WOLFVILLE

2.1: Dog Can't Save You Now

The next time Timmory saw Milo was two days later—Friday morning, the moment she stepped out of her Geology class. He waved her down, freckles and hair and tallness making him difficult to miss. "How are you?" he asked.

Timmory cleaved her attention between talking to him and dodging other students. "Oh, fine. I could go for a nap."

He laughed above her head, one hand tucked in the front pocket of his pullover. "Don't fall asleep on me. You're the one taking notes for us."

"Since when?" She sneered at him.

"You don't remember? I distinctly recall you saying, 'Sure Milo, I'll take the notes if you read the text'."

"That can't be right, because I read the text and took notes."

"You read the text?" Milo adjusted his backpack. "Good, because I didn't."

Timmory scoffed. "If you can't keep up your end of the deal then you aren't getting my notes."

"So we do have a deal?"

His rapid-fire mind games were both thrilling and vexing. Timmory looked bemused at him. "I don't know if I like this deal." She wasn't about to depend on Smilo for important class work. He was stupid if he thought he could depend on her taking notes for him. "How about you write your notes and I write mine, then we compare them later."

He smiled, which quickly threw her reservations into disarray. "Sure."

Stupid Smilo. "Anyway. How's your little friend quest going?"

He shrugged. "Talked to a few people on Wednesday. I don't have classes Tuesdays or Thursdays."

"Aren't you taking a full course load?"

"Yeah, but none of them are on Tuesdays or Thursdays." Hearing about his freedom made her bitterly jealous. "Hey, did you hear about what's going on at the Diederich Suites next weekend?" His voice quirked enthusiastically.

Scratching her chin, Timmory mulled on it. "Oh yeah, we heard about it on the radio this morning. The von Diederich family's coming in for the grand opening, aren't they?"

"It's supposed to be a huge thing." Milo's eyes lit up as he showed her an article about the event on his phone.

Timmory leaned in and skimmed. She already knew about the planned office spaces; the building with its immaculate white metal and glass architecture stood out like a sore thumb along the colourful older buildings down Main Street. The style was signature to Hildebrandt von Diederich, a local celebrity who, alongside Acadia University, was one of the few reasons anybody might have even heard of their little town. He wasn't even a native of it. The German architect moved to the hometown of his psychologist wife, and then left after she died. Some people boasted Wolfville as 'the hometown of the von Diederich family' regardless of the fact that they only lived there a few years. The article detailed the upcoming event and how the family was supposed to make an appearance for the grand opening of the building next Saturday evening. Later, they were going to host a fancy reception that only those who donated to or participated in the construction of—the designing and planning part, of course, not the physical labor—were invited to. Timmory didn't find it that interesting; it wasn't like she was going. "Is the whole family gonna be there?" she asked.

"Yeah. Hildebrandt, Gerhard, Felix, and Erika," Milo scrolled down the article, pouring over photos of the building pre—and post—construction, as well as of the family smiling and waving.

"Are you going to go?"

Milo looked shocked. "There's no way I'd get into that party. Maybe I'll go for the grand opening and watch. I'd like to see Erika in person, I heard she's actually like really small."

"I hear she's possessed by a demon," said Timmory. "There's this rumor that any time you see Erika von Diederich when she's not doing some public appearance, something terrible happens. Like she's cursed. You know, like people say they go home with her but then wake up in the middle of the woods, or how someone died—you heard about that, right? Someone really died at a party she was at."

Laughing, Milo put his phone away. They were nearly at the classroom. "I mean if you're constantly in the limelight like she is, you'd probably do crazy shit to get a little privacy too. Or maybe all that stuff's just an accident."

"Maybe. Or she traded her soul to the devil for everlasting beauty," Timmory rolled her eyes. "Jules really wants to go to that too."

"We should go together."

Timmory kicked herself for divulging their plans. She was convinced that Milo would have lost interest in her, but now she wondered if he didn't even care about her. Maybe he just wanted to get in Julia's pants. "I'll ask. She might have plans."

"I don't know what else you could be doing on a Saturday night that's more exciting than that."

She shrugged, but by then they turned into the classroom and were looking for seats. "I'll see," Timmory repeated and turned her attention to the professor.

At lunch, Milo asked to join them again. Timmory made an excuse about how she and Julia were heading back to Julia's place for a quick ten-minute lunch because someone forgot something that they needed in the afternoon, and rejoined Julia at their customary meeting place.

"No Milo today?" she asked, craning her neck to look for the tall boy.

"Nah. Busy," Timmory answered and brushed past Julia, guiding her in the direction of the parking lot. "You wanna get some burgers?"

"There's no burger joint on campus."

"Let's go for a drive," she said.

A woman on the radio started talking about the Diederich Suites; Timmory turned the volume down and snuck a glance at Julia. "You still good for our hike tomorrow?"

"Yes Ma'am," she beamed, then gasped and turned the radio back up. "They're talking about next weekend," Julia interjected.

"Oh yeah, that," yawned Timmory.

"I was thinking we'd meet some friends at the Boatswain later. Maybe one of the boys will be there," she suggested with a flirty wink.

Sure, if Julia wanted to ditch Timmory to try to get laid by some socialite jerkhole, it sounded great. Timmory smiled thinly and bounced her hands on the steering wheel. Maybe she should invite Milo along. Maybe she wouldn't spend the night feeling alienated from people better versed in the bar scene than her. Or maybe Milo would ditch her too and join Julia's pack of party animals. Why was it getting harder to tolerate people these days?

Because you've done this to me before. Please don't abandon me again.