92

--The Enclave--

Munching on the remnants of her blue eggs, Dassah scrolled through various other articles before switching gears to catch up on the TheirWorld forums.

News about the dungeons had spread quickly throughout the community, and many had already posted tips and tricks about the dungeon and its bosses. Lists of drops accompanied monster information and combat data that she glanced at, but didn’t pay much attention to. There were some things they could find out on their own.

“Anything interesting?”

Jumping in her seat, Dassah looked up to see Jake standing over her shoulder. “Uh,” she went, blinking. She had forgotten that he was supposed to appear. “Not really?”

“I startled you.” Jake placed his jacket on the back of a stool next to her. A twinkle of amusement reflected in his blue eyes. “You forgot about me, didn’t you?”

“Maybe,” she winced, bookmarking the articles before she closed them out. “But I am here, aren’t I?”

“You ate?” he asked, nodding at the mostly empty plate in front of her. “Looks like it was good. I didn’t know this place did breakfast…”

“It does now,” Dassah snickered, wondering what Grim’s reaction was when Shen told him all about it. Turning to Jake, though, she said, “You could have messaged me. We never really confirmed if you were going to come or not.”

Jake thumped his fingers on the counter. “I decided I’d show up whether you responded or not,” he said, giving her an all-too-charming smile. “And here you are.”

After staring at him for a moment, she laughed. “I suppose I can accept that.”

“Good,” he slapped the counter. Shen brought him over a cup of coffee and looked between the two of them with less subtly than Dassah would have liked her to.

“If there is anything else, I’ll just be over there,” the earar girl told them. She gave Dassah a little smirk before she busied herself with cleaning the coffee machine.

“Thanks, Shen,” Dassah said, then turned back to the man whom Stella had thought she’d get along with. “So,” she went, wondering exactly where all of this was going — except she couldn’t think of anything else to say.

“So,” he repeated, then awkwardly took a sip of his coffee. “What were you reading?”

“Just things,” she shrugged. “The news. TheirWorld stuff.”

“The news?” he asked skeptically. “Interesting hobby. I don’t know too many people here who pay much attention to the news.”

“Why is that?”

“There’s just not much ever happens around here for them to take an interest in.”

Dassah furrowed her brow. “But if you don’t watch it, then how do you know if there is anything to take interest in or not?” she asked. “Plus, you never know what the day is going to bring until you take a look at what’s going on around you. Just take a look at the effect the serial case has had on people’s commutes the last couple of weeks. Utter chaos.”

“I’ll give you that,” he noted. “But not everyone has such sound logic in this place. Haven’t you ever heard about the difference between book smarts and street smarts? This place was built by the book smart type. That’s why everything here takes a boat ton of paperwork and a machete to cut through all the red tape to get anything done.”

“I don’t know about that,” she chuckled. “Most of what I went through made sense. What about you? Do you ever watch the news?”

Shrugging, Jake said, “Not really. I wish I had more time to do stuff like that, but I spend most of that time studying. If there is something big, like an accident, they generally call all hands on deck and I find out about it that way.”

“I see,” she said, then smiled. “So, you have time to come to a coffee shop to see little ol’ me, but not to look at news that may or may not affect your life?”

“Priorities,” he said the a shrug.

Dassah’s smile twitched as she sipped at her coffee. Her first impression of him was still valid, in her mind. There was something charming about him, and yet, there was something off-putting about the way his presence felt. It was hard to describe; like the feeling of making one's way through a fancy, but haunted, house at midnight.

“So,” he went again, breaking the silence that had fallen between them. “What was the hot topic of the day?”

“Hmm,” she went. “Death. Destruction. Good will towards men. Not in that order, of course,” she told him.

Jake laughed. “Is that how it is?”

“Tell me,” she went, leaning over. The smell of his rich, spicy, cologne wafted up from his shirt. “What is it that nurses do on The Enclave when it’s so terribly boring?”

“Just things,” he told her, returning her sarcastic edge. “Curing old age and making blind men see again.”

“Is that all?”

“Just what does it take to impress you?” he tsked. “I fear I shall never measure up to your expectations.”

“Then why are you even trying?” Dassah asked.

“Thrill of the chase?” Jake offered with a smile.

Leaning back, Dassah made it as clear as she could: “I’m trying to glean some sort of understanding as to your interest in me, Jake, considering how long it’s been since we last saw each other. It’s been, what, a week? More? Seems to me that it would be a bit odd if we just suddenly started acting as friends.”

“I do owe an apology for that,” said he, breathing out heavily. “My research team had a bit of a breakthrough. It needed our undivided attention. I should have at least sent you a message — I know, just like today — but the timing… will you forgive me?”

She considered, then said, “Only if you promise to deal with Stella when she starts asking questions.”

“That’s a bit of a steep price, isn’t it?” he scoffed.

“Deal or no deal?”

“Are you the gambling type, Miss Dassah?”

“Just not a fan of drama,” she shrugged.

“So you’d pass it off to me?”

“You’re the one who wanted to try to get back into my good graces.”

“For that price, could I at least convince you to meet me for dinner tomorrow night?”

Dassah narrowed her eyes as she looked him over. “Haggling?”

“I’ll pay the difference in the cost,” Jake promised, his blue eyes clear and honest. “I know I screwed up, but hopefully that doesn’t mean I’ve lost my chance?”

Trying to hide her smile, Dassah cleared her throat and sat up straighter. “I guess I can let that pass. Just don’t ask me what I want to eat,” she warned. “I’m notoriously bad at making choices, and I haven’t really been out to eat since I got here.”

Jake acted affronted as he asked, “You’ve never been out to eat since you’ve been on The Enclave?”

“Stella isn’t exactly an adventurous kind when it comes to food,” she chuckled. “Blueberry pizza and strange alcohol aside.”

“Ever try Yidarian cuisine?” he asked, leaning back. “There is this place one hex over that makes some of the best Baked Alcof Over Sea Strings that I have ever had in my life.”

Raising her eyebrows, Dassah said, “I have no idea what most of that is, but I guess I can take your word for it.”

“It’s settled,” he went, hitting the counter again. Dassah twitched a bit and wondered what the counter had done to him that he needed to hit it all, let alone twice. “I can meet you at the station. Seven sound good to you?”

“Seven… sounds fine,” she said carefully, but perhaps too quickly. Before she could interject, his watch dinged at him.

Jake looked at it and then gave her a very apologetic look. “Sorry — it’s the hospital. I have to take it.”

Exasperated, she waved him away. “Go ahead,” she said, and watched as he went off outside. Seven was fine.

Clicking her tongue, Dassah finished off her coffee with a gulp and pushed the crumbs on her plate around with her fork for a moment. Could she trust him? She had to admit that she had a hard time really trusting anyone to start. It was refreshing, in a way, that this man would pursue her. And yet…

“Hey, Shen?” she leaned over the counter and called the young earar girl over again.

“What do you need?” Though she was smiling, there was thoroughly unimpressed look in her eyes that added to Dassah’s suspicions.

“This may sound like a strange question, but,” Dassah motioned over her shoulder. “Can you overhear that phone call my friend over there is taking?”

Shen’s eyes then turned mischievously gleeful as she leaned in. “Spying on your date? I like intrigue.”

Dassah twitched. “Just can’t say I’m the trusting type.”

“My uncle would approve,” the earar girl nodded. “And it just so happens that he taught me well, all things considered.”

“So tell me: Who is it that’s on the other line?” She was taking this all too seriously for a casual date, but there was something about this whole situation that she wasn’t quite there for.

“He told you it was a hospital, right?” Shen asked. “It’s not. It’s Varier Corporation. Some girl named Red asking for him to stop playing around and get ‘the job done’. I don’t know about you, but that doesn’t really sound like hospital talk to me.”

Pushing her plate away, Dassah looked at the loose skin around her nails. “No it does not,” she admitted.

“What are you going to do?” Shen asked, crossing your arms. “You said you’d go on a date with this guy.”

“I did,” Dassah acknowledged, looking back at him as she went to get up. “And I will.” And I’ll find out what all this is really about.