Meta: A Coalesce Short

Headquarters

Atlanta, GA

United States of America

July 2017

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

Face to face in Aether’s office. The shorter girl tried to absorb and understand the look on Lysette’s face, which showed nothing but pure amazement and a slight hint of admiration. Aether couldn’t help but shift in her chair, finding herself unable to look straight back at the other female in her office at that moment. 

“Because,” Lysette Cross began, “I haven’t seen you in such a long time, Aether. Aren’t I allowed to be happy because I finally saw my best friend for the first time in forever?” the other Englishwoman saw the dark-haired lady roll her eyes at that, but the smile on her face was all that had mattered. She couldn’t help but grin herself, “You’ve…changed.”

“Have I? It seems like you’re the one who changed. And in a better way,” Aether added as an afterthought. It was true, she confirmed to herself. Lysette had definitely improved since they had last seen each other. Instead of wearing a simple tee and shorts until two inches above her knees, her strawberry-blonde friend donned on something more professional. Lysette gave the collar of her button down a tug and shot another smile. “You look more serious, now.”

“Says the one who came into the building looking like she wanted to rip her hair out,” the other teased. “You changed too, Aether…you look older. Even though we’er nearly the same age.” Lysette’s eyes ran over the other’s features, the other’s clothes, how Aether held herself and studied the vibes she gave off. Lysette whistled, “I’m not surprised that you had someone there with flowers—”

“He has nothing to do with the interview,” Aether interrupted, flustered. Lysette grinned. “And speaking of…”

“Okay, that wasn’t a ruse. I really am here to interview you.” she dug into the bag she had brought and pulled out a rolled-up magazine, handing it to Aether. On the cover was an international figure who had recently became known. On top was the name; a single word typed in thick, sans-serif font. “It’s for Meta,” she admitted. “I came here to interview you for the magazine.”

“I — you came here to interview me,” Aether repeated. Lysette nodded. “About HQ.” Another nod. “…are you allowed to tell why, exactly?” 

“Meta wants to explore more…international happenings, organizations, and the like.” she started. “We want to reach out. Not just stay within the vicinity of London, England, and the like. So why not go to the rest of the world and all the kind of shit, yeah?” Aether nodded slowly. 

“Why HQ, though?”

“We’ve heard about it. It’s…interesting,” she laughed. “I have two co-writers for this article. They went to the different branches.” 

It clicked in Aether’s head, “Italy and South America?” 

“Yup. I think Eugene was going to head to Japan too after, since he was assigned to writing about a branch that could potentially open up there.” at Aether’s confused look, Lysette quickly explained the situation that she and her co-writers had. “It’s going to be our big thing for one of the future issues.”

“And you decided to choose me because…?”

“I’m not gonna lie, Aether.” Lysette winked, “When I contacted one of the higher-ups here about which person they’d recommend, it came down to a few people. And it so happened that you were one of them. So…with that, I chose to surprise you, too.”

Aether remembered the email which had been sent her way. “Is that why you signed your name as ‘Clara’ instead?” 

“You got me. I really did want to surprise you because it’s been an incredibly long time,” Lysette told her earnestly. “So much has changed back at home…you have to go back sometime and check it out. They miss you over there.”

“At the orphanage?”

“Mhm.” Lysette couldn’t help but smile as a memory tugged at her lips. “I’m always asked when I’ll bring you back. They might think you might have forgotten—”

“I haven’t,” Aether defended. “I haven’t forgotten. Not at all.”

“I know, I know…you know how they get though.” Aether glanced away and Lysette watched her, eyeing her smaller friend and noting in her mind how she had changed as well. Aether looked…

She really did look older. Older, somehow wiser, definitely a little bit on the scarred side too. Quite literally, as she had noticed a few scars across her knees. 

Somehow, even though Lysette was the older one, Aether seemed like the one who aged more. It freaked her out a little. She noticed as well when she saw Aether walking into the building with the other men; she looked on the stressed side and anxious and maybe even nervous. That in itself made her frown. 

“You know,” she offered slowly. Aether raised a brow at her. 

“Hmm?”

“I don’t think you’d appreciate being interviewed in a place like this,” she said off-handedly. Aether blinked at her and Lysette realized that they were in her office, so that probably sounded offensive. “Ah, fuck. Sorry, sorry. I mean…”

The look on the green-eyed lady’s face changed from unamused to amused quickly. “Don’t worry. I wasn’t offended, Lys.” Her usage of the nickname made Lysette smile.

“I was just saying that maybe you’d appreciate it if we went out to have a few coffees, and I could get preliminary information there?”

“This is going to be one big catching up session,” Aether tsked, but stood up in spite of herself. “Isn’t it?”

“You know me well.” Aether approached and Lysette looped her arm through Aether’s. The action felt familiar to both of them, and they both looked at their linked arms before looking at each other and smiling. “Aether?”

“Mm?”

“I missed this.”

Without a beat, the dark-haired lady answered, “I missed this too. In fact,” Aether’s hand dropped and she took Lysette’s hand in her own tightly. “I missed you. Very, very much.”