Chapter Twenty

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She only had the outfit she came her in, which she was sure had been discarded after all the blood loss. She glanced around the room for any sign of her clothes or her shoes, and saw two neat stacks of clothing on the bed. She walked carefully over and sat next to them, pulling off the yellow sticky note on top of the first pile.

Thought you'd want your own clothes back.

Underneath the note was the blue jeans and grey t-shirt she had worn three days earlier, but they were freshly washed and free of any blood stains. Her white sneakers were placed neatly on the floor, with a fresh pair of socks. Adelaide felt a smile come to her face as she reached for the second pile, pulling off an identical yellow sticky note.

Your flannel was beyond cleaning, so I hope this will work as a replacement.

When she moved the sticky note Adelaide saw a different flannel shirt than hers, and quickly recognized it as Stefan's. He'd worn it the day they met in the woods. She remembered how he threw it on the ground in frustration when he showed her his scars. Adelaide glanced behind her at the door to the bathroom, smiling at his gesture. She could still hear the shower running, and some faint humming, so she figured she had a minute of privacy to change into the new clothes.

She slipped the jeans on pretty easily, silently grateful she hadn't chosen to wear skinny jeans. The t-shirt swap was a little hard to maneuver on her own, but Adelaide pushed through the soreness in her arms and got the clean shirt on. She decided to skip the shoes for now, her stomach already hurting at the idea of bending over to put them on.

Adelaide slipped Stefan's flannel on over the t-shirt. The sleeves were too long, so she folded them up and cuffed it at her wrist. It was clearly too long for her, but she didn't mind. It smelled like laundry soap and faintly of amber. It reminded her of the feeling of calm she got around Stefan.

Feeling refreshed in clean clothes, Adelaide wandered around the room, browsing Stefan's large collection of books. She wondered if any of them were books about magic, like the textbooks she used to have to study accounting. Adelaide couldn't read the titles of a lot of the books - many of them were in Czech, but she recognized others as French, Greek, and German. There were some English titles as well, and they were mostly classical literature books. She wondered if he had really read all of the books in his room, or he just liked to collect them.

Adelaide's train of thoughts was cut off when she heard the shower cut off in the other room. She had wandered over to the small sitting area next to the windows, and had taken up a spot in one of the green armchairs. She picked up the book nearest to her on the coffee table, pretending to read it as Stefan exited the bathroom.

Stefan didn't seem surprised to see her as he waltzed out of the bathroom wearing a pair of boxer shorts and using a towel to dry off his dark hair. He nodded his head towards her, making his way across the room to his dresser.

"Nice shirt." He commented, throwing a glance over his shoulder as he dug through the drawers. Adelaide felt her cheeks heat up as she looked down at the flannel she had on.

"Thanks." She mumbled, resisting the urge to smile. She shut the book she had been reading, and set it back where she found it. She watched Stefan pick out a pair of jeans and a plain t-shirt. He pulled on the jeans in a swift motion, and pulled the shirt over his head and covered up the muscles in his back. When he moved to turn around she looked away quickly, the blush on her face intensifying

"So," Stefan said, his face expressionless as he made his way to the seating area. He plopped down in the chair next to her, propping his feet up on the coffee table, "did you and your boyfriend kiss and make up?"

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