Hi all. Sorry I had to post this one twice, not sure what happened but the copy of this chapter before the final edits got posted. Not even sure how that happened, but I've had a lot of website issues with this story in general. Anyways, hope I got it fixed before it could confuse anyone. Hope you like the update!

~secrethalfblood

Lpov

When I woke up, I was immediately aware of two things.

One, that the sun looked as if it had been up for several hours, and two, that I could smell food.

Someone was cooking.

Confused, I grabbed my phone off my night stand and saw that it was almost eleven, unheard of for me, wondering if Anna had come back from her trip with her parents early.

Stomach growling, resentful I'd missed the window in which I usually ate breakfast, I slid out of bed realizing for once, whatever she was making smelled delicious. Anna wasn't a particularly good cook, and despite looking like the kind of person who was picky about her wine pairings and could pronounce any sort of high society French cusine, the girl lived almost exclusively off of canned ravioli and dino nuggets.

I stepped out of my room and turned to look in the kitchen, about to exclaim that Anna had finally learned out to use a frying pan when I was surprised to see it wasn't Anna at all in the kitchen, but James.

I figured he would have been gone by now…

"Hey." I said in surprise and he looked over his shoulder.

"Morning love." He said grinning in a way that had me wondering if going to bed with wet hair in a messy bun had caused it to go wild. "I figured you'd probably be hungry." He added nodding towards the pan before looking back at it.

"Why'd you let me sleep so late?" I asked walking over to him, and glancing at my reflection in the glass of microwave and wincing. Yes, my hair was an absolute wreck… great. "Are those crepes?"

"Yes." He said sliding one onto a pan. "I figured you had the ingredients since you bake. All of your food is helpfully labeled."

"I kept accidentally eating Anna's stuff." I said blushing a little, but thrilled he'd found the raspberries in the fridge. "These look amazing."

"I let you sleep." He said ignoring the complement and handing me a plate. "Because I figured you probably need it. Your lot wakes up fairly early from what I'm told. Harper has complained about it more than once." He said smirking and I figured by 'your lot' he meant me and my siblings. "I know you don't have to go to work until later in the afternoon."

"I'm surprised you haven't gone back to the library yet." I said and his smirk grew.

"I imagine Harper is a bit slow to start this morning as well. Or is busy arranging her brother's funeral considering he might have died of alcohol poisoning."

"I'm sure Ashton would have resuscitated him if it came to that."

"True."

He put a final crepe on a second plate, grabbed it along with the raspberries and followed me towards the table where I set down my plate.

"Thanks for making breakfast." I said and he shrugged.

"No problem."

I got utensils from the drawer in the kitchen as well as my jar of Nutella and sat in the chair adjacent to the one he'd taken, unsurprised to find the crepes were totally delicious.

"So." I said squinting at him, my tone considering. "You can cook, kill monsters, look like you live at the gym, and keep up with the gods in a fight."

He raised an eyebrow.

"Is there anything you can't do?"

At this he let out a short, but genuine laugh.

"I didn't finish secondary Libby." He said, adding, "School." When he saw my confused expression.

"I said can't." I argued, a pang of sympathy going through me. "Not didn't. You did have other things going on."

He shrugged but didn't look upset and, curiosity getting the better of me, I asked.

"Does it bother you? That you didn't finish school?"

I knew some people might have considered asking rude. Really, this wasn't any of my business, but James didn't look upset.

"Nah." He said shaking his head. "I never really liked school. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't hard. Just… boring."

"Too smart for your own good?" I asked but again he shook his head.

"I don't think anyone would have accused my decisions as being clever ones." He pointed out. "There were just other things I'd rather be doing."

"Like jumping around the world at random?"

He grinned.

"Precisely."

It was times like these I was reminded of how different other people's lives were. My whole life, apart from the occasional demigod mishap, I'd always followed a typical mortal path. Gone to school, got good grades and stayed out of trouble. I'd had to to get into a good school in order to give myself the best chance for vet school. My whole life, it felt like I'd been preparing, working towards a future, and once one goal had been met, the goal post had been moved for the next thing to put on my school applications. Volunteering at the clinic to transition in a job there. The job setting me up for the internship which would get me a good recommendation when looking for veterinary programs. It's what I'd always done, and the idea of deviating from that path had never occurred to me.

Not that I'd wanted to. I was happy with my life and my choices, but when I looked at James, I couldn't help but wonder what he'd been like growing up. A smart but restless kid, ditching classes to see the world before he could even legally drive on this side of the Atlantic.

"What are you thinking so hard about?" he asked his expression curious, and I realized I'd been staring at him.

"Nothing." I said shaking my head, surprised that I wasn't embarrassed to be caught, but maybe it was because he hadn't seemed bothered. "You're just kind of an interesting guy."

"Kind of?" he asked with a laugh. "Blimey, if you find my life 'kind of' interesting I might be terrified of what you find actively engaging."

"Crepes are engaging." I said grinning and taking another bite. "Especially when made by a kind of interesting guy."

"You are such a dork Libby." He said, but he seemed pleased by the compliment. "And completely addicted to sugar. You are right about the king's advisor, though," he said with an approving nod. "A complete knob"

"What?"

His response was to jerk his chin in the direction of the couch, and I stood to see a paper back resting on the coffee table, realization creating a dawning sense of horror as it set in.

"You read my notes?" I asked, mortified and he grinned.

"And rather enjoyed them. I think my favorite so far was list of actors who should play our young heroine's renegade love interest. The word dreamy was underlined several times." His eyes glittered with amusement. "The little hearts were a nice touch."

"Oh my gods." I groaned burying my face in my hands on the table. "I wrote that when I was twelve."

"A necessary quality in a love interest to be sure."

I stood, my face now absolutely burning in humiliation.

"I'm going to go drown myself in the bathtub."

"Relax Libby." He said in a quelling tone, but I shook my head.

"Nope, it's either downing or staying here and drying of embarrassment. At least this way I can finally use that fancy bath bomb I was saving…"

"You want to know who I had a crush on as a kid?" he asked and I paused.

Ok. That might be information worth living for...

"Who?" I asked trying desperately to force the heat from my face, but it was no use.

I sat down, resigned to the humiliation.

"Tronica."

"From that cheesy scifi show?" I asked with a laugh.

Not that I blamed him. The actress had been a smoking hot blonde, all long legs and curves, the bombshell type always dressed up in cat suits with big weapons and over choreographed fight scenes where she always managed to kick ass wearing implausibly impractical boots with heels.

"That's the one." He said.

"She's pretty hot." I conceded and he grinned.

"I think it was the phaser guns." He said in his tone playfully wistful.

"Not the electron whip?" I asked with a smirk and he shook his head.

"Definitely the guns. Dunno what it is," he said with a shrug. "But I could happily watch an attractive woman shoot things all day."

"Sounds like all your teachers needed to do to motivate you was take you to a shooting range." I said amused. "And find a pretty girl to entertain you."

"That might have worked." He said grinning. "Probably wouldn't have met you though, or Harper."

"Yes, but would you have been less grouchy?" I said playfully and something flashed in his eyes.

It was a mischievous look, something I wasn't entirely used to seeing from him and at first, I thought I might have offended him. But when he leaned forward on the table, a corner of his mouth lifted into a smile that sent my heart rate sky rocketing.

"You know, Libby, if you're so determined to improve my mood, you could always go out and shoot things."

His eyes met mine and instantly, my brain went through a forced reboot as my lungs struggled to remember how to intake air.

"What things? You?" I asked like an idiot and I almost wanted to slap myself on the forehead, but he laughed.

"If you like."

"Sorry, but I don't have any phaser guns in the apartment." I said and he grinned.

"That makes it sounds like you have some stashed somewhere else."

"Oh there all over the library, obviously." I said seriously. "I'm surprised you haven't noticed them by this point. And the photon blasters. You're basically living in an arsenal."

"How exciting."

"Only kind of exciting." I quipped automatically and he seemed to smile despite himself as he shook his head.

It was such a normal thing, but it felt signifiant to me, that I could make James, of all people, grin like that. That he could seem so... relaxed. Someone who'd seen so many horrible things, the worst of the world. Maybe it was wishful thinking, but it didn't seem like something he did for a lot of people, and I could watch him do it all day.

"You know, I think you might be the only person who actually thinks I'm funny." I said and he tilted his head a little as he gave me a sidelong look.

"Pretty sure you're the only person who thinks I'm sweet."

"You are sweet James." I insisted and his expression went skeptical. "You just don't seem to want to let anyone know about it. Lucy-"

"Manipulates my emotions shamelessly." he said amused and I considered the statement.

"Ok that's kind of true... but Harper-"

"Is my best mate and will be the first to tell anyone I'm an ill-tempered prat with no patience, no matter how much she likes me personally."

"You've always been nice to me." I pointed out. "Even back at camp, I think you had more patience with me than anyone else did. I'm pretty sure I talked to you for twenty minutes straight about Felix's vet visit when I had to stitch up that slash Tamera gave you during capture the flag. Even Harper avoided me in the infirmary, she thinks I couldn't tell but I could, and don't try to tell me that she didn't." I added when I saw him start to protest, either to reassure me or defend his friend. "It was pretty obvious."

"Harper tends to avoid people in general." he answered his tone neutral.

"So do you." I countered.

"What can I say Lib?" he sighed and shooting me a slightly cautious look, as if even he wasn't quite sure how he felt about this. "Maybe you just make 'nice' seem more appealing than other people."

James ended up walking with me to the clinic and I was more than a little disappointed when he told me he'd be heading back to the library, even if I wasn't surprised.

He'd asked to borrow my book, and while I was sure a part of it was done purely just to torture me by memorizing the more ridiculous of the notes I'd made, he did seem to genuinely enjoy the story.

The clinic was slammed, but despite how busy we were, I still managed to text James occasionally, grinning at his comments on what I'd written in the book margins, and sending him gifs of Tronica whenever he sent a photo of a particularly incriminating comment of mine.

"Who's the hottie?" Kelly asked with interest as I opened a text from James, only to see it was a photo.

He'd gone back to Brazil with Harper, and despite his comments about photos last night, he was grinning in it. An honest to gods selfie while Harper peered at something on one of the ruin walls in the background, a book in her hands as if to compare.

'She's gone down a rabbit hole. What a surprise.'

Kelly didn't seem interested in James's smile though.

Hunter had walked behind the front desk right as she had asked, in obvious and unflattering surprise someone like James would be texting me, and I saw him scowl.

I couldn't really him fault him for it. He'd just seen his date to program dinner making eyes at my phone screen.

"Who? Libby's boyfriend?" Hunter asked then glowered at the photo. "Of course, he looks like that." He said sourly, the jealousy was clear in his tone. "British and jacked."

James hadn't been wearing a shirt in the photo, and I figured it must have gotten hot down in the rainforest. And while clearly Kelly hadn't minded this, Hunter just looked more annoyed.

She didn't look happy now though.

"You have a boyfriend?" she asked as if she couldn't believe it, turning towards me like a hunting dog on alert.

I could practically see her ears perk.

"Yeah, and he's a total prick." Hunter said sourly.

Kelly ignored him.

"I don't have a boyfriend." I said frowning at Hunter. "We're friends."

He made a snort of what was clearly disbelief and sent Kelly a significant look.

"He walked her here."

"We are." I insisted. "I don't even think James dates."

"Yeah I can't imagine why that would be." He muttered sarcastically, the implication in his tone clear.

I scowled at him, but before I could form a response, Kelly took another look at the photo and said.

"You should invite him to the formal." And when I didn't answer, she shot me a smug look and added. "Unless you don't think he'd say yes?"

"Actually, he is coming."

The words were out before I'd been able to stop them. Before I was even aware they'd formed in my mind, let alone had fallen out of my mouth.

A rising sense of horror overtook me as I realized what I'd done, the situation I'd just gotten myself into and Kelly smiled.

It wasn't friendly.

"Great." She continued brightly, and her smile widened. "I did a semester abroad last year in London." She smirked. "We'll have so much to talk about."

She glanced back at the phone, her smirk growing and immediately I locked it, the screen going dark.

I wished I hadn't.

She made a satisfied little noise, clearly thinking she'd gotten to me and maybe she had. Her gazed flicked to my face, her expression gloating and I looked away feeling a mixture of anger, frustration, and a bit of worry all battling each other within me, making it difficult to concentrate on the purchase order I'd been reviewing.

'Great.' I thought bitterly, furious with myself. 'Just great. Look at the situation you've gotten yourself into."

I knew I shouldn't have taken the bait, engaged with Kelly at all, but I just couldn't help it. I'd tried so hard to ignore her since the start of the summer, but she just seemed to want so badly to make my life harder and I had no idea why. Usually, I wasn't a target for mean girls like her. Even if I did get the occasional cruel comment, for the most part, when I didn't retaliate they left me alone. I didn't even know what I'd done to make Kelly dislike me so much.

Now I either had to ask James to come to the dinner with me or suffer the humiliation of showing up without him and trying to explain it away. I could only the nightmare that would be. Hunter might have believed me if I made up an excuse. He seemed to think my relationship with James was more than it was at any rate, but I knew if I showed up alone, or with anyone other than James, Kelly was going to have a field day.

She walked off and I noticed Hunter frown after her, clearly unsatisfied with the interaction.

"What a gem." I said sarcastically and he shrugged.

I had the feeling that by this point, Kelly might actually have to murder someone before he started taking 'personality' into account for her list of datable qualities.

"She's actually not that bad." He said glancing after her before leaning on the counter and looking at me.

I ignored this and went back to the computer monitor, but something about my expression must have shown my disbelief because he continued.

"I'm serious." He insisted. "On our other shifts together she's fine. Acts totally normal. It's just when you're around that she gets like this." He frowned. "She just really doesn't seem to like you."

"Why?" I asked frowning, wondering if Hunter, who seemed to be friends with Kelly if not something more, had any insight into the situation.

I wracked my brain for anything I might have possibly done to upset or offend her, but couldn't come up with anything apart from laughing at her when Ashton had rejected her at the café. But she'd already seemed to dislike me by that point. We'd had a couple classes with each other over the semesters and I'd seen her around campus, but it wasn't as if we'd had any run ins, in fact, I didn't even think we'd spoken to each other until the summer.

"No idea." He shrugged then seemed to remember something, his expression brightening as he looked at me with a renewed interest. "Hey, is it true you're related to Ashton Wells?"

I didn't exactly broadcast my relationship with Ashton, apart from camp I didn't actually see him that often. Sometimes I legitimately forgot he was kind of famous. He was always such a goober in the cabin, and everywhere really. It often was a revelation to me in moments like this, when I was reminded that most of the world, the part of it that watched college sports at least, probably thought he was epitome of cool.

"Uh, yeah." I said wishing I was better at lying on the spot. I didn't feel like dealing with this at the moment.

"Do you think you could get me an autograph?" he asked eagerly. "His team was my pick for the tournament last spring. I won a ton of money in my family's bracket."

"I'm not actually all that close with him." I said avoiding his gaze, thinking of the video of Ashton square dancing that was on my phone and feeling a bit uncomfortable.

It wasn't a lie, really. Ashton and I actually didn't talk all that much, but we had been in contact more often recently, simply from my proximity to his fiancé in the past few weeks. Luckily Hunter didn't know me all that well. I doubted he'd be able to tell.

"Oh." He said sounding disappointed. "He visited you though, didn't he?" he asked sounding hopeful. "Kelly told me she saw you two together. And you're friends with his girlfriend, aren't you?"

"What?"

"I saw her talking to you outside your apartment, I live on the same floor." He explained when he saw my confusion.

"Oh." I said completely stunned.

I'd never seen Hunter in the building before.

"Maybe you could ask her?"

"Sure." I muttered not entirely aware of what I was agreeing to until after I'd said it.

He beamed.

"Thanks Libby."

"No problem." I said cursing myself and wondering how long it would be until Hunter was dropping hints about inviting Ashton for a night out if he was 'ever in town'.

I had a feeling Hunter was, from this point forward, going to be far more interested in inviting me to parties.

Just the thought of it was exhausting.

It was why I didn't mention that I was related to Ashton to pretty much anyone. I didn't want people talking to me, pretending to be my friend because they thought it might score an introduction or tickets to a game.

Hunter started talking about the tournament, clearly unaware that really, I couldn't have cared less about basketball, but I let him talk, suddenly very appreciative of the fact that neither Lucy nor James followed college sports. Ashton rarely came up in my conversations with them, unless it was related to Harper, and while usually, my brother's antagonistic relationship with James was something I'd been a little regretful about, right now I was a little grateful of it.

I didn't have to worry about James or his sister looking at me the way Hunter was now. With an opportunistic eagerness, seeing nothing of me, only the potential connection to someone famous. Almost as if 'Ashton's sister' was tattooed on my forehead.

When he started mentioning playing basketball in high school and how he'd 'almost been scouted' I found myself wishing James was here to tell him to shut up. It trigged something within me.

"Hunter?" I asked uncertainly, interrupting his hopes to go to the final next year as a graduation gift.

"Yeah?"

"I don't really watch basketball." I said making sure that though my tone was apologetic, it was also firm. "Or care about it. I don't even know what position my brother plays."

"Oh." He said sounding surprised, and my stomach dropped for a moment thinking I'd offended him, but his expression cleared. "No problem. Hey do you know where that prescription list for the serval kitten ended up? The owner was calling about it, and I couldn't find it in the system."

"I think it's in the new system for exotic breeds." I said typing. "I can show you how to look it up."

And just like that, the conversation moved on. And as the anxiety from what I'd been worried might end up being a confrontation filtered away, I found I smiling a bit to myself, proud I'd been able to cut him off.

I was in such a good mood, I was able to ignore Kelly's snide comments of rushing off to see my 'boyfriend' accompanied with derisive finger quotes, and was still smiling as I walked out of the clinic door.

Feeling bold, I scrolled through my contacts, laughing when I remembered I'd changed James's name, and selected the option to video call

"Hey." He said sounding a bit surprised but not unhappy as he answered, and I saw that he was back in the library.

"Hey." I said grinning. "Did you find anything?"

Before he could answer, a familiar voice asked.

"Oh my god is that Libby? Move, I want to talk to her."

James made a noise of indignation as a hand quite literally shoved his head off the screen and Lucy's smiling face replaced it.

"Libby, guess what." She said eagerly, with the air of someone holding back an extraordinary surprise.

"You gave James a concussion?" I teased as she grabbed the phone and rolled her eyes.

"I could run James over with an armored truck and he'd be fine."

"It might hurt my feelings." James mumbled from off screen and she shot him an exasperated glance before looking back at the camera.

"Harper's prioritizing your research." She said excitedly. "We're all going to be helping you, even her. I'm basically going to be your assistant."

She squealed delightedly.

"Really?" I asked stopping in surprise. "Why?"

"Finally managed to kill that thing down in Brazil." James said tersely and Lucy angled the phone in his direction. He leaned slightly to get a better view of the screen. "It's definitely not anything I've ever heard of, or any of us, and it didn't disappear back to the Underworld to reform."

"It left a body?" I asked stunned.

"Yeah, I saw pictures of it." Lucy said wrinkling her nose as she reappeared on the screen. "That thing was hideous. Like a mythological Mr. Potato head of legendary creatures."

"Harper wants you to take a look at it tomorrow if you can, if the body is still there." James's voice said and Lucy looked at him, keeping the camera centered on herself however.

"I don't envy you guys that." She looked to the screen. "She's fast tracking your idea to study creatures in the wild too. You and James will be going on field trips."

"Seriously?" I asked.

"If monsters are adapting, I want to know about it."

Lucy looked over her shoulder and then adjusted the phone to see Harper approaching the conversation.

"The mythological world is changing, we already know that, keeping up with the modern world. So are the gods. We've got to figure out what's going on, and I doubt Olympus will be much help even if they do look into it." she said darkly. "If someone really is messing with monster DNA we need to go what we're up against. How they're doing it, and what they're changing."

I frowned at this.

This didn't seem much like my little passion project anymore, this seemed like actual research. Like, serious research. Even if it was into mythology and legends. It was like trying to catch a unicorn using science.

This was a lot…

"You ok?" Harper asked frowning as I continued to walk.

"Yeah I just..." I bit my lip thinking about my schedule.

It had been nice the last couple of days to have a break from the clinic, both from my regular shifts and the internship. Between helping Ashton with archery lessons at camp, filling in in the infirmary there and helping out at the library, already it had been hard to find time do my own work there. With things like the injured hunter and the sudden excursion down to south America, I hadn't gotten nearly as much work as I'd hoped in the library finished.

"I don't know how I'm going to get it done." I said honestly, feeling a bit overwhelmed.

Already it felt as if the summer was flying by, and despite so many nights of such little sleep, it just felt like there weren't enough hours in the day. And yet, I felt bad and a little embarrassed for complaining about it to these three. I knew how hard they all worked.

It felt pathetic to whine to them about being busy…

"That's what you have me for." Lucy said brightly tilting the camera back to her with a smile.

"She's very efficient." James agreed leaning into the picture and Lucy knocked her head into his.

"Butt out James. I'm having a conversation."

"On my phone."

"James and I will be helping you as well Libby." Harper assured me taking the phone from Lucy. "We can get a lot done. And we can work while you're out. You just have to tell us what you want prioritized."

I felt my shoulders, which had tensed at the thought of disappointing anyone, unlock a little, the grip around my chest relaxed as the anxiety lessened. Only then did it occur to me that from what Harper had said, it sounded as if in her mind, I was the one in charge for this particular project. Not her.

I almost couldn't believe it.

Despite knowing everything in the contents of the library. Harper seemed to think I knew more about this than her.

"Should I come in tonight?" I asked, but she shook her head.

"No, it's late, get some sleep. I have a feeling we're all going to need it over the next few weeks." She hesitated before adding. "I like the schedule you made. Lucy's working on getting it posted online and created a semi-automated system. It should save us some time once it's running."

"Thanks." I said smiling and Lucy snatched the phone.

"I found this awesome website that lets you flag visitors that shouldn't be in the library together and suggests alternative visit times, and sends approval requests directly to James and Harper, it's going to save us so much time." She said brightly. "It even has a feedback survey, and a text box for special requests."

"I voted to disable that feature." James's voice said dryly and Lucy shot me a look that clearly said. 'Can you believe him?'

"James went the camp today and told Elijah when he can come in." Harper said leaning into view. "I told him to look extra menacing. Elijah should be leaving you alone from now on."

Lucy giggled at this.

"Thanks James."

"Can I have my phone back?" he asked annoyed.

"No, I'm not done talking." Lucy said turning her head to frown at him before smiling back at me. "I know Harper said not to come in, but if you're not busy tonight, you should. Tonight's pizza night, and a bunch of new shows were added to my streaming service. We need to do a marathon."

I hesitated, knowing that if I got sucked into a watchathon with Lucy I was going to be staying up way too long after a super late night last night and terrible sleep. But when I thought of going back to my empty apartment and spending the night alone I had to admit the idea was a little depressing.

Anna wasn't going to be back for a while and most of the people I knew on campus had gone back home until the next semester. Despite being so busy all the time, I didn't have much to do tonight.

"Ok," I said and Lucy let out another excited squeal.

"Awesome, we'll do face masks. Harper, you have to. I'm not taking no for an answer."

"Oh yes you will." She said darkly and the phone jostled as I assumed Lucy started to jog after here.

"Give me that." James said snatching the phone from his sister in exasperation.

I smiled as Lucy's voice trailed off, still pestering Harper and James looked over his shoulder, grinning after his sister before turning to look at me.

"Congrats on the promotion." He said. "She's planning on paying you more by the way. Don't know why she didn't think that was something to mention."

"I try not to read too much into Harper's thought process anymore."

"Probably a good idea." He agreed.

"Congrats on killing uber beast."

"Yeah I'll be honest," he said frowning. "I usually enjoy a good monster fight, but that thing was nasty. I nearly got torched."

A pang of anxiety went through me at this.

"Are you ok?"

"I'm fine," he said easily, dismissing the question. "Harper had a burn, but Ashton already took care of that."

"That's sweet." I cooed playfully continuing to walk. "Him rushing to bind up her wounds and all."

"If by sweet you mean insufferable."

"I cannot wait for the day Lucy finds a someone she likes." I said smirking and looking up before crossing the street. "You'll be a nightmare. That poor boy."

"I'm not sure I like what you're implying there."

"That you'll be a menace unchecked targeted towards Lucy's suitors?"

"That there is a single guy on the planet who could possibly think he was good enough for her."

"Oh my gods you sound like Charlie." I said with a laugh and he sighed.

"Maybe a bit." He muttered reluctantly. "Go get changed. I'll come pick you up so you and Lucy can watch your ridiculous shows."

My heart skipped a beat at this. He didn't have to pick me up of course, but it was nice of him to offer. I knew him well enough by now to know he wouldn't have if he didn't want to.

"You're just jealous you didn't get an invite to the face masks."

"It was a bit hurtful." He said frowning. "I don't know if it was gender based or because we're related, but somehow I'll keep my spirits up."

"Well if it makes you feel better, you don't need one because your skin is flawless."

I emphasized the word to the point of ludicrousness and the corner of his mouth ticked up in amusement.

"Good to know."

"I'm hanging up now before I walk into the street." I said grinning.

"Probably wise."

"I'll see you in a bit."

"Bye Libby."

I ended the call unable to return my expression to neutral, and, feeling excited about my plans for the evening, I jogged the rest of the way home.

Half of me expected James to just sort of appear in my living room, but after I packed a bag, I heard a tapping on my door that had me figuring he must have been outside.

I was right, but when I stepped out into the hall, I was surprised to see he wasn't the only one out there.

Several doors down were Hunter and Kelly, apparently hanging out after our shift. Unlike in the clinic before however, Kelly definitely had noticed James this time around.

"Hey." I said ignoring her stare and smiling at him.

"Hi." He said then glanced down at my co-workers. "I didn't know they allowed livestock in the building."

"What?"

He nodded his head down the hall.

"Your friend's charming girlfriend over there."

It was only then that I remembered last time he'd seen her, James had called Kelly a cow.

"That is so mean." I chastised trying to bite back a smile.

His was unrepentant.

"C'mon." he said grabbing my bag and throwing it over his shoulder, heading the direction of the stairs obviously wanting to avoid Kelly and Hunter. "Luce will kill me if I stall."

I laughed.

"Alright."

And, determined not to look back at either Kelly or Hunter, I stepped after James towards the stairs.