Strings of Fate

Black and blue This tthe suit is plain black. It looks better and Bellamy seems happier. He is wearing a black shirt underneath. He shrugs at me.

“Well?” he asks. | consider a moment.

“It’s very... black.” | observe. Bellamy raises an eyebrow.

“It’s a black suit.” he points out.

“I can see that, but... it's just... | don’t know. It's better. But not right.” | turn to Charlie for assistance. He is nodding along with me.

“She's right. | have an idea.” He stands and vanishes yet again. When he returns he is holding two more shirts. A plain white one and a maroon one.

“Try these with it.” He hands them to Bellamy. Bellamy sighs in frustration and returns to the dressing room. My phone vibrates in my bag and I pull it out. It's a message from Megan. She has sentthe photo ofin my dress that she took earlier.

Megan- Sendmine! | text her the photo of her dress and she sends back her thanks. | flick back and forth between the two photos.

Happy to have skind of evidence that | got to spend the day with my friend. Charlie glances over my shoulder and sees the picture of Megan.

“Pretty girl and that’s a nice dress. Is that the sister? They look alike.” He asks. | nod.

“Yep, she and | went dress shopping today.” | tell him proudly. Bellamy steps out again wearing the maroon shirt this time. Charlie shakes his head and waves him back to the change room before turning back to me.

“Did you get a dress too darling?” | nod and flick to the photo. He leans over to look at it eagerly. He gasps.

“Oh my, | know what we need!” he stands and dashes off. Bellamy emerges again in the white shirt. He is looking atcuriously. | shrug, | don’t know what just happened. Charlie comes running back with another shirt.

A blue one this time. The sblue as my dress.

“No, the white is terrible, you look like a pissed off penguin. Quick, put this one on!” He demands. Bellamy glowers and takes the shirt. Clearly he is not enjoying himself. Charlie plops down next toagain.

‘Now you two can match.” he says proudly.

“Uhm... Charlie. Bellamy and | aren't together, you know.” | inform him. Charlie just shrugs.

“That doesn’t mean that shade of blue won't be perfect on both of you.” He waves away my objections. Bellamy steps out of the changing room and | have to admit that Charlie was right. The blue looks great. The dark colour suits Bellamy but isn’t too harsh the way the plain black outfit was, Charlie stands and claps his hands together happily.

“Perfect, just perfect!” he declares. Bellamy glances at me.

“What do you think Ryann?” | nod my agreement.

“I like it.” | confirm. A ghost of a smile spreads across his face.

“Does that mean | can change back now?” he questions.

“Of course handsome. Go ahead. I'll pick out a tie for you and ring it all up.” Charlie promises. He fetches a black tie to match the suit and when Bellamy returns back in his normal clothes, Charlie finishes the sale. We make our way to the exit.

“Well, it has been a pleasure. | hope to see you both again sometsoon!” Charlie gushes. Bellamy grimaces and | laugh.

“Thank you Charlie.” | really appreciate how much Charlie clearly enjoys his job. Sure, he was probably a bit too open in ogling his customer, but | guess he knows what looks good. Clearly he is living his best life. Actually, he was pretty good company. | wonder if he would think I'm weird if | stopped by to say hi next tI'm in the area.

Wow, | make one friend and suddenly | feel like | can talk to people and socialise. Megan is definitely doing wonders for my - Black and blue confidence.

Bellamy looks exhausted.

“That was way too stressful.” He complains.

“You only had to go to one store. It took less than half an hour.” | remind him. He shudders.

“Megan had better be happy. Hey, what did he mean when he said we would match? Your hair?” he questions. | shake my head.

“The dress Megan helpedpick out is that sblue.” Bellamy raises an eyebrow.

“Oh? Alright then. | guess I'm not really surprised you're wearing blue.” he mutters. | ignore it.

“So now what? It’s almost four. What tis Megan meeting Tristan?” | ask.

“Five thirty. So we have tfor an early dinner before we go follow them.” He decides. Well that was a little bossy, but it’s a good idea so | don’t say anything.

“How do you feel about Indian food?” He questions. I light up.

“I adore Indian food.” It only takes a few minutes for us to reach the restaurant and get our food. So far today, Bellamy hasn't actually been too awful, which is a nice change, so | decide to attempt skind of conversation and hope this dinner goes better than the last one.

“| still don’t really understand why you wanted my help picking out a suit. Charlie did most of the work.” I point out. Bellamy shrugs.

“I didn’t want to have to talk to the shop assistant more than absolutely necessary. You helped keep him occupied.” he explains.

“Why didn’t you want to talk to him?” “He’s not a Shifter.” he shrugs. My temper flares 1. up.

- Black and blue “I am completely regretting helping you right now. Do you really think Shifters are so much. better than everyone else? Because if so then | think I'm going to have to find a way to help. Megan on my own.” Bellamy looks frustrated again.

“I don’t think we're better than everyone else. | do think it is best if we keep to ourselves.” “Because you think you're better than us.” | add he practically growls out the words.

“It's just better that way.

Non—Shifters think they can accept us, but the reality is we are part animal and that freaks people out. We have different culture and rules, different instincts and most people can't cope with that. They fear us, or are disgusted by it. They don't understand us and so they judge us by their standards which just doesn't work.” Bellamy pauses and meets my eyes. “You got upset after sharing just one meal with me.” he points out. | glare at him.

“And yet here | am the very next day having a second meal with you. All it took was a little explaining and I'm trying. Maybe you should let other people have that chance too.” Bellamy shakes his head.

“You still see us as just unusual humans. You haven't seen any of us shift” he points out. I am totally confused. Why should that make a a difference? | already know he's a Shifter. Shifters turn into animals. It's not like it would be a surprise. “I don’t understand.” | admit. Bellamy sighs.

“Sthings are easy to accept until they're right in front of you.” | lean forward onto the table.

“This entire discussion is exhausting.

And stop assuming you have any idea what it is that | think of you or any other Shifter. | resent that you think my opinion of Shifters would change based on what they look like atthe time.” What does Bellamy look like when he shifts? I'm actually rather curious. | doubt he would show me, but maybe | could ask Megan about it. Although I'm not sure I'm subtle enough to ask without being incredibly obvious. A loud giggle at a nearby table catches my attention. A teenage couple are on a date and the girl ist

Black and blue laughing as what is sure to be ssilly comment the guy made. Bellamy follows my line of sight to see what I'm looking at.

“That's cute.” he comments with a slight smile. | guess Megan was right when she said Bellamy was the romantic type. | shake my head.

“They're doomed. There's a black thread between them. This is clearly not going to end well for them.” | sigh.

How depressing. Bellamy shrugs.

“That may be so, but right now they're happy.” he sounds like he is trying to cheerup. It’s odd, but | appreciate the effort. | look away from the teens and give him a half-smile.

“I guess you're right.” We continue our meal in a relatively comfortable silence.