Author's Note:

If you haven't already read The Coffee Light, Companion Story you need to read it before you continue on with this chapter. You'll be a bit confused and miss out on what went on between Avery and Etain in the date; it gets good!

The wind. Ah, the wind felt deliciously cool against my flushed cheeks and my warm neck. I let it whisk me away to another place where I wouldn't think of anything except the road under my tires. The trees blurred past me in a sea of brown and green, and the sky was a gorgeous blue.

This day couldn't get any better, I thought happily to myself. The date went well, the weather was nice. Perfection.

As I made my way to the end of the old unpaved road that lied between the next town and my job, I slowly came down from my natural high and returned to Earth.

The old, flashing Books&Lattes sign slowly came into view, and I hurriedly grabbed my khakis and work polo from the back seat. I slipped the work polo over me as I slowly eased into a parking space, grabbing my canvas bag, locking the car door and heading inside, khakis in hand.

"Hey, there, E," a voice boomed from across the store.

"Hey, Mr. M." I said with a feeble smile. It was my boss, Chris.

"On time, just as always," he commented brightly as he approached, "Yeah, I'm going to need you to do me a favor and, uh... where's your pants?"

My stomach dropped. I hurriedly looked down and saw, no, not my underwear, but my dress. I forgot to slip my khakis on over it.

"Oh... I see, you were on a date, huh, weren't you?" He pried.

"Oh, um, well...yeah, how did you know?" I asked, truly interested in his intuition.

"Trust me, working as manager of a store always sharpens your senses.

"So, about that favor..."

"Uh-huh?" I pushed on.

"Well, there are some new books coming in today, and normally Michael and Leland would get the job done, but Mike's out sick today, so I'm going to ask you to fill in for him." He finished.

I had gone from willing, to absolutely protesting.

"Uh, heh, um... do I have to, Mr. M? I mean, that means I'll have to work with-"

Chris cut me off.

"Etain, I can't ask Blanche to do it, can I?" He asked rhetorically.

"..."

"No, so I need you to do it for me, please? Now ... I've noticed a thing... between you and Lee, and I know you guys don't necessarily get on well but..."

"Thing? What thing? I don't know what you mean. I just... uh, I'm just not really strong enough to carry heavy objects, that's all." I lied.

"Now, E, you don't think that the whole time you've been working here, I haven't noticed the tension between you two. I hope you don't think I'm that dull."

Darn Chris's intuition.

"Okay, well, yeah, I guess so..."

"Okay, good, that's step one: admitting to your problem. Step two is sucking it up and going to help Leland, who is carrying in the books right now."

I winced, but I didn't want Chris to think lowly of me so I did just that: sucked it up and went to go help the leech.

I went back into the employee room, dropped off my stuff, and hurried back to the front where I saw a truck sitting with the back door open. I headed outside, where the air was cool and crisp, and I shivered a bit, but shook it off. The sky was darkening, but it was only about four-thirty. Weird.

When I came to the back of the truck, I saw him. He was wearing some gray jeans with streaks of black on the seams and a white V-neck tee. I didn't want him to be scared by my presence, but then, I realized I didn't care. This was my job, why was I worrying about him? I went to the pile of books and was about to pick them up when I realized, I didn't know where to put them, but he did. I sighed loudly, already annoyed by the fact that I had to work alongside him.

"Hey." I called. He didn't reply.

"Hey!" I yelled, and he turned his head around to glare at me with those yellow eyes.

"What…do you want?" He said with a strained voice, as he was carrying a big box into the store. I was forced to follow him, and then open the door for him. I didn't like him, but I didn't want to be evil.

"I was just, um…" For some reason, words never seemed to come out right when I talked to him. "Wondering where we should put these books."

"In the store…?" he answered as if I were a special needs kid. This bothered me.

"Well, um, duh! I mean, where do the books go?" I hissed impatiently.

"Didn't you see where I put them, smart one?" I was about to say something really slick when I caught Chris over by the back mouthing to me- "Be nice!"

I breathed in deeply, steadying myself, and looked to the growing pile: by the history section. I nodded and headed to the door.

I went back out and braced myself for the heavy lift, and heaved. My arms nearly broke off, but I went ahead, not wanting him to think I was weak. I was not weak.

I took one turtle step at a time, while I saw him take another box bigger than this and breeze on ahead of me. I wanted to curse, but I just took the books, the soreness beginning to swell in my lower back.

I had almost made it to the section when I tripped over something hard and dropped the box to the floor with a loud thud. I fell alongside it, and sat there on the floor, in pain, and embarrassment. Soon, my face began to burn when he walked by, him looking at me with a strained expression. Was he holding in… a laugh? I steamed. I was so mad, but I just got up and pushed the box the rest of the way.

In the time I had taken one box, he had done three.

I hurried back to the truck and ended up doing two more in a little less time. I got to the last one on the truck when Leland came back out.

"Do you… need some help?" he asked, looking almost sorry for me. Probably just annoyed.

"No," I grunted.

"You're gonna trip on a book..." I heard him say, exasperated, under his breath.

I was fine, I wasn't going to trip.

I headed back into the store, heaving the box to the back. I walked happily to the pile when my foot caught on something hard and I tripped... on a book, it turned out.

"What the...!" I said under my breath as I hissed in pain. I fell hard this time.

Why did he have to jinks me?! I thought angrily to myself.

He walked by to the box, and set it in the pile.

"I told you…" he said, rolling his eyes.

Just as I was about to get up, I felt two hands come under my arms and pick me up.

"You're welcome." He said, not smiling. And then he walked away.

That was weird…I thought. I brushed myself off, went to the back, slid on my khakis, and went to go do my regular job: sort books and help people find things. I kept to myself, helped a couple of people find Romeo & Juliet, sorted, and then checked my phone. 7:52 PM , it read.

I headed into the employee room, grabbed my things, and was just about to come to... thank... Leland, when I realized he was gone. I looked around, and saw that he was nowhere to be found, the blue sports car absent from the parking lot.

Phew! That saved me a lot of discomfort! I thought, relieved.

I went out to my old Honda, slid the keys into the ignition once again, and drove back.

What had happened to day was very interesting, and it made me think of lots of things. I wondered what made Leland so, talkative, today. It was embarrassing, but at the same time, I was sort of glad today happened.

Leland was cute, I had to admit. He had dark blond hair and strong jawline, not to mention a nice body... and those eyes, different from any I'd ever seen. But most of the time... just couldn't stand him. And since today, I started, just by a little millimeter, to like him a bit more. Or dislike him a bit less. And I was glad. I never really liked being on someone's hit list.

What the next week would hold, I didn't even know.

FIVE MONTHS LATER... TO BE CONTINUED.