Chapter 66: The Wrong Thing to Say[1 Castle Bonus]
"Hey, Mom."
"Ady!" Mrs. Hayes called out from the other end. She sounded way too excited for a phone call. "How’s my baby?"
"I’m fine, ma." Adrian shifted the phone on his ear. "How are you?"
"Oh, your mother is fine. You don’t need to worry about that." She called out. "Tell me about you. Your first lecture...How was it?"
Adrian raised his gaze, the disappointed faces of freshers coming from the hall were all over. "Mm... Boring."
He thought about it for a second. Yeah. He’d barely heard a single word. "I meant tell me what you learned."
"I learned what the professor looks like."
She laughed. "Adrian, you need to put in more work. First week of school is always dull."
"Hm?" Adrian raised a brow. "So this isn’t a one time thing?"
She laughed again. Adrian almost smiled, but he already had a longing, to get out from school.
"Are you meeting people?" Her tone changed slightly. There it was. "You’re not sitting in the back of every room and going straight home?"
"I’m not a shut-in."
she didn’t respond. That definitely wasn’t a good sign.
"I talked to people today."
"Anyone you’d actually call a new friend?"
Adrian considered lying, but she’d hear it.
Jenna and Drew had already been there before NorthGate. They didn’t count as something new. Daniel barely counted as a person. Dina was... well, he didn’t exactly know what she was to him.
Then there was Rose. His girlfriend. Who was currently waiting for an explanation that might determine whether he still had one.
"There’s someone," he said.
His mother caught the shift immediately. "Someone?"
"Someone I’ve been spending time with."
"What kind of someone?"
He’d meant to say neighbor first. Ease her into it. Give her the basic information before dropping anything else. Instead...
"A girlfriend."
Silence. Fuck. That wasn’t the plan.
"Adrian." She said. "You have a girlfriend?"
Adrian. Not Ady. That was definitely a shift. What was he supposed to do now? Deny it. No. Denying it now would be stupid.
"Yeah." He straightened. "I do."
"Since when?"
"Recently."
She was quiet for a second. Then she laughed. A real laugh this time, that surprisingly released his tensed shoulders.
"I never knew you’d be the type to move fast."
Adrain smiled. "Mm. To be honest, it wasn’t planned."
"Nothing is with you." He could hear the smile in her voice. Then it faded. "But are you sure she’s the right choice?"
"Yeah ma." Adrain replied calmly. "You don’t need to worry, she’s not a replacement for Maya."
The words came out before he could stop them. Another pause.
"Okay." Her voice softened. "What’s her name?"
"Rose." His mother made a small, amused sound. "Are you serious? That’s such a sweet name. And I love roses so much."
"I’ll let her know."
"How about you don’t bother."
"Don’t bother?" Adrian continued forward as he stepped down the stairs. "What’s that supposed to mean?"
"I’d like to meet her."
"Eventually, sure."
"Actually, I meant dinner."
Adrian stopped, his shoulders immediately tensing up. "...wait. Today?."
"Is that a problem?"
Of course it was. Rose was Maya’s step-sister, and whatever was going on between them was already complicated enough. But, he couldn’t exactly explain that to his mother.
"No." Adrian forced a casual tone. "There’s nothing wrong with it already."
"Marvelous." Mrs. Hayes exclaimed. "But I do have an appointment later today, so I’m not exactly sure I’ll be free."
Adrian raised a brow. "Appointment? Is that something I should know?"
Mrs. Hayes’s tone remained casual. A little too casual. "No, baby. You don’t need to worry." She said. "So tomorrow sounds good? Let’s say six-ish? Please say yes, Ady."
Adrian stared ahead. There wasn’t anything in particular to look at. But, at least the date wasn’t scheduled for tonight again.
Still... If his relationship survived tonight, dinner with his mother would be a pretty major step. Apparently, his weekend wasn’t done getting worse.
A noise came from the other end. Then another.
"Mom?" Adrian pressed his ear closer to the speaker as if that’d change anything. "You okay? I heard some noise."
"Um. Yeah. I am. It came from the back." Her voice sounded casual, oddly. "Your father probably knocked something over or something. Let me go check on him."
Adrian’s expression didn’t change. "Okay. Go."
"Call me in a few hours."
"I will."
"Goodbye, baby."
"Goodbye, Mom."
The call ended.
Yeah. This was just fantastic.
As if Rose wasn’t already enough of a problem, now Mom wanted to have dinner with her.
He could already imagine how that conversation would go.
His mother would be friendly. Rose would be polite. And eventually, someone would have to explain why his girlfriend was also Maya’s sister.
Yeah. Dinner was gonna be terrific. He really couldn’t wait.
He gently rubbed his forehead, searching for a reasonable way out of this. All he could see was his fuck up.
His phone vibrated in his hand. Adrian glanced down and unlocked it.
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DAILY TASKS
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☑️ Eat one proper meal. Preferably in the company of another person. ⓘ
☑️ Maintain personal hygiene. ⓘ
☑️ Accumulate 90 minutes of physical activity. ⓘ
☑️ Get at least 7 hours of sleep. ⓘ
☑️ Have at least one meaningful social interaction. ⓘ
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All Daily Tasks Completed.
Reward: 500 BP.
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Adrian stared at the reward. Five hundred billionaire points.
That was a lot closer to his benchmark. At this rate, a few more days would put him around five thousand.
Then he could...
His eyes caught the time at the top of his screen.
12:42 p.m.
His eyes widened. Shit. I almost forgot.
Daniel. He was supposed to meet him by one. Adrian locked his phone and slipped it into his pocket.
Eighteen minutes. He could make it. He turned toward the east lot and started walking.
He picked up his pace slightly. No point rushing when he still had plenty of time
After the morning he’d had, meeting Daniel should’ve been the straightforward part. Which probably meant it wouldn’t be.
Adrian walked through the school, brushing away the regrettable thought that he should’ve just used his car.
But eventually, he reached the east lot. He slowed and looked around.
There were students moving through the area. A few sat around the edges of the lot, while others crossed between the nearby buildings.
No Daniel.
He checked his phone.
12:50 p.m.
Still ten minutes early. Weirdly, he’d expected Daniel to be the over-punctual type.
He sighed, looked around, and spotted a parked car he could lean against. All he could do now was wait. There wasn’t much else to do.
And so, he did.
Students came and went around him, but Daniel was nowhere among them. Adrian glanced at his phone again.
1:07 p.m.
Still no Daniel.
Adrian frowned and looked around the lot again.
Nothing.
Seven minutes wasn’t exactly enough to be annoyed about. Yet. But coming from the guy who’d been harassing Rose, it was still annoying.
With nothing else to do, Adrian pulled out his phone. He was about to check his messages, hoping for anything to take him out of his boredom, even Drew, when something else caught his attention.
Rose West.
[Investment Potential: 62% → 63%]
He stared at it, then checked again.
Sixty-three.
It had been sixty-two before.
And there it was again, increasing.
He ran through the morning. Rose had basically become more suspicious of Jenna, yet somehow her investment potential was increasing too.
So why had the number changed?
Or maybe he was missing something entirely.
Adrian stared at the percentage for another second, the most obvious thought running through his mind.
What is she actually thinking?
His eyes shifted to another entry in the system.
[Mind Maze Runner]
If he saw Rose again, he could finally find out instead of trying to piece together her behavior afterward.
Adrian hesitated.
He didn’t like the idea of using it casually. Reading someone’s thoughts wasn’t exactly normal.
But at this point, it seemed smarter to use it than ignore the opportunity.
The only question was whether it was worth five grand.
Well, maybe. Depending on his balance.
Maybe it’s worth knowing.
He checked his balance.
[$7,082.34]
Adrian looked at the figure.
He could probably afford it.
If Mind Maze Runner actually gave him some useful information about Rose, it’d be worth the cost.
Right?
"Yo."
Adrian stopped as the awfully familiar voice registered.
It sounded calm too.
Weirdly calm.
He slowly raised his head, and his eyes met Daniel’s.
He was standing right in front of Adrian, smiling like he hadn’t just made him wait several minutes past the agreed time.
Adrian stared at him.
Daniel didn’t look away at first. Then his eyes shifted from side to side before returning to Adrian.
His smile faded.
"What is this?" he asked, his tone indifferent, which somehow made it feel worse. "Where’s Rose?"