“Can I ask you a question?” Opal asks, dipping a slice of cucumber into honey mustard as she watches me.
“Yes, of course.”
“What the hell is on your plate?”
A laugh almost tumbles out of me. I look down at my grilled chicken and asparagus, wondering what looks wrong about it.
“Myplate?” I say, amused. “Curly, your meal is the definition of random.”
She scoffs playfully. “At least it’s not bland and boring. I mean, grilled chicken, Thatcher? You could at least put some seasoning on it. Or have a few tater tots at least.”
I look down at my plate, seeing it in a whole new light. “I’m on a regimen.”
“That soup you made me was flavorful,” she comments. “So you must be selective when it comes to spice.”
I feel myself flush as I remember her positive reaction to the soup, how warm I felt when she ate it quickly and happily. “The soup was flavorful because I made it.Thischicken is unseasoned because I did not.”
“That’s reasonable. Will you at least have a slice of cake with me?” she asks as she protrudes her lip slightly.
Oh, fuck. Kit pulls that same face, too, and just like him, I can’t seem to say no to it.
“Fine,” I relent. “But I will say, I normally have chocolate once a day. It’s my guilty pleasure. I need my mini chocolate bars, or I’ll turn into the Hulk.”
Opal smiles before segueing the conversation. “Anyway, I wanted to thank you. For taking care of me the other day. I really needed that and you came through for me.”
I’m surprised by the serious subject change. My alpha preens in my chest, happy to be acknowledged for our caretaking. It feels weird as I try to find the words to respond.
My brain settles on a shrug. “It’s normal, we all have days where we’re under the weather.”
“Yes, but I asked you not to ask any questions or to let me take pain meds, and you didn’t push, sothank you,” she says. “I know it’s weird… that I can’t take any kind of pain relief.”
“Are you allergic or something?” I ask absentmindedly.
“Yeah, or something.” There’s a hint of something in her response, but she switches topics again before I can respond. “How did you and Sam meet?”
“Oh,” I say, the particular memory resurfacing and causing a chuckle. “I figured you would already know the story from one of the guys.”
She shakes her head. “Unfortunately, you get the misfortune of telling me yourself.”
“It’s probably a good thing, actually. They always make it more amusing than it is.”
“Well, now Ineedto hear it.”
“Fine, fine,” I put my fork down and cross my arms. “Freshman year, we were both pledges for Alpha Xi. I don’t make friends very easily, but I knew the guys from hockey and they convinced me to join. Sam was a bit of a loner, like I was. He was very serious, which completely contrasted with the way the frat was back then. It was party central most of the time.” I shiver from remembering how lackluster it was to be in Alpha Xi before Sam was president. “One day, they threw a kegger. The pledges were tasked with keeping beer available at all times. Around midnight, a bunch of the guys were drunk. Atlashad to personally cut off many of them before they got alcohol poisoning. Still, when the keg was empty, I was ordered to go down to get a new one. Sam overheard, followed me, and purposefully broke the lock on the basement door. With usinside.”
Opal’s eyes widen. “What?”
I let out a chuckle. “Yeah. I was pissed at the time, I asked him why the hell he would do that, and he said, ‘it’s better that we suffer a few hours down here rather than sending everyone upstairs to the hospital.’ I realized he was right. The next keg could have very much been the tipping point. I mean, there were like fifty kegs that night.”
Her hand goes over her mouth, still taken aback. “So, you guys just waited until someone found you?”
I nod. “Luckily, it didn’t take as long as we thought. But it gave us time to get to know each other. We spoke about our pasts. He told me he hoped to make the fraternity better once the president graduated. I was ready to help him with that because I was so sick of the parties and the douchebags running the place.”
“Did you know you would be pack? Like Everett and Dax did?” she asks.
I nod with pride. “More than that. I knew he would be myprime.”
She gives me a teasing smirk. “Interesting, how instincts work like that.”
