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Behind me, Charlie chuckles. I can’t keep a straight face, grinning up at Darwin as he cranes his neck to look at me.
“Cheeky bitch,” he whispers, dropping his head back into the cradle of his arm.
“Better than ‘teddy bear.’ Probably steak but I can be easily persuaded to shrimp.”
“Pineapple on pizza?”
“I’m a pagan, not a heathen.”
His chuckle blows warmly through my hair. “G’night, teddy bear.”
“G’night, Dar.” I squeeze the firm chest under my arm, rub my cheek against his shoulder until I find the most comfortable spot, and close my eyes.
Chapter22
The Teddyclysm
In the morning, everything’s different. And nothing is.
Charlie’s stomach wakes us in time for breakfast, but none of us get up. Charlie eats a power bar, swaps places with Gabe so he gets a little “Teddy-time,” and we all go back to sleep. Like nothing’s happened. Like the thing I thought irreparably shattered didn’t come back together last night in a storm of tears and laughter. Like all the doubt, grief, and loss never happened.
When we finally roll out of bed, Charlie drags me into the shower to give him the underwater head he likes so much. When he finishes and steps out to let me wash my hair, Gabe steps in and scrubs my back. We don’t do anything more than kiss, even when Darwin joins us to borrow the dreaded pink toothbrush, but the ease is already back. Like I never lost Gabe. Like I never hurt Darwin.
Is it really that easy for us to forgive each other? Was it just my stubbornness and pride keeping us apart? If it was, I really have a lot to make up for to my boys.
We dress like we’ve lived together forever. Someone loans Darwin a sweater and trainers. Charlie insists that I wear one of his Bevington Swingers sweatshirts. I grab Dinger off the bed and take him with us as we amble to Treetops for brunch. Darwin seems as unselfconscious carrying the bear as he is about having his arm around Gabe.
The boys never stop smiling, so neither do I.
On the way into Treetops, I check on Rachel, who’s alive, and vowing never to touch vodka again, although not very loudly, given how bad she’s hanging.
She passes on brunch. Could be because she’s so hungover she can barely drag herself off her couch to answer the door. Or could be because she’s afraid of running into Wyatt in the dining hall.
Wyatt’s the first person we see once we get through the service line. He’s sitting with O and several other juniors, including the raven-haired girl, Kellan. Although Wyatt’s a little quiet, he doesn’t look like he was out drowning his sorrows over breaking up with Rachel last night. He smiles at a pretty blonde who stops by the table to natter and I’m very glad Rachel opted out of brunch.
Wyatt’s eyebrows shoot to his hairline when we sit down with Darwin between me and Gabe. O’s aren’t far behind. No one gives Dinger a second glance as Charlie settles the bear in its own seat on his far side.
Kellan offers me her knuckles across the table. I knock them without being sure what I’m being congratulated for. Ignoring the stares, I set in on my waffles.
I’ve barely seen anyone but Charlie since I got back, immersed in my Early History of Magic cramming, and following The Mr. Black’s advice to keep my head down. Since my return, Charlie’s spread a rumor that I’d gone home for a family emergency so secret and dire that I couldn’t tell the boys where I’d gone or when I’d be back. Rachel and Serena are the only classmates I’ve told the truth to. It keeps questions to a minimum.
Instead, the conversation over the table focuses on gossip from the Samhain celebrations that I missed. Several upperclassmen got a second, and in one case, a third Element, which is almost unheard of. A good reminder that Bevvy really is for the magickal elite. I should thank my lucky stars for Charlie’s machinations to get me here.
While everyone swaps goss, I take the opportunity to question O.
“Did you know Jade Kalveri?” I ask him, with all the subtlety of a sledgehammer.
Beside me, Darwin twitches. He switches his fork to his left hand, reaches his right under the table, and squeezes my thigh.
“Yeah, I did,” O confirms. “Nice girl.”
“How’d you know her?”
O rubs a hand over his long face. “Goddess, Teddy, I don’t remember. I’ve always known her. I live two towns over. All the mage families around here know each other. We were in primary school together until she went to Bevvy and I went to Addlestone.”
Not helpful.
“Did you know who she was dating?”
