Alive // bxb

Chapter 22

Milo's POV:

"Another round?" Adriel asked me as he reached for the few cards left in my hand. I handed them over begrudgingly, nodding.

"Goddess, why are you so good at this game," I groaned as I was given a new set to play with. Adriel smirked.

"I guess playing against Liam upped my skills."

We had been playing Uno together for the better part of the hour, mostly because we had already exhausted every other option of what we could do on our day together. Because Liam, Sage, and Julie were all going out to a fair in a nearby city, Adriel and I had decided to get together and spend the entire day together. In the past we might have watched movies all day- and we did plenty of that today as well- but sitting down and waiting for something to happen on a screen was boring so we then moved on to other things to do.

Liam and Sage would be back in half an hour, giving us another half hour of Uno time before I would leave with Liam to go on a date and Sage would return to Adriel for a quiet night of just them. It sounded nice to me, much nicer than going out to eat, but Liam had planned it and sounded really excited, so I had agreed.

I didn't necessarily regret it, I was just also simultaneously hating my past self for agreeing.

Adriel caught my gaze with a roll of his eyes, as he had many times that afternoon. "Stop thinking about it," he commanded me, "you'll only stress yourself out more."

"Easy for you to say, you can actually communicate with people you don't know without having a panic attack."

"Ordering is what scares you?"

I nodded silently, gnawing on my lip. "And also just being around other people, but mostly the ordering because it means I actually have to talk to people, and I know I can't eat a whole meal, especially when I'm nervous like this, but Goddess, I don't know."

My friend placed a hand on my shoulder, effectively silencing me. "Breathe," Adriel told me, "just breathe. It'll be okay. Take a breath."

I did just that and the corners of his lips turned up into a smile.

"Whose opinion in this scenario really matters to you?" he asked me, his eyes searching my own.

I took a deep breath. "Liam's," I admitted, looking down.

"And you're aware that he's completely smitten with you and wouldn't care if you decided to become a cannibal someday?"

"I actually think he might care a bit about that," I responded, but at Adriel's unimpressed gaze, I sighed and replied, "Yeah."

"So there's nothing to worry about."

"I mean, I can think of a few things-"

"No one whose opinion matters will care."

I hesitated for a second before nodding. Adriel smiled triumphantly.

"Do you know where exactly he's taking you?"
"No? Why?"

"I'm wondering, if you could see the menu online and pick out what you want to eat ahead of time, if it would be less stressful."

I blinked; I hadn't thought of that. "That's a good idea."
"I'm full of them. Could you ask him?"

"Couldn't you?"
"I just tried," Adriel informed me with a roll of his gray eyes, "he blocked my link before I could even say anything."

I couldn't stop the laugh that bubbled out of my throat. "Okay, then," I smiled.

And here I was, thinking all animosity between them was gone. Oh, well...

Liam, I called over our link. I was almost immediately greeted with an answer.