Priory // h.s.

chapter twenty-one

I sigh. "Oh, so this is one of those parties."

Smiling mischeviously, Jillian says, "So would you?"

"It's not going to happen."

"Which one? You going to the party, or someone asking you to the party?"

"Both."

Snorting, my friend puts on a confident expression. "You have so little faith, Amber. You're gorgeous, funny, and smart; I'll bet we can get you about five boys all begging to be your date."

"All those adjectives are debatable," I tell her pointedly. "And there aren't any guys here I like in that fashion."

"You don't have to marry them or anything." She snorts at me derisively. "Just go to Cade's party with them."

I blink at her stoically. "But I'm not going to Cade's party."

Groaning, Jillian gets up from the couch and pads towards the kitchen. "You're impossible. I'm going to go make dinner. But rest assured that I'll be back. You are going to the party whether you like it or not."

I snuggle deeper in my fortress of blankets, shutting my eyes. "Mm-hm, sure. We'll see about that."

 —

Much to my annoyance, my only lasting ailment from my tumble into the pond is extreme tiredness. Meaning I have to drag my sorry butt out of bed and down to work the next day, since I don't judge myself sick enough to skip.

Reyna hasn't arrived yet, but another person is lingering by our lab table, fiddling with the test tubes.

I sigh. "Do you ever even show up for work, Harry?"

His lips quirk up at the edges--and maybe I'm imagining it, but do his eyes lighten when he sees me? "What do you mean?"

"I mean that you're a Lab Two, not a Lab One." I'm not sure if I should find the way Harry always seems to turn up everywhere creepy, annoying, or just amusing. 

Turning his nose up snootily, he says, "Thank God for that. Wouldn't want to work here anyway."

I scowl and slip behind the table, snatching the test tubes out of his hands. "Well, no one wants you here anyway, so get to your own lab."

"You're snappish today." He rests his elbow on the table, and I watch the smudge marks he leaves on the surface with a resentful look. "Falling in the pond does that to you, eh?"

"No, you do that to me." I fold my arms across my chest and glower at him.

Sticking out his tongue at me, Harry whines, "You're being rude, Amber."

I rub my eyes blearily and rest my face in the crook of my elbow, refusing to look at him. "Don't care."

A little bit of his immaturity fades. "Are you, um, feeling okay?"

"M'fine."

Even though my eyes are shut, I can hear the skepticism in his voice and imagine the doubtful look he's fixing me with. "You sure? I think you might be getting sick, because you fell into that pond. You might want to ask Maura if you can take the day off or something."

I finally raise my head and turn away from him, reaching for today's instructions. "I'm seriously fine, okay? It was just a tumble into the pond, and you seemed to find it very funny at the time, anyway. Why the sudden concern?"

His expression turns from caring to anger. "I was only laughing because it was hilarious, Amber. I didn't mean it in--Ugh, fuck it. Work yourself to death while you're sick; I really don't care."