Chapter Seven

Adam

I let Cory pick a table for us while I stand and wait for Delaney to get to the dining hall. We were supposed to eat dinner last night together, but I got wrapped up in a project so she agreed to move it to tonight.

It's Friday, so I'm sure she has plenty of more exciting options, and maybe I'll talk her into something during dinner, but we'll see how it goes first.

When she comes into view, I play a little game I like to call count the jaws. I've been doing it for years, always trying to beat a record. I like to see how many eyes turn and jaws drop when they catch sight of her, and tonight seems like it's more than usual because she's not dressing to blend in. She's got on jeans that are already killing me and a hot pink T-shirt that ends just above her belly button. Fuck. Now I have to worry about her and Cory in a crop top, and I don't know if I can handle that.

Her hair is down and smooth, and the smile she makes when she sees me makes all the uncertainty I've been imagining fade.

I keep waiting for her bulky shadows to come into view, but it seems it's just her tonight. "Did you sneak out or something?" I ask as I give her a side hug.

"If you must know, August has been making sure my magic stays full, so I managed to talk them into letting me have some alone time. I needed some space to breathe. Since it's Friday, they're gonna head home for the weekend and make sure their apartment is okay. Hang out with their family, that sort of thing."

"So things are better with them then, I take it?"

Jealousy rages through me at the thought of them feeding her magically, even though I know I have no right to want that.

She snorts. "I wouldn't say that. I'm not sleeping with him; he's just touching himself to thoughts of me and apparently that's enough to fill me up."

"Sweet goddess Delaney, you cannot say words like that so casually. You just made that poor girl over there snort milk out of her nose."

"Sorry!" she calls, heading straight to Cory and greeting them. "Hey cutie," she says with another genuine smile for them.

"Are you in such a good mood because you ditched guards one and two?" they ask her.

Delaney giggles at Cory. "Spot on," she says. "I"ve got the whole place to myself all weekend too, so that's exciting."

I decide to go grab everybody food while they chat, and maybe I take a few extra minutes longer because I just like watching them interact together. It's cute. This is exactly what I hoped for when I met Cory and things started getting serious, because I just had this feeling that the two of them would love each other instantly.

I interrupt some conversation when I get back, but it's amusing to see their chemistry. "Shut up, you did not!" Cory proclaims.

"I did," Delaney giggles back, face red as she wipes tears from her eyes. "It was so stupid when he realized, but so worth it."

"No wonder they wanted to get away for the weekend," Cory tells her. "Any hot plans?" They say with a wag of their eyebrow.

"You know me, wild party animal," she says as she pulls her burger over to her. "Thanks for grabbing these Adam. Any problems with my ID?"

I shake my head as I hand it back to her. "Nope, they scanned it no problem."

"What about you two? First weekend off school, doing anything fun?" She asks this as she takes a monstrously big bite of her burger.

"Date night" Cory says with a dramatic bat of their eyelashes. "Mr. Romantic had something planned last weekend and we had to postpone it, so I've been promised all sorts of romance this weekend to make up for it."

Delaney chokes on her water and I watch her face change. "That's — that's really sweet of you, Adam. Hope you guys have fun." She doesn't rush off, but I can tell she's uncomfortable with the thought of me and Cory on a date. I feel like this is something I just need to get out of the way here and now, to rip off the Band-Aid.

"Why does that make you uncomfortable, Delaney?" I ask. I know we can talk about anything, and I'm hoping that gift extends to my partner as well.

"It"s not important, Adam." She starts picking through her fries while Cory is giving me the side eye, trying to get me off of this topic; but Delaney and I haven't been friends this long by avoiding the hard conversations.

"Not good enough," I tell her. "It's you and me, Delaney. What's up?"

"Maybe I should go," Cory says, trying to rise.

"No way, if anybody's leaving, it's me," Delaney insists.

"Nobody's leaving," I inform them. "They had brownies over there, there's no way you're leaving without getting one, so just sit your ass back down and tell me what's going on here. You've been weird since you got to campus, and I want to know why."

"That's not fair for you to ask me right now." She stops eating completely, going so far as to push her plate a few inches away.

"Since when is fairness something you and I have to worry about?" I know I'm being a dick in pressing her for answers she doesn't seem to want to give, but this is too important to brush under the rug.

She sighs, resigned. "I guess I'm having a hard time seeing the two of you so happy. I would never in a million years get between you guys, so Cory, please don't take this to mean anything at all. Adam told me he had a surprise, that there was somebody he wanted me to meet, and I guess I was na?ve enough not to put two and two together. Of course he found somebody, you have a whole other life than the one I got to see glimpses of when you would visit, don't you Adam?"

It"s clear it's a rhetorical question so I just wait it out, heat swirling through my chest at what I'm very afraid I've been trying not to acknowledge all week.

"I was hoping maybe my timing was finally right to tell you how I've always felt about you, but once again, it wasn't. There"s no way you don"t know I"ve been in love with you for years, but you know what? This is good. Cory's actually perfect for you, I think we would be a mess together."

Fucking floored. "What do you mean you've been in love with me for years?"

"Pathetic, right? Just because you're the only one that can stand being around me without wanting to hump everything you see, doesn't mean you have any sort of obligation to me. I know that now. I'm trying to get over it, and I really do value our friendship. You know I think the world of you, so if I seem weird, it's because of that. Sometimes my brain likes to think of you as a potential mate, but I'm sure I"ll find somebody soon to connect with."

"Well, you two talk about everything, huh?" Cory says awkwardly.

"It"s why we work so well," I mumble. I didn't actually know she felt that way, even as much as I'd hoped she did occasionally. But still, nothing could ever come of it. Even if the devil on my shoulder is telling me to take her and Cory both and run away and never look back. Maybe do some sunset skipping.

"Fuck me sideways," she suddenly exclaims as she grabs onto her forearm. She stares at the ceiling as if the goddess herself is hiding behind a fleck of paint for this very situation. "Not cool goddess, that wasn't supposed to count as admitting it out loud! Greedy bitch."

We choose to ignore that outburst because she's always been a bit odd and sometimes it's just better not to ask questions. Really.

"Maybe it feels like you've had bad luck Delaney, but you just got here. Give the process a chance. You should be going on dates and getting to know people. I know your people are out there." It kind of sounds like I know better than she does, but honestly I believe the words.

"Maybe until then I guess I'll just eat my feelings," she says as she stands, still clutching her forearm. I watch her walk over to the dessert display, staring at the treats like they're going to give her answers to life.

"I don't—" Cory tries to start.

"I'm still not giving you up, babe."

"What if you didn't have to?" they respond.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

They think about it for a second before wiping their mouth tidily and stacking all their dirty dishes together. "We both get along with her well, right? What if… the two of us asked her out, just to see how things go?"

It seems like a fantasy too good to be true, that two of the best people in my life could feel about each other the way I feel about them. That's too much to ask for. "Except I've already told you I don't want her, remember? She's still too public, still a conduit, still has to live a lifestyle that isn't for me. I could never want her the way she wants me to, it'd be weird." And because I need to really sell this to Cory so they aren't worried about me trying to start something with Delaney, I push myself to embellish the truth just a little bit further. "I'll always love her as a friend, but the thought of kissing her? I don't have a sister, but I imagine it would very much be like that. She's like a sister to me Cory, nothing else. She's just confused. Like she said, she's just got it in her head that we could be a good idea because I'm not affected by her magic. But she's just a na?ve and sheltered princess. Not for me. At least not in a romantic way."

"Wow, a gentle ‘not interested' would have sufficed," Delaney says quietly, setting down three dessert plates for us. "You know I wouldn't have pushed the issue, Adam. Maybe coming to Hemlock was a mistake."

And I don't even chase after her because what the hell could I say that would make that alright? I wanted to hurt her, and I did.

I might have just blown up our friendship in one go. So I don't protest when Cory runs after her, grabbing their bag and shooting me a dirty look, which means I'm probably going home alone tonight. But then again I deserve that, don't I?