Virgil watched from his bunk as Jake left the room with the last of his treasured videogames in a satchel slung over his shoulder. These games had a lot more to do with Jake's recovery than Virgil's care. Virgil tried to convince himself that this was a good sign. Even if Jake had grown much more silent since the spring session began, at least he was getting out of the dorm room and didn't show any of the paranoia that to recently ruled his interactions (or lack thereof) with the world. He showed greater confidence and the effortless aplomb that had once been his hallmark. He was again the guy who Virgil first met.
But he couldn't help but think that, piece by piece, Jake was moving out of his life. Jake refused to say where he was going or with whom he spent most of his nights now. Virgil asked if there was a girl in his life. The flash of a lusty smile was all the answer he got and needed. The girl had no small part of Virgil's pity and envy, especially as it seemed Jake was bringing all of his video games as an offering to her. The thought that they might spend their nights cuddled together killing demons filled Virgil with an uncomfortable jealousy.
That there was a girl was great and who was he really to chastise Jake for hiding a relationship with some girl? He certainly wasn't about to advertise his friendship with the two most important girls in his life.
Jake's more frequent vacancy of the dorm had been a boon, as there was no one to question where he was during meals and after classes. There was no one whose welfare depended on him, except for Shane who, he felt, could use more of his efforts.
Virgil waited five minutes after he heard the door shut. He did not look up from his book The Goth Survival Handbook -- a book he intended to give to Roselyn after he finished it - when Jake said goodbye. He kept staring at the same page, detailing how blood should not be used as a beverage in a survival situation, and absorbing as much as he could about who he imagined she was.
Confident Jake was not returning, he printed out the email he got today and left for the library attic.
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