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Edan had grown tired of it. Of feeling loveless. Of being alone. Of watching all the happy couples around her. Well, she knew she had her friends and family that would always be by her side, and she did genuinely enjoy seeing their relationships blossom and bring them love, but it couldn't be helped if it was a constant (and painful) reminder of her single status. Without a second of hesitation, she always put others first, supporting anyone even when no one else would. She was never one to give up on love—even if it was for everyone else around her.
Edan tried her best every day to stay positive and hopeful, despite the constant negativity around or even directed toward her. She almost wondered for an hour too long if her singlehood was due to her apparent ‘disagreeability,’ but she didn't want to disregard her own self-worth. As far as she could tell, Edan never intentionally said anything to cause offense, but it seemed her time still had yet to come.
Looking for something else to occupy her mind, she decided to wander the park within the illuminated city. Pigeons were scattered across various corners of the cobblestone path that led nowhere in specific. The park was rather small, consisting of mostly black metal benches, trash cans, and street lamps around the pathway. The grass on both sides of the walkway was cut short, a sign the park was at least important enough to mow. Trees were planted here and there throughout the miniscule park, and the path really only went in a (ironically) roundabout way to circle back to the entrance. The park only occupied a small square in the city that would go otherwise unnoticed on a top view map of the area. In fact, Edan wasn't entirely sure if it even had a name to go with it, not one she was aware of anyway. Regardless, she could at least rely on the glow of the street lamps to give her company during the largely vacant evening at the park.
As Edan was led by the roundabout trail, she found herself greeted by two familiar faces: Quill and Maeve. She had doubted they were also wandering as introspectively as she, so she approached the two to get answers.
“Good evening you two! What are you up to? Anything fun?”
Maeve shot her a judging look before responding, “I just got off work—I pass by here, like, everyday on my way home, but this time I ran into him.” Her tone of voice sounded almost accusatory, Edan thought.
And Quill looked a little guilty, Edan thought. Of what, she wasn't quite sure, but regardless she turned her attention to Quill in wait.
After a few long seconds, Quill seemed to have pumped himself up enough to reply, “Just skating and saw her here, so I thought I’d say hey.” And after a few more long seconds with no reactions, Quill thought it wise to speak again, “So, uh… Hey.”
That was definitely going to haunt Quill for a long time.
“Oh, so you two just now met up? We should do something fun if you guys aren't busy!” Edan clapped her hands together excitedly, she was getting sick of the uninteresting night, so being with people was always a great way to help her forget. She wished that her intertwined hands could serve as a prayer for some kind of medicine to ease her loneliness. And that the medicine could be the refreshing company of others.
“Good idea,” Quill abruptly responded, his eyes lit up with an emotion Edan could almost name, but not quite confidently. Maeve’s eyes, on the other hand, clearly expressed confusion at his sudden eagerness to spend his time with them.
“W-”
“It’s decided then! Is there something you want to try?” Edan faced the two of them, intentionally or not, interrupting any of Maeve’s protests. Maeve could already envision this day being a long one, as if she hadn't spent eight hours too many at work already.
“Uh, if I'm being totally honest… I don't know what either of you like doing, so if you have something on your mind…” Quill scratched the back of his head as he paused, hoping his admittance would be enough to let someone else take the lead, despite being the only man there. He knew somewhere Damian would be shaking his head in disappointment if he found out.
Especially if he found out about his tiny crush on Maeve.Edan let out a small giggle at his confession. It was sort of humorous how he seemed so eager to hang out but simultaneously had no ideas. She would've liked to lightly poke fun at him for it, but she knew her invitation was rather sudden, so she was alright with taking responsibility. Truthfully, she really only asked if they had ideas just to be polite.
“Well, you know what? Since we still have plenty of things to learn about each other, why don't we look at each other's zodiacs? We can see how our horoscopes connect as well! It might even give us some good ideas for what to do next.” Edan suggested, though she noticed how Maeve was growing visibly uninterested. Edan decided to direct her next question toward Maeve first, “Do you know your zodiac sign?”
Maeve sighed, maybe the sooner she played along with this, the sooner she could go home. And she really wanted to go home. When has zodiacs ever given someone a good idea?
“Aquarius.”
“I'm a Gemini,” Edan answered next before looking over at Quill. Maeve stifled a laugh at how genuine Edan’s statement had been.
“I, uh, don't know..”
—
Soon enough, they discovered Quill was a Taurus, and soon enough they were huddled around Maeve as she was led by Edan to open their horoscopes for the day on her phone. Edan wanted to see hers first—she was especially interested in the outlook it might have on her love life
Gemini, consider channeling your philosophical inspirations into creative writing. It's probably something you'll enjoy. Even if you haven't expressed yourself in this way before, there's no better day than today to give it a whirl. Try your hand at poetry or fiction. If that seems too daunting, start a journal. This will give you a place to collect your thoughts and insights.
Edan was silent for a few moments as they read it together. It kind of hit home for her honestly. She had spent a lot of time in her head recently, and compiling her thoughts and feelings into writing might genuinely help her, no matter the form of writing. She really did need a place to collect her thoughts and insights so she already made a plan in her head of jotting some things down before she slept tonight. Not wanting the others to see her feeling unusually down, she kept her smile, only briefly mentioning she'd try writing tonight before asking to see the matches of the day.
“Is this stuff really legit?” Quill asked suddenly.
“We'll just have to see! I mean, mine seemed to understand me pretty well.” Edan admitted, though she didn't elaborate. Quill continued to look puzzled but intrigue started painting itself on his face as well.
“Then… mine next!”
Maeve scrolled through the website to switch the horoscope to display Taurus. While it was true that she wanted to go home, she also knew while at home, she would have likely gone on her phone, seeking out entertainment from the group chat to cure her boredom. If they happened to have spent time looking at horoscopes, she could see herself playing along for fun, so was this really any different? She probably would be one of the ones convincing everyone else to join in, so it'd be pretty hypocritical of her not to join in now. Regardless, the website had loaded and the horoscope was displayed on her screen.
You might be really interested in getting out and doing something with the special people in your life, Taurus. You can thank the day's planetary aspects, which are conspiring to make this a perfect day to spend time together, even with your total opposites. Is there a place you're curious about and want to visit? Go today and check it out.
This time Quill was the one that went dead silent as Maeve read it out loud. Special people… His mind lingered on those two words for a while. He didn't really have any special person in his life besides friends or family. Truthfully, he hadn't really dated in a while and was sort of interested in the idea these days. Though, even more truthfully, the person he seemed to be most curious about these days was standing right next to him, reading his horoscope out loud. He couldn't quite pinpoint why, but he had a growing fascination with Maeve. Maybe it was how genuine she always was or maybe it was just that she was rather cute, but he couldn't deny it to himself much longer.
“W-what are the matches?” Quill wanted to hit himself in the head with his skateboard over his stuttering, but he tried to swallow the feeling.
Today's Matches
Love: Aquarius
Friendship: Virgo
Career: Libra
Quill’s eyes widened and his heart pace picked up at the sight. There might have even been some flush growing on his face, but thankfully the sky had been growing dark enough to mask it. Besides, it was just some stupid make believe thing, right?
“Hello?” Edan said playfully. “You're his love match!”
Maeve gritted her teeth as she recalled the jokes Agy and Daichi enjoyed too much, “Shut-”
“Well, Quill, is there a place you're curious about?” Edan interrupted bluntly, though she was sure Maeve hadn’t yet brainstormed how to defend herself anyway. As she looked at Quill, she noticed that same emotion behind his eyes from before, and now she felt confident naming it. She could see his visible excitement mixed with a hint of nervousness. She'd seen this look before. He was nervous around Maeve!
Now she knew what she had to do: set them up.
“Oh, uh…” Quill snapped out of his thoughts and started to think, “I was really only going to the skatepark tonight.”
“You were planning to do tricks in the dark?” Maeve asked honestly, voice mixed with disbelief and a hint of concern (whether it be for his well-being or his state of mind). Quill wasn't sure what the problem was, but she seemed to think it was kind of a dumb idea, so he tried to think of other places nearby. Maeve didn't seem to care as much however—she was already in the process of opening her own horoscope.
Edan saw this as an opportunity. She lifted her hand to her chin as she tilted her head, acting as though she had no ulterior motives. It was for their sake, anyway! Continuing her ordinary act, she kept up her pondering look, “You know, I think I've heard of a new Ferris wheel close by! Would you be curious about that?”
Just as quick as Quill opened his mouth to speak, he closed it again. He was actually going to think before speaking. He tried to envision what advice Damian would give in this situation. He can nearly recall being told not to drag things out and take your chance when you can, and this seemed like as good a chance as any, right?
“Yeah- I mean, sure. I mean, I haven't been on one in a long time, so I don't really remember what it's like,” Quill tried to quickly explain, his reasoning being as new of news to him as to the other two.
With Edan and Quill caught up in conversation, Maeve had finished pulling up her own horoscope for the day, “Here's mine, it says, ‘Today could bring a keen sense of empathy and understanding, Aquarius. Verbal communication is likely to be enhanced. Take advantage of this by talking with new people in your life, even if it means putting aside your plans for a day. Most importantly, express your affection for those closest to you by telling them straight out what they mean to you.’”
New people… Maeve glanced at Quill for a brief second.
“And the matches?” Edan inquired, as excited as Quill must've been, she imagined.
Today's Matches
Love: Taurus
Friendship: Cancer
Career: Pisces
“Don't even say it,” Maeve glared at Edan.
—
The three of them eventually got through some back and forth, some confusion, and a decent length walk as they approached the large, illuminated Ferris wheel. It had a pretty blue glow that complemented its plain white exterior, as if it were built especially to accompany the night sky. The Ferris wheel was near the edge of the city, reflecting on the river that added to the scene’s overall harmony.
It was rather romantic.
The perfect place for the plot to go down.
After waiting at the end of a short line, the three of them had gotten tickets to ride a cabin together. As their cabin was coming closer and closer to view, Edan had been playing around with the volume settings on her phone. She knew that her ringtone would play as a preview if she adjusted the setting for it, so she did just that before they got in. She brought her phone closer to her face to hide the others from seeing the fact that there had been no real call, but with her acting skills, she could easily convince them otherwise.
“It’s… my brother. I’m sorry, this might be important, I have to take it. You two go on ahead, don’t worry,” Edan stated, taking off before the two had time to stop her.
A beat.
“Uh… After you, I guess,” Quill gestured, though he felt incredibly awkward. Why was he struggling so much to just act like himself?
Maeve looked at him before entering, but he wasn’t smart enough to understand what look she was giving him. She sat opposite to Quill, setting her bag she had been carrying on the empty spot next to her. Quill eyed it for a moment. Should he have offered to carry it for her this whole time or would that be too much? He wasn’t sure if she would appreciate it or be bothered by such an obvious attempt. What would Quill do? Regardless, he had a chance to be alone with Maeve, he should at least start a conversation.
“What is that zodiac stuff even based on?”
“It’s some kind of tradition based on the movement of ‘celestial bodies’—like they always say—and the path of the Sun over the course of a year. It’s divided into the 12 sections named after the constellations.” Maeve waved her hand dismissively as she continued to explain. “I think your ‘sign’ is the section the Sun was passing through when you were born. Pretty sure it began with Babylonians until the Greeks, of course, came in and added their own bullshit.”
“Oh,” Quill let out a small sound of admiration for her seemingly random knowledge on the topic, “Guess that makes sense, but how’d that get to become horoscope stuff?”
“It was, like, some omen shit they did for kings that eventually got to people like us. Not like any of it is being for real, anyway.”
Quill coughed in response to that last part. “W-well, it’s still kinda fun. Just to pretend, y’know. For just a day.”
At that comment, Maeve didn’t have much to say. If there were any reason for it to be fun, it would probably just be to use it to make fun of the others (as long as it wasn’t her). Maybe someone would have bad luck with a horoscope or maybe one would be accurate enough that it was funny. Though the more she thought about it, hers wasn’t entirely off today either. Whether she realized it or not, she had been having more verbal communication than what she experiences at work. Not only that, but she had been putting aside her usual plan of heading home, instead spending time with someone new to her.
Her love match.
She could start to sense the awkward air flowing in their cabin, as the two of them hadn’t really spent any time alone before. It never was the plan to be alone to begin with, but it couldn’t be helped that Edan had suddenly abandoned them. However, Maeve was unusually well-equipped with social skills, including the ability to get a read on the room. From what she could tell, the silence wasn’t comfortable on Quill’s behalf from the way he kept fidgeting, and if there was anything she knew about him, he seemed pretty… random. He’d probably be kept entertained by talking about anything and nothing all at once, so that was exactly what they did the remainder of the ride.
As the Ferris wheel was near a completed cycle, Maeve had already begun getting on her feet, hoisting her bag over her shoulder. What she couldn’t have predicted, however, was the sudden sway of the cabin as it came to a stop. She lost her footing and had toppled over, right into Quill’s arms, who—with his quick reaction time—had been ready to catch her.
What neither of them could have predicted, however, was the opening of the door and the presence of Edan, waiting right in front of them.
“…”
“…”
“Everyone gets a love life but me, huh?”