Chapter Two:

Elain sat through botany doodling little flowers on the side of her notes, when class was over she packed all of her stuff up quickly and headed back to the apartment. But as she passed Starbucks, the smell of espresso seduced her into going in for a macchiato. Breathing in the sweet smells of espresso and caramel the sound of her name kissed my cheek.

Graysen was standing right in front of her. A broad smile burst from her lips at the greeting, "Graysen! It's so good to see you!" Her eyes swept over his figure, his messy brown hair and matching eyes sweetened her smile.

"How have you been?" he said, sticking one of his hands in his pockets.

"Good," she nodded back, looking down at her drink, a blush creeping onto her cheeks. With him it was always awkward, uncomfortable. At least she was, he was always calm and collected around her. "So what have you been up to?"

He immediately ran his hands through his hair, "Oh you know, just applying for grad schools. I'm just hoping to get into one of them, you know?"

"Oh I'm sure you'll get into all of them!" Elain gushed, the blush on her cheeks now completely visible.

"The competition is thick, and every program only has so many spots. Watch, I'll probably end up studying medicine in Haiti or China," he laughed and Elain nervously followed in suit. After a moment of silence the words began to build in Elain's throat until she finally reached enough courage to voice them, "So I heard you and Paige broke up…"

Graysen pursed his lips and stared at his own cup of coffee, "News seems to travel fast around Prythian, doesn't it?" he chuckled a little while looking back up at Elain, "It was mutual. We're just exploring our other options."

"I'm sorry," Elain, said, "I didn't meant to-"

"No, no," he shrugged, "It doesn't bother me, like I said… it was mutual. Besides you're practically family. We've known each other since we were kids, you're like a sister to me!"

At the drop of those words Elain felt as though her heart fell into her stomach and was slowly being consumed by the acid. Great, she thought, he looks at me and thinks 'sister' just great.

"So what about you? Anyone I need to rough up to make sure they treat you right?"

"No," she nervously laughed, "There's nobody, but even if there was you wouldn't have to do that…" Just as Graysen opened his mouth Elain's phone began to ring. She apologized before picking it up to find her sister and Mor on the other line. "Feyre, Mor! I'm a little busy right now,"

"Listen you need to get home right now," Mor sounded hurried, "It's an emergency."

"Elain seriously, you know I wouldn't lie to you," Feyre's voice echoed into the speaker.

Elain looked up to see Graysen chuckling, "You better go see what the fuss is all about,"

"Alright, alright," she said, "I'm on my way now." Elain turned back to Graysen, "I'm sorry, it was great seeing you!"

"Yeah, it was great seeing you too Elain. If you need anything just call."

Elain walked all the way back to the apartment, the fall air breezing through her hair. When she got to their apartment she opened the door to find the place completely empty…unusual…suspicious. Her eyes gazed over the living room until she heard two voices coming from her room.

She opened the door and saw Feyre and Mor standing in front of her bed with a variety of outfits on display. "What are you guys doing?"

"Elain!" Feyre exclaimed, "We're picking out your outfit tonight."

"This. Was your emergency?" Elain was about one minute away from completely exploding on her sister.

"Well you only have about six hours to get ready, so yes, it is an emergency," Mor tsked picking up a different pair of shoes and matching it to one already on the bed.

"I happened to be talking to Graysen, you know, the guy I'm actually trying to seduce."

Mor snorted, "You're not going to seduce him in nike shorts and a tshirt," Elain looked down at her attire and knew she was right, "Besides you have to seduce the bartender before you can seduce Graysen,"

Sighing heavily, Elain sat down at her vanity and let Mor play 'dress up' with her.

She ended up choosing the least scandalous outfit Mor had picked out for her. The black skirt hugged Elain's butt and the red tank hugged her breasts. Mor had leant her a pair of black pumps, which Elain had almost tripped over three times before they even made it to the door. It had just turned ten o'clock when Mor received a text message and she once again deigned the text message worthy enough to leave her friends.

"That's ok," Feyre, said, "Nesta said she was going to meet up with us later. Maybe Tam will get to come too." Elain had to stifle a groan at her sister's long term boy friend.

[-]

"Oh! There he is!" Feyre exclaimed pointing towards the bar. "I can't believe Mor just handed him over to you, he's so hot."

"Feyre you have a boyfriend,"

"I have a boyfriend but I'm not blind." Feyre nudged her sister forward, "No backing down," she gave her a little smirk, Elain needless to say wasn't encouraged.

"You know," she started, "His lack of interest in me might come into play. Eventually."

"As if!" Feyre lightly slapped her sister's arm, "You look 10 times better than anyone of these clowns in here trying to impress him."

"You really think so?"

"Yes, and not because you're my sister." So Feyre shoved Elain forward again. He was wearing another "Illyria," tshirt except this one was blue. For a brief second Elain imagined herself wearing that shirt, and nothing else. Nothing else but his shirt and his scent absolutely consuming her, the thought nearly caused a blush to leak out of her as she shook the vile image clean.

He looked as good as ever, maybe even better. The body of a man who was perfectly sculpted and a face filled with too much steel to be considered beautiful. And yet the sight of him did something to her, made her completely boneless. Almost helpless.

"No backing down," Feyre repeated in her sister's ear. The bartender (she really needed to learn his name) was pouring a pitcher, his eyes scanning the rest of the bar. Maybe he was making sure no mischief happened in his bar, or maybe he was looking to ward off any flirtatious females. His russet eyes passed over Elain's before jerking back, a smirk etching itself onto his face, "Hey it's nice girl, how's it going?"

"Nice girl!" Feyre shrieked in her ear, "Clearly you did not tell me everything that happened last night." Nor did Elain plan on it. She didn't need to explain how her bartender was the guy that helped her when her car broke down a few nights ago.

So all Elain could say to him was, "Hi," her stomach dropping at the eye contact, the way he smirked at her.

He handed off the pitcher and collected the money before he turned back to the sisters. Elain ordered two longnecks. "I.D?" he said to Feyre who scrambled in her purse to find her own fake. When Elain looked back up she found him staring at her before he looked away. He glanced at her I.D and then turned around to prepare their drinks.

"So hot," Feyre said almost breathless, "And he was eyeing you the whole time." Elain shook her head, still in denial about their attraction to one another, "You should slip him your number!"

"What! No! Are you an idiot?"

"Just give it to him, either he'll call or he won't. Either way you'll know how he feels based on his reaction." Feyre started digging around in her purse until she found a pen. She grabbed one of the napkins, "Feyre! What are you doing?" she hissed.

"There you go," Feyre said, completely satisfied.

"Feyre," Elain warned but it was too late. A pair of long slender fingers reached for the napkin. But Elain clamped her hand over his, "That's not for you," she hissed. At least it wasn't, not yet anyway.

He bit back a smirk, "Are you sure," the bartender said his fingers coiling around the now crumpled up napkin.

"She wants you to have it," Feyre interjected.

Elain's face grew hotter as he leaned his, her hand still covering his, "You want me to have this?" She flew her hand off of his, her face undoubtedly a new shade of red undiscovered by humans, "Yeah sure. Whatever."

"Are you giving me this?" He said rephrasing the question, his eyes never leaving her face. His stare was cold, almost unreadable.

She chewed on her bottom lip before saying, "Yes," and watching him slip her phone number into his back pocket. And without another word he took the money Feyre had given him and turned to another customer.

With one hand on her arm, Feyre pulled her sister away from the bar. Elain heard her sister say something, but she wasn't paying attention to her sister. Instead she dared herself to get one last glance at the bar. He was pouring another pitcher, but his eyes weren't focused on what they were doing. They were focused on her.

"I can't believe you embarrassed me like that," Elain shook her arm off of her sister before she sat down at their table. She had to focus on not looking back up at the bar, not looking at him.

"We had to get the ball rolling, and since Mor is otherwise occupied I had to step up to the plate. Nothing was going to happen if you just ordered and moved on." She did have a point there, Elain thought.

For the next hour Elain spent her time staring off into space as Tamlin and one of his other fraternity brothers talked to Feyre, about what Elain didn't care. Tamlin's friend did get a little too friendly with Elain, she had noticed despite the fact that she had hardly spoken to him. He wasn't even cute, at least Elain didn't seem to think so, and maybe she couldn't tell she barely even looked at him.

"You sure you don't want me to have your number?" he had asked her to which she actually responded with, "whatever," and jotted down a fake.

At that she glanced back up at the bar, only one bartender was up there now but it wasn't hers. Thousands of questions and scenarios popped into her mind. Where did he go? Was he on break? Or did he leave early? If he had left early then he could have stopped and talked to her, if he even wanted to. Tears threatened to spill from her eyes, she blinked them back rapidly before turning back towards Feyre who could tell I was ready to go. Ready to go, and not with the guys they were with. She nodded, that was one of the great things about Feyre. She never considered her relationship to be more important that her sisterly one, although her boyfriend thought the opposite.

"I have to go to the bathroom." Hopefully that would have been enough time for Feyre to say her goodbyes to her boyfriend and his… friend.

A moment later she was washing her hands and looking at how out of shape her hair was. She really needed a haircut; maybe she'd go with a pixie cut or something. She opened the bathroom door to see Tam's friend (Don? His name was Don?) Leaning against the wall. Her body stiffened at the sight of him.

"Hey," he said.

"Hey," she murmured back. Standing in that narrow, dark hallway was not something she wanted to do with him.

"Why don't you let Feyre go home with Tam and you can come home with me?"

Elain shook her head, "I have to get up early in the morning," she lied.

He stalked towards her, "Come on," he said as Elain put her hands up to bar them from coming any closer. "What are you doing?" she said before he swept in and captured her lips. She froze. This. Was her first kiss? Some messy, sloppy, drunken kiss from a guy she hadn't even looked at properly?

Maybe he was just too drunk to notice that she wasn't reciprocating his… kiss. Or maybe he thought that she would change her mind and start kissing him back. The latter scenario was definitely not going to happen. Her hands tried to push on his shoulders but they wouldn't budge. She hit his shoulder again, and he was gone.

Just like that, his grip no longer seized her.

She slid her back against the wall, wiping the remains of her unwanted first kiss away with the back of her hand.

Don was on the floor, and another figure loomed over him. It took Elain a moment to recognize her savior as her bartender. Waling on Don for what he had just done. Elain lurched forward, he hands delicately placing themselves on his shoulders, the ends of her fingertips gripping the blue t-shirt. "No, stop!" she said.

The bartender looked back at Elain, his jawline tense, and his eyes unwavering. Again, he was almost unreadable. "Are you alright?" the words rumbled deep within his chest.

Elain nodded, "I'm fine, you can let him go."

The muscles in his arm began to loosen; at this point Elain realized that she still held onto his arm. Her eyes dared to glance down and see where their skin connected. There it was, her fingertips had moved to the tight muscles of his bicep. But to her own surprise she didn't let go, not yet anyway.

He tore his gaze away from Elain, she dropped her hands, "Get out of my bar." He snarled at Don who was still bleeding and blubbering on the floor, "And don't come back,"

After he scurried away, the bartender leaned against the opposing wall. Elain pulled a piece of hair behind her ear, "Thank you," she said.

"I saw him follow you into the hall,"

Elain's head jerked up to meet his, "You were watching me?"

He shrugged, "I saw you pass by,"

So he was watching her, the knowledge of that lifted Elain's heart from where it had previously fallen. It almost made her first kiss experience a little bit better.

She rubbed her hands against her thighs, leaning off of the wall, "Well thanks again, I hope you don't get in trouble with your boss over this. If you need me to vouch for you I will."

"I'll be alright," was all he said.

Before turning out of the hallway Elain looked back, "What's your name?" she asked. She wasn't about to go back to her apartment and dream of someone she just referred to as 'her bartender'.

"Lucien."

She moistened her lips, "I'm Elain," she said.

"I know," he said his eyes still unreadable. Elain nearly wanted to pop herself on the head, of course he would know, the napkin. With a shaky smile she headed back into the main room, leaving Lucien in the hallway.

Feyre immediately jumped from the table, she was alone. Tam probably saw to it that his brother got home safely. "What the hell happened to that guy's face?"

"Lucien happened," Elain said. His name rolling off of her lips like something pure, something new.

"Lucien?" Feyre cocked an eyebrow.

"The bartender."

Feyre looked completely in awe, "I think you've done more than capture his attention sis."

"He was just doing his job," and he was watching her, but Elain wasn't just going to blurt out the facts that she knew.

"Trust me," Feyre said, "He's going to call you."

Elain wasn't as naïve as Mor thought, or as stupid as Nesta acted like she was, Elain knew he wasn't going to call. He could have kept her in the hall longer, said anything to fill the awkwardness of the whole situation but he didn't. For a 'player' he didn't make any moves on her, he barely even smiled at her except for when he was poking fun at her. And even then they weren't real smiles.

No, he wouldn't call. And that wasn't Elain being negative, she just knew.