I would be in tatters if I was in her position.
“You’re staying here tonight, Laur.”
She tried to argue, claiming that she didn’t want to impose, but all I could think about was how I would feel if I had to spend a night like this alone. I refused to take no for an answer, and instead tossed her a pair of my pajamas and drew her a bath.
I brought over my little tray of pebbles and crystals, my tiny hoard of found items since I’d been here, and left them by the tub.
“You know, just in case you feel like throwing something,” I said with a small smile.
As an Earth Conduit, I’d often catch Laurel spinning sand or pebbles around her fingertips as a mindless, anxious habit. The last time I’d seen her, she was arguing with an ex and ended up with little bits of quartz orbiting around her head. Honestly? I was surprised she hadn’t just lobbed them at the woman instead… I would’ve.
“I appreciate you,” she said softly.
I nodded and stepped away to give her some privacy—time and space to process this alone.
About half an hour later, her voice startled me from dozing off.
“Hey, can I steal a couple blankets?”
I was lounging on my bed, reviewing some notes from a lecture earlier today, and raised one brow at the inquiry.
“You are not sleeping on the couch, Laur. Get your ass over here,” I said, pushing myself over to one side and patting the empty space in my bed.
“Ugh, I love you,” she murmured appreciatively, crawling in beside me. You didn’t often have to tell Laurel something twice, and I liked that about her.
She picked up a light novel from the stack at my bedside table, and for a while the two of us just enjoyed some calm, quiet time together. Simply existing in one anothers’ orbit. As it started getting late, Laurel turned to me with a strangely wistful, apologetic looking expression.
“I’m sorry for doing this, Ark.”
“What do you mean?”
“I dunno, I can’t help but feel like I’m taking advantage of your kindness. We haven’t seen each other in weeks, and it’s shitty of me to just burst into your apartment with my troubles when I’ve hardly been there for you.”
“I’ve been perfectly fine, Laurel.”
“I know, I know. You can take care of yourself. It just sucks that we don’t have any courses together anymore, and I worry about you going all… hermit on us. I should reach out more,” she said.
I laughed quietly, patting Laurel’s head. It was sweet that she still worried about me, but I had adapted to Sophrosyne quite well.
“There’s nothing to apologize for, or worry about. Kieran wouldn’t let me hermit if I tried, he’s constantly dragging me all around the city whenever he’s not working. So if anything, I’ve been bad at keeping up withyou.”
“How is that going, by the way? Are you and the sexy guardsmanofficialyet?”
I resisted the urge to groan or roll my eyes. I knew that she was asking this as a means to distract herself from Amir, but I understood and played along.
“No, we’re just friends.”
She raised a brow, looking skeptically towards the ceiling since she couldn’t quite face me in her current position.
“You told me,verbatim, that you wanted to fuck that man on sight when you first met. The few times I’ve seen you two together, he looks at you like…Gods,he evenlookslike he’s fucking you every night, Ark. You’re telling me the two of you still haven’t?”
I sighed. “It’s not like that.”
“Bullshit,” she immediately shot back.
“Okay, okay,” I acquiesced. “There is obviously some mutual attraction, but I’m not looking for a relationship! And Fates know that he isn’t, either.”
“Alright, fair,” Laurel reasoned. “I feel like he’s my primary competition in the taverns.”