“Wow, you really did think of it all, huh?”
“I tried.” He ran his hand over his head and down to his neck.
We both made ourselves plates and he led me to the living room.
“What movie do you have on?” I asked as I sat beside him on the couch, tucking my feet up underneath me.
“Well, since this still is technically a study date, I thought we could combine my love of music and your knowledge of Spanish and watch the 1997 classic,Selena.”
“Amazing choice. We could even put the Spanish dub on.”
“Whoa.” He held up one of his hands in a placating gesture. “I don’t think I’m there just yet.”
I couldn’t contain the laugh that bubbled out of me.
This felt so natural: sitting here on the couch with Oliver, watching a movie and enjoying a casual night in. It took everything in me not to lean over and snuggle up against him. I had to keep reminding myself that this wasn’t a date and we weren’t a couple. But maybe, once the semester was over, we could be.
“Believe it or not, I really think you’re ready.” Adelaide leaned back in her seat at my kitchen counter with a satisfied smile.
“You can admit it, you are the one who didn’t actually believe it would happen,” I goaded. I smiled as I tucked my study notes for the next day’s final exam away between the pages of my Spanish-to-English dictionary.
Adelaide laughed, a sparkling sound that made my heart constrict. “You weren’t everthathopeless,” she assured, shaking her head. “And I have had a few students who did seem pretty dire, so I’m not just saying that to inflate your ego.” She cocked an eyebrow. “You know, I never did ask you: Why did you choose Spanish for your foreign language requirement? Did you not take French in prep school?”
I rose, circling the marble countertop and going to the Sub-Zero refrigerator. “No, I did,” I answered as I pulled out two beers. I tipped one toward Adelaide and raised my brows, a silent question. She paused from where she was packing up her laptop and notebooks, then dipped her headin a “why not” gesture. I popped the cap and handed her the bottle, opening the second for myself.
I leaned against the counter and took a sip, then continued, “Most of us noble kids took French; it’s sort of the default. But I was absolutely rubbish at it. Too many letters, not enough syllables in each word. It makes me feel like I’m swallowing my tongue.” Adelaide chuckled at that, taking a drink of her own beer. “So, when I got here, I just…sort of ignored the language requirement until I couldn’t anymore. When it was finally clear that I had to, as Knox would say, ‘shit or get off the pot,’ I thought I’d try Spanish, hoping it would be a bit easier. And it is—I mean, at least you get to pronounce pretty much all of the letters in each word—but it turns out that I’m just not very good with languages.”
Adelaide shrugged. “Languages are, like many things, a bit of a gift. You can practice and become better, but some people just naturally have a talent for them. You play guitar, right?” I nodded. “Was that easy for you to pick up or did you have to work hard at it?”
I thought for a moment. “It was actually pretty easy, I guess.”
Adelaide snorted. “Knowing you, that means you were probably a fucking prodigy. Well, our neighbor tried teaching me how to play the piano when I was little. You want to talk about hopeless, you should have heard me struggle my way through ‘Für Elise.’ Our neighbor finally gently suggested that perhaps my talent lay elsewhere and all but barred me from ever touching her piano again.” Her eyes sparkled as she laughed at the memory. “Languages, on the other hand, have always been easy for me. Music is easy for you. We all have our fortes.”
I bobbed my head, considering this. “I just wish music was a more useful diplomatic tool,” I noted wryly. “Eventhough being the spare allows me to fade into the background a bit more, I’m still afraid there will come a time when I inadvertently offend a foreign ambassador with my dreadful language skills.”
Adelaide eyed me as she set her bottle on the counter. “First of all, you never know what will or won’t be a ‘useful diplomatic tool.’ Music might be that for you someday. Second, don’t call yourself ‘the spare’; you are more than that. Xavier might be the Crown Prince, but I’ve seen how people act around you. They adore you. And I know you’re more than just ‘the spare’ to your parents, too.” Her tone, while kind, was also firm.
I met her eyes, the green of them threatening to swallow me whole. “Thank you,” I murmured. “Although,” I continued with mock seriousness, “I’m not sure you would have said that at the beginning of the semester. I don’t think you were particularly enthused about tutoring me.”
Adelaide’s face twisted into a grimace and she blushed furiously. “It was that obvious?”
I nodded, my face deadpan.
“Dang.”
I broke into a laugh. Adelaide crinkled her nose as she picked up one of the discarded bottle caps and threw it at me. I dodged it, still laughing.
“Okay, okay,yes!” she exclaimed, now laughing too. “I admit I wasn’t exactly happy about this arrangement when we started working together, but it wasn’t as personal as you think it was.” She caught her breath, her laughter calming. “I just…I have a hard time with aristos. We already talked a bit before about how Dash and I were bullied as kids. And then I watched from afar as your brother used his status to get himself out of myriad scrapes and that always kind of rubbed me the wrong way. And then my ex—” She stopped, her eyes on her beer bottle as she turned it on the counter.
My heart fell into my stomach and my grip tightened around the beer bottle. This was the first time Adelaide had mentioned her ex since the night they had broken up two months ago. Despite us hanging out during spring break and her joining my friends and me at pub quiz a handful more times since then, the topic had never come back up.
“What about your ex?” I asked gently.
“He’s Theo Wiltz,” she said. I pretended like I had not already known this bit of information; I asked around after their breakup to find out his name. I, of course, knew Theo and, quite frankly, had always hated him. He was the kind of asshole who would lay on the charm to your face but became arrogant and cold as soon as your back was turned.
Adelaide continued, “Well, I won’t get into the details, but it turns out that he wasn’t ever really interested in me, just in finding someone to smile and look pretty on his arm and makehimlook good.”
Something in my chest growled at the hurt in her eyes, at the idea that anyone had ever made this beautiful woman feel expendable. I reached across the counter, covering her delicate hand with my own. Despite her skin being soft and cool, a surge of warmth flooded up my arm. “You are far too good for someone like him. You never deserved to be treated like that.”
