William nodded as he glanced up and caught his friend’s eyes which reflected the same sentiment. William had never seen anyone so tired before in his lifetime. Would a single night’s sleep be enough for Nicolas to recover from whatever the Elders put him through? The only thing he could be sure of is that the Elders wouldn’t push him any harder than the other scouts in the city. Of course, the other scouts all benefited from their pack bond, which Nicolas didn’t have the luxury to draw upon. That, mixed in with the fact that Nicolas had been able to see Achelois clearly in the Whyte Plain and where she had been, probably made him the center for whatever experiments the Elders were conducting. He found himself glancing back at Nicolas’s room. And surprisingly, he genuinely hoped that Nicolas would be alright.
The three split up and moved their separate ways to their rooms. William trudged back to his room up the three-story ramp to his doorway. As soon as he was in the doorway, he took one step and transformed back to his natural human form and walked to the dresser and grabbed a towel. He yanked open another drawer and pulled out some shorts, which he put on. He slipped into his flip flops, grabbed his hygiene bag and turned around to find his doorway no longer empty.
“Keva? What is it?” he asked tiredly. Keva was standing respectfully in his doorway not moving. She looked at him with those bright green eyes. He didn’t have the energy to deal with this right now. All he wanted to do was get a shower and some food and some sleep.
Keva dropped her gaze to the floor and suddenly looked very uncomfortable, which was very uncharacteristic for her. She idly scratched at her arm. “I was…um…I was wondering if maybe… you… um… wouldn’t mind getting something to eat with me later.” She brought her eyes back up to meet his.
William was a little startled at what he saw reflected there, fear maybe or apprehension? You’d think she had never asked or been asked out to dinner before. He tried to keep his impatience from showing. He knew what she was trying to do but right then he didn’t care, it was only dinner. “Sure, I’m heading to the cafeteria after my shower. We can meet there in about thirty minutes?” If he had been less tired and skuzzy feeling he might have been able to say something to diffuse what she was really after but he was too tired to deal with that hazard right now.
Keva nodded quickly, “Ok, I’ll meet you there in thirty minutes.” She turned around and started to step out of the doorway but halted mid step and looked back at him over her shoulder through her flaming red hair, “See you, Setford.” She swung her hair around as she disappeared around the doorway.
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William breathed a sigh of relief and sat down heavily on the bed. That had been a little too easy for his comfort level. At least she didn’t see me naked. I don’t think she did anyways. He knew what she was trying to do. This had been the most civil she had been to him ever. If she had been this way to him from the start he might actually consider something with her. But she had very different ideas about how relationship should be conducted from him and he had a feeling that she was trying a different bait to get to the same end. Couldn’t she understand that he didn’t feel the things for her that she obviously felt for him? It was enough to give him a migraine.
William heaved himself up off the bed, certain that Keva had had enough time to vacate the premise, and he headed out the door. He walked down the ramp and there was no sign of Keva, anywhere. Thank the Gods for that. He walked quickly to the bathroom down the street. He heard the showers running. He dropped his shorts and towel on the counter and grabbed his shampoo and soap out of his bag. He walked around the partition separating the shower from the toilets.
Charles and Katherine were already there, just soaking themselves. William walked in and placed his stuff on a sink and turned on the water for himself. The water was ice. With a yelp he jumped out of the stream.
Katherine opened her eyes with a smile and Charles openly laughed at him.
William stood there with his body covered in goose bumps shivering slightly, “That’s not funny, man.” William turned his back on both of them, readjusted the shower temperature, and reached out his hand to test the water. He looked over his shoulder at Katherine who was running her hands through her hair as the water flowed through it, still smiling. “Kat, I would expect more sympathy from you.”
“I’m not the idiot who stood in an ice cold shower.” She shot back nonchalantly with her eyes still closed.
William knew he was beat and he couldn’t really say anything to boost his ego, it had been his fault. And it had been kind of funny. He let his embarrassment drop and smiled at his own retardation. He ducked his head into the now warm running water and started washing his hair.
Rinsing the shampoo out of his near shoulder length, wavy brown hair he turned back around to face his pack mates. With water running down his face getting into his mouth he said, “You’ll never guess who paid me a visit at my room just now.”
Charles, who was washing myself looked back over his shoulder, “Who? Ares?”
William shook his head, “Nope, good guess though.” He turned around and grabbed his soap, “No, it was Keva.”
Katherine’s sigh could be heard over the sound of running water, “What did she want?”
Running the bar of soap over his arms he shook his head, “Oh, nothing much. She asked me out to dinner.”
“She what?” Charles asked as he dropped his leg back down to the wet tiled floor.
William nodded, “Oh yeah, she looked about as scared as a rabbit.”
Katherine was rinsing herself off with her back to William, “So what did you say?” she asked back over her head.
“I told her yes and that I’d be at the cafeteria in about thirty minutes.” William replied.
“Aren’t we going to be with you, at that time?” Charles asked.