Chapter 60: Raincheck For The Longest Weekend Ever
"Answer it." Rose said.
She looked at the screen and his eyes followed. Dina.
Of all the timing.
"It’s not urgent."
"Adrian." She tilted her head at him. "I mean it."
Yeah. That tone wasn’t leaving him much room to negotiate.
He picked up the phone and answered, putting it on speaker.
"Hello?"
"Hey." Dina’s voice came through, then a half-second pause. "Are you busy?"
He glanced at Rose.
She gave him a small, deliberate shake of her head, then pointed at the phone.
Right. She didn’t want Dina knowing she was here. Or maybe she wanted to know what Dina would say if she thought he was alone. Those options were definitely too risky.
Adrian looked back at the screen.
"I’m with my girl."
Rose’s eyes widened. She opened her mouth, then seemed to think better of whatever she’d been about to say
There was a short silence on the other end.
"Oh. I..." Dina’s voice lost some of its confidence. "Sorry. I was going to text, but you weren’t responding."
A breath.
"I need your help with something."
"What kind of something?"
"There’s paperwork I need someone to sign. For a job I just got."
Rose’s arms folded. That was new. Adrian kept his attention on the phone. "What’s the paperwork for?"
"Mm." She paused. "I’d rather not say."
"You expect me to put my name on something without knowing what it is first?" He kept his voice level, even as his suspicion climbed.
"It’s not incriminating."
"That sounds exactly like something someone would say immediately before describing something incriminating."
Dina exhaled quietly.
"Besides, why’d you pick me? You could’ve just asked Marianne."
Silence. Long enough that Adrian’s suspicion climbed another notch.
"Let’s just say it’s not a job I’m proud of." Another pause. "So, I don’t want anybody who’s close to me to know about it."
Adrian’s gaze flicked to Rose. She’d heard that. Hell yeah.
Dina had practically drawn the line herself. Not close.
Whatever Rose had been thinking about their relationship before that sentence, at least she had something clearer now.
But, the job itself was another problem. He didn’t know what Dina wanted him to sign, and he wasn’t about to put his name on something blind.
Normally, that would’ve been an easy no. Except there was the Regret Investment Module.
If this was connected to it, walking away before he understood what was happening might be worse than getting involved.
Adrian’s thumb tapped once against the side of his phone.
I need to understand how this works.
He couldn’t do that by standing around waiting for the system to hand him answers.
"I got it, Dina." Her voice immediately sounded lighter. "Tomorrow. Text me the time. I’ll look at the paperwork first."
There was a brief pause.
"Then I’ll decide if I’m signing it."
"Okay." She breathed out softly. "Thanks a lot. Sorry for calling so late."
"It’s fine."
He ended the call and lowered the phone.
Rose hadn’t moved.
She didn’t look angry. That would’ve been easier. Instead, her expression was almost unreadable.
"She’s Drew’s friend," Adrian said.
"Yeah. You said that before." She looked at the phone, then back at him. Her arms were still folded. "Why did you tell her I was here after I asked you not to."
Shit. That part was probably going to be hard to explain.
"Uh..." He replied. "I wasn’t planning to."
"That’s not good enough."
Adrian opened his mouth. Nothing useful came out.
He rubbed the back of his neck, trying to look less guilty than he felt. Judging by Rose’s expression, it wasn’t working.
He sighed.
"Um." A pause. "She kept asking questions. I answered one. Then another. I guess, somewhere in there, it sort of slipped out."
Rose stared at him. "Slipped out?" She uncrossed her arms. "Your mouth just decided to announce me?"
"When you put it like that, it does sound kinda silly."
"It is silly." Rose’s gaze shifted toward his phone. "Don’t lie to me... Do you like her?"
"No."
The answer came quickly. Rose’s eyebrows lifted.
Adrian sighed. "I mean, no. Not like that." Her expression didn’t completely change.
"I’m serious," he added. "There’s nothing going on between us."
Technically, there were complications.
The system was one of them. But explaining that to Rose would probably create several problems that were best left uncreated.
Something in her expression loosened.
"Fine." She said.
"Fine?" He repeated. "So we’re good?"
"Yeah. We’re good." Rose picked up her bag. "I should probably get going."
"Now?" Adrian watched her sling it over her shoulder. "It’s still early."
She paused. "I’m tired, Adrian."
He glanced at her bag. Maybe. That was a convenient excuse, though.
"Oh. That’s alright, I guess."
"Yeah." She gave him a look. "The mood’s gone. Raincheck?"
Adrian forced a smile. "Sure. Raincheck."
He paused and glanced toward the bathroom. "So the shower is cancelled too?"
Rose’s mouth twitched. "Looks like it."
"Tomorrow?"
She shook her head, finally smiling. "Goodnight, Adrian."
He nodded. "Had to try."
Rose stepped closer and gave him a quick kiss before heading for the door.
The latch clicked.
Adrian stood by the door for a moment. He could hear her footsteps in the corridor, fading down the hall, and then the sound disappeared altogether and the apartment was quiet again.
He instinctively checked the System.
Rose West:
Investment Potential: 61%
He stared at the number for a second longer than he needed to.
It went up? Did she believe my lie? Probably not. But that seemed like the only believable answer. Which meant that tonight hadn’t been the disaster it could’ve been. He’d take it.
Adrian dropped back onto the couch and reached for the remote.
The television was still paused on the same frame where he’d left it. Luffy mid-expression, frozen between one ridiculous moment and the next.
He pressed play.
For a while, it actually worked. The episode pulled him back in. Luffy was doing something deeply idiotic in the way that only Luffy could, and Adrian found himself following along without trying to. He laughed once. Quietly. At nothing that would’ve been funny to explain to anyone else.
He watched the episode.
Then, somewhere between one scene and the next, Dina’s name surfaced in the back of his head.
Not the phone call itself. He’d already processed that. What surfaced was the moment just before it, Rose sitting across from him, paying more attention than he’d realized. How close she’d come to a question he didn’t have a clean answer for.
And the thing was, Dina wasn’t even the whole problem.
Dina was just the part Rose had almost reached.
There were others.
Adrian looked at the television without really seeing it. At some point, Rose was going to find out that his life wasn’t as uncomplicated as tonight had probably made it seem. And when that happened, the conversation they’d have was going to be significantly less comfortable than the one they’d just survived.
He pushed the thought away.
No point building a problem that didn’t exist yet.
He turned his attention back to the screen.
===
He checked the time.
9:44.
Adrian stared at the number. That was surprisingly early. It felt like it should’ve been past midnight at minimum, given the amount of things that had managed to happen today.
Tomorrow was Thursday. First real day at Northgate.
He considered getting up. Doing something useful. Preparing, maybe. Whatever preparing for a Monday at university was supposed to look like.
His body rejected the idea immediately and comprehensively.
He reached for the remote instead and let another episode play.
Somewhere around the second episode, his attention started coming and going.
He’d follow a scene, then resurface five minutes later with no memory of what had happened in between. His eyelids were making themselves difficult to ignore.
He told himself he’d finish the episode first.
A few minutes later he realized he had absolutely no idea what was happening on screen.
Adrian exhaled and sank deeper into the couch. The bed was right there. Technically. Across the room and through a door, which was currently a distance he had no interest in covering.
The couch was fine.
He adjusted himself against the armrest. Closed his eyes.
A louder moment from the episode caught him. He opened them again.
Blinked at the screen.
Closed them.
Monday slipped into his head one final time. A normal university day. Classes. People. Whatever normal was supposed to feel like after a weekend that had involved a system, Rose, Dina, Jenna, and more money than he’d seen in his life.
The thought didn’t finish forming.
His eyes stayed closed.
The television kept playing. Then he didn’t register any of it.