Page 115 of The Devil We Crave
I mean…a first timeisa first time, even if we remove love or romance from the equation. It’d be nice to havesomethingother than a wall of silence.
When class is done, my head is still in the storm clouds as I stalk back across campus. I try not to dwell on the radio silence since Achilles fucked me to within an inch of my life on the edge of a cliff and then told meall of mewas “his” because he “said so” and he “claimed me”.
Fine. We can ascribe to him a red-flag level of possessiveness. But if that’s the case,fuck offwith the silent treatment, you know?
Like, pick a lane.
“Um, hi?”
I blink, realize I’m glaring a fucking hole through Arianna’s face.
“Sorry…what?” I mutter.
She smiles and rolls her shoulders under the slightly oversized men’s Knightsblood jacket she’s wearing.
Uniforms for students are mandatory on campus during normal class hours, but the administration doesn't care which gender-oriented uniform each student wears. Colin Bryant, for instance, frequently rocks a blue and gray plaid skirt paired with a men’s jacket and shirt, and he fuckingslaysin it. Also, if I had his legs, there’s no way I’d be covering them up with pants, like, ever.
Arianna doesn’talwayswear the male uniform, but when she does, I don’t think it’s for any sort of gender or sexual identity expression. I'm pretty sure she’s straight, even though Galina often teases her about “not getting horny for boys.”
I’m guessing she sometimes goes with the jacket and pants for the same reason she wears baggy, non-form-fitting clothes when we go out.
She simply doesn’t want or give a shit about male attention.
“Do you want to talk about it?”
I sigh heavily and slump down at a table. We’ve met in one of the several rose gardens that dot the campus to cram for our Human Psych quiz tomorrow.
“About what?” I mutter.
She rolls her eyes. “About whatever it is that just had you glaring death at me.”
I wince. “Sorry.”
Ari shakes her head. “All good. It was more like glaring deaththroughme, so I’m not taking it personally. But still…” She shrugs. “You okay?”
I furrow my brow and shake my head.
“No. Yes. I don’t know. It’s fine.”
“Sureit is,” she says sarcastically, putting a hand on top of mine. “C’mon, spill.”
I smile wryly. “Thanks, but… I don’t know. It’s stupid.”
She shoots me a look. “Lena…”
I sigh heavily. “It’s…” I suck on my teeth, then raise my eyes to hers. “Okay, can I ask you something?”
“Obviously.”
“It’s…personal?”
“I'm straight.”
My brows furrow. “What?”
She shrugs. “You were going to ask me, so I decided to save you the trouble. I’m straight. So if there’s a real question, go ahead and ask it.”
I stare at her. “What is happening right now?”
