The message notification glowed on Selene's screen, a tiny beacon in the dim light of her apartment. Her fingers, which had been trembling for days, finally stilled as she typed out the words, each one feeling like a stone dropped into a bottomless well of uncertainty.
Selene: "Hey. Can we meet at the beach later? I need to talk to you about something."
She stared at the screen, the cursor blinking like a frantic heartbeat. Was this a mistake? Was she just setting herself up for more heartache? The image of Lyra with that woman—Ariana—flashed behind her eyes, the easy intimacy of their touch a fresh wound. She hit send before she could lose her nerve.
The reply was almost instantaneous.
Lyra: "Of course. I will meet you at the usual spot. Is everything okay?"
The concern in the text was a ghost of the warmth Selene craved. No, she thought, everything is not okay. Nothing has been okay since you started hiding from me. But she simply replied:
Selene: "I will see you soon."
The beach was a painting of fading light. The sun, a fiery orb, was sinking into the sea, setting the sky ablaze with streaks of violet, orange, and deep rose. The air was warm and salty, carrying the rhythmic crash of waves and the distant cries of gulls. Selene walked toward their spot—a secluded stretch of sand near a rocky outcrop where they had shared coffee and quiet conversations that now felt like relics from another life.
She couldn't erase the memory: Lyra, bathed in the golden light of the restaurant window, laughing at something Ariana had said. The woman's arm had been draped around Lyra's waist with a casual possessiveness that had stolen the air from Selene's lungs. It was a vision of a Lyra she didn't know, a Lyra who was open and unguarded with someone else.
She didn't hear Lyra approach. One moment she was alone with the roaring in her ears, the next, Lyra was there, a silhouette against the dying sun. She wore a simple white shirt and denim shorts, her dark hair tousled by the wind. She looked ethereal and untouchable, and for a heartbeat, Selene's resolve wavered.
"Hey," Lyra said, her voice soft, almost swallowed by the wind.
"Hey," Selene replied, her own voice tighter than she intended.
Lyra's faint smile faltered at Selene's tone. "You said you needed to talk."
"I saw you the other day," Selene began, the words rushing out before she could temper them. "At the restaurant. On the beach. With her."
Lyra went very still. The fading light caught the sudden tension in her jaw. "I see," she said, her gaze dropping to the sand between them. "You saw me with Ariana."
"Ariana," Selene repeated, the name a bitter taste on her tongue. "Who is she, Lyra? Really?"
Lyra sighed, a sound full of a weariness that seemed centuries old. She took a step closer, but Selene instinctively took a step back, needing the space to breathe. Lyra's eyes flickered with pain at the rejection.
"Ariana is... a friend. A very old, very important friend," Lyra said, her voice low. "We have known each other for a very long time. She has seen parts of my life, my history, that no one else has. What you saw... it was not what you think."
"Wasn't it?" Selene's voice cracked, frustration and hurt boiling over. "It looked intimate. It looked like she knew you in a way I never will. The way her hand was on your waist... it wasn't the touch of just a friend. It was the touch of someone who belongs. And you... you let her." The accusation hung in the salty air between them.
Lyra flinched as if struck. "Ariana and I have a history, Selene. A complicated one. She is family to me. And yes, we are close. But it is not a closeness that threatens what is between us. It is different."
"Different how?" Selene demanded, her hands curling into fists at her sides. "Because from where I was standing, it looked like you were perfectly capable of being close to someone. You were open with her. You were laughing. With me, you build walls. You pull away after a kiss that felt like it meant something. You hide behind your secrets and your fear, and I am left standing here, wondering what I did wrong, wondering if I am just a temporary distraction for you!"
The words tumbled out, raw and unfiltered. The wind whipped around them, carrying away her anger, leaving only the stark vulnerability beneath.
Lyra's composure finally broke. Her shoulders slumped, and when she looked up, her eyes were glistening with unshed tears. "You did nothing wrong, Selene. Nothing. I am the problem." Her voice was a broken whisper. "I told you I was scared. I am terrified. What I feel for you... it is overwhelming. It is all consuming. And that terrifies me more than anything I have faced in my very long life."
Selene stared at her, the anger draining away to be replaced by a confused ache. "Why? Why is being cared for so terrifying?"
"Because I lose everyone!" The words burst from Lyra, sharp and desperate. "Everyone I have ever let in, everyone I have ever loved, is gone. They grow old, they fade, they die. They become memories that haunt me. I am left behind, always alone. It is a curse, Selene. This life. This existence. And the thought of dragging you into that... of letting you see the darkness, the weight, the endless stretch of time... and then losing you... I would rather push you away now than watch you wither away in my arms."
The confession was a torrent, a floodgate opened. Lyra was laid bare before her, not as an immortal being, but as a profoundly lonely soul.
Selene's own eyes filled with tears. The puzzle pieces shifted, clicking into a heartbreaking new picture. Lyra's distance wasn't about rejection; it was about a protection so fierce it became isolation.
"I am not asking for forever, Lyra," Selene said, her voice soft but steady, cutting through the wind. "I am not naive. I know I cannot promise you eternity. But I can promise you now. I can offer you today, and tomorrow, and every day I am given. I am not asking you to stop time. I am asking you to share it with me, for as long as we have."
She took a step forward, then another, closing the distance Lyra had created. "You pushing me away... that hurts more than the idea of any future pain. You are so afraid of a loss someday that you are choosing to be alone today. You are missing what is right in front of you."
Lyra looked at her, truly looked at her, and Selene saw the walls crumbling in her eyes. The fear was still there, a deep, ancient thing, but it was now warring with a desperate, fragile hope.
"You deserve more than a broken immortal who does not know how to love without fear," Lyra whispered, a single tear tracing a path through the dusk.
"I deserve the chance to decide that for myself," Selene countered gently. "Let me in, Lyra. Not into your past, not into your immortality. Just into your heart. Right now. However broken you think it is. Let me help you carry the weight. You do not have to be alone."
The silence stretched, filled only by the sigh of the waves and the pounding of two hearts. Lyra's hand, which had been clenched at her side, uncurled. Slowly, hesitantly, her fingers reached out, trembling slightly, until they brushed against Selene's.
The touch was electric, a connection reforged.
Lyra let out a shaky breath, as if she had been holding it for centuries. "Okay," she said, the word barely audible, but it was a surrender. A beginning. "Let us try. Together."