Wolfe looked just as disreputable as he had last time, complete with the eye patch and what I suspected were the same Bermuda shorts as before. I hoped he'd done laundry since then. Despite his appearance, he was ready to go when our class assembled and seemed competent in his subject matter. Although he reminded us again about the importance of avoiding conflicts and being aware of one's surroundings, he quickly moved past those points and focused on actually practicing more physical ways of protecting oneself.
Considering how much Adrian had complained last time about the "boring" safety talk, I figured he'd be excited that we were pretty much jumping right into some action. Instead, that amused look from the car vanished, and he grew increasingly tense as Wolfe explained what he wanted us to do in our partnered practice sessions.
When the time actually came to practice, Adrian looked blatantly unhappy.
"What's the matter?" I asked. I suddenly remembered last time, when Adrian had freaked out over my "attack." Maybe he hadn't really expected he'd have to work here. "Come on, these are simple. You won't get dirty."
Even when teaching more combative actions, Wolfe was still an advocate of keeping things fast and simple. We weren't trying to learn to beat someone up. These maneuvers were effective means of distracting an assailant so that we could escape. Most were done with the dummies, since we could hardly try to stick fingers in each other's eyes. Adrian went through those motions diligently, if silently. It was working directly with me that he seemed to have a problem with.
Wolfe noticed it too as he made his rounds. "Come on, boy! She can't try to escape if you don't try to hold her. She's not going to hurt you, and you won't hurt her." The maneuver in question was actually one that would've been helpful the night I'd been grabbed in the alley. So, I was eager to practice it and frustrated that Adrian kept only halfheartedly helping. He was supposed to put an arm around my torso and attempt to cover my mouth. Unfortunately, his efforts were so weak and his hold so loose that I didn't need any special techniques to escape. I could have simply walked right out of his arms.
With Wolfe there, Adrian made a slightly better showing as an assailant but immediately resorted to his former ways once we were alone. "Let's switch," I said at last, nearly wanting to pull my hair out. "You try to escape me. Make up for last time." I couldn't believe that Adrian's sluggish attitude had turned out to be the problem here. I'd expected the hang-up would be me not wanting to touch a vampire, but it didn't bother me at all. I wasn't thinking of him as a vampire. He was Adrian, and my partner in this class. I needed him to learn the move. It was all very pragmatic. If I didn't know better, I'd almost say that Adrian was afraid to touch me, which made no sense. Moroi didn't have those hang-ups.
Was something wrong with me? Why wouldn't Adrian touch me?
"What's going on?" I demanded, once we were in the car and headed back to the city. "I get that you're not an athlete, but what happened in there?" Adrian refused to meet my eyes and instead stared pointedly out the window. "I don't think this is really my thing. I was all about playing action hero before, but now... I don't know. This is a bad idea. It's more work than I thought." There was a flippant, dismissive tone in his voice that I hadn't heard in a while.
"What happened to you finishing things you started?" I asked. "You told me you had changed."
"That was for art," said Adrian quickly. "I'm still in those classes, aren't I? I didn't jump ship on those. I just don't want to do this one anymore. Don't worry. Now that I've got more money, I'll pay you back the class fee. You won't be out anything."
"That doesn't matter," I argued. "It's still a waste! Especially since what Wolfe's showing us isn't really that difficult. We're not ripping ourselves apart like Eddie and Angeline would.
Why is this so hard for you to stick with and learn?" My earlier self-doubt returned. "Do you just not want to work with me? Is there... is there something wrong with me?"
"No! Of course not. Absolutely not," said Adrian. In my periphery, I saw him finally look at me. "Maybe there are only so many things I can learn at once. I mean, I'm supposed to also be learning to drive a stick shift. Not that I see that happening." I wanted to slap myself on the forehead. In my frustration over class, I'd completely forgotten again about showing Adrian how to drive. I felt like an idiot, even though I was still mad at him for giving up on Wolfe. I checked the time. I had things to do tonight at Amberwood but felt obligated to make up for my shoddy teaching.