“Hoping to,” I said. I turned to look at her, offering a little smile. My motives were twofold. Putting her at ease was one fold, getting a glimpse of the group behind us was another.
They’d slowed down, but they were fanning out. One of the lead guys and two of the girls were talking, and something about the intensity of their looks and the changing nature of the connection between us said they were adjusting their approach.
I could hear crows cawing at me, mocking me, reminding me of what was going on.
Fuck. Between the radiation and the heaps of bad karma my bloodline had, I was a walking disaster area.
How could I tell Tiffany to get the fuck away without really upsetting her? Without upsetting Alexis, too, and my other friends in the process?
“I’m not walking you away from where you need to be?” I asked.
Say yes.
“No. I’m- I could do whatever.”
Damn. I glanced at her, and saw she was averting her gaze, looking down at the ground as she walked. It wasn’t just the here and now. It was the way she was. No personal confidence.
“You’re going to school here, huh?”
“Alexis helped me apply for a scholarship. I have no freaking idea what I’m doing next year, but even one year of University is more than I ever thought I’d do. My family doesn’t have a lot of money. Or any money, really, and I kind of have a little learning disability, not a big one but I actually have been postponing a visit to the disabilities center to talk about my exams and… I’m saying all the self-pitying stuff that I’m not supposed to tell people the first time I meet them.”
I looked at her, and I was able to see the group in the reflection in a window. Rose was there too, looking about as worried as I felt. Which was a lot.
“You know all that helpful, well-meaning advice they’re giving you?” I asked.
“Hm? Yeah.”
“I’m really bad at following it, personally. So I want you to know that with me, you don’t have to sweat it, okay? I’m absolutely going to take it in stride, or I’ll try to.”
“Alexis said you’d be like that.”
“Alexis is pretty awesome,” I said.
That earned me my first really wide smile. Common ground, a safe subject.
“She really is,” she said, followed by, a second later, another unprovoked hit to confidence. “I feel like a bit of a pet project sometimes.”
“Take it from another pet project of hers,” I answered, “Don’t sweat it. Joel was just telling me earlier, it doesn’t all have to be equivalent. Take the good, don’t question it, and be glad to give what you can back. They’re a good bunch of people, just… enjoy them.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah, just take it in stride, relax,” I said. “Speaking of giving, the painting you sold me might have saved my life, last night. Thank you.”
“Really? You paid too much for it.”
“I truly believe it was worth what I paid. More than, even,” I said. “I needed a gift, for a… very eccentric guy. A bottle of wine wouldn’t have worked, and I needed to get in his good graces. It got a good reception from just about everyone present.”
“Really?”
“Really. Like I said, a lifesaver.”
“The eccentric guy liked it?”
“He wasn’t sure he liked it until everyone else started saying it was good.”
“So he didn’t like it.”
Another look at Tiffany, more pointed, another chance to see where the group was by way of peripheral vision.
They were flanking me. Two of the girls, one on each side of me. Like lionesses working together.
It caught me off guard enough that I forgot to say what I was going to say.
“He really didn’t like it?” she asked, taking my silence for something else.
“I meant what I said,” I told her, my eyes straight forward now. “If I were to judge solely by the decor of his front hallway, I might say he doesn’t have a real sense of aesthetic, taste, or consistency. He needed other people to chime in before he could decide for himself, about your painting. But it did end up doing what it was supposed to, and a good number of people did like it. Really. Many of whom know what they’re talking about. Take that for what it’s worth.”
She didn’t take her eyes off the ground, but I saw her expression soften, tension disappearing. She unconsciously reached up to tuck her hair behind her ear.
I was so busy looking I nearly missed it. Right there, to Tiffany’s right, the ethics building.
The group following seemed to be expecting me to go further down the path, to have more time to flank me or cut me off.
“This way,” I said, quickening my pace, “Sorry.”
Tiffany, however, slowed. “I might have to catch up with you another time. You’re obviously in a hurry, and I’m not a fast walker.”
If she stopped, however, the other guys would catch up with her-
They, I noticed, were reacting to my change of direction, realizing they wouldn’t be able to catch me.
“Coffee,” I blurted out.
“What?”
“One errand, I’ve got,” I said, walking backwards, mixing up my words in the hurry to get the idea out, “And I’ll treat you to coffee?”
She looked startled, deer in the headlights. For a second, I thought she’d back up, fleeing my presence, right into the approaching group of eight or so guys.
But she nodded, quickening her pace to catch up with me again.
Still too slow.
The two of us reached the front door of the building. I side-stepped to open it for her, and a hand stopped it from opening.
I turned, and saw the group was clustering around us.
“Hey!” one guy said. Brown haired, wearing a dark green scarf, a letter jacket and skinny jeans. He smiled wide, and made it look genuine. “Been a little while, huh?”
A little while?
Oh. He was one of the guys from last night. One of the ones who’d been with the drunkard.
Followers of Dionysus on a University campus?
Fuck. I could start to put two and two together with that. The predatory women at the fringes of the crowd…
In my catch-up reading last night, I’d read about women that drank wine and blood both. Tore men to shreds in violent, drunken revels.
“I actually have somewhere I’m aiming to be,” I said.
“Don’t be unfriendly, man,” he said. “Come on.”
The guy was uncomfortably close. The smell of him was too. Weed and booze and guy smells and sunshine and hay.
“Who’s your friend?” another guy asked. “Hello, miss.”
“Hi,” Tiffany said, her voice quiet. She looked as if she were caught halfway between her complete lack of self confidence and the presence of the guys.
“Want to come to a party? We’re pretty damn easygoing.”
“I was just at a party last night,” she said, glancing at me.
“Perfect,’ he said, not missing a beat. “Parties every night, it’s how University is supposed to be.”
“Hey, man,” the guy in front of me said. I could feel his breath in my face. “You don’t need to worry about her.”
Then, under his breath, he said, “Worry about yourself.”
Worry about myself?
Fuck that.
“I gather your cult leader has a problem with me?” I asked, loud enough for Tiffany to hear.