“Another three days?” I groaned. “Seriously?” I knew the likelihood my computer would be completely ready when I got there was slim, but I still thought it at least would have moved up on the list some.

“I’m sorry. There are like twenty computers ahead of yours.” A skinny guy with blond hair was checking out Rachel as he talked to me. It just made my annoyance worse.

“And there’s nothing I can do to expedite this?”

“If you really need it back, take it and go to a store. You’ll pay but you can probably get it moving faster.” His eyes were still on Rachel and not me.

“I’ll take it back.” I waited for him to locate the computer and hand it over.

Rachel stayed silent until I huffed all the way out the door. “Maybe I can fix it.” She nodded toward the laptop I had tucked under my arm.

“You can fix computers?” I hoped I didn’t come across condescending or anything, but she didn’t even know what a laptop was.

“I’ve never tried on one like that, but I’m usually pretty good at fixing technology.”

“It’s okay. I can find a store.” I wasn’t doubting her, but knowing what was on the screen, I wasn’t keen on handing the laptop over to her.

“But you said you really need it.” She stepped closer to me to avoid an oncoming crowd. Her arm brushed against mine, sending a wave of warmth and awareness through me yet again. I was losing it.

“How did you learn to fix electronics?” I wondered if this would bring us back to the whole abduction talk. Or maybe she’d drop that.

“I had nothing else to do.” There was a real sadness in her voice.

“I appreciate your willingness to try, but you can’t.”

“How do you know unless you let me try?” She frowned.

“No. I don’t mean I doubt your ability or anything. I mean I don’t want you to look at my computer.” Ugh. Damn Dale for getting me into this situation to begin with.

“Why not?” She glanced down at her watch and then over at me. “Are you protective of your computer? Is this because I was rude about my watch? I am sorry for that.”

“No.” I shook my head. “No. It’s just that Dale is the reason it’s broken.”

“And that matters?”

“Yes because he broke it with porn.” I forced myself not to look away.

“Porn?” Rachel asked. “What’s that?”

I buried my face in my hands. “Ugh. Ok. The fact you don’t know that word means you can’t look at my computer.”

“Sure I can. Really. I can fix it. Whatever porn is it can’t be that bad.”

“It’s naked pictures of women in sexualized positions.” I spit it out. Holding out any longer wasn’t going to help things.

“Oh.” Shock crossed her face, but her expression quickly turned calm. “Okay. I’m a woman, and I’ve seen myself naked. I don’t see why this is going to upset me.”

It was going to upset me. Rachel was too innocent for this. At least I viewed her that way. In truth I knew nothing about her. Despite my misgivings, I realized saying no might be just as bad as letting her look. “Fine. But don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

I debated where we should go. I doubted she was ready to go back to my house yet. I didn’t want to have her open my computer where someone could walk by and see it. I needed to find a place where she could work with privacy. “How about we go to the library?”

“That’s fine.” She nodded.

We crossed the quad and headed over to the library. It wasn’t finals week yet, so I assumed we’d find an empty spot somewhere.

“This is a library?” Rachel gazed all around her after we stepped through the glass doors into the lobby. It was empty aside from us and two students sitting at the central desk.

“Yup. You’ve never been in a library before?”

“Oh. I have. Many times. But not one like this.”

“Well, it’s a college library. They’re usually pretty big.” I led the way over to the stairs. She didn’t seem to mind walking, so I assumed she’d be okay walking a few flights.

“Where are we going?”

“To find a place in the stacks.”

“The stacks?” Her brow furrowed. I was making her do that a lot.

“You’ll see.”

I found us a seat where we could sit with our backs to the wall. It was bad enough she was going to be seeing my computer. I didn’t need anyone else to witness the mess—or that I was asking a girl to fix it. Well, asking wasn’t the right word. Allowing her. She seemed pretty bent on doing it.

I hesitated with my hand over the lid of the computer. “Remember, this stuff is Dale’s, not mine. I don’t look at this kind of junk.”

“You’ve already told me that.” She smiled.

“Yes, but I wanted to remind you so you don’t look at me differently after this.”

“Shh.” Someone hissed from across the way.

I ignored them. People talked up here all the time. It wasn’t even exams period.

I slowly opened the computer.

“Oh.” She put a hand to her mouth.

I watched her, trying to figure out what to do. I hesitated while I considered closing the computer.

Then I heard the tell-tale signs of laughter. “No girl would choose to sit that way.”

“No… not usually.” Was this really happening?

“Ok. Let me see what I can do.” She somehow opened the program manager, typed a few things, and reset the computer. “There you go.”

“Wait. What?” I blinked a few times. Had she really pulled that off so quickly? “How did you do that?”

“I’ve had a lot of practice fixing things. I already told you that.”

“I know, but that was insanely fast…” I wasn’t sure what to say.

“Is there anything else that needs to be fixed?” She asked.

“No.” I shook my head. “We can get back to looking for your brother.”

“Great. Also, do you know anywhere good to listen to music?”

“Yes.” It was my turn to smile. “I know just the place.”