#rivervale_lodge

Her mouth tightens. "Oh."

"..How is he?"

A mild gotcha expression. "You guys are fighting, aren't you."

Then a shrug. "He's okay. Seems that way, anyway."

"No..."

"I mean... not really?"

"Just.. I mean, he's been... busy and..."

"I've been busy, too.."

"Well...yeah." She thinks a moment. "I'd offer to take over his training if you wanted, but I'm not as good at combat as you."

She sighs.

"Everything's all screwed up."

"Well...."

"It's different, maybe."

"He's allowed to date Piper. It's fine. But.. I mean... I mean, I dumped him... but, like, I also saw him hanging all over her at Nadeen's..." She stops.

"You want it to not matter," Sylvi ventures. "But it does."

"I dumped him." Jaw-jut.

Sylvi is still for a moment, then she sighs and puts down a half-eaten cookie.

"Yeah...that sucks."

"I mean, not that you dumped him, but how it feels."

"..Yeah."

"Not his fault, but I don't... I just don't wanna be around him. Which isn't fair to him, I know..."

"Yeah...." Sylvi sighs quietly and prods at the cookie with her finger.

After a pause, "I told you about Spencer, right?"

"From the Farm? Before Colton?"

"Yeah. Well...he was at the Gloaming."

"Oh?"

"Yeah....." She pokes the cookie again. "He...wanted to get back together."

"Oh. That sounds tough."

A sigh. "Yeah. It was..." She frowns. "It hurt. But it hurt more because I knew I was hurting him, too."

Scowl. "Dating is stupid."

A surprised look. "Well...I can't agree with that."

"I wish I'd never met him."

Sylvi starts to answer, then stops, then starts again. "I get that. I really do."

"Dating's not stupid...but it's complicated, and it hurts."

"But...it also feels really good, when it's going right." A bit of a color in her cheeks.

"I guess."

"Like...Colton was really understanding about the whole Spencer situation. And...that...." She casts around for words. "It matters to have somebody in your life who understands...."

Not quite the right words.

She shrugs.

"Well, I'm not trying to say that Adam was that person for you."

"Relationships are about, you know - doing stuff. And it.. I don't.. he kept calling me pretty and being all... saying he liked me... and he wasn't lying, but, I mean, it wasn't like he liked only me, either..."

"And he wanted to do stuff. Of course he did, all guys want it."

Sylvi nods. "That doesn't matter to some people. Being exclusive. But I get that it matters to you. It matters to me."

"Can't be exclusive, though - like, can't insist he be, or whatever, if I'm not... y'know? Providing?"

"Well, you could, but I kind of doubt...." Then she stops. "No, you know what...I shouldn't assume. I mean, I see how he is, and yeah, I agree...I assume he wouldn't want to stick in a relationship that doesn't get sexual...but that's for him to decide."

"Or for you. I mean...if he was pressuring you, and you weren't comfortable, then breaking up was totally the right thing to do."

"He was... he was really nice about it? Always asked if it was okay to kiss or whatever..."

She frowns. "It was embarrassing."

"Embarrassing?"

"That... that he had to. That I'm so..." frustrated gesture.