Solvency: You're Mine

Contention Fifteen: Blue Cheese

"Wow, you've got proper punctuation and everything," Dalia joked, scrolled through the messages I showed her.

"Shut up..." I responded, "But does it look good?"

She read it out loud one more time:

"Hey, Anthony! I'm really sorry for what happened at MeowMeow Café. I'll admit it, I disproportionately lost my cool and shouldn't have yelled at you like that. I promise you that I really want our partnership for Nats to work. Let's talk and smooth things out, please. My friend's friend's band is playing at the Phantom Pavilion this Friday at 8pm. I was hoping we could put our differences aside and go together 😊"

We remained quiet after she finished reading it.

"I think it's good," she finalized before sending the text on my phone.

"Okay," I took a deep breath.

"I'm going to be so for real," Dalia said, handing me back my phone, "I was half-joking about inviting Anthony."

"WHAT?!" I exclaimed, slamming the desk

"Yeah, I thought you wouldn't actually do it," she added.

"DUDE-"

"But," she interrupted before I could start fuming, "I'm really proud of you for being mature and inviting him."

"I guess..."

"It's the first step towards you two winning Nats!"

"Okay, I doubt we'll get that far...but I do want us to get at least to quarters," I commented.

"I'm sure you can."

I changed the conversation topic, "How's LD prep going?"

"It's going fine..." she groaned, "I also have to prep for World Schools because Internationals is right after Nats."

"Oh, are you going this year too?" I asked.

"Yep!" she nodded, "The past two years have been fun, so why not do another year?"

"You're just saying that because you get to hang out with Mateo in person at Internationals," I teased.

"What? Noooo," she denied.

"Oh, so competitors from Team USA and Team Argentina are just randomly seen together at all times in between rounds," I smirked.

"You know what they say, keep your friends close and your enemies closer," she bantered back.

"As long as you don't leak his case!" I start joking but stop myself, "No! I need to stop. I'm a new, mature person. New year, new me."

"Adrian, it's mid-May. I think it's too late for you to set stop making passive aggressive jabs at Anthony as your New Year's resolution," Dalia responded.

"However, on a more serious note, I really do believe in you, Adrian," she started, "Once you and Anthony get over this, Nats will be a breeze."

I smiled and nodded reassuringly.

A small beat of silence passes before I speak up, "DID WALLACE TELL YOU ABOUT HIM PULLING IN IRELAND???"
"WHAT?! NO! HE JUST TOLD ME ABOUT THE COWS LEVITATING-"

"YEAH! APPARENTLY, THIS ONE GIRL WENT UP TO HIM WHILE HE WA-"

A notification noise from my phone stopped me mid-explanation.

I lunged at my phone, turning it around to see the notification.

"HE ANSWERED."

"WHAT?!"