Page 10 of Homesick, Lovesick
"I'll think about it," Match said with a smile."I've always wanted to attend, but I'm always too busy."
Ronan cringed inwardly.Match had never been too busy to attend the biggest witch convention on the east coast.He'd been toopoor, and the mayor and his board of dumbasses had never been willing to foot the bill for him.
Now he was being offered ten bands to be a guest speaker?
Despite himself, that left him feeling very small.It wasn't a feeling he liked.
"Tickets would sell out in a minute flat," said another woman.The group was four women and five men, not including Lynwood, all of them at least thirty, two of them probably fifty to sixty.All seemed at least decently well off, and the snotty jerk offering his boyfriend piles of cash wore a diamond ring that made the ring in Ronan's duffel bag look like a dollar store trinket.It was white and sparkled insanely, occasionally casting rainbows across the ceiling.
Maybe orange had been a stupid color.He'd been so confident at the time that Match would love the vibrancy of orange, so much like the flames of a freshly struck match, had been certain anything described asfancy vividwas meant to be, but maybe instead of orange and yellow diamonds and yellow gold he should have gone with a white diamond in white gold.Cool and elegant, more moonlight than sunshiny.Yeah, that made way more sense.What had he been thinking?
"Ronan!"
"Huh?"He jerked his head up, startled from his thoughts, and blinked at Match."What's wrong?"
"That's what I was trying to ask you, dork," Match said with a smile, though there was concern in his eyes."You looked almost distraught."
Ronan shook his head."Nah, sorry, was lost all the way in my head.Guess my face decided to do its own thing.My bad."
Match didn't seem entirely appeased by his answer, but he let it go, probably because they weren't alone.
Clearly annoyed at the interruption, the woman with the crazy diamond said, "Anyway, think about it.You have until the end of next month to let us know if you'd like to be a guest speaker."
"I mean, I'll still be out here working until then, and possibly longer, depending on how it goes.So I'm not sure I can commit to something like that.I guess we can re-evaluate closer to the deadline."Match laughed."I'd have to figure out what to talk about."
"Well, you certainly could speak at length about warding," Ronan said."You do it better than anyone.Though personally I think you should talk about your pixies, all the cool things you're doing with them and the pixie dust you collect."
The man next to Diamond beamed."That would be marvelous!What pixies do you have?I just imported a breeding quartet of arctic pixies.I'm hoping to mingle them with my butterfly pixies."
Match's face lit up."I've always wanted to see an arctic pixie!All my pixies are native to my area.I don't have any imports—I'm not really that level of hobbyist."
Only because money had always prevented him before, and now he was too busy to get as involved as he'd like.If Match was part of a larger territory, where he'd have a team of subordinates to delegate duties too, he'd have more time for personal pursuits—and more money, even if he wasn't hurting for that anymore, thanks to Benny's clever efforts and the gross stupidity of the former mayor.
"You should definitely come see mine sometime," the man said with a warm smile that Match returned."If the arctic pixies breed successfully, I'm happy to give you one.Depending on what you have, maybe we can trade.I'm William—Bill is fine."
Match's smile widened."Nice to meet you."It was the first time he'd said that today that he'd meant it.
Which was fine, Ronan wasn't the kind of insecure jealous asshole who got mad when his boyfriend made friends.His anxiety over everything was just cranked all the way up.And Bill was handsome, and loved pixies, and had fancy ones that Match had always wanted to see.And came from a larger, better district that could probably use a witch like Match and would treat him right.
"—girlfriend might kill me if I bring even more pixies into the house, but then again, shedidagree to marry me last week, so she knows what she's in for, right?I keep saying girlfriend instead of fiancée.She keeps laughing at me for it."
Match laughed."Sounds like she knows what she's about.Congratulations.Have you picked a date yet?"
"Not yet, though we're looking at a winter wedding, since we met in the midst of a blizzard when we got stuck at an airport for almost three days.Let me tell you, eating airport food for three days fucking sucks."
Diamond tittered a rather condescending laugh."You do love to tell that story, don't you, Billy?"
"Bill," he replied tightly."No one but Moira calls me Billy."
"Yes, yes," Diamond said breezily, already turning her full attention back to Match."So dear, why did you settle on matches, of all things?"
Ronan bristled, because it was one thing for someone to ask 'why are you called Match,' and quite another to ask a witch why their conduit was what it was.She may as well askso why did you choose to be bisexual.
Match, true to form, ignored her."Is there dessert?The sandwiches were great, but I'm really jonesing for something sweet."
"Yeah, lots," Ronan said."You want chocolate, fruity, other?"
"Fruity."
