//------------------------------// // Epilogue: Tacos Served on a Silver Platter // Story: My Girlfriend is a Siren // by pjabrony //------------------------------// In the morning I woke up before Sonata. She had thoughtfully stocked the bathroom with a guest set of everything, so I could look presentable even if I had to wear the same clothes two days in a row. I texted my parents that I was OK and coming home soon, and that nothing bad had happened to me. She got up and we had a good-morning kiss, then we agreed that I should go home so she could deal with Aria and Adagio. With me gone there was no possibility of a repeat of the day before. Driving home I tried to get my head around all that had occurred, but I knew that it would affect me for the rest of my life. I just didn’t realize how much until Monday. Sonata strutted into the lunchroom in a new outfit. It was still faux-gothic, but much more high scale and probably bearing the name of some designer I’d never heard of. She didn’t get in line but came right over to me and sat down. “So here’s what I figured out over the weekend,” she said. “I’m leaving the school. I have no need to get the diploma to get a job out there. I can get enough money to live on using my powers, and I intend to. Like Adagio said, we do have only a short life, so I want to have the best time possible. That doesn’t mean I don’t want to learn; I’m awfully ignorant. But I don’t want to be here trying to get grades and learning with a bunch of other people. I hope that you’ll become my teacher. “I also want you to move in with me. Finish school if you want, but then come live with me. I’ll take care of us financially and we can learn together and be a family. You see, Chip, I love you.” “I don’t suppose I have a choice.” “Yes, you do. Now, at least. If you say no, I hope you’ll keep enough feeling for me to let me use my power, but if not that’s my problem. Or, maybe I don’t need it and I’ll keep them anyway. I don’t know enough.” I realized that we were having this very personal conversation in full view of dozens of students, but she didn’t seem to care. “Sonata, I love you too. But at the same time, we’re just kids. Even if you’re a thousand-year-old kid. I don’t know that we’ll stay in love.” She smiled. “If you don’t say no now, I’ll ensure you stay in love with me. And I’d never be so cruel as to let you down.” “And the other two?” “I’ll support them too, but I’ve forbidden them from doing anything to hurt people. Who knows, they might even find someone for themselves and regain their voices that way.” I needed to think about it. If I said yes, I was setting the course of my life. If I said no, I would be free, I hoped. Sonata didn’t seem to be the type to take petty revenge, but I couldn’t be sure. Everything had happened so fast, but so much had happened. I realized how much our positions had reversed. I had been prepared to take the lead in the relationship, to help her out when I thought she didn’t have a home. Now it was she who would be the head of the household. Well, what was wrong with that? Did every relationship have to be about two people pretending to be equals when one was a better leader and one a better follower? We were breaking the rules of logic with Sonata’s magic; we could easily break the rules of modern relationships. “Sonata Dusk, I love you and I would be happy to move in with you.” That was two years ago now. The most awkward part was watching Sonata come to my home and brainwash my family to not think it was weird that we would be living with no visible means of support. After a year in the apartment, we bought a house in a fashionable suburb a few miles away. We have pleasant neighbors and summer barbecues and with the exception of our youth we seem like every other couple on the block. A few months prior, Sonata decided that she wanted children, and I thought it was a good idea too, but where we were living it would be awkward for an unmarried couple, so we planned a wedding. Aria and Adagio were invited, but fortunately they didn’t cause any problems. They’re still in the apartment complex, but Aria moved into our old place so they each have their own. Sonata didn’t mind, and we acquired enough money that we could invest it and have legitimate income. The wedding was a beautiful affair. I did my best to look good in a tuxedo and say my words at the right time. Everyone cheered and had a good time, and we got more than one compliment on the innovative idea to have the cocktail hour be Mexican food. But this is going to be it for me. Pleasant suburban life. Like Sonata, I only have so many years left, and it doesn’t bother me too much. Nothing really does, only one thing. Soon, she will have our first child. And if our children learn to sing, will they…?