Chapter Text
Feyre’s boots crunched through the light coating of snow on the path to the parking lot. She held her coat tightly around her as she rushed to Alis’s waiting car. Who would have thought it would snow in Albuquerque? Wasn’t New Mexico supposed to be hot? She really should have done more research before moving halfway across the country.
It seemed like there were a lot of “should haves” in her life lately.
Getting into the passenger seat and closing the door against the cold, Feyre was greeted with a pair of voices shouting “AUNTIE FEYRE!!!” from the back seat. Turning, she gave Jayce and Layton a smile as she buckled her seatbelt. “Hey kiddos! Long time no see! What have you been up to?” Both of Alis’s nephews happily chattered away for the duration of the short ride to the library.
“Feyre, are you free Saturday morning?” Alis had asked as they ate lunch earlier in the week.
“Yeah,” Feyre responded. Feyre was usually free for Alis. Although she had found that she enjoyed exploring the city in the last six months, Feyre hadn’t made many friends and consequently rarely had anything that couldn’t be rescheduled.
“Great! I found this new program at the library that I wanted to sign the boys up for! It’s supposed to be an introduction to computer programming. Each kid that signs up can be accompanied by an adult. I figured with your expertise you’d be much better at helping them than me. Will you come with us? We’ll pick you up at 9:30. And we’ll go out to lunch afterwards; it’s the least I can do for you helping me watch the boys.”
Alis’s nephews weren’t prone to poor behavior, and Feyre was never one to turn down time with the family, so there was only one possible reply to Alis’s proposition: “Sounds good!”
Upon arriving at the library, Feyre and Alis herded the boys over to the multi-purpose room in the back of the building. “We’ll pick out some books before we leave,” Alis reassured Jayce and Layton as they tried to veer off toward the children’s section. They got in the short line of families who were there to sign in. Glancing around, Feyre could see that the computers lining the room were still under their dust covers - but there seemed to be materials for several activities laid out on the carpet in the center of the room. Feyre’s mind ran, trying to imagine what they might be doing.
“And who do we have here?” A silky voice interrupted Feyre’s analysis, prompting her to look back to the registration table.
Every thought vanished from Feyre’s head as she realized that the man watching her - waiting for an answer - was the most beautiful man she had ever seen.
Thank the Cauldron for Alis. She had piped up to sign Jayce and Layton in, and then sat their group down on the carpet, declaring that it would be Jayce’s turn to work with Feyre for the day. Feyre was finally shaken out of her stupor when Alis leaned over to whisper “Enjoying the view?” while looking pointedly toward the entrance, where the man who had greeted them was languidly reclining in a chair, looking more comfortable on the plastic chair than anyone had a right to.
And thank the Cauldron that the black-haired man wasn’t actually leading the class. If he had been, Feyre didn’t think she would have been able to actually be of any help to Jayce as they went through a card game whose rules were laid out a simple if-then-else structure and then advanced to writing their own variant using the same rule format.
As it was, Feyre kept looking around to catch a glimpse of him. She thought she was being subtle, but at one point, the man caught her eye and smirked at her. Feyre had immediately looked away, but strongly suspected that her face was bright red. That was enough to get her to focus very intently on what Jayce and Layton were doing for the remainder of the session, as they wrote if-then-else statements that would provide instructions for walking through a simple maze.
“So what did you think of the class? Or were you too busy looking around to evaluate anything?” asked Alis as they packed up. Jayce and Layton were talking excitedly with some of the other children in the room, giving Feyre and Alis a moment to themselves.
Feyre swatted Alis’s arm. “I have no idea what you’re talking about,” she declared. “The class was great! I loved the way they explained everything at a level that kids would understand without being too simplistic.”
“Great! Let’s go give that feedback!” And with that, Alis grabbed Feyre's arm and walked right up to the man that Feyre had been trying - and failing - to avoid looking at for the last ninety minutes.
“Thanks so much for organizing this. My boys had so much fun, and the activities seemed perfect for their age.”
“Thank you so much for coming,” he replied, in a voice as smooth as honey.
“I’m Alis, by the way. And this is my friend Feyre,” she said, gesturing at Feyre, who simultaneously wanted to sink into the ground to avoid the attention and stare at his deep blue eyes in the hopes that she would be able to paint them.
“Rhys. Delighted to meet you Alis.” He shook Alis’s hand. Then looked at Feyre, reaching out while saying “And you too, Feyre. Will you be here next weekend?”
Feyre felt a jolt as their hands touched. His skin was soft and warm. Comfortable. She didn’t want to let go. And as the handshake dragged on longer than would be normal, it seemed that neither did he.
“Of course,” Alis replied on their behalf, when Feyre took too long to answer. “I’ve got the two kids signed up for the entire session.”
Next weekend? Entire session? Alis hadn’t said one word about anything beyond this morning. Feyre was sure the surprise showed on her face.
Smiling, Rhys let go of her hand. “Then I’ll see you next week, darling.”
“So you’ll be free for the next three Saturdays?” asked Alis, grinning widely, as Jayce and Layton roamed the stacks, each collecting an armful of books to check out for the week.
“I believe you already committed me to coming. I have no choice but to clear my calendar or make you into a liar.”
“Just doing both of you a favor.”
“‘Both’?” Feyre raised her eyebrows.
“You might have been blatantly staring at Rhys.”
“I wa-” Feyre started to protest, but Alis cut her off.
“But he couldn’t take his eyes off you, ‘darling’.”
Feyre gaped at Alis. She must have been seeing things.
“Come on,” Alis said. “Let’s get the boys’ books checked out, and then I owe you lunch for helping me deal with the hellions for the morning. Unless you want to go back and see if Rhysie darling is still there so that you can ask him out to lunch instead?”
“Alis…” Feyre said, stifling a laugh at the nickname. She shook her head. She wasn’t about to do that.
As she walked out of the library, Feyre hoped this wouldn’t become another “should have”.