The Delivery Girl

44. Slack

Julie

I groan, burying my face in my hands. The final few days of winter break flew by without me even noticing. I suddenly went from cozy days relaxing at home in pajamas, to hunching over a keyboard, tirelessly staring at lines of code refusing to work.

"Hey," a quiet voice whispers.

I look up as Callen sets a cup of coffee down next to my laptop.

I raise a brow. "How did you find me?" I deliberately chose to come down to the dim, slightly eerie basement of the oldest, basically forgotten library. All the other libraries are either packed, or filled with people chatting – using studying as an excuse to hang out with friends.

He chuckles and takes a seat next to me. "I saw you walking by from my lecture hall."

I check the time. "Your class starts in five minutes!" Punctuality has always been a priority of mine.

He shrugs. "It's a two minute walk. Plus my TA is doing the first half of the lesson."

I raise an eyebrow. "You have a TA? Is that why I never see you grading anything?"

"I have three." He chuckles sheepishly. "I enjoy teaching, but I'm not signing up for additional tasks on top of work," he explains. "A perk of being friends with the dean, I suppose."

I try not to roll my eyes. Dr. Kim and I split most of the tasks that need to be done, and even then, it's a ton of work. There's no second, let alone third, TA to help catch things that slip through the cracks when I'm drowning in work.

"Will you still be here by the time my class ends?" he asks.

I sigh. "I hope not, but probably."

He gestures towards the coffee cup. "Can I get you anything else?"

I shake my head. "That's more than enough, thank you."

He kisses my forehead before standing back up. "Hang in there. I'll come get you afterwards and we can drive home together."

"Ok, see you soon."

"Love you."

Even after hearing it about a million times now, it never fails to give me butterflies. "Love you too."

–

"Oh for fucks sake," I mutter after running my code for the thousandth time. I drag my hand through my messy hair and sigh.

I turn around at the sound of a chuckle behind me. "That might be the first time I've ever heard you swear."

Callen is wearing his coat, carrying his bag. "You're finished?" I blink. "Has it seriously been three hours already?" I could've sworn only a few minutes had gone by.

He rests his hand on my shoulder. "C'mon Julie, let's head home. You need to rest."

"Do you mind waiting a little longer?" I ask sheepishly. "I swear I've almost got this."

He tucks a loose strand of hair behind my ear. "Are you sure? It's getting late."

I check the time, it's already past seven. "I'll be quick."

He doesn't argue, just nods and sits down next to me. He pulls out his laptop and gets straight to work. Callen's been working on finalizing a proposal for one of the guys he met at his Christmas party.

I quickly tune out his keyboard clicking. Focusing on my own screen, I power through the dryness in my eyes, the encroaching headache. The discomfort gnaws at me, slowly but surely starting to become impossible to ignore.