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Rain poured down, and they took shelter beneath the park pavilion. Alex put his hands on his knees, huffing and puffing after running all the way here. He wiped the mixed sweat and rainwater from his brow. “It’s really coming down, huh.”
Bianca sighed. “I’ll say.” The short moth ran her two upper hands through her white neck fluff. Her lower two arms busied themselves by straightening out her jacket. Her antennae twitched in irritation and her flat wings fluttered, shaking off the water droplets clinging to her form. “I guess, we should’ve erred on the side of caution, huh.” She pulled out her phone, tapping the screen.
“Yeah,” Alex sat down on one of the sheltered benches. “I bet Seth and Jenny don’t feel too bad about missing today, huh,” he chuckled dryly. The friend group had planned to go out to the park, then catch dinner and a movie, but at the last minute the other two had to cancel. At least, that’s what Bianca thought. In truth, Seth and Alex (mostly Seth) devised a scheme to get Alex alone with her. The blue jay would not stop hounding him to confess, and today was going to finally be the day. Emphasis on was.
Bianca approached the bench, lifted up her abdomen, and sat to his left. “Seth probably is.” She tilted her head in thought. “Although I think Jen would rather be anywhere but work.” The doe worked at a very busy supermarket, and any time Alex saw her, he could guarantee that she would complain about her job at least once. “It could be worse though, at least we’re not alone.”
“That’s something at least.” He turned to look at her. Her insectoid head was comfortably nestled in her scarf of natural fluff. It wasn’t quite hair, but Alex could not remember what it was called. Her dark compound eyes sat on either side of her rigid face, making it impossible to tell where she was looking. Her antennae dangled stuck out in front of her face, looking extremely tempting to mess with.
She was beautiful, in a bizarre alien way, and Alex had thought so for months. The first night he admitted this to himself, he practically couldn’t sleep. He spent the entire night making increasingly specific Plex searches and visiting websites that hosted a very unique kind of video. He was like a kid in a candy shop, but one who felt self-conscious about indulging in sweets.
“Is there something on my face?” Bianca asked. She rubbed her cheek, trying to find a stray leaf or branch that was not there.
“Oh, uh, no.” He turned to stare directly forward. “Just zoned out for a moment there.” The moth hummed in neutral acknowledgement. The pair sat still for a few moments, simply watching the rain fall.
“How long do you think it’ll keep up?” she asked.
“Hopefully not too long.” He stared down at his phone, making note of the “4:18” printed in large white numbers. “I don’t want to be late for dinner…”
She shrugged. “We can probably just grab something on the way to the movies. I’ve actually been wanting to try the new Honeysuckle Milkweed Blend they’ve got at Shake Stack, so we could stop there.”
“Oh yeah,” Alex mumbled. He had reserved them a table at a popular diner over a week ago. His heart deflated as he watched that plan melt like sugar in the rain. He folded his arms and closed his eyes. His perfect plan, his chance with Bianca, all down the drain. Maybe Seth would have some sort of rebound plan.
Tap, tap, tap. Bianca scrolled across the page of a social media front page idly. One chitinous hand lazily rolled across the glass screen, while her other three arms leaned casually against the picnic table. She stared at the screen in blank disinterest. Or at least, that’s what Alex read from her body language. Her face looked the same as always, something it took him some time to get used to.
He coughed, causing Bianca’s antennae to twitch. He mumbled a quick sorry, then crossed his arms. It was getting a bit chilly. “So, uh, know anything about the movie we’re going to watch?”
She shook her head. “Nope. I remember Seth was talking about it a lot on Wednesday, but I couldn’t understand a lick of what he was going on about.” She tapped between her shoulder blades with one of her lower arms. “In one ear and out the other.”
“I think he was just trying to dance around spoilers. I’ve heard some good things about it online. And the cast is pretty good too.”
She shrugs. “I’m sure it's good, I just don't think I’ve watched any superhero movies since Denouement.”
“Yeah, but the Champions of the Cosmos movies are always so good. You remember, uh, fricking, ‘I AM BLOOT!’”
Bianca giggled softly and wiggled her abdomen. “Wasn’t he a baby in the second one? That was so cute!”
“Yeah, but I heard that in this one-” Alex abruptly stopped when a shudder rippled across Bianca’s body. Her wings fluttered softly in discomfort. “You good?”
“Y-Yeah,” she stuttered. “It’s just cold.”
Alex furrowed his brow. Bianca was an ectotherm. What was a bit chilly for him might be a blizzard for her. “You can have my jacket if you want.”
“No, no. It’s fine. If you give me your jacket, y-you’ll be cold then.” She tilted her head to the side, miming an innocent smile despite lacking the lips or brows to make one.
“Well, you’re cold right now!” he huffed. “So unless you want to hug for warmth, you’re taking this jacket.
He unzipped his outermost layer and began to pull his arms out of his sleeves. He had gotten one out when he felt a hand tapping his shoulder. “I… wouldn’t mind hugging for warmth.”
Alex’s eyelids fluttered in shock, as if somehow cleaning his eyes would correct his hearing. “I, uh…” he coughed. “You sure? It’s really no big-”
“Yes, I’m sure.” Without any hesitation, Bianca stuck her arms out towards the unsuspecting human. She pushed her arms into the gaps between his jacket and the t-shirt underneath it. Once her thorax was pressed against his chest, she tightened her grip on his body.
Alex’s breathing hitched. He was completely unprepared for this sudden intimacy. Slowly and hesitantly, he embraced her as well. His arms found themselves buried in her neck fluff, giving a wide berth to her delicate wings. Her own arms grasped lower, down to the small of his back.
“Wow…” he chuckled. “A whole two arms nicer than usual.”
“Hm hm hmmm… And several degrees warmer.” She inched even closer somehow. Her face nearly touched his shirt.
“Now, I know my shirt looks mighty appetizing, but don’t go taste testing it…” he teased.
“You jerk!” Bianca hit him playfully. “You know that only caterpillars do that! I haven’t eaten something solid in years!”
“Yeah, yeah. Just joking with you.” That was one of the more innocent things Alex had learned on that fateful night. “What was it like?”
“Hm?”
“The whole… caterpillar, cocoon thingy. Turning into something completely different. Puberty was no picnic, but I was still me when it was done, just bigger, hairier and sweatier.”
“I can confirm ‘sweatier.’”
“Har Har.”
“But, hmm… it’s tricky to describe.” She placed her head against his chest, her antennae tickling his chin. “I think the closest thing I can think of is a dream. It’s fuzzy, especially at the beginning and end, and nothing about it feels quite real. Sometimes I can’t tell experience from fantasy. I… try not to think about it too hard.”
“Hm.”
“You remember junior year of high school, when I first met you guys?”
“Yeah.” He smiled at the memory. “Jen brought you over to our table. I remember, she said ‘I met this girl in Calculus and she has no friends.’ You completely froze up there.”
She laughed. “Yeah. I really didn’t have any friends then. I had just crawled out of my cocoon a few months before. I barely had the time to comprehend what was happening before my mom sent me to summer school. Have you ever heard of ‘The Hive?’”
Alex shook his head.
“It’s hell on earth. They try to cram an entire two years worth of school into three months, all the while you barely understand your own body and don’t know or don’t recognize anybody around you. All I did was study. I aced everything with flying colors, but I felt nothing inside.”
She raised her head. “I guess… I guess I’m saying thank you. For being a… a friend. I don’t know who I would be without you guys.”
“Bianca…” The human gently caressed her shoulder, still bound together in an extended embrace. They sat in silence, relishing the other’s touch.
“It’s so funny…” the moth muttered. “...how your chest moves as you breathe. It’s hypnotic…”
A bead of sweat rolled down Alex’s brow. Was she actually falling asleep? Should he do something? He can’t just… keep holding her, right? But would it be rude to wake her up? “I…”
Her wings twitched. “Hm?”
“Are you feeling better?” he offered lamely. “Warmed up again?” He dropped his arms and slowly withdrew from the embrace.
For one instant, Bianca clutched onto his shirt. But in the next, she withdrew as well, resting her quartet of hands on her lap. “Yeah, much better. Thanks.”
Alex’s ears perked up, hearing what sounded like a very quiet dammit . “What’s wrong?”
“What do you mean?”
“You… I thought I heard you cursing about something. Are you still cold?” He spread his arms.
“No, no, it’s just…” she sighed. “I told Jenny this wouldn’t work. I told her, but she didn’t listen to me.”
“Jenny?!”
“Look, I… I’m sorry. I haven’t been completely honest with you. Seth and Jen… They were never going to come today. I knew it was going to be just you and me. The truth is… I like you, Alex. As more than a friend. I wasn’t sure how to tell you, you weren’t picking up on any pheromones. Jen told me that mammals are more… touchy with their love language so I decided to try. But it looks like I screwed that up too.”
A still silence hung in the air, seeming to deafen the pitter patter of the rain. Eventually, Alex spoke. “You and Jen? You planned this?!”
“Please don’t be mad!” she begged. “I didn’t want to deceive you, I just thought it would be fine if we were… Why are you laughing?”
“That goddamn bird…” Alex shook his head and pulled out his phone. He quickly navigated over to his recent text conversations. He held the phone up to her. “I’m afraid, we’ve been set up.”
Bianca took a few moments to read the text, then hopped to her feet. “Oh! How dare they! Do you think this is funny?” she hissed. She swirled her head back and forth, as if she expected their friends to emerge from the bushes with video cameras.
Alex roared in laughter. “They got us good!” It felt like a hundred pounds were lifted off his shoulders. He stood up and crossed over to her. “But Bianca, I’m fine with getting duped, if you truly meant what you said.”
Her shoulders slumped. “I… I do.”
“Well, uh, I like you too. But you already knew that because of the texts. I guess that kinda takes the oomph out of the confession, huh.”
She tilted her head and “smiled.” “It takes some of the stress out too, though.”
“Yeah.” The two stood under the pavilion, neither saying a thing, for all of the words were already spoken.
Bianca stuck her hand into the rain, now slowed to a light drizzle. “I think we might be able to leave soon.” She rubbed her hand on her jacket. “Do you… do you wanna still catch the movie?”
Alex hesitated, then shook his head. “Nah, I’ve got a better idea. Those two think they can pull one over on us?” He grinned. “Let’s prank them back.”