Midnight Muse

“What a day,” I sigh, finally relaxing into the cushy seat. I place my drink on the low table between us, and while it’s not the best seat to get work done in, I’m happy to be unwinding before the weekend, chatting with my friend.

Reid snorts at me, taking a sip of his drink. I watch his throat bob around the swallow and I promptly avert my gaze, looking outside the window instead.

There are students walking by in a flurry, a third of them trying to stuff themselves through the coffee shop doors. A woman with a stroller and a dog that’s almost as small as my drink. A few girls all staring down at a single phone with beaming smiles on their faces.

“So, what are your plans this weekend?” I ask, playing with the straw in my drink, swirling the ice around and watching the milk incorporate with the tawny coffee.

Reid releases out a long-suffering sigh that has me peeking over at him.

“I’m supposed to be having another family dinner this weekend, but I’m dreading the ride back with my father and brother.”

“I’m sorry,” I offer sympathetically. Reid shrugs my condolences off. It’s not a topic he favors talking about, but I’m still curious about his family. “Does your brother go here?”

He sets his cup down, wiping his palms down his trousers as he clears his throat. He looks like he’s preparing himself for war, with the way that he’s bracing himself, and I almost feel worse for asking.

“I have three older brothers, actually,” Reid says and I nearly spit out my drink. Three brothers? I had no idea. “And two of them have gone here, too.”

“Wow, your family really likes this place,” I mutter.

“Yeah, well, my father is the head of the engineering college here.”

“Oh, so you’re like Vulcan University royalty,” I tease and he rolls his eyes, shooting me a playful glare.

“If I was studying engineering, I would be,” he says, moving that glare down to his coffee. His shoulders are tight and I’m sensing that he doesn’t want to talk about it, but he continues nonetheless. “Colt, my eldest brother, is getting his Masters in Nuclear engineering, and I’m going into architecture, which, and I quote, ‘is for people who can’t solve a differential equation.’”

I refrain from mentioning that I have no idea what the fuck a differential equation is, but Reid must read it clear on my face because he cracks a smile.

“Yeah, tell me about it.”

“So, you’re telling me that all of your brothers are engineers?” I ask, because the odds of that happening must be some crazy statistic. Almost as crazy as having four sons and zero daughters or knowing how to solve a differential equation.

Across the shop, the bell above the door chimes again, signaling the arrival of more patrons. It’s as if I can feel the air shifting with the new presence, coming alive. The feeling draws my attention to the door, where Knox and Mandy have just walked in.

Like a magnet, Knox’s gaze finds mine, bright and lush.

It makes me want to shrink back in my seat with the way that they flick beside me to see who I’m with.

The green of his eyes splinters and I can see the way his shoulders tighten from across the room. Mandy must sense the shift in Knox’s mood because she’s looking around, chocolate eyes pinched together in a threatening way, as if she’ll verbally spar with anyone who makes Knox even a bit uncomfortable.

When her eyes snag on mine, her red-painted lips part in a genuine smile.

All I can muster is a soft grin and a lame wave in response, stomach knotting like I’ve been caught having public sex with Reid under Knox’s cold glare.

I pull my focus back to my friend with all my might, but I can still feel him watching me like a hawk.

“Not entirely,” Reid shrugs, scooting his chair closer to mine now that the coffee shop noise has gone up with the post-lunch time rush. “Colt is studying for his masters; Foxe is on scholarship at St. Gerald’s for wrestling, but on paper he’s a communications major, which is funny because every time he talks to someone in the family there’s always some type of arguing.” He rolls his eyes but the smile that accompanies it tells me that he favors Foxe. “He’s never cared about what anyone thinks about him anyway, which is a trait I wish I had.”

“Me too,” I sigh, placing a hand on his knee empathetically. “Are you close to him?”

“Used to be,” Reid shrugs a little. “Oakland is in the Netherlands, taking the semester to study bridge structure. Boring, I know.” He laughs at the face I make. “And I’m in architecture.”

“Damn,” I curse, impressed. “I’m not sure if I’m more shocked by the fact that your entire family are a bunch of geniuses or that two of your brothers are named after animals.”

My joke seems to crack the heaviness of the conversation. It’s clear that whatever kind of relationships he shares with his father and brothers is a bit strained, but Reid laughs comfortably as we burst into giggles.

“See, this is why I like you, Quinn. You’re very easy to talk to.”

“Don’t forget funny,” I chuckle, pairing it with a cheesy grin.