Chapter Text
Agatha did this to herself.
She should’ve just kept her eyes down after their eyes met the third time.
Fuck the rule of thirds.
Fuck the girl for being so distracting.
Fuck her for being an idiot.
Fuck.
Fingers tapped on the desk. Agatha resisted the urge to squeeze her eyes shut or pinch the bridge of her nose. It was her fault.
The first glances were of recognition. Out of her jersey, Rio Vidal looked like any other student of the university, swallowed in a hoodie too big and scratching at her head like whatever she read on her laptop was indiscernible. And Agatha didn’t know sports, just the face plastered on the gym banners and the tryout posters on the walls outside of the library. The one’s she’d had to put up. All the other glances were pure stupidity. Rio Vidal looked so lost it was comical. She probably hadn’t dedicated more than five minutes to her classes since her admittance. Agatha Harkness was a sadist, she found humor in people’s anguish and befuddlement. The hopeless spectacle was like witnessing a car crash, it was impossible to look away.
Of course, the more she looked the more she noticed. Bored out of her mind and students that knew her and/or of her straying away from asking for help—even though it was her job to help them. Why had she chosen to work at the library? She hated being approached. Any who—Led to her staring. It couldn’t be denominated as anything else, Agatha was staring. Staring at the gap between her front teeth when Rio bit her lip. Staring at the bangs she kept trying to toss back with a turn of the head. Staring at the ring on her index finger and the thumb that kept picking at it. Not staring fast enough away when the lightest, widest, most gorgeous brown eyes she’d ever seen met her own. Continuing to stare after being caught countless times.
Agatha was practically asking for Rio to come over. Fuck asking, she was screaming it silently.
Hey, Rio! Look at me looking at you like a fucking idiot that forgot what social norms even are.
Fuck.
Agatha wasn’t usually stupid. It had to be someone like Rio Vidal that brought it out of her.
A different pair of hands slammed noisily on the counter. God, this was a library.
Agatha bit her tongue.
She offered the friendliest smile she could muster, regrettably lifting her eyes to see who had walked over—She knew. She’d seen Rio stand up from her chair. Heard the annoying squeak of her sneakers.
“You keep staring at me.”
No preamble. Forward like a speeding train regardless on if someone was lying on the tracks or not. Jesus, Agatha hadn’t even decided on if she was going to say good morning before the, ‘How can I help you?’
Apologize. Ask how to help. Ignore the smirk and the flirty tone. Move away from whatever route a conversation with Rio Vidal could take.
What Agatha should’ve done.
“You look close to ripping your own head out.”
Not what she did.
“Oh, is that it?” That smirk was deadly. “Offering to help me, then?”
Agatha scoffed, looked away when Rio pushed her tongue against the inside of her cheek because that was disarming.
Really, Agatha wasn’t usually like this. She felt pathetic.
“Definitely not. Watching you lose your mind over there is more entertaining.”
This wasn’t how it was supposed to go. Rio Vidal was meant to be back in her seat within three minutes of an interaction with Agatha Harkness. Her confession of preferring to watch Rio suffer shouldn’t have the girl grinning like she had said something nicer.
“At least we can both agree you enjoying watching me.”
That damned tongue thing. When had Agatha decided to look back up?
“I can’t say I mind it, though.”
This was derailing faster than Agatha could’ve predicted. Goddamnit.
Of all the days to not wear her ring.
“What do you want, Vidal?”
Fuck. Agatha really was stupid.
Yeah, say her last name over everything else. Expose the fact you know who she is.
No, Rio shouldn’t look as surprised as she did. She was the star basketball player. Her poster was on the library’s outside walls. Everyone knew who she was. Agatha didn’t live under a rock.
“You know my name?”
Agatha could’ve guessed she’d be infuriating.
“You’re the girl from the gym posters, no?”
Rio looked at her unconvinced. Unwarranted, Agatha really only knew her by them and word of mouth. She hummed, crossing her arms on top of the counter. Rio was getting too comfortable. Agatha needed to scare her away.
“I think it’s only fair I know your name if you know mine.”
Agatha sighed, leaning back against her chair. Somewhere she’d taken hold of a pen, one she now tapped impatiently against the desk. Opting out of answering outright, not one to be friendly when purposely annoyed, or ever, Agatha grabbed the nameplate off the desk and placed it on the counter facing Rio.
Why was she still going along with this? Two seconds ago, her mind had rationalized the next course of action was to scare Rio away. But no, there she was offering her name.
“Agatha Harkness,” Rio read aloud. Agatha ignored the way her name rolled off her tongue. “Assistant Librarian.”
Did Rio ever stop smiling?
Agatha eyed the hand extending in her direction. She was not going to shake her hand. “I’m Rio Vidal. Nice to meet you. Officially, since you already know me.”
Agatha blinked. She swayed in her chair, clicked the pen in her hand, stared away from Rio’s hand and into brown eyes that lit up with nauseating playfulness. Rio retreated her hand with an easy laugh, playing with the nameplate instead.
Not deterred. Agatha shouldn’t be surprised, Rio looked the type.
Pushy, no regards for personal space, and stepping noisily over boundaries with her squeaky sneakers.
“So, Agatha,” Doesn’t-know-how-to-take-a-hint continued, “Would you know anything at all in concerns to psychology?”
Unexpected. Out of all study fields, Agatha wouldn’t have guessed Rio’s major to be psychology.
Careful to not show her surprise or worse, interest (disgusting), Agatha pointed to the right. “Section 150. Knock yourself out.”
Literally, please. Smack your head against the bookshelves and don’t talk to me ever again.
Rio wore a smile Agatha did not like at all, like she knew something Agatha didn’t. Like Agatha was being charming or cute.
Ew. She wasn’t.
Yet, Rio’s stupid smile never wavered. Not while she drummed her fingers on the counter or as she said, “Alright. Thank you, Agatha.” Not when she left either, throwing an unnoticed (ignored) glance back. Agatha was too focused on why Rio found it necessary to say her name in every sentence. Annoying.
But Rio was gone and Agatha could relax.
Fucking idiot. Change the inscription on the nameplate to that.
Agatha couldn’t remember the last time she exchanged sentences with another person. Not even her fiancée received such pleasantries lately.
It had to be Rio Vidal.
Agatha should’ve foreseen it. She’d heard stories, rumors. A charming awkwardness, or whatever. Talked too much and pushed enough to become endearing. Something like that. Agatha didn’t pay attention to the words of other people. Although, it was probably the doe eyes. Prolonged eye contact with those gentle browns would weaken anybody. And the smile, the smile must play a part in her supposed charms. And the stupid tongue against cheek thing.
Okay, Agatha needed to stop herself.
The universe was a dickhead, though. Or maybe that was just Rio, who had slammed her hands on the counter again while wearing a smile Agatha guessed was supposed to be sheepish.
It looked psychotic.
Agatha should’ve turned her back. Told her to read each column and description card until she found whatever psychology book she needed to find. It would be there, and if it wasn’t, then she could search for it in the online catalogue or pick another book. Agatha wouldn’t be the one to find it for her.
Agatha left the counter for two reasons. Number one, lunch. Number two, her shift ended. Never to help a student search for something. Never, so Agatha wouldn’t stand. Didn’t need to, it wasn’t something she did. Rio Vidal needing her help wouldn’t change that.
Fuck.
There was something about the doe eyes.
Rio didn’t shut up. She kept asking questions Agatha ignored as she searched for the book Rio had told her. Someone with the name of Eileen Ulick. Fucking overseas, European author or something.
“How long have you been working here?”
Heard.
Agatha continued scanning the spines. Why were there so many authors with a last name beginning in ‘U’? It wasn’t even that common of a letter.
Ulick. Eileen Ulick. Was that what Rio said?
Agatha tuned Rio in again.
“Have you taken a class with Peterson? I swear I don’t understand half the things he…”
Still talking nonsense.
“Eileen… Ulick was it?”
Rio stopped blabbering. The smile was more annoying. Almost as annoying as her crossed arms, or the way she leaned against the bookshelves not bothering to help Agatha look at all, even though she was the one that needed the stupid book.
“What did you say?”
“The name of the author.” Agatha grumbled impatiently, “Was it Ulick? Does it starts with a ‘Y’ or something?”
“Lick what?”
Agatha blinked, looking at Rio like she had just grown a second head. What the fuck was Rio even going on about? Couldn’t she just answer the question? She was already bothering Agatha, the least she could do was be helpful when Agatha was trying to be helpful—Agatha still wasn’t sure why the fuck she had stood up from her desk. She was further regretting her decision the more time she spent searching for that godforsaken book—If they tried to look for the proper name together, Agatha could go back to work (this was technically working) and forget this interaction ever happened.
Agatha’s angry inner ramblings settled when she caught Rio’s widening smile. The teeth biting down on her bottom lip did little to hide it.
Now, why the hell was she smiling?
Ulick… Lick what?
Agatha’s face fell.
Motherfucker.
Agatha turned around in time for Rio’s laughter to boom around the quiet space. Rio was quick to slap her hand against her own mouth, but her snickers could still be heard, making Agatha’s blood boil.
She really, really was a fucking idiot. How had she fallen for such a juvenile prank?
“Wait, wait, wait,” Rio rushed in a whisper that wasn’t close to being a whisper, extending an arm to stop Agatha’s march away. Her attempts pushed her backwards, Agatha wouldn’t stop. “I’m sorry, Agatha, I’m sorry.”
Agatha shoved Rio’s hand away. “You’re wasting my time.”
“I’m sorry,” Rio tried again. If she looked more apologetic, Agatha still wouldn’t forgive her. “I just wanted to talk to you.”
Agatha was going to scream when her shift ended. She was going to walk calmly towards her car, turn it on, turn the AC on, buckle herself in, and scream until she damaged her vocal cords. That would stop her from getting into another mess like this one. Losing her voice sounded like a spectacular plan. Maybe gouge her eyes out while she was at it, they're the ones that got her into this predicament in the first place.
“But you’re so hard to crack. That didn’t even get a grimace out of you, which I would’ve taken. Upside down smile. Close enough.”
Maybe Agatha could do laps around the parking lot until she spotted Rio. Yes, running Rio over also sounded like a spectacular plan. Agatha could do that right after screaming her voice raw. Before ripping out her eyes, though. She would need them to spot Rio.
Rio stopped right between Agatha and the entrance to the other side of the counter .
“Rio.”
Rio’s smile was crooked and Agatha was seconds away from grabbing Rio by the shoulders and tossing her cartoonishly over her head, crashing her into the tables and bookshelves, cat shrieks and all. Realistically, she would probably end up wrapping her hands around her throat.
“You’re rude.”
A true statement. It was a common one to receive, Agatha easily seconded it. What was unusual was the stupid, goofy smile, like the admission only amused Rio instead of bothering her.
“You’re annoying.”
Another true statement. Agatha took the widening eyes and lopsided grin as Rio agreeing.
Agatha pushed past Rio, taking a seat back at her desk. She managed running her fingers through her hair and a groan before Rio was back at the counter.
“I’ll crack you, Agatha Harkness.”
I’ll crack my skull first.
Fuck everything.
Fuck Rio Vidal.
Fuck herself.
Fuck.
Her fault. Solely and entirely Agatha’s fucking fault.
Now, she had a leech of the name Rio Vidal that would surely, most definitely, from this point forward, make Agatha’s life a living nightmare. Great.