“You’re sure you don’t want a ride home?” Fitz stomped his feet loudly on the wooden deck leading out of the Sand Bar & Grill.

“My place is right around that rock, Fitz,” Alex said pointing and laughing. Fitz squinted into the distance, the moonlight shining silver on the water.

“Yeah, but it’s cold,” Fitz said with an exaggerated shiver, zipping up the front of his hooded jacket. “And it’s starting to rain.”

“Literally about a hundred yards that way,” Alex said, shuffling his feet through the sand and giving Fitz a very rare grin. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Fitz lifted a hand and waved him off with a snort as he shuffled over to the stairs that led up to the boardwalk. “Don’t fall in the ocean,” he hollered as he began to jog up the stairs.

“Don’t get a DUI,” Alex called back and Fitz flipped him the bird over his shoulder before disappearing onto the boardwalk.

Alex shuffled idly towards the shoreline. Fitz was right; it was chilly for mid-September, the wind blowing easily through his long sleeve button down. And it was misting lightly, just enough to make everything damp but it felt good on his over-warmed skin. When Fitz had insisted on taking him for a drink, Alex had planned on having two beers and calling it a night. But the Thursday night band was actually good for once and before he knew it Fitz had him doing tequila shots, no salt, no chaser “like a real man.”

To say he was pleasantly buzzed was an understatement.

He tested his own sobriety, touching his fingers to his nose successfully as he ambled around the end of the crag that hid Lumen Cove from the public beach. He then busied himself walking heel to toe in a perfect line until a wave washed coldly over his shoes and he figured he’d better quit dicking around. The mist was slowly turning into a steady rain.

He trudged up the beach, shaking one leg out and then the other, trying to drain his shoes. When he looked up he noticed a beam of light underneath his deck, wobbling occasionally as if being held by someone. His brow knitted, his vision obscured by the ever increasing rain and the darkness of the shadow cast by his deck. As he came closer he felt his stomach turn over, a zip of adrenaline raising the hair on his arms.

“K-Kelsey?” he asked, squinting at the figure sitting cross-legged in one of the cheap plastic deck chairs he kept meaning to get rid of. She was holding a flashlight over a very large textbook.

The light swung wildly over to him and he threw up a hand when it shone directly in his eyes. “Oh... Sorry, Mr. Danvers,” she mumbled, pointing the light at the ground.

“What… what are you doing…here?” he asked, suddenly wishing he was a lot more sober.

“Um…” she said, unfolding her legs and holding the book to her chest and that’s when Alex took in the state of her.

She was wearing a large hoodie with the Lambency Lanterns mascot - an oversized lantern who was officially named Blaze but the kids all called Lumiere - on the front. The hood was pulled up over her head, strands of her dark hair poking out of the sides like she’d attempted to shove it back in there with not much success. Her jeans were old, the hems fraying and one leg had a large rip in the seam that the heel of her beat up sneakers fit in perfectly. She had the sleeves of her hoodie pulled over her hands and what little he could see of her hair under her hood looked damp but it was hard to tell in the darkness.

“Is everything okay?” Alex asked, taking a step forward despite his gut telling him to stay back.

“Oh… um… yeah,” Kelsey said with false brightness. “Yeah, I’m sorry I saw you and Mr. Fitzstephens at the Sand Bar when I was coming home from the library after it closed and I figured you’d be out later.” He couldn’t tell for sure but he thought she was blushing. “You guys looked like you were… um… having a great time…”

Alex shook his head. “Yeah. What is it you’re doing on my patio?” he asked, gesturing to his rental property behind her and she bit her lip.

“Look, I’m really sorry,” she said standing quickly. “I’ll go. I’m sorry.”

“Hey,” Alex said, catching her by the arms as she tried to hurry past him. She looked up at him bewildered and in the moonlight his hazy eyes looked almost black, but still held their same power. “Tell me what’s going on.”

“It’s Sully,” she said before she could stop herself and Alex’s head fell to the side in confusion, his hands still warm through the damp sleeves of her hoodie. She swallowed hard. “Um, my dad? He’s…er…having a party.”

She gestured vaguely towards Building 2 and he turned his head that direction, craning his neck and even nearly a half mile away he could hear the faint thud of bass. He looked back at her and found her looking at his chest so she didn’t have to meet his eyes. She reached a hand up to tuck her hair behind her ear and that’s when he realized he was still holding on to her. He let go but didn’t take a step back.

“So, you came here?” Alex asked, still confused as he crossed his arms over his chest.

“Well, I couldn’t go to anyone’s place in Building 2 because even if I had headphones it’s literally shaking the building. I need to uncalibrate that stereo. It’s a freakin’ weapon in that man’s hands.” She scowled into the distance and then waved a hand at herself. “I was going to sit on the patio of one of our…er… my rentals but the company already came and took all the patio furniture.” She looked back at the sad little chair she’d been curled up in. “I didn’t want you to think someone stole it or I would have taken it to one of our own… my own… patios.” She pushed her hood off of her head to run a hand through her hair. “And I have this huge physics test tomorrow…”

“How long have you been out here?” Alex asked suddenly. She blinked at him, giving a quick shrug of one shoulder, a gesture that was so teenager he finally took a step back.

“Since the library closed,” she said, chewing on her thumb nail. “What time is it?”

Alex consulted his watch. “Little after eleven.”

“Crap,” she hissed, looking down at her book, balancing it precariously in one hand and flipping through numerous damp pages. Pages, he assumed, she had yet to get to.

“Look,” Alex said and she did as he commanded, looking up into his eyes. He reached up a hand to rub the back of his neck. “I don’t want to be… You seem like you need some help and…” A line drew itself between her eyebrows and he sighed. “You can come upstairs and study for a while if you like.”

Her eyes widened. “For real?” She asked lowly in disbelief and he nodded, rubbing the back of his neck still and he wondered if he would regret this in the morning. “Oh my God, thank you, Mr. Danvers.”

For a second she looked like she was going to hug him but perhaps she thought better of it or maybe her book was just in the way. She settled for grabbing his wrist and giving it a squeeze.

“I will be super quiet. I swear you won’t even know I’m there. I’ve just got like 20 more pages left to go over and I’ll be out of your face.” She said the words so quickly he could barely comprehend them as she turned to grab her bag from the ground by the chair and shoved her book in it.

“Yeah, yeah,” Alex muttered as he dug his hand in his front pocket and started for the side of the building.

Kelsey hurried behind him as they rounded the corner and began up the steps to his back door. “I bet it’s nice having a private entrance,” she said and he gave her a look as he stuck the key in the lock. “I’m just saying it sucks when I have a bunch of groceries and have to waddle all the way down the hallway to get to my door.”

She stepped in and he followed, closing the door behind him, watching her warily as she walked to stand in the middle of the room, looking around as if she didn’t know where to be.

“Have a seat anywhere,” he said, “You can use the desk if you like.”

“Oh no,” Kelsey said, eyeing it as if he’d just told her to get into his bed. “No, no, I’ll just…” she trailed looking around again and her eyes fell on the stove. “Hey, can we turn this on?” She looked back at him, her damp hair slinging around her in a brown halo.

Alex fought a chuckle. “Well, you light it. You don’t turn it on.”

Kelsey rolled her eyes. “Okay, Mr. English Teacher Man,” she said, waving her hands in the air and this time Alex did laugh. “Can we light it?”

Alex crossed his arms over his chest and smirked. “I dunno, can we?”

“Oh my God,” she muttered, dropping her bag next to one of the chairs and Alex grinned to himself, making his way over.

“Move,” he said nudging her out of the way as he knelt down to open the loading door.

He grabbed a few pieces of newspaper that were neatly stacked along the bottom shelf of the bookshelf and crumpled them up, lining the bottom of the stove with several pages before adding a few smaller pieces of wood then some bigger ones, stacking them carefully. He then reached over to the bookshelf, fumbled for a piece of flint and grabbed a jar of cotton balls. Kelsey leaned to the side to see his hands as he tucked three or so cotton balls into divots in the newspaper before taking the flint into his hand. He stood, which startled her, and she watched him dig his hand into his pocket to pull out a pocket knife. A flick of his thumb opened it and he crouched back down, striking the blade against the flint. Kelsey was mystified as one cotton ball caught, smoldering while he moved to another, then another, only needing one sure stroke to send a spark to its target. He stood and pocketed his knife again, set the flint back on the shelf and returned the jar to its place.

“Keep an eye on that for a sec-” Alex was saying as he turned around but he cut himself off at the look of wonder on Kelsey’s face.

“Where’d you learn to do that so fast?” she asked, looking very impressed and Alex felt his neck grow warm.

“Erm… the Marines.”

He kept his head down as he nudged past her to step into the pantry. Kelsey followed half-heartedly, standing in the middle of the condo once again. Alex faced her once more, this time holding a towel. He took a few stuttering steps towards her, stopped for a moment and then extended the towel to her awkwardly.

“You’re wet,” he said as Kelsey eyed him before taking his offering.

“You specifically avoided telling us that on the first day of school didn’t you?” Kelsey asked, smirking before disappearing under the towel and rubbing her head vigorously. Alex winced.

“I don’t like to talk about it,” he said shifting uncomfortably and Kelsey shrugged.

“Yeah, girls love a man in uniform and you’ve got enough problems, right?” She handed the towel back to him her hair a wild swirl that she tamed into something actually quite attractive with just her hands. “Thanks.”

Alex blinked at her as she moved to sit in one of the wingback chairs, pulling her giant book out of her bag once more. She began to pull her feet up but stopped, toeing her shoes off and revealing socks with little planets all over them. Alex shook his head.

“Uh I’m gonna make a sandwich. Do you…want anything?” he asked, walking into the kitchen and when he turned to face the room again, she was peering around the side of the chair.

“What kind?” she asked quietly and he fought a laugh.

“I dunno,” he said looking around. He grabbed the bag of bread on the counter. “Grilled cheese?”

She gave him a small smile. “Yes please,” and disappeared behind the back of the chair again.

Alex looked at the bread in his hands. Would he have offered her food sober? Would he be doing any of this if he were sober? His mind was too fuzzy to puzzle it out.

He busied himself with cooking, glancing up every now and then but only ever seeing one of Kelsey’s knees that was propped on the arm of the chair as she sat Indian style, her book in her lap. He prepared three grilled cheese sandwiches, two for himself and one for her and after he plated them he opened the fridge to reach for a beer but hesitated, uneasy about drinking in front of a student. Then again he’d been uneasy about her being in his house before but seemed to be fine with it now. He grabbed a Dr. Pepper anyway.

“Hey you want a soda?” he hollered over his shoulder and she peered around the side of the chair again. He held up the can.

She made a face. “Can I have some water?”

He nodded and grabbed a bottle from the fridge before letting the door close. She was standing now, book laying over the arm of the couch as she stretched tall, arms above her head, the little strip of skin between her hips visible. She stepped to the stove, tested the heat of the door with a quick tap of her fingers and found it cool enough to close with her bare hand.

“Hang on,” Alex said starting to walk towards her and she looked at him bewildered. “It’s gotta be-”

“400 degrees. I know,” Kelsey said, pointing to the thermostat on the side of the stack. Alex blinked at her. “It’s a catalytic combustor,” she said with a shrug as if that were all the information one would need to know such things. He guessed it was. She picked up her book again as she walked over to the counter.

He shook his head as she climbed up onto one of the barstools and he shuffled back into the kitchen to set a plate and the bottle of water in front of her. He stood behind the island, leaned against the back counter and ate standing up as he tried not to eye her while she slowly chewed and read her textbook.

“Thank you for the sandwich,” she said after swallowing the last bite and he nodded, shoving the last of his second sandwich in his mouth which was much too large. She giggled.

“Wha’?” He asked as he chewed laboriously.

“You’re drunk, huh?”

Alex nearly choked and she stood immediately, beginning to round the counter but he hit his own chest and swallowed hard, feeling the wad of bread and cheese move all the way down his esophagus. Her hand was on his arm as he coughed and swallowed again, her face a mask of concern.

“Are you okay?” She asked but she must have already known he was because there was humor in her voice. Alex glared at her.

“I am not drunk,” he said his voice a dry rasp as he crossed his arms over his chest and she eyed him before leaning back against the island, mimicking his stance

“Really? Lemme see you touch your fingers to your nose.” She held her arms out as if she were ready to take flight, slowly bringing one index finger to her nose then the other.

“Please,” Alex said with a snort and performed the action easily, crossing his arms when he was finished and crossing one ankle over the other.

She sighed, “So I guess you won’t be telling me what’s going to be on the next practice test then?”

Alex smirked at her. “Nice try.”

“I’m just curious,” Kelsey said, her eyes going wide and innocent as she looked up at him from under her lashes. “I’m very concerned about my education.” She gave him a dazzling smile and he felt momentarily stunned by it. Was she flirting with him? Kelsey didn’t do that.

“Are you drunk?” He asked and she laughed.

“Uh, no,” she said turning to go back around the island to her barstool.

Kelsey felt a small surge of adrenalin at her boldness. She understood it now, what Reva had talked about. It was fun to pretend and he didn’t seem to mind it coming from her. She felt closer to him than any other teacher she had which surprised her. Not only because he had a reputation for being closed off to all students but because she always assumed that he was made from different stuff than her. There had always been an awkward disconnect between her and her humanities teachers, and even the kids at school that excelled in them. Reva was a special exception. As was Gram.

“No no,” he said following her. “Walk that line.” He gestured to the floorboards and she looked at him incredulous, startled out of her thoughts by his command.

“Really?” He crossed his arms over his chest again, raising his eyebrows at her. “Okay fine.”

She turned slowly, putting heel to toe with her arms out, wobbling a little as she took steps away from him. He was mesmerized by the subtle sway of her hips. When she reached the end of the island she spun on the ball of one foot, sashaying her way back to him. With a chuckle, she took her last heel to toe step.

“See I told yo-“

Her throat closed on her words as the tip of her shoe got stuck in the hole on the back of her pant leg and she stumbled, falling forward. She felt Alex’s arms hook under hers, and she grabbed on to his biceps on instinct, trying to hold herself up. Her heart was thudding hard in her chest, adrenaline crackling along her skin and when she looked up into his eyes she wasn’t so sure it was from her near fall. His arms were solid underneath his shirt and she could feel the dip of the muscle where his bicep met his tricep. She hung from the crook of his elbows, feebly trying to get her feet under her but not putting in much of an effort because she was too busy watching the slow swipe of his tongue along his bottom lip.

Alex felt her breath fanning his face, panting almost, her large dark eyes gazing into his. It had been a very long time since a woman looked at him like that. Wanting but nervous, that little hesitation– do I want to kiss him or not? She pulled her bottom lip between her teeth, her eyes falling to his lips and he almost, dipped his head. Almost nuzzled his nose against hers. Almost pressed his mouth fully over her plush lips.

But as he began to bend his head, his eyes fell to her heaving chest, nothing really to see under her baggy hoodie, but the sight of Blaze, the ridiculous caricature of a fighting lantern, brought him back to his senses. A wave of intense heat scorched through his body, fear and adrenaline and oh shit what the fuck am I doing racing through his veins. He lifted his arms, heaving her up so that she was fully on her feet and let go, stumbling backwards to put three or so feet of space between them.

The look on her face changed from shy longing to absolute horror and he could practically see his inner monologue playing itself across her face. Her eyes flicked around the room nervously before she put a hand to her face and let out a small giggle, that quickly became a cackle and then she was doubled over, hanging on to the back of the barstool to keep herself upright. Alex began to chuckle himself, the sound of her laughter setting his body at ease. If she was laughing she certainly wasn’t planning on reporting him for misconduct, right?

“Oh my gosh,” she said trying to regain control of herself, wiping at her streaming eyes with the heel of her hand. “I’m sorry.” She burst into another fit of giggles and then took a deep breath to try and control herself. “I’m so sorry.”

“Me too, that was completely inappropriate,” Alex said, slicing his hand through the air for emphasis and she stopped laughing to look at him confused.

“I only meant that,” she swallowed, fanning her face, “Reva…” she breathed deep, searching for composure. “Reva has this theory that any girl in school who spent this much time alone with you would throw herself at you.” She busted out laughing again, barely comprehensible as she said, “and…and I literally just threw myself into you.”

Alex watched as she doubled over again, holding her stomach as she laughed so hard no sound escaped her and Alex blinked feeling confused and though he didn’t really want to admit it, terribly amused.

“Well you technically fell into me,” he replied dryly which only caused Kelsey to laugh harder, her legs giving out and now she was sitting on the floor, hanging on to the leg of the barstool. “If you pee on my floor I’m making you clean it up.” He tried to make his voice stern but he laughed at the end which ruined the effect.

She finally gained control of herself once more and looked up at him with a sigh. “Oh man, Mr. Danvers, whew.”

She leaned against the barstool suddenly exhausted from her fit. She’d actually thought for a second that he was going to kiss her. No, no she couldn’t think about that or the laughter would start all over again. Mr. Danvers risking his career and reputation for dorky, science nerd Kelsey Charming. The idea really was hilarious. He took a small step closer to her and extended a hand tentatively. She took it and allowed him to hoist her back to her feet, her body colliding with his again and she stepped back immediately holding a hand out.

“Seriously don’t get me started again,” she warned, rubbing her stomach and Alex gave her a tight smile. “Wait, what were you apologizing for?” she asked with a stray giggle and his eyes widened, his neck turning red and splotchy along with his ears.

“Uh…” he chuckled, reaching a hand up to rub the back of his neck, a gesture she was beginning to understand was a signal of his discomfort. “Nothing. It’s just… something you say… I guess.”

Kelsey frowned, the little line drawing itself between her eyebrows and Alex looked away, feeling both ashamed and a little frightened. He had never had this happen before. Not even at his first school when the rumors had started. Those truly were only rumors but this. This felt dangerous.

There was tension between them then and Kelsey wasn’t sure why or where it came from. It had been happening more and more recently though she had no idea what caused it. She watched him shift uncomfortably in front of her, wiping his mouth in a stressed way that made her want to hug him.

“Ugh I should go,” she said looking over at the clock on the stove and his eyes met hers. He stared blankly at her for a moment before what she said went through and then he nodded enthusiastically.

“Yeah. Yeah it’s getting late,” he said and she eyed him curiously as she picked up her physics book and began towards the back door. “Uh Kelsey?”

“Yeah,” she said breathlessly turning back around and he was trying to hide a smile.

“You’re uh gonna need your shoes,” he said and she looked down at her stockinged feet and laughed.

“Oh God, what a night,” she muttered, rubbing her face tiredly as she shuffled back over to the seating area, shoving her feet into her shoes and wiggling them around until they were on correctly. She grabbed her bag and stuffed her book inside walking up to him. “Thanks again for letting me study up here. It was really nice. And for the sandwich.”

Alex smiled and Kelsey returned it, an expression she couldn’t contain when he smiled, especially at her. It was such a rare occurrence, like a comet, beautiful but not visible for long.

“Anytime,” he said, gesturing for her to walk towards the door. “Stay dry.”

She gave him a mock salute which the Marine in him still bristled at but found it endearing all the same. This was not good. He watched her walk casually down the stairs and she didn’t look back as she stepped out into the rain, rounding the corner and out of sight. Alex pushed the door closed and ran a hand over his face, letting out a soft chuckle as he shuffled back through the kitchen. He wasn’t the type of person that made poor decisions after drinking but this incident hit a little too close to the potential disaster mark for his comfort. He shook his head and convinced himself he was overreacting. He was helping his project student in a pinch. It was a one-time incident and it wasn’t like it would become a regular thing.