I responded with one final song before blocking the number again… Kameron Marlowe’s “Giving You Up,” the song I had listened to over and over again to try and get over all of them. I wasn’t sure there was any other song that more accurately said—especially for Craftsman—“you had your chance and walked away, and I won’t be stupid enough to give you another one.”
Why were we even having this back-and-forth?
Why wasn’t that a valid stance to have?
Because he asked for time?
Why didn’t I deserve better than being abandoned?
I gave up on even trying to do homework, heading back to my bed and wanting the day to just be over. Instead, someone knocked on the door again. At first, I ignored it, but when the knocked kept up, I sighed and caved.
“Oh, agra,” Darby whispered when I opened the door. “What happened?”
I shook my head and stepped aside to let him in. “What’s up?”
“Did you forget I was coming?”
I wracked my brain and came up short, not simply forgetting, but not registering it at all. “I’m completely drawing a blank.” I closed the door behind him and went back to bed. “Sorry, but I just want today to be over. Can we do whatever tomorrow?”
He caught me around the waist and hugged me to him. “Was his class that bad?”
“It’s more than that,” I admitted. “What did we have?”
“You weren’t paying attention at all at dinner yesterday, were you?”
I opened my mouth but then closed it. I sighed and let my head fall back to his shoulder. “It’s hard for me to focus when Hudson sits close to me. The energy dances all over my skin, and I’m seriously seconds from orgasming or just letting him fuck me right on the tables, no matter how much I still can’t stand the idea of being around him after what he did. I’m sorry. I’m sorry you have all my baggage—”
“It’s okay, agra,” he murmured, softly kissing my neck.
Izzy opened the door before he could finish his thought, once again perfectly fulfilling our joke that she had the most accurate timing to always know anytime Darby kissed me or we took any sort of break. She sighed. “Is this seriously all you guys do?”
“No, but I’m going to start recording our time together so you can really see how you just have radar to walk in the moment he touches me. It’s like you have perv radar, Izzy.”
“It’s uncanny,” Darby drawled.
“Well, I got ice cream for you too since I remembered your study date with Tams, so don’t be salty with me,” Izzy threw right back.
I rolled my eyes as Darby let me go. “Glad you remembered because I apparently didn’t ever hear about it.” I glanced at him over my shoulder. “You’re not our year. Are we just studying whatever together?”
He frowned, reaching out and tucking some stray hair behind my ear. “No, I’m helping you with physics and your high school Latin.”
It was my turn to frown. “You’re not a tutor anymore, Darby. I gave you my prize so you could be free and not have that shit to deal with. Even the scholarship students don’t have to do that anymore.”
He leaned in as he cupped my cheek, being more affectionate than normal as if he couldn’t believe he was allowed to touch me again. “I know. This is simply me being a good boyfriend and helping out my wonderful girlfriend who has too much on her plate. She helps so many, and I want to support her, so let me.”
“Now I’m really glad I got him ice cream,” Izzy mumbled as she went to grab us spoons.
Yeah, I was too.
I brushed my lips over his in thanks and accepted my pint from Izzy before we jumped right into it. It was nice to have something familiar and normal. Something calm. I didn’t have a lot of that in my life, and I needed more of it.
20
The next few weeks of school were a mix of ups and downs, but it was oddly easy to fall into the routine of getting back into my studies. I found it shocking, given I’d been out of school for years before my freshman year and had had only one year of traditional high school education. My college life was going to be exponentially easier once I finished my high school degree.
Funny how that worked out when I was going to such a difficult school.
Instructor Larson was awesome to work with. He was like the ultimate guru and completely dedicated to my overall advancement, not simply in training. I was learning a ton from him and soaking it all up like a sponge… Even if the man was cutting my sugar intake considerably and making me eat a ton more lean protein. It was totally worth it.
And it was hysterical to watch him battle with Irma, who loved to feed me sweets. They went at it at least every other day, and I was not the only one who grabbed a front row seat in the cafeteria to see who would win. Mostly, Irma would concede to add more protein, but only when Larson would grant more fae fruit sweets for me as those had benefits too.
Botany was fun, but not much of a challenge. After the lectures, I finished my assignments pretty fast and got into the habit of reading for my high school classes, which was nice in the greenhouse. I was into nature as a fairy, and as long as I found some shade to hide under, as I also burned like a redhead,
