Escaping Duty

Chapter 20

(I kind of like this chapter, hopefully, you guys do too)

'If you're free, meet me at 387 SE 5th terrace around 1 pm'

That was what his text had said when she looked that morning. She texted him asking for details, but he only said that it was important and nothing more.

After her day yesterday, she wasn't sure if she wanted to go anywhere. She was still wrapping her mind around wolves and her parent's job. Not to mention Alana put her through a rigorous MMA style workout when they had left the club. Valentina had thought she wasn't out of shape until her sore muscles screamed at her when she moved.

In the end, curiosity won her over. It's been a while since she's seen or thought about Mason, and the last time she did see him was when his father was in the hospital. She was annoyed about getting left that night but also concerned for him. Being holed up in her room all day wouldn't do any good for her either.

After a few moments, she even wondered what she should wear, but she shook off that thought. He wasn't that important to her...was he?

She eventually decided on wearing a nice flowing shirt, skinny jeans and some sandals as a nice but casual outfit to meet him in. She wore her curly hair down and swiped on some lip gloss, then realized she had already made up her mind to meet him.

When she drove to the location he gave her she was confused to see it was a Barnes & Noble, did he mean to meet her here? Walking inside she looked at her phone to see if he told her where he was and jumped when she felt a tap on her shoulder. Turning, she saw Mason standing there smiling at her.

"Sorry to startle you," he said amused at her reaction.

"No, it's alright. So you wanted to meet me here?" Valentina asked him to stop his rambling.

"Right well I know this isn't like your job, but I read online that this place has a ton of books, and a Starbucks like the one back at campus" he continued, but Valentina stopped him again.

"Mason, why did you call me here?"

Mason looked away for a moment crossing his arms then looked back at her. "I wanted to give you this," he said pulling out a Barnes & Noble shopping bag from behind himself.

He pulled out a book for her the receipt stuck inside the front cover and held it out for her. She took the book from him wearily, seeing it was a mystery she had yet to read. Inbetween the pages she saw the receipt for $30 and shook her head.

"Why would you buy me something for $30?" she asked him, and he took the receipt back from her quickly.

"The cashier said if I was getting someone a gift I shouldn't let them see the receipt, guess I forgot to take it out," he said sticking it in his pocket.

Valentina smiled slightly at his awkwardness and the gift, "Why would you get me a gift?"

"It's my way of apologizing for leaving you at the hospital. It wasn't cool that I asked you to come with me then abandoned you. I'm sorry" he said looking at her with pleading brown eyes.

Valentina tried suppressing her smile at the thought of him buying her a gift as an apology. He really didn't need to do that for her, and not to mention he remembered that she liked to read. Thinking back to that night at her job she felt a little guilty. He remembered what she liked and even bought her something, but she hadn't really got to learn what he liked.

"Do you not like that book? They mentioned I could do a return if you didn't" Mason said noticing her frown.

"No Mason I love it, but you don't have to buy me things as an apology"