Chapter 7
Chapter Seven
Sierra managed to avoid Aodhan the rest of Saturday, however, when she clocked in for her Sunday shift, she wasn’t so lucky. Aodhan was leaning against the wall right by the carts, clearly waiting for her when she arrived.
Ignoring him, Sierra went to grab a cart, only for Aodhan to wrap his fingers around her arm.
“Why are you so mean to me?” he demanded, his green eyes appearing darker than normal. His lips were pressed into a frown, which normally wouldn’t bother Sierra, but she had never seen him express anything but passivity, so this was something new.
Sierra looked down at where his hand encircled her forearm. His grip was warm and firm, and she could get away if she wanted with his arm in this position, but she was itching for a fight after having not slept well the night before, for the second night in a row, and decided to answer him instead.
“Why am I mean to you? You have been nothing but rude to me since we met! You act as if I’m nothing, and you basically called me stupid yesterday. You can’t seriously be suggesting that you don’t know why I don’t like you.”
Aodhan didn’t say anything for a moment, his green eyes assessing hers. He appeared to be having an internal debate. Finally, he said, “That doesn’t mean you have to be rude to me. I deserve respect.”
Sierra couldn’t help herself, she burst out laughing. “Oh my god, what century are you from, Aodhan? This isn’t 1750 anymore, women have rights. You don’t get the respect of a woman just because you were born a man.”
This seemed to confuse him, and he tilted his head to the side. “I still think you should respect me.”
Sierra shrugged. “Well, that’s just too damn bad. I’d love to not be a poor university student with no direction in life, but here we are. You don’t always get what you want, okay?” She looked down at where his hand was still on her arm. “If you would let go of my arm now, that would be great.”
His eyes narrowed, but he dropped her arm and Sierra quickly pulled her sleeve over her wrist. “You don’t like me? Well, I can assure you, the feeling is mutual,” he snapped.
“Good. If you don’t like me, then stay away from me,” Sierra retaliated, entirely unsurprised to find out they shared a mutual distaste for one another.
Aodhan opened his mouth to say something else, but Tyler chose that moment to arrive and dump his happy attitude on everyone in the vicinity.
“Hey, Sierra! Happy Sunday!” His grin was infectious, and Sierra couldn’t help but return it as she maneuvered the cart out from the wall, around Aodhan, and began to walk toward the other side of the library. Tyler fell into step beside her.
“Tyler! How was your Saturday?”
Tyler smiled. “Excellent. Went to a football game. You should’ve come.”
Sierra shook her head. “I told you that football wasn’t my thing. Plus, who else would shelve the books in your absence?”
Tyler laughed, opening and holding the door as she passed through with the cart.
As Sierra turned around to face Tyler, she saw Aodhan over his shoulder, still standing where they left him.
But unlike before, when his eyes had been curious, they were now filled with rage. And he was looking right at her.
The morning portion of work went without incident, but as Sierra went to eat her lunch, Aodhan was once again taking up residence in the staff room at the table they all had to share.
She grabbed the sandwich she had remembered to bring from home for once, and her jacket, before heading outside to lean against the wall and eat.
At least it wasn’t raining cats and dogs today.
In between bites of her sandwich, she scrolled through her Facebook feed, silencing a call from her mother when it rang. She didn’t want to deal with her mother’s dramatics, not today. She had enough other things on her mind.
But when her mother’s name flashed on the screen a second time, she groaned before reluctantly pressing the talk button.
“What is it now, mamá?”
“That is how you answer the phone when speaking with tu madre?”
Sierra rolled her eyes, knowing she had just made a huge mistake.
Before she could even answer, her mother was off on a tirade in Spanish, attacking everything from Sierra’s decision to move abroad to her choice to leave religion.
Sierra was pretty sure she even called her a vegetarian heathen at some point, but she couldn’t be sure as she had to hold the phone a few inches from her face, so her mother’s screeching didn’t break her eardrum.
At some point, the line went completely dead, and Sierra knew her mother had likely hung up the phone in exasperation.
As she finished the last bites of her sandwich, she walked over to the trash, only to see Aodhan standing along the other side of the building, staring at her intently.
Sierra grimaced, realizing he likely overheard her one-sided phone conversation.
Sierra tried to think of something smart to say, but nothing came to mind, so she decided it was better to say nothing as she tossed her wrapper in the can.
Aodhan opened his mouth as if he was about to say something, but before he had the chance, a blonde student approached him. “Well, I haven’t seen you leaning around here before,” she said as she leaned on the wall between them, blocking Sierra’s view of Aodhan.
For some reason, anger flickered within her stomach, but just as that thought reached her, she brushed it off , reminding herself she didn’t care about other women looking at Aodhan, and headed inside.
What Aodhan did or who he liked was none of her concern.
She tucked her coat away in the staff area and headed back to the mundane task of reshelving books.
Just as she rounded the corner, Aodhan was standing there, no longer wearing his coat. How had he passed her? Had she been moving that slowly?
Confused, but resolving not to let this man infuriate her anymore, Sierra began shelving books, only for Aodhan to walk over and begin shelving right next to her without a word.
By this point, Sierra was tired of the drama between them and decided to leave it be, continuing her shelving without looking over at him.
The air between them buzzed with electricity, and Sierra’s shoulders tensed, worried about what might happen if either of them said anything.
Sierra glanced at Aodhan once or twice, but if he felt the tension between them, he didn’t say anything.
He looked like he respected her resolve and remained quiet as they continued to shelve, side by side, until the cart was empty.
Sierra headed to get another cart, watching as Aodhan walked up to Tyler and began helping him shelve his cart.
Apparently, he was just being helpful to everyone.
Sierra couldn’t explain it, but she felt a little sad at the thought that he hadn’t been trying to be nice to her specifically.
She quickly brushed it off. There was no reason Aodhan had been helping her other than because it was his job.
Just as it was his job to help Tyler as well.
Sure, Aodhan was attractive, but he was a jerk, and Sierra wanted nothing to do with him. But even as those thoughts passed through her mind, her resolve was melting. She didn’t like Aodhan…right?