The crowd had made her sick.

Literally.

Some jerk had gone to Fright Night while infected with some upper respiratory virus, and Kayden caught it.

After an agonizing week away from campus and the diner—agonizing due to restlessness, not really the illness itself—Kayden gleefully returned to her overworked schedule. Although she’d done her best while stuck isolating at home to study and finish schoolwork, she wanted to get caught up on the work she demanded Quiñones leave for her.

Plus, she was happy to get to see Kaiser on a Monday rather than the usual Tuesdays and Thursdays. Would he be glad to see her, too? Did he miss her at all, like she had missed their infrequent and cordial conversations?

Oh no. How pathetic. She was longing to see someone she barely spoke to. This crush was getting out of hand…she really had to get it under control. Just because he’d touched her arm on her birthday the previous Friday didn’t mean she needed to suddenly revert back to her adolescent, idiot, hopelessly romantic self.

When she waltzed back into the office the following Monday after her classes, Alice at the front desk loudly and enthusiastically greeted her. “Oh hey! Look who it is! How are you feeling?”

Kayden waved, clearing her throat from some residual drainage. “Hey. I’m feeling a lot better, hopefully not contagious anymore.” As she made for her office, she peeked out of the corner of her eye to see Kaiser looking her way through his open blinds. His asymmetrical smile was his greeting, which she reciprocated.

Even Damien seemed pleased to see her, with his face brightening as soon as she walked into their shared space. “Hey, sickie. Are you feeling better? You were gone a whole week.”

She plopped her backpack and lunch bag under her desk. “Yeah, I’m better. Didn’t want to cause an outbreak in the office.”

“I think I speak for everyone when I say ‘thank you’.”

When she passed Kaiser’s window on her way to Quiñones’ office, she peeked to see him digging out a book from his shelf. Hoping to catch his attention, she slowed in the doorway.

It worked. He looked up to her with a half-hearted, maybe even forced polite smile. “Welcome back. We missed you.”

Her eyes widened slightly, but hopefully discreetly. Her grin remained as her tone turned playful. “Oh, did we?”

The corner of his mouth tucked into a dimple. “I know Justina definitely did. She probably has quite the workload for you.”

Oh, just her? She huffed a little laugh and moved on to Quiñones’ office, mentally beating herself up for expecting him to answer any other way.

***

It was a good thing Kaiser pulled back after Kayden’s return.

To be fair, there wasn’t much to pull back from, but he seemed to be going out of his way to avoid her. Usually, they’d at least bump into each other during lunch or on their way in or out of the office. For the singular week before Thanksgiving break, when Kayden worked in the office daily, she didn’t bump into him once, and he had his door closed nearly the entire time he was in his office.

This extra distance gave Kayden a chance to calm herself down and realign her head. Work. That’s what she was good at. She had always controlled her thoughts with rock music on repeat in her ears and a constant flow of working on something.

At the end of the day on Friday, she noticed Kaiser talking on his cell phone as she passed his window. His palm was over his eyes, supporting his head as he slouched over the desk. A twinge of concern washed over her. The door was closed, so she couldn’t hear what he was saying, but it was obviously not a nice conversation.

She quickly moved on to Quiñones’ office and presented her with the graded stacks. It was approaching five p.m. and Justina eyeballed her with admonishment.

“Are you finally going to go home, now?”

Kayden laughed and pointed to her professor. “Look who’s talking! Don’t you have somewhere to be?”

She playfully huffed. “I will have you know that I was just on my way out the door.” Yet she was still sitting at her desk.

“Mmhmm, okay, sure.” Kayden waved. “I’m going, I promise. Have fun in Salt Lake City.”

“Thanks, I hope you have fun back home as well!”

As she passed Kaiser’s office again, she paused, peering through the open blinds. The phone was on his desk now, and his hand no longer shielded his eyes, but she saw something glow at the end of his closed fist when he held it to his mouth and inhaled deeply.

He glanced up and his eyes widened with hers as he quickly dropped his hand and held his breath.

She gave him a stunned, gaping grin before shaking her finger at him in a playful scolding.

His defense failed as his shoulders fell with a long exhale, gray vapor escaping his nostrils. He grinned sheepishly.

So it really was an e-cigarette she saw.

His index finger went to his lips, pleading with her not to say anything. Vaping in the office was considered the same as smoking.

Pressing her lips together, she teasingly looked to the ceiling and tapped her chin, pretending to ponder whether or not to tattle.

He thinned his lips with narrowed eyes before he curled his index finger, inviting her into the office. Something about the look on his face with that come-hither made her knees weak.

Obviously, she complied. Any chance to get a moment alone with him. After all, that’s why she’d signed up for his spring semester calculus class two days ago. Judging by his lack of communication, he didn’t know it yet.

She quietly pushed the latch open and leaned into the halfway opened door, suspending herself on the doorframe as she whispered, “Naughty, naughty.”

He fought a grin. “It’s just a little water vapor.”

“Mmhmm. Are you okay?”

His playfulness faltered as he blinked. “What do you mean?”

“I saw you on your phone. You looked stressed.” She eased herself further over the threshold. The room smelled like tropical punch.

“Oh.” He let out a long sigh as he ran both hands over his hair as if smoothing it down, though it was already tame. “Yes. It’s just…a conflict with my mother, as usual.”

Immediately she understood. Her own mother was an unwelcome guest in her ear. “Ah. I feel that.”

One eyebrow perked up. “Oh? Do you also suffer from narcissistic parenting?”

“Unfortunately, yes. I haven’t spoken to my mom in almost a decade. Pure bliss,” said with a smile.

“If only I were as brave as you.”

“Guess that answers the question I was gonna ask about you visiting family this week.” She stepped in passed the door and plopped into one of the plush chairs.

He gave a half smile. “I’ll be meeting my brother in St. George for dinner. But otherwise, no, I will not be seeing the rest of my family. What about you?”

She shrugged. “I’m just going to visit my dad and sister for a couple days. I’ll be here the rest of the time.” For some reason she still didn’t want to mention her second job. Even Justina wasn’t aware she worked at the diner.

“Won’t you be terribly bored?”

Reclining in the seat against a fluffy pillow, she crossed her ankles at the end of her outstretched legs. “Nah. I have a lot of stuff to do. I don’t like to have too much free time. Besides, I was just off for a week.”

His arms folded over his chest as he leaned the chair back, frowning. “You were sick.”

“Well, yeah, but it was pretty mild, and it was still a whole week being at home.”

One eyebrow arched. “Didn’t you still do schoolwork? Are you a workaholic?”

“It’s not just work,” she protested. “I have hobbies. It’s just that…if I don’t stay busy, I feel like I lose momentum.” She left out the part about her thoughts wandering to the existential dread of what the hell she was going to do when she finally graduated.

Was that a pout forming on his lips? “It sounds like you’re describing an elevated stress level that will cause you to crash if you keep still.”

“Nah, it’s fine.” She waved her hand dismissively, eyes scanning the walls again for the certificates near the door. “What are all these framed awards and stuff for?”

His frown deepened. “Don’t change the subject.”

She shot him a coy look. “I’m not. It looks to me like you’re a workaholic trying to dissuade me from doing the same thing and I find that a little hypocritical.”

A crease formed between his eyebrows. “Those plaques you see are a result of parents pushing their child to strive for greatness at the cost of his well-being.”

Her face fell, heart crumbling into her stomach with all of the playful air she had.

He stood up with a jerkiness he never displayed before, a speed carrying a tone of aggravation. As he strode to the wall of frames, he flicked the door closed out of his way, which latched with quiet aggression.

“This one is proof I completed K through eight schooling by age ten, surpassing others my age.” Keeping his body facing hers, he pointed to the next in line. “This is a diploma for one of those obnoxious etiquette schools—it sucked as much as you can imagine, by the way.”

Normally, she may have chuckled. His tone seemed to be inviting it, but she was still stunned, her pulse throbbing loudly in her ears.

“Here is the second place consolation certificate—the worst kind of blow to my parents—for the engineering experiment I presented to the state science fair when I was twelve.”

Kayden swallowed hard, her dry tongue scraping against the roof of her mouth. She was impressed, but also felt something else. Guilt. Pity. She wasn’t sure.

“Here, you’ll observe my high school diploma—I graduated with Honors and several college credits under my belt at fifteen.”

Her eyes widened.

Next was the largest frame in the center. “As soon as I reached the age of consent, I joined the army through the ROTC program on my college campus.” He smirked wryly. “My parents didn’t like that so much.” Then he gestured to the next largest frame—a college degree. “I was eighteen when I got my bachelor of science—“ his hand moved to the final frame “—and twenty-four when I got my doctorate, while in the army.” His hand dropped back to his side as he glared at her. “Then when I left the army, instead of working in research like I wanted, I came here because I was burnt out.”

Her entire body, especially her face and neck, were scorching hot with shame. At some point she had crossed her arms over her torso protectively. She averted her eyes from his penetrating stare, unsure what to say.

His leather shoes appeared in front of her vision as he stepped closer. His tone remained low and even. “Take. A goddamned week. Off.”

Keeping her face down, she risked a peek at him from under her brows. He stood glowering over her with his arms crossed. Swallowing again, she was suddenly very glad she didn’t tell him she had a second job.

A small smirk appeared as if he was trying to lighten things back up. “Or else I’ll sic Justina on you.”

She let out a full lung’s worth of pent up air with a relieved smile, but her heart was pounding wildly. “Damn. Sorry. I’ll never mention overworking to you again.”

“Good.” Satisfied, he unfolded his arms and sauntered back to his chair, not bothering to open the door again.

She fidgeted with her bottom lip.

As he lowered himself in his seat, his eyes fell on her fingers and his expression softened. “I apologize for yelling.”

“If you think that’s what yelling sounds like, you should hear my mom,” she scoffed incredulously.

He combed his fingers through his hair, causing a few shorter strands to loosen. They started to swoop: a texture she didn’t expect. “Well. Then for taking a tone with you, I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay.”

“I just don’t want to see you, or anyone, go through what I did. Running full throttle full time is what sets you up for failure.”

She chewed her lip pensively, watching him retrieve his vape again. Now she understood why he so nonchalantly suggested she drop one of her classes earlier in the semester when he’d learned she packed it. “Well. You’re not going to like me next semester, then.”

Fruity vapor filled the space around his head as he glared at her. “Why is that?”

She grimaced, re-crossing her arms. “I...may have signed up for your calculus class on top of three other engineering classes on the same days.”

Expecting anger, she was surprised to see a glimmer of excitement in his eyes. “Did you, now?” He shook his head and chuckled. “Just don’t take on extra tutoring for my class, and I’ll let it slide. Deal?” He winked at her.

The corner of her mouth dipped into a grin. “Deal.”

They held eye contact for too long.

She changed the topic, not wanting to leave just yet. “So, what’s with the vape?” She nodded her head at said electronic.

He stared down at the device in his hand. “I figured it was better than smoking the cigarettes I started at 17, which replaced the chewing tobacco I started at 15.” He shot her a sideways glance with his lips thinned into a bashful smirk.

She winced. “I mean…I guess? But it’s still not good for you…”

He shrugged. “Old habits are hard to break. And we all have our vices.”

“Do we?”

He raised an eyebrow at her in a challenge. “You can’t tell me that you’re vice-free. Substance use isn’t the only kind of vice.”

Just then, knuckles rapped on the window, causing her to jump and both their gazes to fall on the door as it opened, Justina appearing.

“Hey now, what are you doing keeping my TA here after I told her to go home?”

He held up his hands in defense. “Hey, it was her idea.”

Justina playfully scolded her, “Listen here, little miss—get your ass out of here and take a damn vacation.”

Kaiser let out a warm laugh. “That’s exactly what I just told her.”