8. Chapter Eight

Chapter Eight

Bennet ~Day Three~

I wake up to the sound of my alarm, turning towards my pillow and quickly turning it off. I blink slowly, trying to get my bearings before I turn my phone back on, looking at the date on the screen. My stomach clenches almost painfully as I realize it’s Friday the 13th. Again.

“Fuck. Fuck!”

No one is around to respond to my cursing. I want to lay back and fucking cry. How could this be happening? How could this be real?

Somehow, I’ve found myself repeating the same day over and over. I didn’t even notice until last night when I almost ran into a pizza delivery guy delivering pizzas to my next door neighbor. It was the same exact order, the same exact guy, at the same exact time.

Even I’m not dense enough to not realize something is going on. It wasn’t until right now, seeing the date once again that I know without a doubt what’s happening.

I don’t know what to do.

I’m embarrassed that my first thought is about Quinn. What would he do if he was stuck in this predicament? If I explain the situation to him, maybe he can help me figure out a way to break out of this time loop.

With my mind made up to talk to Quinn, I get out of bed and get ready for the day. On my way out the door, a bird shits across my shoulder and I curse myself.

“How the fuck do I fall for that every time?” I chastise myself, quickly turning around and heading back inside to change. If I’m destined to repeat this day once more, I promise myself I’ll wait until after the shit has flown before heading outside.

With a clean shirt on, I make my way outside, jump into my car, and head to school. Once I’m parked, I take a moment just to breathe. The weight of despair rests on my shoulder and if I’m not careful, it’ll swallow me whole. I refuse to let this break me, especially since I’ve only just put the piece together of what’s happening to me.

I can deal with this. I can find a way to break the cycle.

Resolve solidifies inside of me as I get out of my car and head to the coffee shop. The last two days I’ve stopped there to get Quinn and myself a coffee. It feels like maybe I need the coffee as a peace offering for what I’ve got to ask him.

Patrice is working again because of course she is. She gives me a wide grin as she greets me.

“I’d like to try something new today.”

“Certainly! What do you normally get?”

“An iced latte, but today I’d like to try an iced mocha, please.”

She nods her head. “No problem. One iced mocha, coming right up!”

“Sorry, can you please make that two, Patrice?”

“You got it!”

I pay for the coffees and take a step back while they make them. Someone steps inside the coffeeshop. I turn to look, finding Quinn walking towards me. My eyes widen in surprise as he walks right up to me, determination set on his face. He’s so beautiful.

My thoughts stutter completely as he grips the front of my shirt and tugs me forward.

“Quinn!” I’m about to ask him what’s going on but my words are stolen from me as he pulls me into a kiss.

Quinn plants his lips against mine and I completely freeze. Quinn is kissing me ! Holy fucking shit! I’ve dreamed about doing this for so long! Somehow, while I’m experiencing the worst couple days of my life, it’s happening!

Before he pulls away, one of my hands grips his hip and I kiss him back. My insides all turn to goo at the feeling of our lips moving against each other. My head feels like it might literally disconnect and head straight up into the clouds.

I’m not sure how long the kiss lasts before finally, Quinn is pulling away with a gasp. The look of immediate regret makes my stomach turn to lead, falling so hard I swear I feel it stub my toes.

“Don’t worry,” he says, his voice so soft, so serious. That look of regret hasn’t fallen away and it takes everything in me not to apologize despite the fact that he was the one who kissed me . “You won’t remember this tomorrow.”

Wait.

Wait a second.

Did he just say I wouldn’t remember this tomorrow? Does that mean?

Before he can get away, I reach out in order to snag his wrist before he can run away, forcing him to turn towards me again.

“What did you just say?”

Quinn’s eyes widen behind his glasses and he stares at me for a long moment, like he’s trying to piece things together. I understand because I’ve been having the same exact feeling all morning.

“Why wouldn’t I remember this tomorrow?” I ask slowly.

“Because,” he says, just as slowly. “Things have been weird.”

“Like a cycle of weird over and over again?”

Quinn’s mouth drops open. “How did you know? There’s no way. Are you? Are you also stuck?”

“Are you ?”

“Oh my gods,” I gasp out, putting my hands on Quinn’s shoulders. I’m so happy that I could kiss him. Well, kiss him again. I could tell him how happy I am not to be alone. I could tell him all the things I’ve had on my mind about him since meeting him.

Instead, Patrice calls my name and I turn around before I do anything stupid in order to grab our iced mochas.

My heart is hammering in my chest and I’m filled with an almost giddy feeling. I’m not alone in this. Somehow, Quinn is stuck in whatever this is with me.

Once I have the mochas in hand, Quinn is pushing me outside. I’m glad to be outside, letting the fresh air clear my mind. This is all so much and I can’t stop my mind from spinning until I’m dizzy with it.

“Just so we’re on the same page,” Quinn says slowly, pacing in front of me back and forth, a habit of his I find incredibly adorable despite the intensity of the moment. I take him in, just now realizing that he’s wearing a beanie instead of styling his hair the way he normally does. And he’s gone without shaving. I like the way his beard looks, I’m glad he’s skipping shaving.

Fuck, focus!

“Yeah?”

“You and I are both experiencing,” Quinn’s words drift off, like he doesn’t want to actually vocalize what’s going on. Not that I blame him. It’s hard to wrap my brain around it let alone officially put it into words.

“A time loop.”

Quinn’s eyes widen as I blurt it out. It feels right, getting it out in the open, ripping it off once and for all.

“Yes,” he says slowly, “a time loop. It sounds ridiculous when you say it out loud, but that’s exactly what’s happening, isn’t it? This is my third Friday the 13th in a row. This is a fucking time loop.”

I lean back against the front of the coffee shop, watching Quinn go through this realization. He continues his pacing and I hold out his coffee, smiling ever so slightly as he takes it from me midstride, sipping it as he paces. I really shouldn’t find this as cute as I do. I’m in the middle of a crisis yet I can’t stop smiling at Quinn.

I also can’t stop thinking about the fact that he kissed me .

Why the hell did he do that? Did he think he could kiss me this once before time would reset and I wouldn’t know it happened tomorrow? The kiss was incredible. My lips are still tingling from it in a way that leaves me craving even more kisses. So why the hell did he look so upset afterwards?

I want to kiss him again but at the same time, I never want to do anything that would put that look back on his face. I refuse to hurt him, I care about him too much for that.

“How did this happen?” Quinn murmurs to himself, adjusting his glasses. “And why are the two of us stuck together like this? Does that have any extra meaning to all of this?”

The weight of all of this still presses down on me but the pressure no longer feels like I’ll break beneath it. Now there’s someone here to share the weight. Between the two of us, I have no doubt that Quinn and I will be able to figure this out so long as we work together. He’s brilliant and I can already see those cogs inside his head turning. If there’s a way out of this time loop, the two of us will figure it out.

Quinn stops his pacing, turning towards me fully. He raises his brow, pointing at me almost accusingly. “How the fuck are you so calm?”

I can’t help but smile at that, shaking my head. “Before I was a teacher I was an adventurer. I learned to keep my cool but honestly, Quinn? I’m freaking the fuck out right now, just, you know, on the inside.”

“In all your times as an adventurer, have you ever dealt with anything like this?”

I think back to all my quests. “One time we battled against a witch who was eating souls to boost their powers. He sent me, along with another person, into the future. We had to find that same witch during that time, slay him, and use his staff to send ourselves back. So, I guess that’s kinda sorta similar but also not really?” I finish with a wince.

“No, no. That’s interesting. It definitely gives me an idea. We have to get to school and look through the magical items again. I think maybe they have something to do with all this.”

“Great idea,” I say, letting out a long breath. I finally take a sip of my iced mocha and hum. “Oh, this is actually really good. Maybe I like coffee after all.”

Quinn turns towards me as we walk towards the university. “If we’re stuck in this, we’ll have time to try every coffee you can think of. But hopefully, we can find the solution sooner rather than later.”

“No time like the present!” I say with a frown. “Well, you know what I mean.”

Our pace is quick as we make our way to the school. I follow Quinn into the casting wing of the university. We stop in front of Stephan’s office.

The door is open and Quinn pokes his head through. “Mister Addemac! Hey, I was hoping to take a look at those magical items again, if that’s alright?”

“Is everything alright? I saw you canceled your classes today.”

Oh, I should probably do that as well. As Quinn explains that something weird is happening to them right now, I pull out my phone and shoot off a couple emails. He’s remaining as vague as possible but at this point, I don’t know why it matters. If he knows we’re in a time loop he’ll either be able to help us break the cycle or he won’t remember any of this tomorrow when the day resets.

While Quinn begins rummaging through boxes, I make sure that Gen knows that there will be no practice. I trust her to let the rest of the team know what’s going on.

Quinn makes a noise of surprise, like something is sliding into place in his brain and I look up. He’s holding the timepiece, the one that fell from the box that we both grabbed.

The day this all happened, I remembered we both cast an identify magic on it, just to be safe. Whatever magic this thing had was gone after we’d touched it.

That doesn’t mean it’s not the answer to whatever is going on.

“I’m going to take this,” Quinn says slowly, holding it up for Stephan to see. “I need to do a little research before I can deem it fully safe.”

“Okay,” he says slowly, looking between myself and Quinn. “Is there something I should know about?”

“With any luck, this’ll all be a thing in the past for us come tomorrow,” I say with a wink.

Quinn gives me a knowing look before rolling his eyes. Once we’re out in the hallway again, he murmurs, “that was terrible, Bennet.”

I snort. “Yeah, but if I don’t joke about what’s happening, I might tear out my hair.”

“We wouldn’t want that,” he says seriously, looking up at my topknot. “Your hair is magnificent. It would be a shame to see it torn out!”

Is that… was that a compliment? I feel my cheeks heat despite myself, hoping Quinn is too busy with that damn pocket watch to notice. Thankfully, it seems the damned thing has his full attention.

We make our way to his office and once the door is shut behind us, Quinn tosses the watch to me. “I have nothing to base this theory on but I have a feeling this thing holds the answers we need.”

“It would make sense,” I say slowly, flipping it over every which way, looking it over. The pocket watch is beautifully crafted. It’s almost all black but for the inside which has a white background to make the numbers inside easier to read. The only strange thing about it is the hour hands. At the ends of them, where there would normally be tiny arrows, there’s instead tiny pink hearts. I hadn’t noticed that before. Weird.

“When we both caught it, I felt something,” Quinn says, and there’s a look to his eyes, like he’s sorry for not telling me sooner. But that’s preposterous, how in the world could he have told me when we only just realized what’s going on now?

“I felt it too,” I explain with a nod. “A shiver of something went through both of us. At the time I assumed it was a protection spell or something similar but now it’s pretty clear that it’s put us in this time loop.”

“But why ? That’s the part I keep hitting a wall on. This is the thing that put us here, cycling today over and over again, but to what end? How do we break out?”

I shake my head because I honestly haven’t the slightest clue. “Do you think we have to do something specifically in order to break the cycle? Like figure out some sort of mystery?”

“Maybe we should break the timepiece?”

I look over at Quinn with wide eyes. “I don’t think that’s the best idea,” I say slowly, something in the pit of my gut saying that would be disastrous. I might not be a witch but even I know not to fuck with magic by trying to destroy it like this. Usually, in my experience, a witch needs to use the thing that caused the curse. “Can you use it to channel your magic?”

“I’ve never dealt with a curse before. I leave that more to divine magic. I specialize in conjuration.”

“Conjure us into tomorrow?”

Quinn laughs, shaking his head. “If only it were that easy. I don’t even know where to start, but I think I need to research time magic and maybe you can look into any sort of magical items that have to do with time travel? Between the two of us maybe we can find something ?”

Which is how we find ourselves in the library. I feel like a teenager again, taking on the task of my very first research paper. But instead of researching some exotic animal or hunting technique, I’m researching timepieces in hopes of breaking a time looping curse. Awesome.

I chance a glance over at Quinn, finding his brows wrinkled as he reads over a page in the book he’s found. Whatever it is, must either be riveting beyond my understanding or something he doesn’t like because he looks like he’s just smelled the world’s stinkiest fart. I’m about to comment on it but he lets out a long sigh and shuts the book before I can.

“This is hopeless,” he says with a long drawn out whine. “All of this is theory . I need some sort of diary or proof.”

I swallow thickly. “What if there’s no diaries because if this has happened in the past, they weren’t able to get out?”

“I refuse to believe that’s possible,” Quinn says, his voice hard. “We’re gonna figure this out. No one said time shenanigans were easy.”

I reach over in order to run my fingers over the back of his hand. A shiver runs through me, warmth pooling heavily in the pit of my stomach at touching him. “We’ll figure this out, Quinn.”

“You have a way with words because for some reason, I actually believe you.”