Chapter 186

"You did what?!" Dale exclaims in disbelief.

"What I said." Virgil mutters, unbothered as he swerves to make a quick turn. "Told her you bought me this." He adds on, waving his fingers.

Dale just slides down the chair, at a loss for words, head in his hands as the maddening scent of honey and jasmines keeps haunting him.

Virgil glances down at his friend in worry, he knew he had no right telling Dale what to do so he let him be and tried to put up with the creepy girls that kept sneaking into their apartment or the ones that tried to hook up with him.

He knew Dale had done a pretty good job of hiding his pain from everyone, even Virgil at least until they started sharing a room.

Virgil was stumped, offering sympathy felt hypocritic but watching his friend run himself down to the ground was even worse.

Virgil floored the gas, they were supposed to pick up Shana by 11 am and it was already well past 10:30 am when they left the apartment, they were definitely going to get yelled at.

No magic was getting him to the airport on time, the situation worsening when they ran into traffic.

"I need a fucking smoke." Virgil curses under his breath, tapping the steering wheel impatiently when they had only moved a couple of meters in the past five minutes.

"You don't smoke." Dale points out with a frown.

"And you're not gay but somehow a guy makes you forget where you were going." Virgil quips back.

"I deserved that but then again you cheated at rock, paper, scissors so I'm justified."

"You were the one who suggested it." Virgil huffs in disbelief. "How does one even cheat at that for fuck's sake?"

"Keep your eyes on the fucking road." Dale bites out when Virgil glares at him for a second too long. "Or, wait, you know what, don't, Shana can't kill us if we're already dead."

"You're the only one dying… just shut up, you talk too much." Virgil grumbles, keeping his eyes on the road.

He had expected Dale to break the silence because the Werewolf did like to talk so when Dale goes quiet for the rest of the ride, Virgil glances at him secretly in worry.

He knew for a fact that Dale wasn't gay, unless the slew of women all through college was a sham but he did know for a fact that he wasn't attracted to guys except Hayden and it was no surprise his boyfriend ruined Dale for everyone else, he could totally relate to that.

They find Shana immediately because she's waving a larger-than-life signboard which spells out, 'If you two idiots forgot about me, you're walking home when you do get here.'

Virgil is the first to see her which is no surprise as Dale is too distracted to.

She's in an all black ensemble which is a little weird for Shana who likes lots of colors, her red hair is not dyed for the first time and cut short, a single black stud in her left ear and a silver dangly one on the right.

"You're going through your emo phase? At twenty-one?" Virgil teases her easily walking into her outstretched hands.

Shana is tall but he easily towers over her, her hand reaching up to ruffle his hair. "Shut up, you two idiots left me waiting." She complains, pinching Dale's side before hugging him.

"Ow! Hey! Why am I getting hurt?" Dale complains, hugging her tightly even though his side smarts.

"Because you were the one that was supposed to pick me up and why do you smell like…" She pauses, leaning back briefly only to lean forward again and sniff him. "Honey? … and some… flower?"

"He went perfume shopping with a guy." Virgil says quickly, easily hoisting up her luggage.

Shana blinks in confusion, walking with them to the car. "I'm sorry, what?"

"I didn't go perfume shopping with any guy." Dale protests.

"But there's a guy?" Shana asks blandly.

"Well, yes…"

"Is that coffee on your shirt?" Shana leans forward cutting him off.

"I…"

"I told him to change it." Virgil cuts him off again, dry humor in his voice.

"Cut it out." Dale bites out unhappily. 

"How did you idiots get so tall?" Shana looks at them appreciatively. "I'm riding shotgun."

Dale glares at her but swallows his retort, slipping in the backseat. "We sent you pictures?"

"And I figured you surrounded yourselves with petite people to deceive me." She replies sweetly. "Plus why do you look so huge, what did you do? Customize a mini gym in the apartment?"

At their expressions, she shakes her head, a happy smile on her face. "Should have seen that coming."

"How was your trip?" Virgil asks conversationally while Dale crosses his arms in a pout in the back seat, sulking.

"It was nice, some chick kept staring at me weird." She summarizes quickly. "I also spoke to Mae and Hayden, they still think we're coming in a couple of months."

"Couple months?" Dale frowns. "That's a little cruel, I thought we agreed on a month."

"Well, yes…" Shana starts to explain patiently. "But they didn't say they missed me so I edited that part out."

Virgil just snorts, uncaring of the time that was given, all that really mattered was that they would be going back, and pretty soon too…

He gets yanked out of the thoughts by the sounds, sights, and smells of Shana spraying a mini bottle of perfume around.

"What the fuck, Shay? What are you doing?" He asks in bewilderment, leaning away a bit so that the spray didn't get in his eyes or mouth.

"I'm sorry." Shana apologizes absently, turning around to spray a generous amount all over Dale who tries to bat her away. "But that scent is driving me insane." She comments.

Dale doesn't even fight it anymore, knowing it was better to lose the scent. "That makes two."