Page 2 of Demure
“But what?” Sierra cocked her head to the side as the walk signal started blinking red. Great, now she would have to wait for the next cycle.
“Don’t you want to meet me?”
Sierra scrunched her eyebrows. “Are you seriously asking me if I want to get to know a man who didn’t value my time enough to show up on time for our coffee date? I’ll pass, but thanks.” Sierra turned back to the crosswalk, pissed that it was red, and shecouldn’t dramatically exit as she would have much preferred to do.
“Oh.”
Sierra spun to face him. “That’s it? ‘Oh?’ You were thirty minutes late for a date we set three days ago, and you didn’t even have the audacity to text me and let me know? Or say sorry when you did arrive?” Aodhan had a shocked look on his face, and Sierra had to admit he was attractive. He likely never had to apologize to a woman because they probably fell at his feet at the sight of his long curly hair, pronounced jawline, muscular chest, and crooked smile. That thought just fueled her anger. “You know what? Other women might fall for your looks, but I’m looking for a man who actually values me and my time. Thanks for showing me right away and not wasting my time. Goodbye.”
Luckily, the universe heard her silent prayer, and the light turned green. Without a glance behind her, she crossed the intersection and walked briskly down the street.
Sierra didn’t live far from the coffee shop where they had agreed to meet, but she walked quickly, so he couldn’t follow. She even debated stopping into a grocery store just to ensure he didn’t trail her home. But after five minutes of walking, she glanced over her shoulder to see the sidewalk was empty. He hadn’t tried to follow her.
She smiled smugly to herself and rounded the corner to the street where her building was located. Checking once more over her shoulder, she reached in her purse for the key and let herself into her building.
Like most buildings in Dublin, the building Sierra lived in had once been something else, and only turned into apartments in the last few decades as the housing crisis had increased. Because of the aftermarket division, almost all the apartments in the building were set up strangely, with some spanning multiple floors and some being just a room off to the side. The two studios on the top floor even had to share one bathroom due to the location restrictions on where plumbing could be installed.Sierra was just glad she had snagged a studio with a private bath, even though it was smaller than her family’s living room in Dallas.
As an international student without much money, Sierra hadn’t had much choice but to rent a small studio situated in between the larger apartments. It was still expensive, and Sierra worked at the university library on weekends and some weeknights to help cover the costs. She had financed the cost of her tuition (as most American students did) and planned to deal with it later after she graduated and hopefully had a job.
Sierra made her way up the two flights of stairs to her apartment, unlocking the door and tossing her bag on the side table just inside her door. She flipped on the lights before sinking into her second-hand couch.
Her apartment wasn’t much, just a queen-sized bed with a sitting area arranged at the end. There was a couch that faced a TV hanging on the wall. To the right of the entrance was the kitchenette, which had a hot plate, microwave, fridge, and sink. A small table with two chairs served as both her dining room and desk. The door to her bathroom was just past the kitchen.
It wasn’t much, but it was home—well, at least for the next eight months. The Aging and Fragility program was a one-year master’s, and they were already three months into the first semester. She was supposed to return to America after her studies, but Sierra was already looking at other post-graduate programs that she could stay and complete. Even though it was eight months away, she knew she wouldn’t be ready to go back to the life she had come to detest just yet.
Sierra pulled her phone out of her pocket and began scrolling Instagram. She liked seeing what her ‘friends’ were doing on the other side of the world. She hated to admit it, but she didn’t think they were real friends to begin with. She had come to Dublin hoping to find people she connected with better than those in her hometown, but even though she had been here for a few months, she hadn’t really met anyone she clicked with yet. She had a fewacquaintances she had come across in her program, but they weren’t at the point of ‘hanging out’ on weekends.
Although it was challenging to accept, Sierra knew she was lonely, which is why she kept going back to Tinder and going on dates that made her want to gag. Sure, some of the men were attractive, but most of them had no respect for women. Or they partied too much, or they simply weren’t her type.
Sierra sighed as she opened Tinder and unmatched Aodhan. Another wasted Saturday evening.
Chapter Two
Sierra pushed the cart through the racks at the campus library, weaving her way around a group tour. The library of the famous Harry Potter books was based on the Trinity College Old Library, and tourists frequently came to the other parts of the library, namely the Berkley Library building, where Sierra worked, by mistake. Plus, campus tours for prospective students had this part of the library complex on their route as well. Sierra typically didn’t mind, but on days like today, the tourists congregating in massive, inconvenient groups in the middle of the path made her job reshelving books almost impossible.
Keeping her face neutral, she passed around the group and began shelving the books on the cart in their correct location. Once she finished the ones on this particular shelf, she grabbed her cart and wove her way back through the tour to the other side, fighting not to voice her frustration as she slammed the books into the shelf.
“Whoa there, you know the books aren’t the ones sponsoring the tour, right?”
Sierra spun around to find her coworker, Tyler, leaningagainst the shelf behind her. Tyler was tall and lean, with a mop of red hair pointing every which way on his head.
“Go away,” Sierra muttered as she continued shoving books on the shelf as hard as possible.
“Not until you stop taking your anger out on the poor books. They didn’t do anything wrong, you know.”
Sierra could feel her resolve melting and a smile cracking through her anger. “How do you always do that?”
Tyler smiled. “It’s my secret talent. Plus, as a book lover, I have to advocate on their behalf.”
Sierra shook her head as she chuckled. It was well-known around the library that she wasn’t a reader. Apparently, all the other staff had gotten jobs here because of their love of books. Sierra didn’t know why they had hired her exactly, considering she had been honest in her interview when she said that she read maybe one book a year—and usually only if it was assigned for a grade.
Tyler began grabbing books off the cart and shelving them on the shelf behind her. “I still don’t know why Mona hired you.”
Mona was the staff manager at the library, and Tyler brought up Sierra’s strange hiring at least once a day, even though she had been hired over two months ago. Sierra knew better than to answer Tyler’s rhetorical question at this point.
“So, what are your plans for Halloween?” Tyler asked, after a moment of silence.
Sierra pulled her phone out of her pocket and looked at the date. “It’s September 30th.”
