bit like his ‘n’ hers toothbrushes. And she wore a flatteringly but distractingly tight tee-shirt with Love Will Tear Us Apart emblazoned on it, and while I appreciated the Joy Division shoutout it was a slightly unfortunate phrase to have scribed on your breasts.
“Flick, Kate, Kate, Flick.”
We gave slightly laconic waves at each other.
Sofia, meanwhile, went straight to the kitcheny corner of the all-purpose living space and started rifling through cupboards. “Tea, coffee?”
“If by coffee you mean instant coffee, then tea. Otherwise coffee.”
She made three cups of tea and plonked them down on the table. On coasters on the table. Who even has coasters? Apart from quite a lot of people probably. “I asked Flick to sit in because she lives here and she’s been helping me out with all my complicated life stuff.”
“By which you mean.”
Flick-with-the-blue-hair waved a dismissive hand. “Everything magical is real. Sofia’s an oracle but doesn’t know how to control it. People keep trying to murder her or force her into creepy metaphor-marriages. Her ex is a vampire. Her other ex is god of the sun. Y’know, usual undergrad bullshit.”
“You seem weirdly okay with all that,” I offered.
“Well the way I see it, the existence or otherwise of werewolves has surprisingly little impact on my daily life.”
“Good attitude.”
She flashed a smile at me. “I try.”
“So are you and Patrick…” I tried to express it as delicately as I could. “Are you definitely fully ex now? This isn’t a stay away from me you are too pure and innocent thing?”
“I think it’s really over.” She looked—not exactly sad, maybe a bit nostalgic? “He texted me yesterday to say he had a new girlfriend and that I should not try to come between them.” There was a touch of bitterness in her voice. “I don’t know why he thought I would.”
“He can’t help it,” I explained. What masochistic impulse compelled me to defend him, I don’t know, but defend him I did. Half-arsedly, admittedly. “It’s how he’s wired. Being a vampire makes you young and sexy and powerful forever, but it’s still basically a curse.”
Sofia nodded. “I also think he didn’t like my new hair.”
“So have you tried getting back with—Samuel or Apollo or whatever the fuck he’s calling himself these days?”
“No. Say what you like about Patrick, but at least he never lied to me about what he was. Besides, there’s this whole difficult situation where I’m cosmically his wife anyway, and that makes everything a bit…”
“Creepy as fuck.” That was Flick. I was beginning to think I approved of Flick.
“It’s all for the best. I’ve got a lot of work to do and it’s been nice to have some time to think about me. A break from boys is probably what I need.”
I took a sip of my tea. “For what it’s worth, I can highly recommend girls.”
“Tried that.” Flick gave an exaggerated sigh. “She’s worryingly heterosexual. I’ve told her that she’s nineteen and it’s the twenty-first century and so she’s legally required to be at least bicurious, but she keeps insisting she’s strictly dudes-only.”
Sofia blushed at that. I was glad she hadn’t completely given up being awkward around these topics. Not that I wasn’t keen for her to be all comfortable with her sexuality and shit, it’s just, y’know, they grow up so fast these days. “It’s not my fault,” she insisted. “Some people are straight: get over it.”
If I was better at my job I’d probably have had a better sense of the dynamic between these two. They seemed comfortable with each other, and I got the impression that Flick would have talked a lot less about wanting to do her housemate if it had been something that either of them thought was a real possibility. Of course right now we had other problems to worry about. “The thing is,” I said. “While I won’t pretend not to be glad Patrick is out your life for good, it might have happened at the worst possible time.”
“Because of his ex?”
“Because of his ex. If it was only her, she’d probably go straight for him and his new obsession, but Sebastian Douglas is pulling the strings and that puts you and me slap bang in the crosshairs. And I don’t want to come over all condescending and overprotective, but you’re about ninety-nine percent an ordinary human and that makes you super easy to break.”
Flick took her friend’s hand. “We’ll get through this. I’ve got your back.”
“And I’m glad Sofia’s not alone,” I said. “But Yelena doesn’t