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"This is impossible," I exclaimed. The scientist in me was too amazed to fully realize the uncomfortable nature of the situation I now found myself in. "It's one thing for me to get moved to a new flight. But to end up next to you? Do you know what the odds of that are? It's incredible."
"Some might call it fate," he said. "Or maybe there just aren't that many flights to Philadelphia." He raised a glass of clear liquid to me in a toast. Since I'd never seen Adrian drink water, I had to assume it was vodka. "Nice to see you, by the way."
"Um, you too."
The engines roared to life around us, momentarily sparing me from conversation. Reality began sinking in. I was trapped on a five-hour flight with Adrian Ivashkov. Five hours. Five hours sitting only a few inches from him, smelling his overpriced cologne and looking into those knowing eyes. What was I going to do? Nothing, of course. There was nowhere to go, nowhere to escape since even first-class passengers weren't allowed parachutes. My heart began to race as I frantically groped for something to say. He was watching me in silence, still with that small smirk, waiting for me to lead the conversation.
"So," I said at last, staring at my hands. "How's, uh, your car?"
"I left it out on the street. Figured it'll be fine there while I'm gone."
I jerked my head up, jaw dropping. "You did what? They'll tow it if it's left there overnight!"
Adrian was laughing before I even finished. "So that's what it takes to get a passionate reaction, huh?" He shook his head. "Don't worry, Sage. I was just kidding. It's tucked away safely in my building's parking lot."
I felt my cheeks burn. I hated that I'd fallen into his joke and was even a little embarrassed that I'd just flipped out over a car. Admittedly, it wasn't just any car. It was a beautiful, classic Mustang that Adrian had recently purchased. In fact, he'd bought it to impress me, pretending he couldn't drive manual transmission in order to spend more time with me while I taught him. I thought the car was amazing, but it still astonished me that he would have gone to that much trouble for us to be together.
We reached our cruising altitude, and the flight attendant returned to get Adrian another drink. "Anything for you, miss?" she asked.
"Diet Coke," I said automatically.
Adrian tsked once she was gone. "You could've gotten that for free back in coach."
I rolled my eyes. "Do I have to spend the next five hours being harassed? If so, I'll go back in coach and let some lucky person 'upgrade' to my seat."
Adrian held up his hands in a placating gesture. "No, no. Carry on. I'll entertain myself."
Entertaining himself turned out to be doing a crossword puzzle in one of the in-flight magazines. I took out Ms. Terwilliger's book and tried to read, but it was hard to focus with him beside me. I kept sneaking glances out of the corner of my eye, partly to see if he was looking at me and partly just to study his features. He was the same Adrian as ever, annoyingly good looking with his tousled brown hair and sculpted face. I vowed I wouldn't speak to him, but when I noticed he hadn't written anything in a while and was tapping his pen loudly on the tray, I couldn't help myself.
"What is it?" I asked.
"Seven-letter word for 'cotton gin pioneer.'"
"Whitney," I replied.
He leaned over and wrote in the letters. "'Dominates the Mohs' scale.' Also seven letters."
"Diamond."
Five words later, I realized what was happening. "Hey," I told him. "I am not doing this."
He looked up at me with angelic eyes. "Doing what?"
"You know what. You're luring me in. You know I can't resist - "
"Me?" he suggested.
I pointed at the magazine. "Random trivia." I angled my body away from him and made a big show of opening my book. "I have work to do."
I felt Adrian look over my shoulder, and I tried to ignore how aware of his proximity I was. "Looks like Jackie's still got you working hard in her class." Adrian had met Ms. Terwilliger recently and had somehow charmed his way into a first-name basis.
"This one's more like an extracurricular activity," I explained.
"Really? I thought you were pretty against doing any more with this stuff than you had to."
I shut the book in frustration. "I am! But then she said - " I bit off the words, reminding myself that I shouldn't engage with Adrian any more than I had to. It was just too easy to slip back into old, friendly behaviors with him. It felt right when, obviously, it was wrong.
"Then what?" he prompted, voice gentle.
I looked up at him and saw no smugness or mockery. I didn't even see any of the burning hurt that had plagued me these last few weeks. He actually looked concerned, which momentarily distracted me from Ms. Terwilliger's task. Seeing him this way contrasted drastically with what had followed in the wake of our kiss. I'd been so nervous at the thought of sitting with him on this flight, and yet, here he was, ready to support me. Why the change?
I hesitated, unsure what to do. Since last night, I'd been turning her words and the vision over and over in my head, trying to figure out what they meant. Adrian was the only person who knew about my involvement with her and magic (aside from Jill), and until this moment, I hadn't realized how badly I was dying to discuss this with someone. So, I cracked and told him the whole story of my desert adventure.
When I finished, I was surprised to see how dark his expression had become. "It's one thing for her to try to get you to learn spells here and there. But it's a totally different thing for her to drag you into something dangerous."
His ardent concern surprised me a little - but maybe it shouldn't have. "From the way she talked, though, it wasn't like it was her doing. She seemed pretty upset about . . . well, whatever all this means."
Adrian pointed at the book. "And that'll help somehow?"
"I guess." I ran my fingers over the cover and embossed Latin words. "It has protection and attack spells - things that are a bit more hard core than what I've ever done. I don't like it, and these aren't even the really advanced ones. She told me to skip those."
"You don't like magic, period," he reminded me. "But if these can keep you safe, then maybe you shouldn't ignore them."
I hated admitting when he was right. It only encouraged him. "Yeah, but I just wish I knew what I was trying to stay safe from - no. No. We can't do this."
Without even realizing it, I'd slipped into the way things used to be, talking to Adrian in that easy, comfortable way we had. In fact, I'd even been confiding in him. He looked startled.
