This is set about a year after the previous chapter. In this chapter, Sydney meets Adrian at a coffee shop after being broken up for a while.
Based on the song Blue Jeans by Lana Del Rey
I will love you till the end of time,
I would wait a million years.
Promise you'll remember that you're mine.
I had been surprised many times in my life. I'd been caught going against the Alchemists; I'd watched the people I thought loved me act as though they didn't know me; I'd had people I thought hated me cover for me. And yet, through it all, one person surprised me more than anyone else. Adrian Ivashkov.
The name had not passed by lips for more than a year, and yet it flowed through my head like a rapid stream, never pausing, always there, in the back of my mind, every single day. He kept me second guessing myself, kept me wondering where he was or what he was doing, and most of the time, who he was doing it with. Could he have rebounded from me? Last time I had seen him he'd seemed so crushed, so alone. But maybe he'd gone back to being the flippant party boy I had always known. If there was one thing I knew about life, it was that it never gives you what you expected.
This was why I suppose I shouldn't have been surprised when, on a rather mundane Tuesday, my boss instructed me to go get him some coffee. I still held my high ranking job with the Alchemists. In fact, I had just been promoted not too long ago. This was because I had agreed with my sister and told her that I'd break up with Adrian in order to keep my job. I still wonder a year later whether that was the right decision. But it had to be. Adrian wouldn't be safe if anyone knew about us either. It wasn't just for selfishness that I had done what I did, was it? Yet I still missed him whispering in my ear, "Sage." Or teasing me or kissing my forehead when he knew I was mad because it made me melt. I even missed our spirit dreams. I had since been relocated, heavily due to my dads' influence on the Alchemists. I hadn't seen Adrian in a year. I didn't even have any pictures; that was too dangerous. I only had memories.
Anyway, that Tuesday my boss called me in and told me to get him coffee was odd because I hardly ever fetched coffee for people any more. I was too high ranking. They had more respect for me than that. But here I was, being told to go go get some coffee for my boss. I knew I couldn't argue, and why should I? Just because I was some goddess amongst the Alchemists, who still knew nothing of my scarred past, didn't mean I didn't still love coffee. Later I would wish I had argued.
I strolled out of his office and to my car; it was a new, shiny priest, whom I had named Silver. It was a lame name and I knew it. But I hadn't had much bursts of creativity lately. In fact, my magic had been waning too. I hopped into the car and began the ten minute drive to the nearest coffee shop. I headed inside and was purchasing some black coffee for my boss and a latte for myself when I heard familiar footsteps. I knew who was there before I turned around.
The man who haunted my dreams, who I never could seem to forget. He looked at me and for once, Adrian Ivashkov was surprised, truly and really surprised. My eyes widened, and I looked him over. It was him. In the flesh. Was I going crazy? Was my mind playing tricks on me? Had Adrian somehow pulled me into a spirit dream? He hadn't done it since we'd broken up, but I still expected it to come at some point.
No, it wasn't. And I knew it wasn't because in that moment, the spell was broken. Adrian strided with serene calmness over to me. His eyes showed no recognition. "Ms. Sage." He said, his voice every bit as sarcastic as it was polite. "How nice to see you again."