Invisible

He grabbed her fingers tightly, a groan slipping from his lips. She felt an answering sound somewhere deep in her throat. Joy rolled her head back as she felt his teeth graze her palm. A nip. A bite.

“Ow!”

Ink dropped her hand instantly. He looked worried, flushed.

“Are you hurt?” he asked.

Joy rubbed her wrist. “No,” she said with a chuckle. “You bit me.”

“And that was wrong.”

Joy tried not to laugh too hard. “It was...more than I expected.”

Ink cocked his head to one side. “You bit me first.”

He sat on the edge of her bed, and Joy sat next to him. He took her hand back tenderly and traced his thumb over the spot, soothing it with circular strokes. Joy felt the tensions—both good and bad—pass. Glancing at each other, they both started laughing, transforming two awkward, separate people into “us, together.”

“I am sorry,” he said.

“Don’t be,” she said. “I’m not.”

“I am learning.”

“You are learning.”

A dimple reappeared. “Some things are eagerly taught.”

Joy felt the heat of the blush on her cheeks. Was she supposed to feel wrong for wanting? For showing? Asking? Knowing? Well...she didn’t. So there.

Ink drew his thumb along the “7” in her palm. “I like what I have learned,” he said. “I like learning with you.”

Joy grinned. “I’ll bet.” She caught his fingers, giving his knuckles a quick kiss. His eyes crinkled in the corners. A second dimple appeared. Joy couldn’t help laughing as her heart skipped a beat. His moods were so honest and wondrous and new. He didn’t make her feel bad for feeling the same.

He rested their hands on his knee, a tangible tangle of Joy and Ink.

“I wanted to see you before I confront the Council,” he said. “I am requesting proof of the Edict and an investigation of the elemental blade. Graus Claude has arranged an audience using his ‘considerable pull,’ which I can only imagine means that he will be asking me for some sort of favor later on that will undoubtedly be steeped in mystery and intrigue as the Bailiwick has a finger in every pie.” Ink rubbed their joined hands against his knee, making his wallet chain jingle. He stared at their fingers. Joy squeezed. He squeezed back. “But I do not want to go. I do not want to leave you.”

“I know.”

“You are safe in your home. The wards...”

Joy smiled again. “I know.”

His eyes lifted, his voice, sincere. “I will be back soon.”

Joy nodded, unblinking. “I’m sure it will only take a moment.”

Ink smiled. “If that.”

He stood, the wallet chain slithering off his hip. Joy untangled her fingers and tugged the edge of his sleeve. She slid her palm over his chest and placed a kiss on his cheek that made him turn and look deeply into her eyes. He kissed her, not quite gently, not quite shyly, a moment that stretched and yielded under their lips. Their mouths lingered, his breath and hers mixed.

“Be well, Joy Malone,” he whispered.

His hand slipped into his back pocket and removed the razor, drawing it swiftly sideways and down. Slicing a hole in the universe, Ink peeled away a flap of nothing at all. He stepped back and disappeared, leaving the tingle of his words still sparking on her lips.

* * *

Antoine’s. Lunch shift.

Joy sniffed her sleeve as she folded napkins around flatware, thankful that Monica had promised to help wash the car that afternoon, something to keep her mind off Ink. Stef had agreed to help, too, on the condition that Joy help him lug Dad’s storage boxes out of his room and into the basement and they’d reward themselves with pizza and gelato all around. It promised to be quite the party once she could get out of here.

“Specials list will be up in five!” someone called from the back.

Joy hurried through her last five sets, knowing she needed enough time to write down the new menu items before they threw open the doors. She dropped the last napkin onto her pile and crowded next to the other servers, furiously scribbling the details of the salade Niçoise and the ingredients in the soup of the day. Food allergies were a server’s worst nightmare.

“Good morning,” Neil said over Joy’s shoulder.

“Good afternoon,” Joy said with a quick smile. “Dine here often?”

Neil laughed. “Listen, about yesterday...”

“No big.” Joy shrugged. “I have a boyfriend.”

“As well as a lovely Bic pen,” Neil said, smoothing away the ripples of an awkward conversation before it started. “Pens are so twentieth century, don’t you think? Observe.” He snapped a photo of the specials board and waggled his smartphone. “Come! Join us in the modern age—half the time at twice the price.”

“That’s brilliant!” Joy said and ran to her purse. Grabbing her phone, she swiped the screen only to feel a large hairline crack under her thumb. A triangular piece of the casing was missing. She could see the silver and green of microchips. “No...” she moaned. “No no no no!” She pressed buttons, tried resetting, nothing. The face stayed blank. It must have broken when she and Ink... Joy blushed at the memory of knocking everything off her bed stand. She remembered hearing something break...

“Argh,” she muttered. Dad and Shelley were leaving in a few hours! No way Dad was going to get her a new phone, and the idea of going two weeks without one was too horrible a fate. Dad might welcome a vacation from technology, but that would be more like a nightmare for Joy. She briefly wondered if she’d bought extra insurance. She’d have to stop by the store later and ask. Joy shuddered at the idea of having to buy a replacement—one more thing she’d have to save up for, not including a glamour for Ink.

Tossing the useless hunk of plastic back into her purse, Joy hurried back to the specials board, whipping out her pen.

“Forgot your phone?” Neil asked.

“I wish,” Joy said, scribbling words like ahi tuna and anchovies and smearing the blue ink. “It’s broken.”

Neil whistled through his teeth. “Sorry. That sucks.”

Joy grumbled and scribbled down the last details as Neil tucked away his cell. He lingered by the board.

“Can I ask you something?” he said.

Joy double-checked the prices. It was a mistake she’d like to make only once this summer. “Yeah, sure.”

“That friend of yours, the one who stopped by the other day? Miss Ice-water-hold-the-glass?”

Suspicion prickled up Joy’s arms. “Yeah?”

“Is she seeing someone?”