Page 33 of Liberating Water

“Would you look at what the cat dragged in,” Hugo grumbled as he shuffled his way to the counter. “If you’re looking for the raspberry drops, I told you I only make those in season, and now is not when that happens. Don’t even try that smooth talking mumbo jumbo with me. I won’t be swayed to use that greenhouse, chemically treated shit they have in the stores.”

I couldn’t hold back my bark of laughter as I saw Lailah’s shocked face at how this man was talking.

“Calm down, old man, I’m not here to harass you. The smack on the hand with that wooden spoon of yours isn’t quickly forgotten. I am in need of a container of your famous hot chocolate that has the super secret recipe,” I explained.

Hugo narrowed his eyes at me, his bushy eyebrows almost hiding them from view. “You wouldn’t be sassing me now, would you boy? What kind of business owner would I be if I handed every Tom, Dick, and Harry my recipes? This is why I can’t let Lucas take over—too soft, that one, but Anna is off in London running some bigwig’s company when she would have been better off here with her family.”

“You know that if you want to retire, you have to let Lucas take on more responsibility at some point,” I pointed out, knowing what his answer would be.

Hugo slammed his large fist on the wooden counter. “Do I look like I need to retire to you, boy? I’m not going soft any time soon like all those others in their rocking chairs. Bah, when you stop working is when you die.” Shaking his head, he looked up and seemed to notice Lailah for the first time. “Why didn’t you tell me you brought a lady friend with you? Letting me go on rambling like some old doddered.”

Shuffling his way around the counter, he walked up to Lailah, took the box from her hands, and shoved it into mine. “Ladies should never carry things if a man is around, you hear me? Don’t let this runt fool you into taking care of him; I know full well that he is more than capable of it. You see, his family and mine go way back, been knowing this idiot since he was a baby. If he ever needs some straightening out, you let me know and I’ll take care of it.” He patted Lailah on the cheek, giving her a rare smile.

“Hey now, don’t you be trying to steal my girlfriend like that,” I challenged.

Hugo looked at me, then grunted. “Don’t make it so easy and I won’t. Now, you said you need hot chocolate. I’m guessing you need it to keep her around when she realizes what she agreed to date. I’ll make up for the large thermos, then. It’s gonna take quite a bit.”

Without too much more hassle, hot chocolate in hand, Lailah and I headed back to the truck, where I got to help her once again up into her seat. As we drove, the silence between us was comfortable and easy, something I’ve never really been able to experience with anyone else before. It was more my nature to be on the move, ready for the next thing to happen, but Lailah made me appreciate what was happening now.

Back on the school property, I took her over to the Computer Science building, where I spent most of my time focusing on my major. Waving my key card over the sensor, I opened the door to my space and heard her gasp.

Taking her hand, I carried the cookies and handed her the cocoa as I led her into my sanctuary. My freshman year I’d been able to sweet talk one of the professors into letting me have my own office if I did extra work for the school when they needed it. My first year here, I built my own computer and set it up in this room, turning the whole thing into the perfect nerd den. My black and purple racer chair sat waiting for me to take my place in front of the three large screens and wield the power of the internet at my fingers. The box that held the brains of my computer had glass sides so you could see everything working. LED lights set it aglow, dancing along to whatever music I was playing. Even my keyboard lit up in rainbow colors, adding life to the room. On the walls were posters of my favorite video games and diagrams of the first microprocessor chip and other computer-related technology.

“Parker, where are we?” Lailah asked, taking it all in.

Turning, I splayed my arms out. “This, Trouble, is my nerd-dom on display. Here is where I perform the magic—well, okay, lately I’ve just been sneaking in here to play video games, but don’t tell the staff that or they’ll take away my keycard.”

“This is so cool! Are we going to play something together?” she asked, taking a seat in my chair.

“What a silly question, of course we are. I know how pitiful your video game knowledge is, so we are going to start chipping away at that. Now, have you ever heard of a game called W.O.W.? And how do you feel about being an elf?” I asked as I pulled in another chair from the main room.

“Um…”

I let out a heavy sigh. “We have a lot of work to do. Good thing we have the cookies and hot chocolate to fuel us through this.”