Page 28 of Hopelessly Teavoted
Vickie:Any of the teachers we had there still?
Azrael:I think only Hammonds in science.
Vickie:Aww I loved her
Azrael:Yeah she seems great, still.
Azrael:You love to see your heroes live up to the hype
Azrael:My department chair is kind of an ass, though
Vickie:He comes into the shop, I’m pretty sure. Want me to poison his coffee?
Azrael:He unfortunately is on the list of people I ought not to anger. But I will keep it in mind.
Azrael:I’m trying to give him a chance. Maybe he’s just having a bad day. When we stopped by his office on the new teacher tour, he looked at me like I personally tried to turn in homework late to him.
Vickie:The offer for accidental coffee tampering still stands. Even if this text message chain would make me culpable.
Azrael:I’d magic away the evidence, international Witchery Council text law or not.
Vickie:That’s the Azrael I know and love
Dammit. Why did she have to saylove? Why was this friendship launching itself right back into her heart? That foolish organ should be working hard to forget all the catastrophe that had stretched between them.
Azrael:hah
Azrael:I bet you say that to all the people offering to commit crimes to clear your name.
Vickie:You caught me.
Azrael:Hey, would you maybe want to grab a drink with me? We could call it an early birthday toast. Just between friends.
Now she was grinning embarrassingly. The laundry buzzed, and she put the phone down for a moment. She could let him sweat while she switched it to the dryer.
Azrael:Just casual. It’s a casual drink invite.
Vickie:I’d love to. We can do the saltshakers, too, if you want
Azrael:Let’s keep this one about your birthday. Prissy said you’re busy this weekend, so Thursday might be better?
Fuck. She’d been trapped by Priscilla Hart. At least there was no glitter in it; when they were growing up Prissy’s traps almostalwaysincluded glitter. Some weeks she and Azrael would come to school doused in it after a barrage of pranking back and forth, which was how someone started the rumor that Azrael was secretly a stripper.
She smiled. She would have been too shy to tell him that in high school, but he would make an absolutely fantastic stripper. He could have a whole broody, grumpy character going. And he would definitely look amazing in eyeliner.
Azrael:Kessel Run at 5:30, so we can catch happy hour?
After she closed the shop on Thursday, Vickie would have been embarrassed if anyone had seen how many outfits she tried on before leaving. It was her birthday celebration, if a few days early, and she told herself that was why she opted for her best pair of jeans and a pink crop top, that it was totally casual to put on makeup and fix her hair for a birthday drink with a friend.
When she walked in, he was sitting at her favorite table, the one in the back. There was a plate of nachos waiting in the middle of it. If seeing him again was a death sentence for her resolve not to catch more feelings, well, this detail, him remembering that she’d mentioned this, and ordering snacks, was a final nail in the coffin. She couldn’t help the goofy grin spreading across her face, or the enthusiasm in her steps toward him.
“I thought you might like these,” he said, the corners of his mouth sliding upward.
She leaned over and hugged him. It was a friendly thing, just a few seconds, but the feel of his arms immediatelywrapping her, of knowing his response was to keep her closer, was enough to make everything hazy. Touching him was too confusing. He smelled like he always did, like amber wood and lemon, and just like at the shop, he felt big. More filled out than she remembered him being in college. It was a strange sensation of the familiar and the unknown.
“What was that for?” he asked, his cheeks slightly flushed.
“For getting me nachos. And my favorite table.”
