The next morning, Truly shifts under her covers and groans as her head pounds, reminding her of the overabundance of alcohol she consumed the night before. After Killian tackled her, the skinny ass Irishman wouldn't let her out of his sight. Decreed as his 'baby unicorn' with Heather by her side, the only thing Tru could think of doing was drowning her embarrassment away with a hell of a lot of Guinness, and maybe a few shots of vodka.

As she moves, a heavy purr next to her head soothes her. Her long haired orange cat, Nutty, slumbers next to her, letting her know that she at least made it back to her room. She's sure it's thanks to her sorority sisters, and from the faint memory of a man whispering goodnight, Sparkles, she's guessing her new Psi daddy, Killian, also helped escort her home.

"TRU!" One of her sisters' yells from the outside door of her suit, making Tru's head throb. "You got a hot visitor at the front door!"

Tru's heart leaps into her throat when her mind automatically jumps to Kade. "You dumbass." She catches her own excitement and forces herself to cool it. "Calm down. Why the hell would Kade come to check on you?"

In complete defiance to what her body is telling her to do, Tru pulls herself up from off her white cotton sheets and throws back the purple and blue bohemian comforter on her bed, before padding across the faded oak floor, still in her jean shorts and t-shirt from last night. "Comin'," she croaks out as she opens the door to her room. She quickly passes through, shutting the door behind her so that Nutty doesn't make a grand escape.

"Oh sweety." A dark-brown-haired girl grimaces from the doorway. "You look rough. Do you want me to send the hottie away?"

"Did ye get te lad's name?" It's hard to judge if she wants to send a person off without knowing who the hell is looking for her.

A smirk pulls at the corner of the young tawny skinned twenty-year-old named Jayla. "Finn Davelvon."

Tru's eyes close, cursing her damn luck, as she shakes her head. "Noh, don't send him away. Do ye mind sending him up t'ough?"

"Sure thing, sugar." Jayla pats the door frame. "But will your brother mind?"

Tru's brows furrow in confusion and she shakes her head. "Noh?"

"Okay." The doubt in Jay's voice confuses Truly even more as she watches her scamper off.

In the few minutes she has, Tru hurries back into her room to scrub last night's makeup off her face with a towelette, switches into her pajamas, and throws her hair up into a messy bun, before she crawls back under her covers just in time for Finn to walk into her room.

The tall, slender twenty-three-year-old stops in the doorway and looks her over. "Ye look like shite, what te feck happened to ye?"

Tru groans and rolls toward Nutty, disturbing the cat enough that he moves off the pillow and crawls across her body before jumping down off the bed. "I t'ink I'm sick."

Finn steps into the and closes the door behind him. "Is t'at why ye didn't come to OT-Nu's party last night?" He crosses the room over to his little sister's bed and lays a large hand against her exposed temple. "Ye don't feel like ye got a fever."

Tru groans, though his cool hand feels good against her face.

Finn sighs, and leans against her bed, looking down at the pathic lump.

"Well, as assholeish as it sounds, I'm glad to find ye sick, instead of finding out ye went to Psi's party last night. I sent me pledge over t'ere looking for ye and he almost got his arse beat because he tried to convince the wrong girl to go with him."

Tru's brows furrow as she turns her head to look up at Finn. "Ye told me not to go."

Finn nods, making a few of his wavy brown locks fall in his face. "I'm well aware of what I told ye to do. Doesn't mean yer dumb arse listened. T'ose guys are a bunch of dirty scoundrels, and I don't want ye anywhere near t'em. Yer too sweet to be hanging around a bunch like t'at." Finn's face softens before he pushes off away and starts rummaging around on her bedside table.

Tru turns out of curiosity and watches him. When he goes for her private draw, she reaches over and throws her hand in front of it. "What are ye doin'?"

"Looking for yer car keys."

A thin brown brow raises on Tru's face, unsure why the hell he needs the keys to her car when he has his own. "Why?"

"Because I'm not wasting me own fecking gas to go get ye Gator-aid and shite like t'at to make ye feel better."

Tru rolls her eyes and points to her desk across the room. "In the pencil drawer. While yer out, can ye get me severe cold and flu Tylenol?" The headache is killing her. "Oh, and Nutty some cat food?"

Finn crosses the room and pulls out the set of keys with a large glitter tassel attached to it. "I'm not gettin' yer damn cat, cat food. I hate t'at orange gutless poof." He glares down at the cat that's rubbing against his leg and gently kicks it away. Nutty hisses at Finn and darts for a small cubby that Tru set up under her bed for Nutty to hide in.

"I t'ink te feeling is mutual."

Finn ends up taking care of Truly the rest of the day, like the good big brother he is, but it also means she's faking the flu. Even after she's recovered from her hangover, Truly has to keep the charade until he goes back to his fraternity.

The next morning, Truly wakes at dawn and goes for a run around campus. She takes a hot shower when she gets back to the Theta Sig house. The house is still quiet as she heads to her suit wrapped in only a towel. Her bathroom items and dirty clothes tucked under her arm.

It's her first day of work at a real job, and she wants to give an amazing first impression. After dumping her stuff on her bed, she quickly slips into a pair of jeans, a strapless teal bralette, and a white tank over it. She tugs on her white converse and throws her damp hair up into a topknot on her way out.

It's only a couple of miles to walk over to the north campus's cafe where Truly is going to work. With no point of wasting gas, she crosses the sleeping campus to the main hall that the cafe's nestled into. The five-story main building with gorgeous while pillars was intimidating when she first arrived, but not today.

Today Truly's filled with hope that she can start fresh. "Te Psi party is behind ye. Today is yer first day as a college student. The odds of running into Kade and his buddies are low. Ye got this."

Her little pep talk boosts her energy as she jogs up the cement steps and into the grand entrance hall. The smell of coffee already fills the cream-colored marble hall. She follows the east wall until she runs across Mugs and Kisses nook.

The mixture of hard steel industrial lights paired with fun soft lampshades hanging from the ceiling gives the little cafe an industrial vibe. Its mismatched tables and chairs make it a fun, cool place to hang out, and it was one thing that drew Truly to it in the first place. The mixtures of blues, soft greens and deep reds bring an energy to the place that just captures her soul and inspires her to paint.

As her gaze falls over the sitting area, Tru's heart jumps in her throat. The sight of five Psi guys sitting around a table makes her groan internally. What are te feckin' odds?! Luckily for her in the group of Killian's friends, Kade and Killian seem to be missing. The other five guys didn't seem to have much interest in her last night, and hopefully, all memories of her are now wiped from their minds.

In hopes of not catching their attention, she drops her gaze and hastily makes her way to the pea-green counter. Behind it, an older girl with dark curly hair waits for her.

"Can I help yuh, luv?" The barista's deep, almost ebony eyes sparkle.

"I'm supposed to start today. I was told to talk to Bekka." Truly leans slightly over the counter to block her view of the Psi guys with the pastry display.

"That's me!" A broad smile spreads across Bekka's face. "You must be Truly." Bekka gestures for Truly to walk around the counter.

When Truly pushes back from the counter, she steals a glance at the group of guys. A set of hazel eyes meets hers and shoots panic up her spine. Shite. She vaguely remembers being introduced to a quiet, dark-brown haired guy named Sasha. He's one of the inner circle Killian called the fantastic nine.

Tru quickly adverts her gaze and ducks behind the counter. Bekka meets her on the other side.

"I'm going to grab you an apron, luv." Bekka pats Truly's bare shoulder before disappearing behind a bohemian printed curtain that leads to the back of the cafe.

Sucking a deep breath in, Truly puffs her cheeks out, and leans against the open counter next to the register. As she lets the breath out slowly, she intently watches the curtain waiting for Bekka's return. "T'is is a piece of cake. T'ey'll stay in their corner until t'ey're done. Ye'll rock being a barista and then skip off to Art one-oh-one."

"Who vill stay in zeirrr korrrner?"

"Feck me!" Truly jumps back, not realizing Sasha is standing just on the other side of the counter with an empty plate and cup in his hand. Her heart feels like it's about to drum out of her chest as she presses her hand against it to calm herself down. "Bloody hell, ye scared the shite out of me." Truly steps forward and takes the dirty dishes from him, not that she's sure what the hell to do with them. "Noh one." She flashes him a smile. "T'anks." Cursing on the job within te first five minutes. Yup, t'is day is going great.

Thankfully, dropping the dishes off is the only thing Sasha wanted. Once he's out of hearing distance, she lets out a sigh of relief. "Look on the bright side, at least Kade isn't here."

"You sure about that?" Kade's rich voice suddenly fills the air. "Might want to check your stern."

Truly jerks and spins around to find him right up behind her.

The corner of Kade's lip curls as he stares down at her dressed in a snug white shirt, jeans, and a Mugs and Kisses apron. "I feel I should be offended." He lifts another apron he has in his hand, silently offering it to her. "Especially after you lost me that Zeta last night because my spyglass seemed to be set on you."

Truly reaches out and grabs the black apron in his hands before pushing him back with her free hand. Why does he have ta be so damn close?! The tips of her fingers tingle where she's touching him, but she forces herself to ignore it. "Ye didn't have to help. I wasn't run afoul." She pulls the apron over her head and ties it tight around her waist. When she realizes her words come out a lot harsher than what she means, she sighs.

Kade raises a brow as he walks over to the espresso machines.

"I mean, t'anks for comin' to me defense. It looked worse t'an what it was."

"Nobody steps foot on our shores and gets away with disrespect like that. Much less to one of our own." His eyes scan over her before he adds. "Sparkles."

"It's Truly." She rolls her eyes, and she smooths out the image of Mugs and Kisses on her apron. She glares down at the apron, realizing it completely camouflages her small chest. Truly tugs at the apron, making the cups on the front crease around her, and lets it fall. Awesome, like I need fecking help.

Turning his attention to the espresso machine, Kade deftly makes two drinks before he slides past her, far closer than he needs to and places them down on the counter, even though there's no one there.

While fiddling with the stings of her apron to give her some sort of figure other than rectangle, Truly eyes the drinks. "Do we serve ghosts?"

Kade's lip curls as the clock hits seven fifteen and like clockwork Skylar meanders in, looking more like a thug about to rob the joint than a client as he cases the cafe. Content it's safe. He steps aside, revealing a girl with vibrant teal hair that skims her iridescent skirt. As she wanders over to the others and kisses Sasha three times on the cheek, Sky walks up to the bar and slaps a twenty on the counter.

"Sup." As he goes to grab the drinks, his eyes shift to Truly, and a look of recognition fills his eyes. "Hey, blacked hearted baby unicorn."

Truly gives him a small wave. Great, no one on t'is fucking campus is going to know me goddamn name, except for a few of me sorority sistas and me professors. Well, at least daddy will be t'rilled.

His gaze flicks to Kade. "Try to crack her cup and Kill will keelhaul ya."

Unamused by Skylar's attitude, much less the accusation, Kade casts him a dark look. "Get that to Nikita before I decide you don't need yours."

Grinning, Skylar lifts his arm up with his fist closed and lightly shifts it forward at Truly.

A look of confusion passes over Tru's face as she eyes his fist.

Kade shakes his head and slides behind her, his body pressing lightly against hers as he takes her right hand. He closes her fist in his palm and lifts it up to bump it against Sky's. "It's a fist bump." His breath tickles her hair. "It's a non-island thing."

A shiver runs through her as her neck and cheeks turn bright red. Her entire body is humming by his touch. Truly's heart feels like it's about to beat out of her chest as she remembers the old folklore saying you'll know your true love when you feel your soul tingle. Oh, me stars.

The voice of her daddy and older brothers' ring in her ear, telling her to get the feck away from a boy.

'Ye ain't got noh business being around noh lads.'

She's frozen, though. Even if she wanted to move, she can't. Her feet have completely lost connection with her brain. With a hard dry swallow, Truly glances up over her shoulder where Kade is hovering. His sharp jawline is just mere inches away from her.

"I know what a fist bump is." Truly takes in a shuttered breath.

"Good." Dropping their clasped hands back down, Kade unintentionally leaves his hand around hers until Skylar raises a brow and pointedly drops his eyes to it. Fuck. He instantly releases his grasp, oddly feeling the loss of her hand in his as he takes a step back. His fingers lightly twitch with the desire to reclaim hers. Instead, he moves towards the coffee machines, putting distance between them.

Seeing the signs, Skylar lightly shakes his head as he picks up the last drink off the counter. "Don't let the siren's soul shipwreck your heart." With that, he turns and walks over to join the others.

Oh, the fuck am I falling for her.

Kade's eyes narrow, aware of the damn Ravenwood folklore warning sailors of being run afoul by a girl.

"T'at's odd." Truly starts muttering to herself. "Everyone knows t'at sirens don't have souls. When t'ey die t'ey turn into sea foam-" She quickly shuts up, realizing what she's doing. Talking to herself is something her brothers are constantly jumping on her over. Not only is it pretty taboo in their culture, but annoying to others around her. Truly glances up at Kade, hoping he hasn't noticed.

Unfortunately, he's looking straight at her with an unamused raised brow, and worse, he's pointing towards the front of the counter where a boy a few years older than her is giving her a strange look.

She curses in a foreign language under her breath. Before turning to the customer. "I'm practicing lines... for a play." Truly shakes her head and forces a smile on her face. "Welcome to Mugs and Kisses. What can we get ye?"

"Caramel Macchiato and a bagel."

"Brill choice." Truly's gaze flicks to Kade since she has no clue what the hell she's doing. Bekka's supposed to be training her, but she disappeared behind the mystical curtain and produced a dark-haired hottie in her place.

Placing the rag to clean the machine down, Kade reluctantly walks back beside her, leaving only a hair's breadth between them. "Like this." He taps the screen, hitting drinks and taps espresso to bring up a list of drinks beneath it. "It's an espresso, so it's listed under them."

Truly forces herself to concentrate on the screen, and not his damn proximity to her. Why is it so feckin' hot in here?

"They separate the food the same way." Kade's attention flicks up to the junior across from him. "Got a preference in bagels? We have plain, onion and garlic, everything, and cinnamon."

"Plain's fine."

"You wanna try?" Kade's eyes flick down to her, bringing his nose close enough to breathe in her alluring citrus smell.

Truly quickly scans over the screen and gets to the plain bagels. Not that the register is hard to work.

"Finish by hitting complete and it'll prompt you through the rest. Bagels are in the display. Make sure to ask if he wants it toasted first. I'll make the drink."

Tru nods and finishes up the order, while Kade works on the guy's drink. While Truly works in space, she tries her best to keep a gap between her and Kade. This place isn't built for two employees to work. The paper bags for the bagels are on a lower shelf right in front of Kade.

She squats down next to him and reaches over, finding herself right at crotch level. Unable to resist, her eyes flick over to him and her mind drifts to what's hiding behind those jeans. Stop it!

Shaking it off, she grabs a bag and shoves the now toasted bagel into it. When she grips the ledge of the counter to help pull herself up, her hand grazes Kade's, and the same buzz hits her again, making her grow nervous. He can't be te one, can he? I need a spell. That's all. To put my damn mind at ease. Truly slides her hand away and pulls herself up as she hands the bagel over to the customer.

Once he gets his drink, the guy casts Tru one last uneasy look before leaving.

Before the next customer comes in, Kade flicks his eyes at her. "Natives don't look well on people talking to themselves. They're superstitious and will think you're up to no good." He's dealt with it all his life and a brief look of irritation crosses Kade's face.

"I'm well aware." Truly sighs. It's a common issue she has to deal with. "Me brothers yell at me all te time for doing it." The funny thing is, people wouldn't be too far off about her.

As he grabs the dirty dishes, Kade brings them to the back, only to reappear a few minutes later. "You transfer here all together or?" He gestures to the outside world.

"I'm Atlantean." She quickly answers, but leaves out exactly what part of Atlantis she lives on.

Just as she's about to ask where Kade's from, a handsome square jaw man of Korean descent steps up and flashes Truly a smoldering smile. His gaze travels over her in a way that would make most girls feel like a piece of meat, but she doesn't notice.

Determined not to creep out another customer, Truly smiles back and gives the same Mugs and Kisses greeting.

"Yeah." The customer's voice is rich and flirty. "Can I get a rum cake latte with a little sugar on the side?" He gives her a wink, implying the sugar on the side be her.

Are fucking kidding me. Kade's cognac eyes snap up and his eyes narrow even as his hands move on autopilot to make the drink.

The line completely goes over Truly's head though as she plugs in the drink. Tru leans closer to Kade and whispers, "I don't see where you add sugar on the side."

"There isn't one." He's hitting on you. Kade doesn't tell her that, though. He'll handle the damn scallywag himself. The man's just earned his ire by thinking he can sail in here and trim her sails. "Just total it out, I got it." When he finishes the order instead of simply handing it to her, Kade strides over and slides right behind her so that he has to lean forward. As he does so, he places his free hand on her and lifts his eyes up as the Korean they both likely grew up speaking flows like melted butter from his lips. "Get your own sugar, she's Truly, not interested."

The guy huffs and grabs his drink before he strides off. Despite now being a puddle from Kade's touch, Tru's still able to catch the guy's irritation. "What in te seven seas did ye say to t'at lad?" Her voice comes out huskier than she intends and quickly clears her throat.

Kade drops his eyes down to her, content to keep this distance. "That he was truly going to be late to class."

"Oh, har har." Truly rolls her eyes at the name joke. She squirms and twists around, ending up with her eye level to his chest. Feck me sideways. She takes a shuddered breath in and pushes him back. "Let's establish a Truly bubble, shall we?" Cause yer lack of personal space is about to set me on fire. She draws an invisible circle around herself. "T'is is Truly's space. Kade doesn't cross into Truly's space." Though her lips say space, her body obviously is screaming anything but. His touch sets Truly's body aflame, and a desire she's never felt before grows deep within her.

Knowing what she really wants, Kade's lip curls as his fingers instinctively graze her hip again. "Those lips of yours say one thing, but..." His eyes slide over her with a hint of something in them. "Biology 201 tells me another thing. Those pretty little words of yours don't match what you truly want."

Bekka pops her head out from behind the curtain and does a double take, shocked to find them in such a compromising situation. A smirk pulls up at the corner of her mouth. "Should I close the store to give you two some privacy?"

"Noh, definitely not!" Truly tries to shove Kade back as glares at him when he doesn't budge. "Personal space."

"Oh, luv." Bekka chuckles. "Kade doesn't know what personal space is."

"Cause every girl prefers him not to," the dark blonde boy who talked to Killian upstairs last night from across the counter, making Kade's eyes snap up to Hayden while Truly jumps, bumping right into Kade.

Hayden smirks as his words turn light with laughter. "Yeah, like that. Now get me my damn coffee so I can suffer through class."

Rolling his eyes, Kade steps back, his eyes flicking down to her as he does, and he playfully winks at her because he knows it's going to send her three shades of red.

"I'll save you from the big bad Kade, luv, come back here and help me with these dishes." Bekka gives her a knowing smile and gestures for Truly to follow her behind the curtain.

More than happy to get out of the embarrassing situation, Tru hurries to the back.

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