Somehow I managed to find my way to the office, which was closed.
Typical I thought as I sat down on a rather hard plastic chair to wait for someone to arrive.
“Oh look it’s another girl from another planet”
I looked up startled to see the red haired guy from earlier and then frowned at his strange words. I knew those words from somewhere but couldn’t think where.
“Cat got your tongue?” He asked, slumping down into the seat next to me and propping one foot on top of the other, causing an obstacle that would have to be stepped over, or tripped over, which I guessed was his intent.
You were on your way over here earlier and you couldn’t even show me the way?” It was all I could think to say and I even managed to sound hurt, although I wasn’t really the girly type and pulled a face at myself for sounding so damsel in distress.
“You didn’t ask.” He said nonchalantly, all the while his grey eyes were laser locked on my face. It was slightly disconcerting but I wasn’t going to tell him that.
“You didn’t give me a chance.” I replied with equal casualness to my tone. He looked away at that point, but not before I saw the beginnings of a smile curling the corners of his mouth up. It was a shame that he’d hidden it from me because I was willing to bet good money that he looked at least halfway decent without a scowl creasing his brow.
“So you got a name?” He asked as he stared at the opposite wall, he was either reading the poster pasted there advertising the football club or he was just being obtuse and not looking at me.
I waited with my eyebrows raised until he turned back to look at me and smiled wryly “If I didn’t it would mean my parents are even weirder than I thought.”
He smiled, briefly, like a light bulb flickering on and off but I thought how nice it was and that I’d definitely won my bet with myself; he was cute without that grumpy expression on his face.
“So,” He dragged out the word and gestured to me, waiting for an answer to his unspoken question. It appeared that it was to be tit for tat.
I sighed, there was no way out of this, not unless I wanted to be known as the girl with no name. “Ephie Howard” I waited.
“Ephie” He said thoughtfully, “That’s pretty…” He tailed off and I rolled my eyes and waited for him to finish his sentence. I didn’t have to wait long. “Weird. That’s pretty weird.” His brows rose in expectation and I shrugged, if he was expecting me to blow up at him then he had another thing coming.
“Is it short for something else?” He asked when I didn’t say anything for a few moments.
“Yeah, it’s short for: none of your business.” I said bluntly, folding my arms across my chest.
He rubbed a hand over his mouth as if wiping away an expression I couldn’t see, “’None of your business’. I thought you said your parents weren’t weird?”
I stifled a giggle; I hadn’t expected him to actually take what I’d said in good humour. “No, what I said was that if they hadn’t named me at all then they were weirder than I thought. Not that they aren’t weird.”
A shadow fell over both of us at that moment preventing him from answering me and dampening the atmosphere we had created with our banter. I looked up to see a grey haired older lady; a girl with a plait was standing behind her smiling at us both.
“Castiel, here again? What have you done this time?”
I glanced at him out of the corner of my eye, Castiel? My look said and he shrugged one shoulder in an uncaring fashion.
