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“So,” I start, moving from Larry to a section of smaller ferns. “What’s the most unique plant you have?”

Her brows tick together slightly. “They are all?—”

“Come on, Red. There’s got to be one that’s a little more interesting than the others.”

Elena rolls those pretty eyes of hers before finally nodding. “I have a few, actually. That one there by the door,” she points and I turn, eyeing a row of three standard-looking plants. The centers are splattered with a lighter green and freckles of white. “Those are dieffenbachias. Its leaf has a compound within it that can paralyze the vocal cords for weeks.”

My eyes widen. “Holy shit. Do people know that when they buy it?”

She lifts a shoulder. “If they read the care cards I leave inside their bags.”

“That’s wild that people can just buy a poisonous plant so readily. Especially because I’ve seen them at the grocery store.”

Elena huffs. “Half the things in the forest surrounding Noxus contain toxic plants. It’s their defense mechanism. People have simply decided that some are prettier than others and want them in their homes. Like those daffodils.” She nods to the flower wall. “I had to force the bulbs inside because of the strange winter we had and because of that, the blooms are toxic if ingested. The bulb itself can cause high blood pressure, irregular heartbeats and even death. Oh, and those philodendrons…”

I’m pretty sure my eyes begin to bulge out the more she talks, shock and awe flitting through me at both her knowledge and the fact houseplants can literally kill me.

“I also have a few rather poisonous flowers and herbs in the back that I don’t make available to the public. I keep them for a local college. Biology, herbalism, and even some doctoral students come and buy them.”

The smallest bell, somewhere distant and far, signals in my head. I’m not sure why, or what the hell it’s about, but there’s something there, just beyond where I can reach it. It oddly resembles one of the epiphanies I get after pouring over a file for a week and finally making a connection.

But right now, I can’t seem to grab on to it. Can’t even see it enough to formulate any real thought.

Spraying and wiping the last group of plants, I cock my head to the side, suddenly captured by a second, more prominent thought moving in.“What do studying doctors need with poisonous herbs?”

Elena shakes her head. “You’d be surprised.” She strips the gloves from her hand and turns the open sign at the front toclosed. “Ready for the movie?”

I nod a little too enthusiastically, but don’t care. “Abso-fucking-lutley.”

There are two weeks left. Fourteen days. I should stop prolonging the inevitable and simply complete the task, ridding my hands of the entire situation.

And yet, when any opportunity presents itself, so does cause for delay.

I’ve checked my hair five times, rearranged the pillows on the couch seven, and changed which candle should be lit at least a dozen. I’m not an anxious person, and there’s never been a time I’ve been nervous for a date, but it seems like panic has infiltrated my bloodstream and is currently spreading so deep into my body, it’s embedded in my bone marrow.

The last hour of my life, I’ve been walking around my apartment, doing completely random shit, and have looked at my stove’s clock so many times that when I blink, the little green lines are still visible behind my eyelids.

It’s Elena’s massive shield, both around her emotions and facial expressions, that make her a hard read, and in turn has given me a huge dose of butterflies.

It could also totally be that I like her and don’t want to fuck this up, but admitting that, out loud, at least, would mean also acknowledging that I’m okay with the possibility of being hurt again. A feeling I’ve resisted for over two years and have been more than successful at avoiding.

But things are shifting now.

Knowing that Elena has likely the same type of protective barrier around her makes this leap a little less scary. A little less hopeless. That similarity between us, even though presented differently, has me wondering ifmoreis possible. If those tiny glimpses she’s allowed me to see behind her fortress are an indicator she feels the same.

When I think about it, the vulnerability she’s shown me, I suddenly become terrified I could fuck that up.

Though it does absolutely nothing, I shake my hands loose before opening the cabinet above the fridge and grabbing my stashed bottle of gin. Without any decorum at all, I untwist the top and take a quick swig, revelling in the instant warmth that spreads through my limbs.

The placebo does its job almost immediately, calming my thoughts and releasing my muscles of the built up tension. Blowing out a long breath, I put the bottle back and finally choose the Teakwood candle. Just as soon as the flame is lit, a rasp of knuckles thud against my door.

My heart beat kicks up a notch, excitement and nerves threading through me.

“Coming,” I call, tossing the lighter down and skipping to the door. I don’t bother looking through the peephole and fling the door open to a mouthwatering Elena standing completely relaxed on the other side.

High-waisted black jeans hug her long legs, while a matching bralette style top contains supple breasts partially hidden by an olive leather jacket. My eyes linger for half a second before following the gold chain that rests against her collar bone to the face I dream about more than I want to admit. Full red lips, bedroom eyes under thick lashes, and a perfect ponytail with two loose tendrils coiling around her ears…I’m a fucking goner.

As if she knows she’s got me in her snare, one side of her lips tilt in the smallest grin, lighting up my chest with fireworks. “Hey, you.”