, Tracey wasn’t sorry, especially when she apologized with that glint in her eye. “I figured it out. You’re in looove.” She drew the word out hideously long until Hrida glanced around at the other tables, sure that everyone was paying attention to their conversation.
“What makes you think-”
“That face!” Tracey pointed with her fork, triumphant. “That face right there! You’ve been lying to yourself for weeks, and you’re still trying to shove the feelings down.”
“Well, I kinda have to,” Hrida mumbled.
“Say it for the people in the back?”
“If I don’t, he’ll be able to tell.”
There, she’d said it. The truth sat between them, overbearing as a stormcloud, but Tracey beamed like the sun.
“I knew it! I knew it, I knew it, I knew it!”
Hrida waited patiently until Tracey’s energy died down.
“Do you think it could work?”
“Are you crazy, girl? Of course it could work! Derrick would have to be out of his mind not to notice you.”
A strange feeling started in the middle of Hrida’s chest. It reminded her of drinking a coffee on a cold day; the warmth wrapped around her heart, spread to her stomach and down her arms and legs until she felt like dancing in the streets the whole way home. But for now, she sat there smiling at Tracey, and Tracey smiled at her, and everything was perfectly okay.
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After they’d finished eating, the two of them ducked out into the night and made their way home, talking in low voices. Being out and about at this time of night was always risky. They turned the corner onto their street, streetlights glowing in the fog, and Hrida was in the middle of laughing at something Tracey had said when she noticed the pair of eyes staring out of a dark alley.
“Trace?” Hrida tightened her grip on her friend’s arm. Tracey turned to look at her, still smiling, but when she followed Hrida’s gaze, her expression hardened into something formidable. She firmly shifted Hrida behind her and removed her weapon from its holster.
The monster only seemed to keep growing as it stepped out of the shadows. Even though it towered over Tracey, Hrida noticed that her friend never flinched. She kept glaring up at the beast, power radiating through her whole body.
“C’mon!” She roared. “Show me what you’ve got!”
The monster roared back, a deep grating sound that rattled straight through Hrida’s core and left her with a dire realization.
Only a miracle could get them out of this.
Author Notes: The lyrics at the beginning are from Blue Ain't Your Color by Keith Urban
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