9. Chapter 9
Chapter 9
Adalie
“ I got an interesting call today,” Derek says as he sets up Ticket to Ride, one of my favourite board games consisting of creating trains to connect cities. We’re at his house for the monthly board game night he hosts on the last Monday of every month. We’d put the date on Mondays because they tend to be our slowest days. “Nate Sinclair called and asked if he could have your phone number.”
I refuse to meet his eyes as I set my train cars in neat little lines in front of my space, my heart beating wildly in my chest. “Oh? Did you give it to him?” I ask, trying to sound as nonchalant as possible. Probably failing miserably.
“Adalie Murphy, why is a man asking me for your phone number?”
Lis’ eyes are sparkling with interest. Vic looks mostly bored, as usual. Ava is pretending to be busy with her game pieces while Spencer is trying not to laugh.
“I’m giving Dani some art lessons. Did I not mention that? I guess we never exchanged numbers. Did you give it to him?”
Derek watches me for a long moment. Finally, he says, “I did. After extracting a promise not to fuck around with you.”
I open my mouth to tell him he didn’t need to do that when he holds up his hand, stopping me.
“Emotionally. If you want to fuck around with him, that’s your choice. But if he hurts you, I told him we’d have a problem.”
I roll my eyes. “Thank you for trying to be protective, but it’s unnecessary.”
“Of course it’s necessary,” Spencer chimes in. “We look out for each other. So he’s paying you to teach Dani?”
“Um, no,” I say, shifting in my seat. “I asked him to help me get out of my comfort zone. Did you know he’s been bungee jumping a bunch of times?”
“Out at Whistler?” Spencer says, sounding excited. “I’ve always wanted to do that.”
“No, thank you,” Lis says, patting his arm. “You can go on your own. I’m not jumping off a perfectly good working bridge. Just like I’m not jumping out of a perfectly good working airplane.”
He smiles at her, then returns his attention to me. “Why do you want to get out of your comfort zone?”
I grimace. “I guess it was because of how my birthday went. You guys were all amazing. But no one in my family even called, and Calista completely ditched me. Then, the next day, she said I never want to do fun things, and she didn’t think I’d be interested in doing what she was doing, which is why she didn’t call me. I’m just… too timid. Too uninteresting.”
“No,” Spencer says, his voice firm and angry.
“N-no?” I say, looking up at him, startled. Spencer is almost never angry.
“No. You are perfect exactly as you are, Adalie. Anyone who disagrees doesn’t deserve to have you in their life.”
My friends nod and Lis raises her glass. “Cheers to that.”
They all raise their glasses or cans of beer, then look at me because I haven’t. I’m staring at my friends with tears in my eyes because I know they’re right—in my head. But it’s hard for me to remember that in my heart.
I stand and give Spencer a hug. “Thank you.”
He hugs me back and says quietly, “Do this stuff, whatever it is, for the experience of trying new things. Not because you think you need to change.”
I wipe my eyes as I sit back down and everyone else comes to hug me, one at a time, even Vic, who usually hates hugs.
We settle back down and start to play. Vic goes first since she’s the most well-travelled person at the table and Lis says, “Now that Adalie’s love life drama is dealt with—”
“There’s no drama,” I protest. “And no love life.”
“We have an announcement,” she continues.
“You’re pregnant!” Derek says.
She glares at him and takes a sip of her wine. “No. I’m not pregnant. We’ve set a date for the wedding.”
Though they’d been together less than a year, Spencer had proposed in December on New Year's Eve and Lis had said yes. Shortly after that, Derek had proposed to Ava, so they’re engaged as well. Everyone seems to be moving so much faster than me, but also, moving that fast would cause me huge anxiety. Still, my friends seem happy.
“Consider this your save the date,” Lis says. “Invitations coming soon. We’re getting married at Blue Vista on September 14th. It’s a Sunday.”
“Wait,” Vic says, frowning. “Isn’t that Daze and Sophie’s anniversary?”
Lis grins. “It is. When I saw the 14th was available, I talked to Daze about it and we’re actually kind of excited to share an anniversary.” She rolls her eyes. “Of course, she had to joke that since I’m the younger twin,” she uses air quotes around younger, “it only makes sense for me to have the same anniversary, a year later. But really, it’s going to be fun.”
I can admit to myself there’s a stab of jealousy at how close Lis and Daze are. There has always been a part of me that wishes I could be close like that with my brother and sister. Or even just one of them.
We talk for a bit about what their plans are otherwise, and Lis explains how she has a few ideas but that she really wants to stand out. She and Ava discuss wedding themes that were striking in the photos Ava has taken.
Eventually, Spencer asks if Derek and Ava have made any plans yet.
“We’re not in a huge rush to get married,” Ava says.
“No. I was just in a rush to get a ring on her finger,” Derek replies, playing with the jewellery.
“So much so, you put two there,” Vic says, deadpan.
He smiles, lifting Ava’s hand and kissing the back of it right by the rings, a gesture I’ve seen him do at least a dozen times, so he must do it a lot.
“Even so,” Spencer says as he places a train on the board, “if you want to get married next summer, you’ll need to act quickly. I think I have two Saturdays left, one in August and another in September. There are a few Sundays and a few Fridays. Unless you want to do a Christmas wedding.”
Derek and Ava had gotten back together over last Christmas. The season was a huge part of what helped bring about their reconciliation.
Ava shakes her head. “I’d rather Christmas just be Christmas.”
“I was thinking about July 5th, actually,” Derek says. “Though I don’t even know if that would work.”
Ava looks at him, her eyes sparkling. Everyone waits for an explanation.
“That’s the day Ava and I started dating the first time,” he says.
I feel that twinge of jealousy again. Not because I want Derek, or even Spencer, but because of both of them and how they are with their partners. The way they look at them. They’re moving way faster than I would be comfortable, but when I see how happy they are with Ava and Lis, I want that in my life, too.
Spencer pulls out his phone. “It’s a Sunday,” he says. “And it’s available.”
“Are you sure?” Ava asks Derek softly.
“You don’t need to decide now,” Spencer says. “I’m blocking it off for you, either way.” He finishes and sets his phone down. “And since I worked at game night.” He takes a drink from his beer.
Everyone laughs. Then I gasp as I realize something. “Ava, your favourite colour is green, right?”
She nods. “Yes.”
“You could do a Christmas in July wedding!”
She laughs now. “That’s not a terrible idea. But enough about a wedding we’re not even planning yet. We have an announcement as well.”
“ You’re pregnant!” Lis says.
“No!” Ava responds, rolling her eyes and gesturing to her beer. “No one at this table is pregnant. Unless?” She glances at me and Vic.
“Don’t look at me,” Vic says. “I haven’t had sex with a man in over a year.”
Everyone turns to me next. “Neither have I,” I say.
“Adalie,” Derek says, sounding disappointed in me. “At least Vic has had sex with women in that time. Do you need me to be your wingman? I will be your wingman.”
“That’s not necessary. I’m fine.” I take a sip of my beer.
“You need to fuck Nate,” Lis says.
And I nearly spit out my beer as everyone laughs. I cough as I get myself under control.
“Wait, so what’s your news?” Lis asks, Derek and Ava.
“Lacey and I are selling our house,” Ava says. “We’ve decided to move in here this summer. It’ll be tight for a bit, but Lacey wants to move into the dorms at whatever university she goes to anyway, so it’ll only be for a year.”
Lacey is Ava’s sister, and they’ve lived in a huge house, just the two of them, since their parents died almost a decade ago. There’s a round of congratulations and the conversation continues. We play the game, then take a break to eat the Thai food that’s been delivered.
“How was your birthday dinner last night?” Spencer asks.
I grimace. “Awful. Elliot didn’t show up. He had a function to go to. The food was fine, but Mom made a What’s-the-Point cake because Calista is gluten-free, dairy free, and sugar free.”
“Oh dear,” Lis says. She’s the one who taught me the term What’s-the-Point cake . If you’re not going to have any of the good stuff, what’s even the point of it? She told me she knows some bakers who can do cakes and desserts like that well, but they’re rare. “Then it’s a good thing I brought this over earlier today.”
She points behind her where Ava is returning from the kitchen with a cake sporting a few candles.
Everyone sings Happy Birthday, and the cake is set in front of me. I blow out the candles and they cheer before Ava hands me a knife.
“Is this strawberry shortcake?” I ask.
“Of course it is,” Lis says, mock offended. “You think I forgot your favourite cake?”
My friends are the absolute best people in the world. Who needs a family who forgets your birthday when you have a group of friends as close as family who not only remembers the day, but also your favourite flavour of cake? I slice into it and hand it out, keeping a large piece for myself. Two pieces remain and Lis says I can take them home.
“If I take them home, I’ll eat them.”
“That’s kind of the point,” she says with a laugh. “If you don’t want to eat them both, you could share one with Nate.”
“I’m not seeing him until Thursday. These will be gone long before then.” I point to the remaining pieces with my fork and take my first bite. It’s perfect. The cake is buttery and sweet, the whipped cream is light, and the berries are tart. I’ve only taken one bite when my phone rings.
Derek looks at me with a sly smile. “Who’s calling you, Adalie?”
“You told him to call tonight, didn’t you?” I ask, though I don’t need to. I pick up my phone and answer it. “Hello, Nate,” I say, staring at Derek.
“How did you know it was me?” he asks slowly.
“Because my friends are nosy as fuck. Hang on a minute.” I stand, then say, “I’m going upstairs,” I look pointedly at Derek, “so you can’t eavesdrop.” I grab my jacket from the front door and take my cake, climbing the two flights of stairs to Derek’s roof top patio. His cat Abyss is sitting in her catio and watches me. No wonder she hasn’t been in my lap all night. She’s been enjoying the cool, fresh air.
“Sorry about that,” I say, taking a seat on one of Derek’s chairs. The cushions are all put away until summer, but it’s still comfortable.
“Did I call at a bad time? Derek said—”
“I can guess what Derek said. I’m at his place now. He wanted you to call while I was here, so he could be nosy and probably tease me about it later. It’s fine. Why did you call?”
“I wanted to tell you, everything is sorted for this week. And I wanted to organize a time.”
It’s silly of me to wish he’d called because he wants to talk to me. That’s not the kind of relationship we have. Also, I’m the one who said we can’t kiss again.
“What does your evening look like?” I ask, getting my mind back into the conversation.
He tells me their routine for weeknights and we settle on a time. And that’s really all we need to say to each other. Yet, neither of us says goodbye.
We sit on the phone in silence for a few moments until Nate says, “So, did you end up getting that birthday cake?”
I look down at my plate and my half-eaten slice. “Yes. Lis made me one. Strawberry shortcake. My favourite. I’m eating it now, in fact.”
“Good.”
We drop into silence again.
After a while, Nate says, “I guess I should go. Let you get back to your friends.”
“Yeah. I’ll see you on Thursday.”
“Right. Goodbye, Adalie.”
“Bye, Nate.”
I remain there for a while before going back inside, letting myself slowly come to terms with the fact that my friends are right: I have a crush on Nate Sinclair.