Chelsea
I stared into the mirror and shifted my dress, trying to make sure it covered everything it should. It had seemed like such a good decision to wear it when I left the house, but now I was at Anise’s flat, I was starting to question my choice. If I sat wrong, anyone opposite me would be able to see right down my shirt, and that wasn’t necessarily the first impression that I wanted to make. Unless it was Baal, I wouldn’t mind it if he was the one sitting opposite me while I was wearing this.
“So, where are we going tonight?” Anise asked.
“Oh, I had an idea,” Delia responded. “Have you heard of DeLux Café?”
“Isn’t that the one where there’s a human bar upstairs and a paranormal one downstairs?” I asked, pulling myself away from the mirror and taking a seat at the table. I picked up my glass of wine and took a deep drink.
“Yes, that’s the one, I’ve never been, but I heard they put on great events,” Delia said. “There are even rumours that there are gods in attendance at their events.”
I scoffed. “I find that unlikely.”
“We should go.” Anise almost bounced up and down in her seat. “I’d love to meet a sexy god.”
“Then you’re in luck, tonight is Speed Dating,” Delia responded. “What better way to get on a god’s radar.”
“I doubt there are going to be gods actually speed dating, what are the chances of that?” I asked.
“Come on, Chels, don’t be such a spoilsport,” Anise said. “There might be one there, that’s enough for me.”
“I’m not sure it’s such a good idea...”
“That’s just because you’re hung up on our hottest customer.” She picked up her glass and drank it to cover her smug expression.
My cheeks flamed red. “I’m not.”
Anise snorted. “Yeah, sure. I don’t buy it.”
“Who is he?” Delia asked.
“Oh, some hotshot photographer. You can probably search for him online. Have you ever done that?” Anise asked me.
I shook my head and pulled out my phone. I wasn’t precisely sure why I thought this was a good idea, but I found myself typing out his name anyway.
I frowned and scrolled through the results.
“What’s wrong?” Anise asked.
“Don’t tell us that he has a super gorgeous wife, or something.” Delia’s face became harder as she considered the affront to me, despite the fact we barely knew one another.
“Not that I can tell, it’s just that I’m getting a load of hits for a god.” I turned my phone around so the two of them could see.
“You could try adding photography after his name?” Delia suggested.
“Though this carving does look a bit like him,” Anise said. “Is there a chance that our customer Baal is the same as this Baal?”
“You really think that a god is using our shop to process his photos?” I stared at the carving, seeing the similarities in features between it and the man I’d come to know, though I wasn’t sure if that was simply because Anise had suggested that they were there. It was easy to see commonalities when I was looking for them.
“Where else would he go?” Anise asked. “We do a good job and he gets a discount because he uses us all the time.”
“It’s not going to be him,” I said firmly, closing down the browser. There was no way that the man with a kind smile and a sparkle in his eyes was a god. Though I had to admit that he did exude confidence in a way that I thought fit with a deity.
I pushed the thought aside. It didn’t matter whether he was a god or not because he was never going to go for someone like me anyway, which meant that I didn’t have to worry about it.
Though it was sort of cool to be able to say that I knew a god.
“So, speed dating?” Delia asked. “Maybe your god will even be there.”
“I doubt that,” I responded. “And he’s not mine anyway. Why would he be?”
“You’re not going to believe it until he has his tongue down your throat, clearly,” Anise responded.
I snorted. “Please, that’s never going to happen. But you know what, sure, let’s go speed dating. What’s the worst that could happen?”
“I find some sexy single to spend the night with.” Delia let out a satisfied smile.
“Wouldn’t that be the best case?”
“Oh no, that would be finding my mate.” She shrugged.
“You’re lucky you have one,” Anise muttered. “I wish I was a shifter.”
“It comes with its perks,” Delia responded with a satisfied smile. “But there are some not-so-good parts too.”
“Like?”
“The hair. Do you have any idea how much of it there is when you have wolf genes? I hate it.” She lifted her hand to her thick light-blonde hair and ran a hand through it.
“I can brew you a potion that might help,” I offered.
“Thanks, but there’s no need. I’ve tried just about all of the solutions I can find already. Sometimes it works for a day, but then it fades away. You get used to it after a bit.”
“Well, the offer’s there if you need it,” I promised.
“Thanks, I’ll keep that in mind. I’ll probably change my mind if I have a hot date I need to prepare for.” She grabbed her glass of wine from the table and drank it down in a few gulps.
I picked up my own but drank it more slowly.
“We should book a taxi if we want to get to speed dating on time,” Anise said. “Or early, I want to scope out the competition.”
I shook my head in bemusement. “Surely this isn’t the best way to actually meet someone?”
“Maybe not, but it’s supposed to be fun,” Delia responded.
I could think of a lot of things that were more fun than the idea of sitting across from dozens of strangers while making the same small talk over and over again, but if I was never going to be able to do anything about my feelings towards Baal, then I might as well try for something else, even if I debated the effectiveness of the method when it came to actually finding someone to date.
Anise tapped a few buttons on her phone. “Okay, the taxi will be here in about half an hour. Is anyone hungry? I don’t have much in, but I’m pretty sure there are some nachos and dip in the cupboard.”
“Oh yeah, good plan, I’ve been drinking on an empty stomach, and that never ends well,” Delia said.
“I could eat some,” I agreed with a smile to my friend.
“All right, drunk nibbles coming right up.” She headed to the kitchen.
Unable to resist, I typed Baal’s name back into the search on my phone and flicked through the image results. Now that the shock had worn off a bit, I was almost certain I could see the resemblance between the handsome man I knew from the copy shop, and the various statues and carvings of the storm, weather, and fertility god the internet proclaimed him to be.
The only question remaining was what I was going to do with that information, because I had absolutely no idea. Was it acceptable to just ask him about it?
I dismissed the notion. He’d never once told me who he was beyond his name and profession, and he knew that I was a witch and aware of the paranormal world. If he’d wanted me to know, he’d have said something, I was certain of it.
A little voice in the back of my mind whispered that there was a chance that was what he wanted to tell me when he’d said we should go for coffee, but I ignored it. He was probably just being polite and didn’t actually mean it. It was far too close to a date-like situation and there was no way a man like Baal would be interested in a random witch like me.
Especially if he was a powerful god.
It would be better for both of us if I simply forgot the way I was feeling about him and focused on everything else that was going on in my life, that way I wouldn’t drive myself crazy with something that probably wasn’t even a slight possibility.