We hung up and I paid the bill. Leaving Mint behind so he could spend the rest of the day with his mate. He was too busy to even look in my direction and I smiled as I strolled back to my car.
Ten minutes later I was back home, and had only just opened the door when my slate rang. I expected it to be Mint, but it was Juno. I quickly answered, but before I could say a single word, Juno spoke. “Can you please help us?” I figured ‘us’ meant either him and Nix, or him and Remi.
“Of course,” I replied, easily. He sounded distraught, so I knew something was up.
“I need you to help drive us to the portal. Remi fainted, and the rulers want us both to come home. We’re in Remi’s dorm room.”
Fuck. Juno had to be filled with worry. He then gave me the room number and a quick explanation on how to find them.
“I’ll be there in ten,” I promised, then hung up and hurried back to my car.
Chapter Five
Derek
Amber was as resilient as a weed. I kept trying to evade her only for her to pop up the next day. I knew I couldn’t hide forever, and with our paper due in a few weeks, it wasn’t fair to her either. If I kept treating her like this, then I deserved the hate I was getting from the others.
I eyed my phone, silently berating myself for not answering her texts, because a phone call was so much worse. But I only had myself to blame for her name being plastered on my phone as it rang. I took in a steading breath, then answered.
“It’s Derek.” I cringed when I heard how formal and awkward it sounded.
“Hey!” She greeted me cheerily. “It’s Amber. I know you’re busy, but can you meet up in the library tonight? We have a lot to go through and I think we need to start comparing notes.”
That had been the one thing I had thought about to save myself time, telling her we should each find references and read up on the subject before meeting to “save time” and now, it seemed, I was out ofsaidtime.
“Okay,” I agreed, knowing I was had. But I could do this, right? I could meet up with another person and carry on a conversation.I hoped. Remi and I were doing fine these days, granted he was acting a bit off, but he’d just broken up with his girlfriend and I knew how people tended to get worked up over that. I was just glad he wasn’t sitting around crying and listening to sad music like the movies warned me would happen. I did read up on how to console someone who was sad, so if it did happen, I would be ready to be there for him. He’d also given me a new t-shirt, so I was indebted to him for life it seemed. I’d slept better than I had in months since he returned, and I was eager for more.
“Perfect!” Amber replied. “Let’s meet at seven and work until nine, does that work for your schedule?”
I nodded, then remembered I had to actually answer. “Sure.”
“See you then!” She hung up as soon as I’d grunted my agreement. Now I just had to figure out some food before meeting up with her. Maybe research what people did in these sorts of situations. Was there small-talk? Or was the topic just about the assignment? I opened my laptop and started googling.ThenI would eat something.
I was about to meet up with Amber, but as soon as I went to stand up from my chair, the sound of keys came from the door, alerting me that Remi was back. I selfishly wanted to spend some time with him, so I sat down again and pretended to work. I just hadn’t expected Juno to be carrying an unconscious Remi inside with one of his friends trailing behind them.
“Is he okay?” I asked, fearing the worst. Had they hurt Remi? Was that why he was acting off? Were these two guys messing with him?
“He fainted,” Juno’s friend answered. I was about to ask how, when I saw Juno’s worried expression. I knew then that he cared about Remi, so I closed my mouth and observed instead.
Remi was placed on his bed and I eyed them as they searched through Remi’s things. I didn’t like that they were taking his clothes, so I dared ask. “Why are you packing? Does he need to go to the hospital?”
Juno didn’t stop packing as he answered. “No, I’m taking him home with me.”
“Why?” I demanded, feeling uncomfortable about the whole thing. The fact that I couldn’t see if Remi was okay with this made me uneasy.
“I’m Nix,” Juno’s friend said, finally giving me some eye contact. “Juno and Remi are mates and Remi needs to go back to our home world to heal. What should we pack for him?”
I blinked, then figured I might be dreaming this and simply answered. “His laptop and his journal. He’s very protective of both.”
“We need socks,” Juno said, pointing to Remi’s side of the dresser. Nix hurried to comply and took out what looked to be all of Remi’s socks.
“So, you’re his mate?” I asked, wanting to know more before I woke up. There was some kind of comforting feeling, so it had to be a good dream. Normally my dreams were all dark and full of shadows and pain. I never dreamt like this. Never in color. Neverhappy. Or as happy as seeing Remi knocked out could feel like. Compared to my other dreams though? This was fucking Disneyland.
“Yes,” Juno replied, not offering me anything else.
“Cool,” I muttered looking at Remi with concern. I finally figured out why I felt comforted. “Why do the three of you smell the same?” They both stopped packing and eyed me curiously.
“What?” Nix asked.
