Fangirl

cheek and studied Cath for a second before he turned around.
    Professor Piper took the paper from her hand. “Thank you, Cath.” She smiled warmly and squeezed Cath’s shoulder. “I can hardly wait.”
    Nick twisted his head back around at that. Pet, he mouthed.
    Cath thought about reaching up to the back of his head and petting his hair down to the point at his neck.
     
    It had been two hours since they watched the drawbridge lock into the fortress.
    Two hours of squabbling about whose fault it had been.
    Baz would pout and say, “We wouldn’t have missed curfew if you hadn’t gotten in my way.”
    And Simon would growl and say, “I wouldn’t have to get in your way if you weren’t wandering the grounds nefariously.”
    But the truth, Simon knew, was that they’d just gotten so caught up in their arguing that they’d lost track of time, and now they’d have to spend the night out here. There was no getting around the curfew—no matter how many times Baz clicked his heels and said, “There’s no place like home.” (That was a seventh-year spell anyway; there was no way Baz could pull it off.)
    Simon sighed and dropped down onto the grass. Baz was still muttering and staring up at the fortress like he might yet spot a way in.
    “Oi,” Simon said, thumping Baz’s knee.
    “Ow. What.”
    “I’ve got an Aero bar,” Simon said. “Want half?”
    Baz peered down, his long face as grey as his eyes in the gloaming. He flicked his black hair back and frowned, settling down next to Simon on the hill. “What kind?”
    “Mint.” Simon dug the candy out from the pocket in his cape.
    “That’s my favorite,” Baz admitted, grudgingly.
    Simon flashed him a wide, white grin. “Mine, too.”

    —from “Secrets, Stars, and Aero Bars,” posted January 2009 by FanFixx.net authors Magicath and Wrenegade

 
    NINE
    Cath had an hour or so to kill before she left for Omaha, and she didn’t feel like sitting in her room. It was the best kind of November day. Cold and crisp, but not quite freezing, not icy. Just cold enough that she could justifiably wear all her favorite clothes—cardigans and tights and leg warmers.
    She thought about going to the Union to study but decided to walk around downtown Lincoln instead. Cath almost never left campus; there wasn’t much reason to. Leaving campus felt like crossing the border. What would she do if she lost her wallet or got lost? She’d have to call the embassy.…
    Lincoln felt a lot more like a small town than Omaha. There were still movie theaters downtown and little shops. Cath walked by a Thai restaurant and the famous Chipotle. She stopped to walk through a gift shop and smell all the essential oils. There was a Starbucks across the street. She wondered if it was Levi’s Starbucks, and a minute later, she was crossing over.
    Inside it was exactly like every other Starbucks Cath had ever been to. Maybe with a few more professorial types … And with Levi briskly moving behind the espresso machine, smiling at something somebody was saying in his headset.
    Levi was wearing a black sweater over a white T-shirt. He looked like he’d just gotten a haircut—shorter in the back but still sticking up and flopping all over his face. He called out someone’s name and handed a drink to a guy who looked like a retired violin teacher. Levi stopped to talk to the guy. Because he was Levi, and this was a biological necessity.
    “Are you in line?” a woman asked Cath.
    “No, go ahead.” But then Cath decided she may as well get in line. It’s not like she’d come here to observe Levi in the wild. She didn’t know what she was doing here.
    “Can I help you?” the guy at the register asked.
    “No, you cannot,” Levi said, pushing the guy down the line. “I got this one.” He grinned at her. “Cather.”
    “Hey,” Cath said, rolling her eyes. She hadn’t thought he’d seen her.
    “Look at you. All sweatered up. What are those, leg sweaters?”
    “They’re leg warmers.”
    “You’re wearing at least four different kinds of sweater.”
    “This is a scarf.”
    “You look tarred and sweatered.”
    “I get it,” she said.
    “Did you just stop by to say hi?”
    “No,” she said. He frowned. She rolled her eyes again. “I came for coffee.”
    “What kind?”
    “Just coffee. Grande coffee.”
    “It’s cold out. Let me make you something good.”
    Cath shrugged. Levi grabbed a cup and started pumping syrup into it. She waited on the other side