“I wouldn’t say those things.” He pulled me closer.
“You took me to your mother so she could tell you I was crazy.”
“Are you ever going to let me live that down?”
“No, probably not.”
“I guess I’ll have to live with it,” he said. “But just so you know, my mom already invited you to Thanksgiving, so you’ll have to get over it by then.”
“What?” I laughed.
“I’m not kidding.”
“Does she think we’re dating?”
“I mean, I didn’t say otherwise.”
“You’re joking.”
“Not joking.” He shrugged. “I chose to be buried in a casket with you. I’m pretty sure we’re past the dating question.”
“We haven’t even had sex.” I frowned. “Don’t people have sex and then decide whether or not they want to date?”
“Is that what you do normally?”
“I don’t normally date.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean I don’t normally date. I usually have sex and that’s it. One-night stand, no strings attached.”
“You’re that afraid of commitment?”
I bit my lip and thought about it. “I’m not afraid of commitment. I’m afraid of disappointment.”
“Got it.”
“You’re a dater though. I can tell. You like having girlfriends.”
“I haven’t had an actual girlfriend in a while, but I’m not opposed to having a girlfriend. Why haven’t you had a boyfriend? You’re drop-dead gorgeous. I can’t imagine you went through high school without a million guys trying to date you.”
“I was gone for a lot of it. The Institute. When you’re there too often people start creating this narrative about you. I think they thought if they got too close to me and hurt me that I’d do something drastic.”
“That’s not fair.”
“Neither is taking me to see your psychologist mom.”
“I already apologized for that.”
“I know. That time, I was kidding.”
“So, one-night stands, no strings attached,” he said as if mulling it over. “Sounds lonely.”
“I like lonely.”
“Hm.”
“Hey, Adam,” I said after a long bout of silence.
“Yeah?”
“Did it occur to you that they could kill us by throwing dirt on us and leaving us here?”
“It hadn’t occurred to me, but thanks for putting that in my head.”
“I’m just saying. What if that happens?”
“What if my best friends try to kill me?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, fuck, Eva, I don’t know. I guess I’ll be dead and won’t have a chance to give it much thought.”
“You seriously trust them?”
“With my life. Obviously.”
“Okay.” I nodded against his shoulder.
“You’re going to trust us with your life?”
“I’m going to think about it. Who knows, maybe I’ll unlock my full potential and become the queen of this weird castle.”
“Achieve, not unlock.” Adam chuckled. “This isn’t a video game.”
“You sure about that?” I raised an eyebrow even though he couldn’t see me. “So, what’d you do with your money?”
“From The Swords?”
“Yeah.”
“Deposited it into a Roth IRA account.”
“Damn.”
“What?”
“That’s why the rich keep getting richer. Here I was thinking about spending it on a car.”
Adam chuckled. “You’re funny, Eva.”
“I must be. I don’t think I’ve even seen you smile this much, let alone laugh.”
“Where do you see yourself in five years?”
“I guess I should have expected achieving my full potential to come with a side of questions like these.”
“I’m curious and we have all night.”
“I want to teach first grade.”
“That’s cute.” I could hear the smile in his voice. “You know you’re going to get attached to the kids, right?”
“I know.”
“I’m surprised you’re okay with that being that you’re such a commitment-phobe.”
“I’m not a commitment-phobe. I just prefer to be alone.”
“Hm.” He stayed quiet for a moment. “Hey, Eva.”
“Yeah?”
“Do you realize I’ve had my arm around you this entire time, in this hot, box of death, and you haven’t even pulled away once?”
“Interesting.” I smiled. I hadn’t noticed. “I guess I feel comfortable with you.”
“I like that.”
“Of course you do. You’re trying to have sex with me.”
“I’m trying to date you.” He chuckled. “And have sex with you.”
“Hey, Adam.” I looked up, even though I couldn’t see his face. “I really like you, despite reason.”
“The feeling is mutual.” He kissed the top of my head. “I would kiss you, but we need to save oxygen.”
I gasped. ““We should have taken our cloaks off.” I gasped. “What if we overheat?”
“Just stay calm and we’ll be fine. We have water. Try to get some rest. The ceremony will be ten times more exhausting than this.”
“This isn’t the end?” I groaned, banging my head against his shoulder.
“You want to be the queen of the creepy castle, don’t you?”
“Ugh. Stop talking.”
At some point, I fell asleep. When I woke up, it was noises above us followed by a bright light and two guys standing over us, looking down into the casket we were inside of.
“Congratulations. You survived the night,” Will said, grinning.
“Good job,” the third guy said. “Damn. No crying or pounding on the door. I’m jealous. And impressed.”
“Jealous and impressed because Wolf pissed himself the night of his burial,” Adam said.
“Fuck you. Burying people alive is a form of torture.” Wolf scowled.