Chapter 195: They’re Both Egg

Daemus was at the bottom of the Dormitory G steps at a quarter to eight with a paper bag in his hand.

Blair saw him from the window and stopped halfway. He just stood there with the bag and looked at the door. She pulled the sweater down, tugged the right cuff over her knuckles and the left over her wrist, and ran.

He looked up when the door banged.

"Morning," he said.

"Morning." She was out of breath. "You didn’t have practice?"

"Had it. Five to seven." He held out the bag. "Got you breakfast."

She took it. Usually he kept it. He’d open it himself, tear a bun in half and hold the piece against her mouth until she gave up and ate it. Today the bag sat in her hands, warm through the paper, and his hands went into his jacket pockets.

She looked inside. Two buns and a carton of milk.

"Did you eat?"

"On the way."

His hair was still damp from the showers. There was a fresh scrape across one knuckle. His ears were down.

She went up on her toes and kissed him.

For a second he didn’t move. Then one hand came out of his pocket and settled at her waist, and he kissed her back. His mouth was warm and tasted of mint and cold air. She parted her lips for him, and his tongue touched hers, once, slow. His thumb pressed into her side through the wool. She slid her hands inside his open jacket and up his chest, and felt his heart under her palm, fast. He made a low sound in his throat, tipped her chin up with one knuckle and kissed her deeper. She leaned into him and his ears came up.

She pressed closer, and his hand slid from her waist to the small of her back and held her there. He kissed her bottom lip, then the corner of her mouth, then her mouth again, slower. She made a small sound, and his fingers spread wider across her back. A window opened somewhere above them. Neither of them looked up.

For a moment she was sure everything was all right.

Then his ears went down again, and he eased back.

"You’ll be late," he said.

"I’ve got twenty minutes."

"Walking takes twenty minutes."

It took twelve. She had timed it every morning since the first week. She didn’t say so.

He walked her to the lecture halls with his hands in his pockets.

He always walked on her left, close enough that his arm bumped her shoulder every few steps, and he always talked. About Coach. About Hollis. About a player on another team whose face he hated.

This morning he walked on her left, and there was room between them for someone else.

Blair ate one bun. She held the other out to him.

"I saved you the egg one."

"They’re both egg."

"This one has more egg."

He took it. "Thanks."

He ate it in three bites and folded the paper into a small, neat square.

She reached for his hand. Her fingers found his wrist at the edge of his pocket, and for a moment he let her hold it. Then he needed that hand for the bin by the path. After the bin, it went back in his pocket.

She tried again at the fountain. "Did you beat the goalie who cheats? In Breakaway?"

"Didn’t play much."

"Oh."

Two beastwomen passed them going the other way, and both turned to look at him. He didn’t notice.

Nora came down the path from the library with a stack of books against her chest. She saw them and smiled.

"Morning, Blair." She looked up at Daemus. "Morning."

Daemus nodded.

Nora’s smile stayed a moment longer than it needed to. Then she looked at Blair, and Blair looked at the path.

Outside the lecture hall he stopped.

Students pushed in around them. Someone’s bag clipped Blair’s shoulder, and Daemus shifted to put himself between her and the doors without seeming to think about it. She looked at the zipper of his team jacket. It was easier than his face.

"Hey," he said.

"Mm?"

"Anything happen this weekend?"

He said it lightly, in the same voice he used to ask whether she wanted the window open.

Blair’s heart stopped, then started again.

She pretended not to think about it at all.

"Just the forms," she said.

He nodded.

"Right," he said. "Have a good class."

He touched the top of her head, once, and walked away across the grass.

She stood in the doorway until someone asked her to move.

Inside, she took a seat in the back row and opened her notebook. At the front, the lecturer drew river borders on the board. Blair wrote nothing for fifty minutes. Her phone was a weight in her pocket. Twice she took it out. Twice she put it back.

At the break, Nora slid into the seat beside her. Blair hadn’t known they shared this lecture.

"Did you two fight?" Nora asked quietly.

"No."

Nora waited.

"He’s tired," Blair said. "He’s been having a lot of early practices."

Nora looked at her for a long moment.

"Okay," she said, and opened her own notebook.

***

The rink was empty at nine in the morning.

Daemus sat on the home bench in his socks with his phone in his hand. His bench. Four years he’d sat on it.

He’d given her the door. He’d stood in it and waited.

Just the forms.

She hadn’t met his eyes once. That’s how he was certain she was guilty.

He pressed his thumb into the scrape on his knuckle until it stung. It didn’t help. He did it again anyway.

This morning he hadn’t asked for anything except a weekend.

He opened Breakaway. The restart screen came up. He looked at it until the phone went dark in his hand.

It buzzed.

Thank you for breakfast :)

He typed anytime bunny.

He looked at it for a while. Then he deleted bunny and sent the rest.