They said staying busy made the time go by faster but Alyssa would have rathered watching the minute hand slug around the circle than deal with the patient that had gobbled up all of her attention.

"Ninety-eight point six is normal, Harold." Alyssa held up the thermometer.

His eyes narrowed behind the square glasses. "That's what it says." His eyes ticked towards hers with uncertainty as if should could magically wield the thermometer under her control. "But I don't feel well." He set the back of his hand against his forehead with a pained whine and a pout.

"Bloodwork doesn't lie, Harold." Alyssa moved away from the curly haired sophomore, rounding the counter and making her way make to the chair behind the nurse's station where her fleece jacket hung. "And you had a complete panel."

"But my glands." Harold examine under his chin, "They're swollen and my throat..." He cleared his throat with a grimace as his held his chest. "Itchy. Malaria maybe?"

Alyssa dropped in the chair casting her head down to hide her eye roll. Since she started at the clinic she'd seen Harold for seven out of the fifteen days she'd worked. He even had a nickname used amongst the staff—Hypochondriac Harry. She wanted to remain professional but this was the last hour of her shift, the day had turned into night and he was working her last nerve.

"I don't know, Harold." She shrugged gripping the plastic arms of the desk chair. "Have you been to a tropical region."

"Houston's subtropical."

"That's a reach." She drug her hair tie down her ponytail feeling instant relieve. There was no need to keep her airs, the waiting room was empty. "But since you don't have flu-like symptoms;  not vomiting or have a fever. No, yellowing skin." His copper skin was impeccable clear and if he wasn't a little off his rocker she'd say he was a catch. "So, it's safe to say, you don't have it."

Harold sighed, shoulders slumped as he planted his elbows on the Maplewood counter. "I'm sick, Alyssa." Yes, they were on first-name terms. Nurse Sasaki wasn't working for her, Dr. was the only thing that was going to come before her name. "My ears ache. My head pounds. I'm tired all the time. I have no appetite." He held the side of his face with grief, his eyes clung tightly. "My neck...it hurts...so much."

Alyssa's head quirked up. The confused despair that wafted from his crumpled frame cut through her tough exterior and his symptoms piqued her interest. She came across those ailments before. "Harold are you stressed?"

He stopped strobing his temples to peer at her. "I'm an engineering major." He spoke as if she should understand the difficulty of his course load then when she craned her neck with a perplexed look he added, "I'm taking calculus, organic chemistry, engineering physics, and intro to chemical engineering analysis."

"Yeah, um...that's a lot." Alyssa blinked remembering the past semester when she too had to tackle calculus and chemistry. " So, the pain...is it coming from here." Her hands went to the smooth area in front of her ears.

Harold's hand did the same, holding his face with a grimace. "Intensely."

"Hmm." She sounded with a nod. "Bruxism."

"Oh, God. I have an 'ism'." He palmed his face with a sad groan. "Do I need a specialist? Treatments?"

"Tone it down." Alyssa subtle shook her head, he was starting to remind her of someone she knew. "It's not that crucial. You just need to rest, relax and destress." He glared at her like she was a lunatic spewing Klingon. She didn't catch his expressing as she grabbed the counter and pulled her chair closer to the desk. "You're grinding your teeth at night...from all the tension. Try drinking less caffeine. Don't chew things that aren't related to eating, like gum or ice. Also, add some exercise in your day. Try to do something besides studying before bed like reading a book or watching a show. Sip some chamomile before bed."

"That's it. That's all." His face was one of disbelief. His eyes drifted over to the pharmacy where the pharmacist was still tinkering around before it was time to lock up. "I don't need a pill or something."

Alyssa scanned her eyes across the screen reading an email from one of her professors. "I could take you in the back for a shot." She peeped up at him just as the doors to the clinic slid open. A soft small painted her glossless lips, anhydrous since she finished her bubble tea a while ago and forgot to reapply balm. Quinn matched her smile and she turned back to Harold. "Do you want me to give you a shot, Harold. You'd have to drop your shorts."

"I'll uh..." His arms slipped off the counter as he inched away from the nurse's station. "Try the other stuff first. You know...um...sleeping and drinking tea and whatnot." He nodded to himself surely he made the right choice. "And then if that doesn't work...I'll—"

"Just come back and we'll help."

Harold nodded briskly twisting around, his quick feet sent him bumping into a chair and once he regained his balance he broke out of the clinic without casting his eyes back.

"Threatening people with needles again, I see." Quinn pulled out the chair next to Alyssa and sat the big plastic bag that was in his other hand on the counter. "Cruel, Lyssa. Real cruel." He sat down with a sigh of contentment.

She rested her elbow on the counter, placing her cheek in her palm. With a simple breath, she breathes in his redolence of mango and vanilla. She wasn't use to guys smelling of sweet fruit and subtle essences but Quinn wasn't like normal guys she knew. He played sports but didn't lobby for attention. He was handsome but didn't flaunt his adonis body or model beauty. He read with a ferocity that made her want to pick up a book. But most of all he made her feel normal and not like a fragile carton of eggs.

"What?" He leaned back in the chair, stretching out his long body and widening his man-spread. "Are you falling asleep?"

"No." Alyssa yawned lightly. She shielded her mouth as she sat up. She was tired forty minutes ago but her coffee had kicked in since then. "But why are you here?"

"We didn't get to meet up this morning like we planned cause coach called me in." His hand went to the bottom of the bag, disturbing the plastic. "So, I thought I'd stop by and surprise you." He pushed the bag towards her.

Alyssa narrowed her eyes at him. "Huh. Is that really why your here and not because I'm on the night shift."

"Oh! It is night." Quinn's eyes shot open and he bounced up in his seat skimming his eyes around the oblong room with its taupe, pleather chairs surrounded by walls of massive windows exhibiting the meandering of cars in the parking lot. "Damn. I missed that."

Alyssa tapped her foot against his, "I don't need you to protect me." It was the same statement she repeated so many times today that she was beginning to feel like a broken record. She wouldn't be surprised if Harmony or Lela came striding through that door in a little while. However, she had an inkling that Daniel was waiting in the parking lot just to make sure she got in the car safe. "I'm fine. I can handle myself. There's security driving around every forty-five minutes. Plus, I got a taser." She smirked. "And I know how to use it."

"I know." He deadpanned. "My pectoral is well-aware." He shivered from the thought.

"It was an accident. I slipped."

"On dry concrete. Wearing sneakers?"

"Still an accident," Alyssa said swaying the swivel chair from side to side. It really was an accident. A loud, shrill noise snatched her attention while they were in the parking lot on campus, distracting her just as she was firing up the stun gun to show him its power. She pointed it towards him with the question of 'what was that' forming on her tongue and the electric current kissed the flesh beneath his t-shirt and radiated through his sinewy body. "I said I was sorry. I even held the ice bag for you."

Quinn chuckled, "Yeah. You're just so helpful." He scooted his chair to the desk and pushed the bag down showing the three styrofoam containers. "The eggs are probably cold but everything else should still be good."

"Eggs." Alyssa grabbed the container off the top and popped it open. Pancakes, eggs, hashbrowns, and bacon. "I don't eat swine."

"Bacon is good." He lifted a crispy piece of golden brown meat to his lips. "You're missing out."

She twisted her mouth recalling all the facts she learned about the animal. "No, thank-you." She flicked the meat off her pancakes. "I'm not fond of congestive heart failure."

Quinn chortled munching on his bacon. "It's turkey. Chill. I'm surprised you haven't turned vegan, yet."

"The night is young and I haven't got my first cadaver, yet." She riffled through the bag and pulled out a fork. "Did you bring syrup?"

"Huh, so it's no to heart failure but..." He placed his food on the counter and pushed his hands in his basketball shorts. "You got no problem with diabetes." He dropped packets of maple syrup on the counter.

"You got to pick your battles." She grabbed two packets and ripped the corners off. She squirted the brown, thick syrup on the fluffy golden pancakes before the sticky sugar slid down her finger. "And I'll take cake over bacon any day." She grabbed another packet of syrup, her pancakes weren't drenched enough to satisfy her sweet tooth.

Quinn tore the corner off of a packet of honey, "Sugar is good but burgers are better."

"Let's be real." Alyssa broke off a piece of crispy hash brown, her mouth-watering from the thought of it. "Butter is better."

"Sugar and butter." He muttered with his mouthful of pancakes and eggs. "Heaven."

Their conversation halted as they ate their breakfast with her phone on Hulu playing a show they'd seen a hundred times before but still caught their absolute attention.

Quinn wiped his hand over his mouth with his empty container balanced on his lap, "I still think she should've picked Noel. The dude's the better choice. He's stable."

"The heart doesn't care about stable." Alyssa stabbed her fork in the last piece triangle of pancake and hash brown. "The heart is a complex and irrational structure." She glanced over at him while he intently peered at the phone.

The unpredictability of the human heart was something she knew all too well. It was an unfortunate circumstance she was presently dealing with. The guy sitting beside her was doing wonders wielding her broken heart back together. Restoring her faith and making her contemplate the idea of a relationship. Unfortunately, there was still a lingering of doubt tainting her mind and infecting her heart and the letter burning a hole in her tote bag wasn't helping her slaughter fear from her psyche.

"That was good." Alyssa broke the silence, closing the styrofoam container and setting it back in the empty bag.

"Huh-uh." Quinn fell back in his seat and held his stomach slightly bulging. "Stuffed." He twisted his wrist so he could read his watch. "Fifty more minutes then it's quitting time."

"You don't have to stay." She pushed his container in the bag and typed the two handles together. "I mean it. I'm fine. I'm not scared to stay by myself."

"And like I said..." He crosses his ankles over each other getting more comfortable with his eyes still trained on the phone screen now playing a commercial for car insurance. "I'm not here because of that." He lifted his eyes from the phone and peered at her with sober eyes. "Maybe it's your company that I like."

She stared at him for a moment, getting drunk off the honesty in his face. "He wrote to me."

"He who?" It was a question but the quickness and rigidness in which he sat up prompted her to think he already knew the answer.

"Jacob." She scratched her collar bone, sitting erect. "He wants to see me."

"Bull shit!" He fumed, launching from the chair sending it flying back and smacking against the wall. "The audacity. How does he think he is?

"I want to go."

Her words drained all the blood from his face and still locked his feet on the ground. "Why?"

She sat confidently back in her chair having already thoroughly thought her choice out, "I want to see him in orange."

"Then I'm going with you." He threw his body in the seat not backing a move to pull it away from the wall. "I'm not debating it."

Alyssa shrugged, "I wasn't going too. I'm not wasting my gas." She smirked then turned back to the screen letting him win this one tiff.

Why do you think Alyssa wants to go see Jacob at the prison? Is it a good idea?

Why do you think Quinn want to go with her?

Will Harold be back?