Drown With Me

"What did you do to her?" her fist slamming on the counter punctuates Adagio's sneering accusation.

Despite the midday sun's glare, Adagio doesn't have a drop of sweat on her. It's like she's saving herself for the hunt, and the way her eyes are staring you down right now doesn't help. A few patrons briefly glance at her before becoming far more interested in looking the other way.

You casually look up after closing the cash register, trying not to look guilty. "Fine day, Adagio. Mojito?"

"Screw you for trying to change the subject. But yeah, a mojito. And answers."

"Answers to what, exactly?" You pick up a nearby glass and start on her usual order.

Adagio jabs a finger towards the poolside area; Aria Blaze is currently sitting on one of the sunbeds, rummaging around in her bag for something. Sonata, on the other hand, is lying down on a sunbed of her own, curled up and breathing softly. She doesn't seem to be sunbathing; in fact, she's sound asleep under a parasol.

"She practically sleep-walked all the way over here," Adagio explains. "During her few moments of clarity, she mentioned you and your pool. So spill it. What happened last night?"

Despite the bizarre occurrence that happened last night, your eyelids aren't as heavy as you thought they'd be. But of course, you weren't swimming the whole night away. Of course Sonata would be exhausted.

"She just showed up at my pool, that's all. I let her swim in it since you left early yesterday..."

Adagio suddenly raises a hand up to shush you. "Stop right there. You just let her do that?"

"Well, not right off the bat," you muse, pouring some rum over the mojito-to-be. "We reached something of an agreement. There wasn't any hocus-pocus involved."

"So you think. But the point of charming someone is for them to think their thoughts are their own, so..." The Dazzling scratches her chin in thought, looking back towards Aria. Currently, Aria's lighting up an incense stick from her bag. "I wonder if Sonata actually did do something to snag you."

Before you can object, Aria prowls up to the bar, lit incense stick in hand. It smacks of burnt lavender. "Time for the next experiment, Adagio; charming via aroma. Since we used to be able to charm others with sound, maybe we can tap into our powers with other senses!"

"Atta girl." Without hesitation, Adagio snatches the incense from her friend, and wafts in front of your face. "Now," she demands, "you shall give me that drink for free. You will obey me."

"Nah," you reply, trying not to sneeze from the fumes. "You know how much it costs. No freebies."

"Ugh, I thought we had something," Aria mutters. "Maybe we could try different scents?"

"Hold on, I still think Sonata might've charmed him last night." Adagio gestures towards the sleeping girl. "Maybe if she gives the order..."

"Hey Sonata!" Aria calls out, "Tell the barkeep to give Adagio free drinks!"

Sonata Dusk rolls over and wakes up just long enough to mumble something incoherent. And now she's asleep again.

Judging by the look on Adagio's face, she didn't quite hear her either. You decide to have some fun.

"I will obey!" you say in the most neutral tone you can manage. You add the sprig of mint as a finishing touch, then hold the drink out for Adagio to take. "I will give this drink to Adagio for free!"

Said Dazzling's jaw drops. "I knew it! Sonata really did snag this one!"

Just as Adagio reaches out to grab the mojito, you pull it back out of her reach at the last second.

"Gotcha. Pay up, Adagio."

"Oh, piss off!"

*******

It's been about an hour since Adagio stormed out of the bar, Aria in tow. They left their snoozing friend behind; you decide she could use the peace and quiet. You also kept the untouched mojito behind the bar until someone else ordered one.

It isn't until the mid-afternoon rush that Sonata finally stirs awake, still in the parasol's shade. She may never know that you've been moving it around her every hour or so, keeping the sun off her pale-blue skin. She sits dumbly on the sunbed, silently watching you serve drinks until the customers thin out, before ambling over to the bar herself and plunking herself on a barstool.

"Ugh, what time is it? I'm starving."

A girl after your own heart, surely.

"Almost four. Here," you push a packet of salted nuts across the counter. "It's on the house, should keep you going until dinner."

"You're just offering me free nuts, huh?" Sonata flutters her eyelashes flirtatiously. "You sure know how to get a girl in bed."

"Dinner and a drink first." You say without thinking; it just slipped out.

"Whoa, really?" she blinks.

"Why not?" you shrug; you've already gone this far. In for a penny, you guess. "That is, if your friends are cool with it."

"Pfft, they aren't the boss of me! I can date whoever I want, they can't say jack about it." Sonata declares.

"And, theoretically," you nonchalantly wipe a glass with a trusty cleaning rag, "if you were to date me tonight, where would you think is the ideal place for that? Again, theoretically."

Sonata looks up at the bar's thatched roof for a moment. "I know a good restaurant near the beach," she finally says. "Does really good steak."

"A steak lover?" you raise an eyebrow. You wouldn't have thought it just by looking at her skinny, swimsuit-clad form. Nevertheless; "Sounds good. How does seven sound?"

Sonata tilts her head a little. "You mean seven steaks between us, or seven steaks each?"

"I mean a seven o'clock start."

"Oh. Oh! That's also good! I guess I won't need these after all," Sonata winks playfully, leaving the packet of nuts on the counter. "Gotta save room for food tonight! I'm gonna get ready, meet me there at seven!"

Meet me there at seven.

With that, she hops off the barstool and skips toward the exit. Then she stops halfway, turns back and scoops up the salted nuts.

"Actually yeah, lemme take those. My munchies right now are fierce."

*******

You close the pool-bar a few hours later.

Soon after that, you're scrutinising yourself in the mirror. Shit, showered and shaved. Teeth scrubbed clean. Hair on point. Smart-casual clothing without a single crease in it. All you have to do now it put some shoes on and you're set. But something still feels off.

It just doesn't feel real, somehow. You've dated before, of course, but you get the feeling Sonata isn't gonna be like most other girls you've been with. Maybe it's the mystery surrounding her and the other two Dazzlings. The fact they appear so young, although their IDs clearly say otherwise. Their affinity for "charming" and other magical terms that would've been considered nonsense a few years ago.

Speaking of charms... a horrible thought just pops into your head. Dinner and a drink first. You remember saying it, but did you really mean to? Or did Sonata-?

No. You're gonna stop yourself right there. She couldn't have charmed you. Adagio said they no longer have that kind of power, right?

Right!?

Meet me there at seven. That's what she told you. But was it a command?

You step back from the mirror and look towards the shoes in the corner of your room. If Sonata really did put a charm on you, then you'd have no choice but to put the shoes on and meet her by the restaurant. But if you pull a no-show and just leave her waiting, that means there was never a charm in the first place... and that you're a huge jerk. But if you show up, is it because she wants you to, or because you want to?

A single memory pierces your muddled thoughts - that night in the pool. When you had your first real conversation with her. During the confusion, there was that flash of pain... why did you not question it when it occurred? Of course, you were more concerned about Sonata at the time. You wrote it off as your imagination.

Your stomach starts to grow tighter and tighter the more you think about it. She convinced you to give her free reign of pool at night so easily. Was that charming too? Was everything she did part of a charm? Or was nothing a charm, and you're going crazy with paranoia?

You could ditch her, but being able to ditch her means she's innocent.
You could go tonight, but that could very well mean you're under her spell. Or not. There's no way of telling.

Wait! Of course, you figured at way out of this dilemma! Flip a coin!

Dipping into your wallet, you produce a shiny silver coin. If it's heads, you go to the date, and it's technically the coin telling you to go, not Sonata, and therefore no mind-control! Simple.

But if it's tails? Then it gets complicated. If you still turn up for the date after that, it means for better or worse, she has a grip on you.

You give yourself one last glance in the mirror, and position the coin over your thumbnail. And with a deep breath, you flip.

*******

The summer sun starts to dip in the sky, but the daylight still has a few hours of distant glowing on the horizon. The faint seaside breeze doesn't bother Sonata. In fact, the only thing biting her was the absence of her date. She uneasily pulls out her phone yet again to check the time; he's only running five minutes late, but the anticipation keeps the passing time to an oppressive crawl.

Sonata quietly wishes she'd thought to exchange phone numbers.

"Sorry I'm late."

Sonata looks up from her phone to see your approach. You must admit, the screen of her phone does a good job of lighting up her violet eyes.

She's wearing a dark-raspberry blazer, her sleeves rolled up to reveal the same punk-ish spiked wristbands she insists on swimming with. A teasingly short, pastel-pink skirt adorns her waist, and a pair of long, vivid-pink and white boots rise up almost to her knees. It occurs to you that this is the first time you've seen Sonata in actual clothes, instead of the plain purple swimsuit you've seen her in every day.

"You're not late! Barely five minutes, it's no biggie!" Sonata chirps, "C'mon, I'm totally hankering for some grub."

With that, she grabs you by the arm and, with a surprising amount of strength, ushers you into the restaurant.

You catch a great spot by the window, with a great view of the beach and the water beyond. As soon as you sit down, Sonata's already studying the menu for something to-

"Made my choice!"

Wow, she chose already? You've barely opened your own menu. Fortunately, you make your decision just before the waiter turns up.

"Welcome, sir and madam, to th-" Suddenly, the waiter's eyebrows raise. "Oh! It's you, madam! I see you've brought different company than usual!"

"Hi! We're on a date!" Sonata declares ecstatically.

"A good choice of restaurant, in that case!" the waiter replies, because of course he'd say that. "The usual meal?"

"You know it!" Sonata chirps.

"Excellent! And for the fine gentleman?"

You play it safe with your own order; a spiced veggie burger with a heap of peppered fries and salad soaked in dressing. As for the drinks, Sonata orders a rum and coke, while you order a beer; it's about time someone was serving you the drinks for once.

After the waiter had served the drinks and left with the menus, you take a long draught of beer just to stop your throat from drying. "So, Sonata," you begin. "Can we talk about... whatever you and your friends are working on? Charms and all that stuff?"

Sonata brings the straw from her rum and coke up to her lips. After a thoughtful sip, she says; "Whaddya mean?" Not the best reply considering how long she thought about it.

"I just want to know the specifics of it, that's all."

Sonata tilts her head and raises a quizzical eyebrow. You continue talking, just for the sake of making sound.

"Like, how does it work? Is it mind-control, or one big illusion, or are you just puppeteering a body? Are charmed people even aware of it? Most importantly, how do you break a charm? I can't stress that enough."

"Whoa, where's all this coming from, man?" Sonata leans back in her seat. She's trying to be nonchalant, you can tell, but her eyes are scanning you like a hawk.

"Uh, I'm interested in what you get up to when you're not around the pool-bar." It's hard to come up with excuses on the spot.

"C'mon, Adagio and Aria aren't here to give you hell. Be honest with me."

Be honest with me.

"I want to know how charms work because I'm almost certain you've charmed me."

The words just fell out of your mouth. They felt like the perfect words to say, right up until you are done saying them. Sonata just stares dumbly at you for a moment, before scrunching her nose up with a snort of laughter.

"Man, I've heard some crazy pickup lines in my day, but that one was adorable," she chuckles, sipping more of her drink. "I mean we're already on a date, you're a little late on the pickup! But hey, bonus points for referencing the whole charm thing."

"I'm being honest with you, Sonata. Just like you told me to."

That hint flew right over Sonata's pretty head. "Oh, trust me man, you don't wanna talk to me about charms."

"I don't want to talk to you about charms," you parrot back at her.

That got her attention; she looks back up at you with a cocked eyebrow. "Did you just-?"

"Yeah."

"Like, not a joke?"

You shake your head. "Not a joke."

"Prove it. Spill your drink."

Before you can even think of a way to dissuade her from making you do that, the beer glass is already toppled. To the restaurant's credit, a staff member's already on their way with kitchen towels and a damp flannel.

"Holy crap," she mutters.

"Gee, thanks for that," you scoff. "You're paying for my replacement beer."

"Nah, you're paying for it," she says without thinking. Damn her.

After the mess had been cleaned up, you sit down with a new beer that you'd paid for. From there, you just sit in silence. Sonata can't talk, just in case she charms you into doing something. You can't talk, because there's only one subject you can think of, and you're unable to bring it up.

"So," Sonata finally breaks the ice. "Charms."

"Don't wanna talk to you about it," you say bluntly.

"Why not!?" she snaps accusingly.

"Because you told me so."

"Oh. OH! Of course I did," she holds her hands up in a rare show of responsibility. "I hereby give you permission to, uh, want to talk about stuff. Or something. I dunno. Did it work?"

"So," you test your newfound freedom. "Charms."

"Cool, that worked. That's good. Please, tell me everyth-" Sonata suddenly halts herself, bringing a hand up to her mouth. "I mean, uh, I'm not trying to control you in any way, but if you told me what you know about how..." she waves her arms vaguely, "this happened, it would be really cool. Not that I'm commanding you to do anything."

How considerate of her.

"I don't know exactly," you admit. "But I'm pretty sure it was when we were both swimming in the pool last night. I had this huge flash of pain, but I didn't think much of it at the time, since it was over quickly. Heck, I didn't even consider myself charmed until I tried flipping a coin to see if I should turn up or not! Came up tails, telling me not to go but screw that, because guess what, I'm charmed! I just want this spell broken, or turned off, or whatever it is you do."

"That's the problem, though! I don't know how I charmed you either, honest!" Sonata pleads. "I gave up on charms after we lost our gems - the source of our powers. Man, if Adagio knew I accidentally succeeded at something she's been failing at for years, she'd never let me hear the end of it!"

"For both our sakes, let's keep this between us," you suggest. Sonata nods. "But now that we know you've charmed me, you can turn the charm right back off, can't you?"

"Sure, we'd just use our gems! But we don't have those anymore. Bummer."

"So what? Am I stuck as your puppet forever now?"

"Hey, I didn't wanna charm you, it just happened!"

"But how!?"

"By accident, duh! I don't even know what I did to cause it or when!" Sonata buries are head in her hands. "I'm just... I'm sorry, okay?"

You just sit there in silence. You've seen the Dazzlings happy, sad, angry, sleepy... but you've never seen them guilty before. This is no ruse; she's truly sorry for what she's done.

"You know, I just realised," Sonata says, her voice unusually still for her. "The only reason you're here is because I told you to come on this date. I made you come here, and I thought it was because, you know, you actually liked me. Not because I was making you."

"Sonata-"

"So if you want to leave, you can," she lowers her hands back on the table, revealing an unmoving face with two watery eyes. "I'm not gonna tell you to leave, because that'd be mind-control too. But if you don't wanna stay here, you're allowed to go whenever you want. I don't wanna date someone who doesn't want it back. I'm not like Adagio anymore."

Those words hang in the air for the shortest time, quickly becoming lost in the clutter of the restaurant. Almost a minute of silence passes. You don't move at all.

"I'm free to leave whenever I want?" you finally ask.

"Uh huh," Sonata avoids eye contact, nudging an unused fork across the table. Anything to distract her from this whole mistake of an evening. "Not telling you to, though. That way you can get outta here willingly."

You don't leave - of course you don't. Instead, you calmly place your hand over Sonata's. She promptly stops pushing the fork, freezing on the spot. Her eyes blink twice in confusion before rising to meet yours.

"That means I can stay willingly too, right?" you say with a smile.