Page 90 of Roses & Ruin

“Delia made it pretty clear. Girls’ night. Besides, I’ve got a birthday party to set up for.”

Delia’s new house is a small rental a couple blocks from the edge of north campus. Nothing fancy, but there’s a lot of space and a fenced-in front yard. The front door whips open as we approach.

“What do you think?” Delia bursts out, smiling from cheek to cheek. She dances out into the snow, scoops a perfect snowball, and launches it at Hayden. He catches it.

“It’s nice. The bursar give you any trouble?”

“Nah.” Delia takes my hand and spins me around. “They might think something’s wrong with you, though, Ro-Ro. When I said I was dropping out, she was like, ‘Rose Shields? Didn’t she have a roommate that dropped out earlier too?’ ”

“And did you disabuse her of the notion that I’m to blame?”

“Nah,” Delia says again, her grin turning mischievous. “I’m doing you a favor. Street cred, son.” She casts an eye at Hayden and makes a shooing motion. “Alright, bye-bye, Hay. See you later. Lots of things to do, big plans.”

“Love you,” Hayden says to me, then shoots a glare at Delia. “Nothing dangerous.”

“Hey,” I say. “What happened to me being in charge of my own fate and all that?”

“Yeah,” Delia teases. “Wouldn’t want to resurrect the curse, now, would we?”

“Jesus.” Hayden glowers and turns away. “Too soon, Dee. It’ll always be too soon.”

“He’s such a baby,” she mutters wryly, ushering me into the house.

Delia’s house is adorable, with tufted velvet armchairs and sofas and cardboard boxes all over the place.

“I’ve had all my stuff in storage,” she explains, nudging the stacks of boxes over to clear room to the kitchen. “Wasn’t sure how long we were gonna be here. Where we were going next.” Delia gives me a guilty look. After you died is implied. “But now that I know we’re gonna be hanging here awhile, I’m actually able to set things up for once!”

I tilt my head and smile, watching Delia traipse around the kitchen as she fetches a corkscrew and a fancy-looking bottle of malbec.

“Delia,” I say, “you look really happy.”

“Me? Do I?” Delia presses a hand to her cheek, feeling her smile. She smiles wider. “I think I’m just excited. I’ve never gotten to this point, you know? There’s never been, like, an after to this thing. Things are unknown again for the first time since I met Hayden.”

My heart squeezes. I sidle up to Delia and wrap my arms around her. She stiffens in surprise.

“Thank you,” I whisper urgently. “Thank you for helping him. For helping me. We would have been lost without you.”

“Oh.” She sounds confused. “Oh, Ro…C’mon.” Delia turns in my arms and hugs me back fiercely. “I wanted to,” she says. “I wanted to, okay?”

“I don’t deserve you.”

“You’re giving me way too much credit,” she admits, twisting the screw into the cork. “Truth is, it wasn’t all selfless. In a way, it felt like…” Delia pops the cork out, stares at it for a moment. “It was like, if I could save you, it was like saving Nicolai. Like there was hope for me. Or something. I know, I know, that makes no sense. No logic to it. Then again, love’s not logical.” She goes to the cabinets, but of course, they’re all empty. Delia grunts. “Goddammit. No clue where the fucking wineglasses are.”

“Whatever.” I grab the bottle and take a swig. The rich, earthy taste of the malbec is just as good as I remember. “Ah. See? No glasses necessary.”

Delia gives me a long, amused look before sighing. “I’m gonna have to unpack these at some point. Until then, wanna watch something?”

“Sure,” I say. I shiver when we go to the living room. It’s surprisingly cold in here. “Um, not to be totally human right now, but…is the heater on?”

“Shit. Yeah, but it sucks.” Delia frowns. “I’ll grab you a blanket.” She opens the nearest box and starts digging through the contents. I chew my lip, watching her.

“I miss you, you know.”

“I’m right here, dummy.” She laughs softly.

I sit on the tufted couch and tuck my knees to my chest. “It’s not the same. I liked living with you. Late-night chats. Going to the dining hall together. You putting on my eye makeup.”

“I can still—” I silence her with a withering look. Her mouth twitches and she twirls a long, silky strand of hair around her finger. “Yeah, okay. Not the same.” Delia pauses. “You’ve got Winston. And Hayden now. I’m sure you’ve kept each other up with several late-night chats, and…” Her lovely brow notches in confusion when I shake my head solemnly.