"Brian asked me out," Leanne said as Maura took her spot behind the counter.

Maura shook her head as she poured the unpopped corn kernels into the machine. "Noooo. Bad idea, Lee."

"I knew you'd say that."

"We're not supposed to date management, remember?" Maura said management with verbal quotes around the word. "Anyway, didn't you guys pass that point long ago?"

"I'm not looking for anything serious."

"Obviously."

"Besides, we're graduating soon," Leanne said, ignoring her sarcasm. "I'll be leaving in four months."

"Don't remind me." Maura didn't like talking about her best friend moving halfway across the country for college, coming home only for major holidays.

"I've already put in my notice. They can fire me for all I care."

Maura took a shaky breath. Gods, she was a mess today. She'd hardly slept the night before and was mentally exhausted. "Do you mind if we talk about something else?"

Once the Friday night crowd descended, however, they were too busy to talk at all. Weekend shifts were her favorite because she could lose herself in the steady rhythm of filling drinks, shoveling endless buckets of popcorn, and ringing up sales. It made the hours pass quickly and distracted her from everything else going on in her life that she didn't want to think about.

But a few hours later, she spied Luke and his sister standing in line to buy concessions. She almost turned away, nearly fled to the bathroom to wait until they left, but Brian was making the rounds. Brian's uncle was the manager and had promoted him to assistant manager a few weeks before. Brian took his job seriously, threatening to report the most insignificant of infractions, despite being just a few years older and a regular rule-breaker himself. He and Leanne regularly snuck off to make out. And although Leanne had already given her notice, Maura needed the paycheck.

"Can you help them?" she asked Leanne under her breath as they got closer.

"Help who?" Leanne answered at full volume. Maura loved her best friend dearly, but she could be a bit dense sometimes.

When Leanne got held up with a particularly finicky customer and it appeared inevitable that she would have to help Luke and his sister herself, she squared her shoulders and forced a smile. So what if Luke had blown her off several times already? It wasn't her fault. She had nothing to be embarrassed about.

"What can I get for you?" she asked when it was their turn.

"A large popcorn, one small soda, and a box of M&Ms." Luke's sister placed their order as he stood by with his hands deep in his pockets, looking everywhere but at Maura.

"Got it." Maura cleared her throat as she placed a cup under the soda dispenser and pressed the button. "Hey, Luke. We need to get started on our English project. Do you have time to get together this weekend?"

"I'm busy," he said.

"He's not busy," his sister answered. Luke gave her a murderous look.

"Well, if you're not busy, will you please call or text? The project is due in two weeks and we have nothing. We're supposed to write a story and have visuals. And we have to give a fifteen-minute presentation, which means we'll have to factor in time to rehearse what we're going to say."

Luke's shoulders rose and fell.

Maura gritted her teeth as she totaled their order. "That'll be sixteen dollars and twenty cents."

Luke's sister looked at him expectantly. When he didn't respond, she sighed and pinched his arm hard enough to make even Maura flinch. "You're the one with the money. Pay the girl."

With a look of supreme annoyance, Luke pulled out his wallet and handed over the cash. "Don't forget to say thank you," she said to him as Maura handed over the change. To Maura, she added under her breath, "We must occasionally remind him of his manners."

Maura lifted her brows. "Like I said, call or text so we can set up a time to work on our project, okay?"

"Conduct personal business on your own time," Brian said, seemingly appearing out of nowhere behind her.

Without answering, Luke collected the tub of popcorn in the crook of his arm and took the drink and box of candy. "Don't mind him," his sister said as he walked away. "He's just shy."

Maura could have chosen any number of words to describe Luke, but shy wasn't one of them.

**********

His first mistake had been giving the queen reason to doubt his loyalty. As a consequence, the queen's handmaiden had become his keeper, appointed with the task of making sure his mother got what she wanted. And this time, she wanted Maura.

His second mistake—

"You should take notes," Evelyn commented, interrupting his thoughts as images of a man and woman locked in a romantic embrace flickered across the oversized screen. She was sitting entirely too close, and her breath smelled sweet, like the colorful chocolate candies she was eating by the handful.

He had no desire to sit in a darkened movie theater next to Evelyn, but she was a faerie who relished the mortal world. When he said nothing, she went on.

"The problem is you make it more difficult than it has to be. Just woo her, Lucas. You're fay." She gave him a sidelong glance, the corner of her mouth curving up. "And an exquisite specimen to boot. Steal her heart and seal our survival with a kiss. There's nothing else to it."

"Except she will die," he said.

"Oh, piff. She will not die."

"She might as well be dead after my mother is done with her."

"Details," Evelyn replied with a wave of her hand. As much as she enjoyed the mortal realm, she had little regard for actual human life. He had been born human and made fay but a blink of an eye ago compared to the very long life Evelyn had lived. Such things didn't matter to her anymore, if they ever had.

"Do you suppose—" she began again, but was cut off when the girl sitting in front of them turned and shushed her loudly. Evelyn held the girl's gaze, each of them silently challenging the other. Then, with a wicked smile, Evelyn leaned forward and whispered secret words into the girl's ear that caused her to stand abruptly and dump her drink over her date's head.

"Why did you have to do that?" Luke reprimanded after the ensuing drama had finally died down.

"Do what?' Evelyn replied, coy.

"Provoke trouble," he said. "Like you're doing now."

"Because I wanted to."

"Humans aren't playthings. They do not exist to serve your whims. Or hers."

"Watch your words," Evelyn cautioned between her teeth. "Might I remind you that I have the queen's ear? What you say, she hears."

"She hears only what you tell her."

Luke rose, not in the mood for Evelyn's chastising, but she grabbed his arm, restraining him with her deceivingly strong grip. Her voice was no longer lighthearted when she spoke. "You have but one duty to our queen, your mother. Her life—all our lives—depends on you doing your job. I will see to it that you do." Evelyn released his arm and returned her attention to the movie, effectively dismissing him.

He stormed out of the theater and through the lobby, purposely ignoring Maura at work behind the concessions counter. If she noticed him at all, he wasn't aware.

But he knew he wouldn't be able to ignore her forever.

*****

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