Halfway through breakfast, Jill received a call from her mom. She excused herself from the table and Eddie followed without hesitation, which left me with Adrian at the table.

He wasted no time.

"So, your plan is to never interact with me again?"

"What makes you say that?" I tried to keep a straight face. That had been my plan.

"You can't just ignore what happened, Sydney. We need to talk."

"What for, Adrian?" I asked, exasperated. "It won't change anything."

"Don't you at least want to be honest with yourself, for once?"

"I'm not lying to anyone." I said unconvincingly.

He moved his chair close enough to me that his leg partly rested on mine. I tried not to gasp at the contact.

He leaned towards me. "Look me in the eyes and tell me that you don't feel anything for me."

It was hard to keep eye contact but I refused to show any sign of weakness. I took a deep breath, preparing to sternly tell him that I was not interested.

His eyes quickly dipped to my lips and back to my eyes and I lost my train of thought. That small action completely distracted me.

My voice came out softer than I intended it to. "Adrian..." I said, tentatively.

"I've missed you." He whispered back as his eyes dipped to my lips again.

My breath was starting to become a bit faster and my mouth felt dry. I liked my lips and was shocked to see the hunger in his eyes.

It was disorienting.

His eyes snapped back to mine when I started leaning towards him.

Wait, what?

All I could focus on was his lips, his scent, and his impossibly green eyes that were focused solely on me.

He closed the remaining space between us and I lost all thought as soon as his lips touched mine.

He placed one of his hands softly on my face as he deepened the kiss. A soft moan escaped my lips and I barely recognized the voice as mine. I had fully given myself over to whatever my body wanted to do. My actions were purely instinctive.

I heard another moan and that voice definitely wasn't mine. Hearing him moan as he kissed me caused something inside me to snap.

My hand went up to get tangled in his hair. I tugged at it slightly and I took control of the kiss. He went along with it easily, and his hand slowly made its way down from my face to my shoulder. As if to hold on for the ride. He briefly squeezed my shoulder before very slowly pulling away. I had to stop myself from reaching back towards him.

He was breathing heavily, as if he just got done with an intense workout.

The thought of Adrian exercising almost made me smile.

He leaned his forehead against mine. "My god, Sydney." He said in between breaths, eyes full of wonder. " You're incredible." His hand went back to my face. "You have no idea how much I've missed you."

As the lustful haze slowly left my brain, I started to realize what we had just done. In public.

I pulled away from him and he frowned in response.

He took a deep breath. "Please don't do this again, Sydney." He pleaded.

I couldn't look in his direction. "Adrian, you know we can't. This… is wrong."

How had I allowed myself to get here? I have a lot more self-control than that!

I shouldn't be feeling this way. I shouldn't be acting this way.

When a few minutes passed in silence I looked in his direction.

His eyes were so sad, it almost broke me. "You don't deserve to do this to yourself." He said quietly.

"I could say the same to you."

"At least I'm not lying to myself about my true feelings." He said as he stood to pull his chair away from me, back to its original spot.

I need to stop this. "Adrian… " He wouldn't look at me, and the disappointment was evident in his face. "I think I'm just tired and stressed." My voice sounded robotic even to my own ears. "You're a familiar face that provided me comfort, but this cannot happen again." He looked up at me. "I- I'm sorry, but I don't feel for you the same way you say you feel for me."

He nodded slowly. "Right." He scoffed. "Of course."

Before I had to think of a response, Eddie and Jill made it back to the table.

Jill sat down with a smile on her face that quickly turned into a frown upon seeing Adrian.

"We have good news," Eddie told the table.

He didn't wait for anyone to ask, and simply continued. He seemed excited.

"Jill and her mom were allowed a secluded vacation at a lake in Michigan, which means I'm also going on a secluded vacation at a lake in Michigan."

I tried my best to smile, which must have been enough to encourage Eddie to continue.

"It's so secluded that they're only requiring two guardians, and we'll each have our own rooms in a separate wing of the cabin."

"That sounds great, Eddie. How long will you be gone?" I asked, taking advantage of the distraction..

Jill looked at me for the first time since she got back, and smiled. "We're hoping we can stay for a week, but I have a feeling that they'll find some sort of reason to need us back at Court before then."

Eddie bumped his shoulder against Jill's. "Hey, any time off will be good. Even if you're only there for a day, we'll make sure you have the best one-day vacation ever."

She blushed. "Thanks, Eddie. I'm lucky to have you."

Now it was Eddie's turn to blush.

"As a guardian, I mean." Jill added quickly, seeming to realize that her words could've been taken in a romantic way. "And as a friend. Because we're friends, right? Why wouldn't we be?"

She was talking fast but by the look on Eddie's face he simply found it more endearing.

Adrian didn't speak at all. Jill kept sparing him concerned glances but he was avoiding eye contact with everybody.

Eddie could definitely tell that something had happened but was only focused on protecting Jill both physically and emotionally. He could tell that Adrian's mood was bringing her down, so he kept trying to say or do things that would make her smile. It was incredibly thoughtful of him.

I wondered, not for the first time, how someone so in tune with his surroundings had not yet realized that Jill liked him.

Towards the end of breakfast, I excused myself to use the restroom and when I came back Adrian was gone. Apparently, he had simply decided that he wanted to leave and go back to their hotel. He left enough money on the table to cover everyone's meal, though.

Eddie and Jill drove me back to the hotel and each gave me a long hug. They wished me the best and asked me to let them know if I was ever back at Court.

As I entered the empty elevator, I found myself fighting tears. I think I was just going to miss having the sort of easy relationship that I had with Jill and Eddie and…

It dawned on me, as I entered my hotel room, that Jill or Eddie's paths and mine may never cross again in life. That thought made me so sad I turned on the hotel TV for a distraction.

I had grown fond of the group in Palm Springs, and closer than I ever expected.

That's for sure.

I shook my head.

Stop it, Sydney. That can never happen again. I need to stop thinking about it.

I took a deep breath. Tomorrow, I'd head back to South Dakota and go back to my daily routine.

I'll never think of Adrian Ivashkov again.