My next steps included finding the materials I needed for my human testing. The only issue is I have no funding. My only option is to see if I can convince the other scientists to give me small samples of their excess compounds. If I check the order history on certain materials I am sure I could figure it out. I look at the clock and realize that it is 8 pm and the lab is pretty much empty. After this day I am ready to crawl into bed and pass out. I stand up and pack my computer into my backpack, I unlock the drawer where the stolen files are buried and shove those into my bag as well. I am going over to the elevator when I hear someone clear their throat behind me. Oh shit, I knew who it was before I even had to turn around. Was it a childish response, yes, but I decided to ignore him anyway. That was until I felt his hand on my upper arm.

“Anderson, can we talk?” I am way too tired to deal with this right now.

I turn around to face him, and as I look up at his face I realize that he looks tired too.

“On one condition,” I say as I meet his eyes.

“Drive me home?” Like I said, I hate taking all that transit to get home, especially after a long day.

He nodded as he moved to stand beside me to face the elevator. As soon as we stepped into the elevator and the doors closed I could feel the tension flowing around us. I couldn’t tell if it was indifference towards one another or something else. Huxley took a deep breath as if he was about to say something and then went quiet. I couldn’t take it anymore so I took a step and slammed my hand onto the emergency stop button. If we didn’t air out everything now there was no way I was going to be able to sit in a car with him. I turned around to face him and looked up to meet his eyes.

“Jeez Anderson, what was that for?” I couldn't tell if he was panicking or just genuinely confused.

“Talk” is all I said.

“You do realize that we could do this in the car right?” I just exhaled defeatedly and closed my eyes.

“What did you want to talk to me about Huxley?” I could feel him accept that we would be talking about this right now.

“Give me the files Raelyn” I felt my heart drop and my eyes shot up to meet him.

When I looked into his eyes they were different from what I have always seen. They were no longer that deep green but darker and detached. I tried not to be flustered by it but the coldness in them shook me.

“What do you mean?” I took quick breaths as I waited for his response. His voice became colder as he replied

“I went into Melvirns office after we talked and figured out what you took” Oh shit

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“give them back to me now Raelyn” I have never heard him say my name like that and I never want to again.

“You are getting into something that doesn't concern you. Give me those files and forget about it” The only thing that I was suspecting to find on those files was the absence of the green compound that was in the crates.

The urgency and aggression in his demands are making me think that there is more in these files that needs hiding than what I originally thought. The only thing I could think of was going back to my original tactic.

“Well, what are you going to give me for them?” his eyes softened slightly as he took a step forward.

“Woah, woah, whoa,” I said as I stuck my hand out to rest against his chest.

“We tried this before and you didn’t seem to get what you wanted” I felt his gaze shift to my hand still resting on his chest and then back to me.

“Who said I didn’t get what I wanted?” that took me a second to process, was it because he figured out that I took something, or. No, he couldn’t be talking about what I said to him, could he? I feel like he is using my tactic on me because now I want to jump out of my skin. I felt a slight push on the hand that was outstretched, Huxley was walking closer. I looked back up to meet his eyes and I could swear I saw an actual shift in his eye color. From the softer green, I recognized a deep green that bordered on black. By the time I noticed the change in his eyes he was just a breath away from me, my hand was the only divider between our two chests. This time Huxley was the one to lift his hand to caress the side of my face with the side of his finger. I couldn’t tell if I was unmoving because of fear or curiosity but I just continued to look into his eyes. They were so dark I felt like it wasn’t even Liam looking back at me anymore. His hand drifted down to my chin and then lightly brushed over my mouth. I stilled, I felt myself inhale fast as I tried to snap myself out of my daze. I still couldn’t move, paralyzed by those eyes that I now knew were not Liam. He tilted his head down until his lips were a breath away from mine. I swallowed as he said.

“Oh Anderson, you could have made this so much easier if you just minded your own damn business, you were doing so well before yesterday.” Now I knew this wasn’t Huxley's voice. I decided that I was no longer confused but one hundred percent scared.

“Liam you’re scaring me” I barely got those words out in a whisper. Immediately Huxley dropped his hand and backed up. His eyes quickly shifted from the dark green to the light emerald green I was used to. I was almost convinced it was just the lights until I saw his whole demeanor change, there was the Huxley I sat in a car with for hours yesterday. I stumbled backward and hit the stop button again to get the elevator back running.

“Raelyn” is all Huxley said in nothing more than a whisper.

“Just drive me home Liam” is all I said.

Once we got in the car the only thing I could do was keep running through the events of the elevator in my head. Did Huxley's eyes change color? Did he shift his character so much? I had only really known him for a few days and how much of his personality could I know from the surface-level conversions we had throughout our drive? About halfway into the drive, I realized that I only had one option, if I wanted to figure out what Huxley was up to I needed to get him off my back. I needed him to think that I was so scared and shaken after the display in the elevator that I was going to drop it all together. He doesn’t have to know that I was scared and shaken but I will deal with that at a future time. I reached into my backpack and grabbed the files that I stole, I pulled them out of the bag and made sure to give my hand a slight wobble as I placed them on the middle console. I added a slight shake to my voice as I said,

“I don’t want anything to do with you or whatever you are up to anymore. I have my research to think of and I don't need your bullshit getting in the way” I took a deep breath hoping that was convincing enough to get him to believe me.

He looked at me and clenched his jaw, he grabbed the files and chucked them into the back seat effectively ending any conversation regarding them. He returned his gaze to the road and I studied the side of his face. A few minutes went by and he finally realized I was staring at him because he turned to me and said,

“You called me Liam.” I was momentarily stunned by his statement that I didn't say anything.

“In the elevator, you called me Liam and not Huxley” I didn’t know what to say so all I responded with was

“Yes?” I continued to look at him as he smiled and said

“You should call me that more often” I could no longer look at him so I turned my head to focus on the road and couldn’t help the smile that touched my lips.