Clara wiped her eyes.
"You're a fool, Hutch."
"I was young. I saw an alien world through a human lens. Call me a fool if you want, but I dare anyone to do better in the same situation," Hutch replied, rubbing his hand back through his hair. "What if it was an alien coming here instead, being told about bigfoot, werewolves, or the boogeyman under the bed? Do you think they'd be skeptical about them if you also showed them some weird science stuff, like using chemicals to change the color of liquids, or magnets to levitate objects, or hell, maybe even showing them a plane or a car or anything they'd never seen before? Can you tell me they would have any reason to doubt the validity of the monster's existence? Especially, if the one telling the stories believed them to be true as well? It wasn't like I just believed it all blindly. I was skeptical at first, and of course I knew some of the things they told me weren't true, but it became a lot harder to ignore most of what they said when they showed me their magic and evidence to prove at least some of what they were saying."
"That's not why you're a fool, Hutch. You're a fool because you still haven't asked my dad for an explanation."
"He won't give me one if he thinks I won't believe it," Hutch replied, as he looked over at her.
"Then he's a fool too. You're both idiots."
Hutch smirked as he leaned back and looked up at the ceiling. "Yeah, I can agree with that."
Clara sighed and scrambled over to him, saying, "You aren't supposed to agree," before pushing at his shoulder. "You're supposed to promise to do better. Tell me that you'll talk to him and work out your misunderstandings."
"You sound just like her when you tell me what to do," he remarked with a faint chuckle. "In moments like these, it makes me wonder if I'm not trapped in a spell of his own making. Can you prove to me that any of this is even real?"
Clara hauled off and slapped him across the face, the sharp strike, resounded throughout the silence of the penthouse.
"Did that feel real enough for you?"
Hutch smiled as he looked at her, even as his flesh stung and burned. Her eyes filled with a strange sort of anger, he'd only ever seen a handful of times, but always in the eyes of a woman.
"That's the problem, Clara. Everything feels like a dream. None of this seems real or possible. Thanks for this though," he said, setting his hand to his sooth the linger ache of his cheek. "I appreciate the creative nature of your answer."
"And yet it's pointless if you don't believe that I'm real."
A flash of light illuminated the penthouse accompanied by the sounds of cracks and pops. Clara turned and looked out the dining room window.
"The fireworks," she muttered, grabbing his hand as she slipped from the couch.
Hutch let her pull him to his feet, and willingly let her drag him to the window, and yet it felt as if he were somehow chasing her, even when he came to stand beside her, the balls of glittering light flashing in the sky; white, blue, red, green, and gold. The noise echoing like thunder around them. It was hypnotizing and beautiful. It sucked him in, before spitting him out.
He turned to look at Clara, but he found himself beside Kahlala. She was biting her lower lip and her eyes were wavering. Following her gaze to the horizon, he watched the thunderstorm in the distance beside her. They'd come to that spot several times to watch them come over the tops of the mountains, and each time he found it as amazing as the first.
"This never gets old, does it?" he remarked, the distant sky flashing in hues of pinks, and purples, against the pitch black of the night sky.
"I love you, Hutch," Kahlala blurted out, her hands now balled into fists, as he turned towards her.
His heart was lodged in the back of his throat. He wanted to tell her the same thing, but he couldn't speak. He could hardly even breath. His mind desperately began running in circles, trying to convince him it wasn't what he hoped. That he'd just misheard her, or she'd misspoke, or she forgot to add, 'like a brother' or 'as a friend' to the end of her thought or maybe he'd simply chosen not to hear everything she'd said.
Hutch had been crushing on her since the moment they first met. She was everything he'd ever imagined his perfect match to be. She was stunningly beautiful, from the color of her eyes to the way her top lip was slightly larger than her lower. She was tall, and athletically slender, with gorgeous feminine curves. Her mind was sharp and brilliant, and she had just the right amount of sass, and determination. She was motivated and full of life and watching her do almost anything was mesmerizing. She was kind and compassionate, and the way she loved was with her entire heart, loyal and fully trusting, holding nothing back, even at the expense of one's feelings. And she knew everything about him, more than anyone else on Illimev, which made him aware that she had to know how unworthy he was to be loved by her.
"Did you hear me?" she questioned, punching at his shoulder. "I said, I love you."
He couldn't say anything as she stared into his eyes, because it didn't seem real. He couldn't have heard her correctly, no matter how many times he played it over in his head. Reaching out, he grabbed Kahlala by the shoulders and pulled her to his chest. He wrapped his arms around her and buried his face in her neck.
"I'm dreaming," he whispered, even as he felt her arms pulling herself closer. "I don't deserve you."
"Liar."
Pulling back, he held her face in his hands, and searched her eyes with his own. "You can't mean what you're saying. You'd be giving up too much. I can't let you."
"You wouldn't be saying that if you didn't love me back," she replied, her eyes reflecting every flash of lighting back at his as she glanced down at his lips, shifting slightly closer.
"Don't make me confess, Lala. The moment I do, everything between us changes. And I don't know if I'll have the strength to let you go."
"It's too late, Hutch. I can't bear the thought of you not knowing that I'm here waiting for you to return. Father told me, you weren't planning on coming home again. But I'm here. I'm here waiting for you. I'm in love with you, Hutch. It's all I've been able to do to not lose my mind since you were conscripted. I keep telling myself, trying to convince myself, that I just miss you and when you come back and leave again, at some point, I'll stop feeling the way that I do and be able to let you go, but each and every time, it's gotten worse. I know what this will cost me. I know, but I don't care. I can't feel anything else when I'm around you. I just want to be where you are. At your side. In your presence. It's the only place I feel calm. The only time when I can think clearly. So, I'll say it, until you hear me clearly. I lov…"
Hutch didn't need to hear it again. He'd heard her clearly; every word of what she'd said. Pressing his lips to hers, was ecstasy. He'd wanted to kiss her so many times throughout the years, but he'd never managed to find the courage. Even now, he'd not been courageous enough on his own. He'd needed her to push him forward. Just as he'd needed her so many times before.
Hers was a taste, sweeter than honey, and more decadent than wine. His heart felt as if it were about to erupt inside his chest, pounding frantically against his ribs as she shifted her arms up between his and sunk her fingers into his hair, returning his kiss with equal fervor.
It no longer mattered if this was a dream or if it would turn into a nightmare. Rolling her brow against his, she forced their lips to part, giving them both a moment to catch their breath.
"I will love you, for as long as you allow it," he finally managed to confess. "And even then, I will continue to love you from a far. I will find a way to be worthy of you. To prove that I deserve to be with you. I swear, Kahlala, I won't let your sacrifices be for nothing."
"Just promise to always come back to me. Promise that will never forget that I'm here waiting for you. That no matter what, you will fight to find your way home, back to me, where you belong."
"I promise. On everything that I am, I promise."