David nodded, then reached up to scratch his shoulder through his ugly T-shirt. “I’m sorry,” he said.

I looked up, surprised. “What do you have to be sorry for?”

He frowned, clasping his hands in front of him. “If I didn’t suck so much at being an Oracle, maybe I could’ve found her earlier, you know?”

I dropped my gaze from him, watching my fingers as they traced over the little flower on the pillow. Aunt Martha had made this for me. Or had it been Aunt May? One of them. And maybe if I stared hard enough at the stitches, David wouldn’t see the guilt on my face. If I hadn’t messed around with his visions, could he have seen Bee?

David sat back in my chair, and it creaked slightly. “And of course now, I’m completely useless.”

There was a bitterness in his voice I hadn’t heard in a long time, and I set the pillow back on my bed, getting up to go to him. “Hey,” I said softly, brushing a hand over his jaw. The stubble there was rough against my fingers, and when David looked up, I moved my hand to the back of his neck. “Just because you can’t see the future right now doesn’t mean you’re useless.”

One corner of his mouth kicked up in a smile. Or a grimace. “I guess I could make a dirty joke about what uses you might have for me,” he said, and I rolled my eyes, letting my hand drop away from his neck.

“What I meant,” I told him, going back to sit on the edge of my bed, “is that David Stark the person is worth a lot more to me than David Stark the Oracle.”

Snorting, David crossed his feet at the ankle. “Yeah, well, David Stark the person just annoyed you. He didn’t ruin your life.”

There it was again, that bitterness I definitely didn’t like. “Could you not say stuff like that?” I snapped. “I think I can decide who and what ruins my life.”

Downstairs, I could hear pans rattling as Mom started dinner, and Dad’s low voice talking on the phone. David glanced toward the door and heaved a sigh.

“I’m sorry, Pres,” he said before standing up. “I’m embracing my inner emo, I guess.”

I stood up, too, crossing the room to wrap my arms around his waist. “Well, that would explain the T-shirt.”

He smiled then, a real smile, and after he kissed me, I said, “Why don’t you stay for dinner? I don’t like the thought of you in that big house alone.”

David’s expression didn’t change, but I could feel his hands tighten on my waist. Then he shook his head and stepped back. “Thanks, but I’m not great company tonight. Besides, I have some stuff I need to work on for school.”