"That'll be six seventy-five." She smiled at the man, waiting patiently as he located his credit card. Handing him his drink after he paid, Artemis smiled widely. "Come again soon!"

The man nodded and was on his way out.

Artemis wasn't sure how, but Sol had managed to set her up with a part time job at the local Starbucks in town. She had mentioned to him that she would like to work as didn't enjoy spending so much time at home doing nothing and by the next day, she was a Starbucks employee.

The first week had been a lot of training which she hadn't enjoyed and had found rather tiring and cumbersome, but she did know that it was necessary. This was her second day of 'official' working.

The manager had put her to work at the till for now, taking customers' orders and passing them on to the rest of the team and handling the team. And frankly, she loved it.

Meeting so many people, making small talk as they waited for their drink, learning something new about everyone and having a set of regulars that she was soon becoming familiar with was something that she rather enjoyed.

Artemis also loved how the garage that Sol worked at was only down the street, less than a minute away. Yesterday she had skipped over there on their lunch break and they had headed to the local park to have the lunch and today she had the same plan. Except she was thinking of taking him a coffee today.

Sol had also managed to get her working only on those days that he was also working at the garage. Again, she wasn't sure how he had managed it but she wasn't about to start questioning it. Artemis was more than grateful for all that Sol had done for her.

As soon as she had secured the job, she had offered to pay rent for living with him but just as she had expected, Sol had full out refused. He had even got quite frustrated as she insisted on it, claiming that he didn't take her under his wing – or paw, in this case – just for the rent. After some constant nagging from Artemis' part, they had come to the compromise that Artemis would help out with the grocery shopping every week, but the rest of her money was hers to decide what to do with.

Artemis wasn't completely satisfied with the compromise, feeling as if it still wasn't enough from her side but she was willing to wait a few weeks to bring up the subject again knowing that Sol was against it.

Just the thought of him brought a smile to her lips.

She owed that man her life, and she was willing to give him just that.

Shaking her head slightly to rid of the thoughts surrounding Solomon as well as the light blush that had spread to cover her cheeks, Artemis looked up and smiled at her next customer.

"Hi, I'm Artemis. How can I help you today?" She smiled at him again, her hands braced on the counter as she waited patiently for him to place his drink order.

His eyes were scanning the drink menus that were placed above her head on the wall behind her, so she took the time to study him. It wasn't too busy so she didn't see a problem in giving him an extra minute to decide what he wanted to order.

Dark red hair sat atop his head, matted with what she assumed to be sweat judging by the wifebeater and shorts that he was dressed in. Artemis found herself glad that there was the counter separating them; she could only assume how terribly he smelled after a run.

His hair curled over the top of his ears and she was sure that if he wasn't drenched so profusely in sweat, it would have also covered a good portion of his forehead, leaving him to constantly brush it away from his eyes. The man stood tall and proud, a few inches above her modest height of five foot six, but not quite six foot she was sure.

She was sure that if this man was stood next to Sol, they would find the latter to be a few inches taller at least.

Artemis nearly flinched when light, grey orbs met hers, except his were swirling in surprise and confusion. She couldn't fathom what had gotten him so confused when it came to giving her his drink order.

She merely smiled. "Sir?" She called out to him softly. "Can I get you something?"

The man seemed to snap out of his daze, though his lips were still pulled down in a frown. Another pregnant pause passed between them before he finally broke the silence, though it seemed that his words were strained.

This man was clearly pushing himself too hard with these workouts if he was having trouble with basic human interaction, Artemis thought to herself.

"I'll have an Iced Green Tea Latte to go please."

Artemis smiled and nodded before ringing up his order on the cash register. "Can I get you anything else?"

The man seemed to be at a loss again, though he did shake his head briefly. Well, Artemis thought she saw him shake his head and that was good enough for her.

"And your name?"

The man didn't hesitate, which would have been strange since all she had asked for was his name. "Lo."

Artemis' eyebrows rose in question at his name, but she didn't dare question it in fear of starting a conversation with this man. "That'll be three twenty-five please."

The man merely nodded, stuck his hand in his pocket and dropped a ten-dollar bill on the counter. When she placed it in the register and started counting up his change for him, he shook his head and tapped the counter to get her attention.

Looking up at him, he smiled strangely and shook her head. "Keep the change."

She nodded warily and placed the change in the tip jar instead.

Scribbling his name on the side of a regular sized cup, she handed it to one of her co-workers to make the drink order.

Artemis was glad to move onto the next customer as the peculiar man stood to the side waiting for his drink, though she could feel his gaze on her even though she wasn't looking at him.

"Lo?" She called out when one of her co-workers handed her a beverage in their classic Starbucks cup. She already knew who it belonged to before he even came forward to accept it.

Her smile was tense and forced as she handed him his drink.

She could feel him stare at her even after he had grabbed her drink. "Thank you." He said quietly before taking a sip of his drink as he walked out of the store.

Turning back to her next customer, Artemis smiled.

Artemis found herself hoping that he wouldn't turn out to be a regular. She wasn't sure if she would be able to handle his level of strange every day, especially if he was going to turn up as confused and incoherent as he was that particular morning.

After that strange man – or 'Lo' as his cup had said – the rest of her day until lunch had been fairly quiet. Since she was only working the morning shift that day, she was free to hang out with Sol the rest of the day.

Changing out of the uniform in the back, she placed her work clothes in her locker, grabbed the phone that Sol had insisted on buying for her and headed out of the shop, waving bye to a few of the co-workers that she had befriended over the past couple of days.

In under a minute, she was walking into the garage down the street and waving hello to the manager who was crouched over the engine of a rusty old, beaten down car.

"He's in the back." The old man smiled at her, his beard growing grey and long as the years passed.

Artemis smiled and gave him a brief hug, weary of the grease on his overalls. "Thanks, John!"

Waving to a few of the other guys that worked in the garage, Artemis walked into the back, only stopping to look around for Sol.

"Hey Artemis." One of the guys greeted her friendlily as he walked past her with a tool box in hand. She greeted him back and before she could even ask where Sol was, he gestured towards one of the new pick up trucks that must have been brought in either late last night or this morning as she hadn't noticed it yesterday.

"Your man has been going at Bessie all morning." He winked and Artemis giggled before she made her way over to the back of the truck to find a pair of legs sticking out from underneath it.

Artemis didn't need to announce herself for Sol to know that she was there.

He had sensed her even before John had spotted her.

Crouching down on the ground, Artemis plopped down on the ground next to Sol's feet rather unceremoniously. She didn't care too much about the dirt or the dust, especially not since she wasn't wearing her favourite pair of jeans.

"How was work?" Sol called out from under the car.

She spun round on her bottom and bended her legs at the knees so now, she was facing the back of the car and her shoes were hidden under the car. Pushing her body back, she lay down on the ground, using Sol's hoodie that she found laying on the ground nearby as her pillow.

"Work was good. I really like it." She beamed, genuine.

She could make out the scraping sounds of metal against the bottom of the truck as Sol worked.

"Anyone give you a hard time?" He asked, his voice serious. Artemis had no doubt that if she were to answer 'yes' then Sol would go out on a man hunt. She had seen the way he had reacted when her previous tutor had tried to make a move on her, so she was sure that he would be equally as bad as that if not worse if she were to confirm somebody hassling her.

Her mind drifted to the strange man she had encountered earlier that day, but she didn't think anything of it. He was a strange stranger whom she most likely would never see again. It wasn't a story worth telling. "No." She called out to him, but she knew that he was most probably frowning from under the car.

Sol always knew when she was lying but luckily this time, he chose to let it slide. Instead, he stuck his hand out from underneath the car, fingers spread and palm faced up towards the ceiling.

Sitting up, Artemis crossed her legs and reached out towards the toolbox near her feet. Sifting through it quickly, she grabbed Sol's trust screwdriver.

His fingers wrapped around both the screwdriver and her hand as she placed it in her hand. Sol made no move to let go of her hand.

Artemis' cheeks reddened and she couldn't help but he thankful that he couldn't see her right now.

It was only when one of the guys started wolf-whistling from behind her did Sol let go of her hand and get back to work. She giggled quietly as he grumbled various profanities from underneath the car, clearly not happy with being disturbed. But this is what he deserved for trying to play Romeo while at work.

"I should be finished in five minutes and then we can go grab lunch."

"Can we go pack to the park today?"

"Anything you want." Artemis beamed. "I'm going to grab some food from next door," Artemis informed him, already standing up and brushing the dirt off from her jeans, gesturing to the deli next to the garage. "What do you want?"

Sol answered almost instantly. "Chicken baguette."

"Large?"

"Please."

"Alright, I'll be back in five."

Artemis smiled and headed out of the garage, flipping off one of the guys that seemed to be making fun of her by turning around and wrapping his around himself, moving his hands up and down as if he was making out with someone.

She couldn't deny that it was funny.

It didn't take Artemis too long to buy some lunch for them.

For herself she had grabbed a cheese toastie, a packet of assorted nuts and a bottle of water and for Sol, she had grabbed his large chicken baguette along with a fruit pot, potato chips and another bottle of water.

She could hear the guys laughing from outside the garage.

"Sol?" She called out to him as she spotted his back, rubbing the grease off from his arms.

Ignoring the two guys that seemed to be messing with him, Sol turned around at the sound of her voice and he smiled.

Artemis' breath hitched in her throat once she took note of him. She hadn't seen him before since he was working underneath the car but now, even with the grease on his face and down his arms as well as the now dirty wife beater he wore, she couldn't help but marvel at him.

She had almost forgotten how handsome he was. Almost.

"You've got grease on your face." She blurted out.

Lifting the bottom of his top, he wiped at the grease but that just made it worse, spreading it all over his face now.

Shaking her head, her lips curled up into a smile. She placed the bag filled with their lunch on a nearby table and grabbed a seemingly clean cloth before she walked over to him. Artemis wiped at the grease on his face while one hand cradled the side of his face, keeping it in place. She avoided all eye contact as she cleaned him up, knowing fully well that he was staring at her.

Once she was done, she pushed the cloth in her hand and pushed him in the direction of the bathroom. "Go wash your face."

"But you just got it all off." He whined, now wiping his hands on his top.

"Yes, but now it looks like you got stuck in a chimney." She shot back.

Sol threw his head and laughed at her response before he followed orders and headed into the bathroom to wash his face.

Spotting his hoodie still on the floor, she headed over to it and picked it up, giving it a little shake to get the dust off.

Sensing someone behind her, she spun around, still dusting off Sol's hoodie.

The person in question stood in front of her, now bare chested, a few drops of water dribbling down his chin from not having bothered wiping his chest.

"Where's your top gone?" She asked, cocking a questioning eyebrow.

He shrugged. "It got dirty." He answered, thankfully accepting his hoodie that she passed to him.

Artemis grabbed their lunch from the table and they headed out of the garage.

"I'm going on break, John!" Sol called over his shoulder as he pushed open the door for Artemis to step through.

It took them a little under ten minutes to walk to the park in the absolute centre of the town. It was a school day so the park was fairly deserted. It was also slightly cold outside at this time of year, but they were both werewolves so the cold didn't bother them as much as it did humans.

It took them even less time to devour their food than it did to walk to the park.

"Clark called me earlier today." Sol told her as he snacked on some of her nuts, having swiped them from her as she chugged some water down.

Artemis frowned at him, but relaxed when he offered her some of them. "How is he?"

"He's good. He told me to tell you he said hi."

Artemis smiled and Sol couldn't help but match it.

"He actually called to tip me off that another pack is passing through the town today."

Artemis' eyebrows rose in surprise.

"They have some business with his pack so there's a chance that there might be a few of the wolves in the town since we're not too far off from them." Sol threw his head back and downed the remainder of the nuts in the small container. He merely grunted when Artemis pouted and whacked him across the chest for eating her food.

Artemis frowned but nodded. "I'll be sure to be on my best behaviour." She replied, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

Sol chuckled and shook his head. "Just don't go about starting fights with any unknown wolves, okay?"

Artemis snorted. "Remind yourself, not me."

Sol threw his head back and laughed a loud, hearty laugh. There was never a dull moment with Artemis around, that was for sure.

-

Dedication for @from-the-upside-dow, for just always commenting and voting! I really appreciate it :)

18.08.18

Layla Knight