The drive was thirty minutes long and Brock hadn't realized how much longer they'd be before they arrived in Greensboro. Instead of interacting with his stepfamily, he stared at the trees as the wind rustled through the air. Birds were chirping, and all that was playing was his music. He tuned everything else out. As they arrived in Greensboro, Alaric dropped Aston off at football tryouts leaving Brock dealing with Alaric and Stella. They hadn't interacted with him much which made him glad, but Stella had been so loud that he couldn't hear his own music. He was so ready to strangle her by the neck.

"Brock!" his stepfather's voice rang.

Brock flinched and pulled out his earbuds.

"What?" Brock asked.

"What is the first thing you need to do when we get to the Publishing house?" Alaric questioned.

"Don't make eye contact and only do what you need me to do," Brock answered. "Most of all, stay out of the way,"

"Good," Alaric responded and turned to Stella. "And you my dear?"

"Follow you and learn what I need to if I want to become a publishing manager just like you," Stella answered.

They arrived in Greensboro and were driving through downtown when Alaric stopped by his office building. He turned and faced Brock.

"Now then Brock, how about you do something useful," Alaric said. "Go to Dolce Aroma, and get me a white Chocolate Raspberry mocha, with dark chocolate,"

"And get me a Vanilla Latte with two espresso shots," Stella chimed in.

"Now get going," Alaric ordered.

Brock unbuckled his seatbelt and climbed out of the car. They hadn't given him much money, so he had to buy the items with his own. Despite everything at least he'd be away from them for a few minutes. He was walking down the block heading toward the coffee shop when he walked by two girls who were laughing and giggling. One of them had dark brown hair and the other light brown and looked almost like him. It was scary. He shook his head and arrived at the coffee shop. It was small and hard to see if you blinked, you'd miss it. The bell rang as he stepped inside. An older lady with snow white hair and German accent stepped over to the counter.

"Hi there," she said. "Welcome to Dolce Aroma, what can I get for you today?"

Brock ordered the drinks that Alaric and Stella wanted.

"Anything else?" she asked.

"No thank you," Brock responded.

He pulled out his card just as the two girls from earlier walked in. He paused now that he had a good look at them. The Asian girl was beautiful, he couldn't put his finger on it. But it felt like he had seen her somewhere before and not just from a few minutes ago. The woman behind the counter was busy making the drinks he ordered when one of the girls broke the silence.

"Are you in line?" the Asian girl said.

Brock snapped out of his thoughts and looked over at her.

"No, I just ordered," he responded. "Waiting on the orders,"

The girls looked at each other then turned back to him.

"Have you been here before?" the Italian girl asked.

"No," Brock said.

He didn't want to deal with small talk, he wanted to get out of there as fast as possible.

"Well, how about we order something for you?" the Asian girl suggested. "I can get you a Mocha Frappe,"

Brock hesitated. He'd never met someone who wanted to buy him something. As it turns out, he didn't know how to respond.

"You don't have to..." Brock started but the Asian girl insisted.

Before Brock could protest anymore, the girl ordered him a frappe. Before the woman could ring them up, he had paid for his and was given a drink tray. She placed the two drinks on the tray and handed it over to him. Not a moment after, the girls bought their own drinks. The Asian girl even bought him one. She turned toward him. Her eyes were sparkling and suddenly, he found himself nervous.

"I'm Amelia," the girl said, "And this is my friend Petra, what's yours?"

"Brock Rockinson," He responded.

The girls shook his hand as the woman behind the counter handed them their drinks. Not thinking about it much the group took a seat on one of the couches. Brock placed the tray down on the side table. The girls were talking a lot, but each time Amelia or Petra tried to talk to him, he tuned them out. They'd been spending a lot of time together that Brock had lost track. He jumped to his feet and grabbed the coffees. Thanking the girls for the drink he quickly left the shop and made his way back to the office. Brock walked inside and made his way to the elevator; Alaric's office was on the sixth floor so he had to get up there fast. He pressed the button as the elevator opened and he stepped inside.

However, there was already one person inside the elevator, he had green hair and bright blue eyes. The man was on the other side of the elevator and Brock stood across from him. Both were heading up to the sixth floor.

"You look like you're in a hurry," the man with a thick Irish accent said. "You alright?"

"I'm fine," Brock stated. "Who are you?"

"The names Noah Byrne, I'm one of the secretaries," Noah responded. "And you are?"

"Brock Rockinson," he answered. "As for being in a hurry, I wasted time in that coffee shop talking to two girls," Brock continued. "I'd forgotten all about my stepfamily's orders so I had to race down here as fast as I could,"

Noah looked at him thoughtfully. At first, Brock wasn't sure what else he could say but the man broke the silence.

"You have relatives that work here?" Noah questioned.

"Kind of..." Brock answered. However, before he could continue the elevator rang and the doors opened.

Not looking back at the man, Brock walked as fast as he could down the hall trying to get to Alaric's office in time.