Marta sat in her room and stared at a wall. Her radio was on, but the volume was all the way down, so Marta could only hear it if she strained to listen. Her lights were off, and the blinds on her windows were closed.
Marta wasn't really sure what she was doing. She thought back on all that had happened over the course of the last few days. Was it possible that she had only met Gricyt less than two weeks ago?
Would she ever see Gricyt again? He'd found his book, and why would he want to come back to Marta's world. True, he seemed to like her, but how long could that last? She'd been in long distance relationships before. In her sophomore year, her boyfriend had graduated, and though he attended the community college which was only half an hour away and lived at home, it had still been too much. Would the same thing happen to her and Gricyt? With his magic, he could come visit her whenever he wanted, but could it last?
"Hello, Marta," Gricyt's voice said behind her. Marta quickly turned around to see Gricyt standing in her room. For a few moments she was embarrassed that he saw what a mess it was, but quickly she forgot about that and was only happy to see him again.
"Are you here to see me?" she asked. "Everything is alright with the book, isn't it?"
"Of course I'm here to visit you," Gricyt said, quickly crossing the room and sitting beside Marta on her bed.
Marta wrapped her arms around him and sighed. "I wasn't sure if you would come back," she said.
Gricyt replied, "I love you, Marta."
"I love you, too," Marta whispered.
They sat together for a while, and Marta felt like she would cry, but she wasn't sure why. After a few minutes, Gricyt said, "I'm not really sure what's going to happen to us now."
"Me either," Marta said.
Gricyt continued. "As a wizard, I'm required to study magic and to find spells that could better the world. Now that I've found the book, I'm going to be expected to work a lot harder, which means I won't be able to just come here to visit you all the time anymore."
Marta felt a tear trickle down her cheek, but Gricyt wasn't done talking yet. "I don't want to never see you again," he said. He jumped off the bed and knelt in front of her. He wiped a tear off Marta's cheek and said, "I suppose you'll want to go to college after this year, won't you?"
Marta shook her head no. "I really don't know," she said. She remembered how she hadn't been accepted to North Central University. While there were other colleges she could go to, she couldn't picture herself attending them. She was sure now that she probably wouldn't go to college.
"Then, you'll probably want to finish high school," Gricyt said. Marta wasn't sure what his point was, until he continued. "I suppose that around here you are generally expected to finish high school and do well. Of course, in my world, though education is valued, it is more important to pursue the studies you are interested in than to simply follow a standard, such as public schools."
"Gricyt, I couldn't leave here to live with you," Marta protested.
"Why not?" Gricyt asked. "If you want to finish your education, I have all my private libraries filled with books on every subject you could imagine."
"What about my parents?" Marta asked. "I couldn't just leave without an explanation, and we both know they wouldn't believe to truth."
"We'll wait until the end of the year," Gricyt said. "I'll make up the name of a college, and you could tell everyone you are attending there, but come live with me instead."
"That's ridiculous," Marta said.
"Why?" Marta didn't answer. "Even if that doesn't work, we'll think of something else. I'm sure something will work out."
"Well, let's pretend I did come live with you," Marta said. "What then? I would just live with you and read books in your library?"
"You could do whatever you wanted," Gricyt said. "I would let you visit back at home whenever you wanted, or if you wanted to get a job in my world, you could do that, too. There are a lot of others who have no magic. Or, you could just stay at home with me, and I would take care of you."
Marta looked away, and Gricyt quickly said, "You would have your own room, you could even have half the mansion and I wouldn't bother you. Nothing will happen that wouldn't be, uh, honorable."
"So I would just live with you and nothing would happen?" Marta asked with amusement.
"Or we could get married."
Marta supposed she should have expected the suggestion, but it still took her by surprise. She considered the idea of marrying Gricyt quickly. He meanwhile, seemed shocked by his own suggestion, and was about to say something else when Marta said, "I'd gladly marry you."
"And you'll come live with me, right?" Gricyt asked quickly.
"Of course," Marta said, laughing at the relief on Gricyt's face. Her laughter was quickly cut off, however, by Gricyt kissing her, and then Marta knew that everything would work out in the end.
The end.