Page 108 of Veil of Death and Shadow

James wasn't a friend, but he'd adopted Sora's nickname for me almost instantly, much to my chagrin. But we also connected so superficially, that I almost didn’t care. He started working at Mac’s a month ago, and we hooked up exactly once.

It was a decision I’d almost instantly come to regret, since judging by the appraising look he shot at Levi, the whole 'casual, one time, no strings attached,' stipulations I'd laid out beforehand obviously hadn't been as clear as I'd thought they were at the time.

Men seemed to take offense at my disinterest in second helpings—that, or they saw it as a challenge; like in setting my boundaries, I was inviting them to play some game I had no interest in watching, let alone participating in. Or like in saying ‘yes’ once, I owed them every subsequent time after.

Women, however, usually took me at my word. For example, I'd also hooked up with Sora's friend Rose once, a very long time ago, but unlike James, she hadn't tried changing my mind after. Nor had she made shit weird between us when we shared space at parties like this one.

"Neither," I said. "I have a study group in the morning before my shift, so I'm not trying to get entirely shit faced tonight."

"Don’t be so responsible. Come on." James shifted closer to me—oblivious to Levi’s stare which had swiftly turned from teasing to a full-on deadly—his hand brushing up against my arm, as if he meant to grab it. The gesture was probably intended to come off as flirty, but it just made my skin crawl. "It'll be fun."

When he curled his hand around mine, I flinched, putting some much needed distance between us again.

“I said I’m good,” I snapped, then instantly tried to ease the annoyance out of my tone with a half-smile. James was clingy, but I also had to see him semi-frequently at work, so I didn’t want to make things more uncomfortable than they had to be. That said, I mentally pushed casual hookups with colleagues under the bad lessons learned list that I kept an unofficial tally for in my head. “You guys go ahead without me; I need a breather from all the socializing."

"Right.” James’s eyes slid to Levi then back to me, his jaw tight, but he thankfully bit back the retort very obviously brewing on his tongue. “Suit yourself."

He grabbed another drink and nodded at us once before rejoining the party.

I needed to let Sora know in the morning that he was officially on the not-invited-back list. I didn’t need that kind of energy in our space.

As soon as James disappeared, Levi leaned forward, ready to comment.

"Don't," I said, though there was no edge to my voice.

Levi gasped in faux shock. "I didn't say anything."

"Mhm," I grinned into my cup, "let's keep it that way."

He studied me for a second, the tension in his body slipping away like sand through fingers. “So, house parties, huh?”

I winced, realizing I’d effectively bulldozed Levi from playing whatever game the group landed on. “Shit, I didn’t mean to shut that down. We can go join in on their game if you want. Generally, they can be pretty fun if you’re in the right headspace for them.”

“Nah,” he said. “I’ll hang back with you, if that’s okay. I don’t think big crowds are really my thing.”

His gaze traveled over the kitchen, mentally clocking every design choice with a soft nod.

Sora would be pleased. She’d put a lot of work into making this apartment feel like a home. Becca, our roommate, was hardly around, and had pretty much used the place as a landing pad to crash in when she wasn’t at work or with her boyfriend.

“Mine either. Sora mostly hosts these as a stand-in for how she imagines college parties would be if we lived on campus somewhere.” I shrugged. “She doesn’t want us to miss out on any quintessential age-appropriate experiences.” I glanced up at him. “Her words, not mine.”

It was something she took very seriously. There was a four-page list in one of her old journals that tracked different experiences and events that Rina had either made passing mention of when they were younger, or else random things Sora imagined her sister would have loved if she was still here with us.

Rina had always been the most adventurous and outgoing of the three of us. Back then, Sora was quieter, kept mostly to herself. Sometimes that meant she got swallowed up by her sister’s shadow. But after Rina’s death, it was like she’d taken on some of her traits and transformed them into something that made more sense for her—a way to honor her memory, like she was still with us.

We tried to tackle at least one thing on her list a month. The frat-house style game night sort of stuck though, and while it wasn’t my favorite way to kill an evening, I liked doing what I could to help Sora feel closer to Rina.

I nodded at the bottle hanging at Levi’s side. “What’d you bring?”

“Wine.”

I let out a low whistle. “Fancy.”

Not exactly the illegal beverage that came to mind for a party hosted by eighteen-year-olds, anyway.

“Not really.” He held it up, studying it. The bottle was dark, the label an almost comically loud range of colorful cartoon dog faces. “I know nothing about wine. I always just go with the coolest label. And this one had dogs.”

“I like dogs,” I said.

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