"And then Cory told him to, I repeat, 'shut the hell up.' You should have seen the look on the guy's face-" Jesper rambled, telling me a story that I wasn't really listening to.
It had been a few days since Ash caught me at the greenhouse. I'd been keeping my promise to not say a word about it, but I could feel him just waiting for me to slip up. It was making me nervous how often I was seeing Ash; feeling his eyes on me when I moved through the hallways and when I hung out with Jesper.
"Grey, are you listening?"
My head shot up to see Jesper eyeing me with a mixed look of concern and annoyance. I reached my hand up and raked back my hair messily as I tried to re-center myself and focus on the conversation. "Um, yeah, totally. You were talking about your old team leader, right? The bald guy?"
"Nice try. No, I was telling you about this new coffee shop that opened up downtown. Supposedly they have amazing cinnamon rolls. We have to go sometime." Jesper didn't seem too mad as he repeated everything.
"Yeah, sure. It sounds great," I replied distractedly.
My mind drifted again as I started picking at a hangnail. It was only when Jesper was once again shouting my name that I realized I had ripped the skin and it was starting to bleed.
"What the hell are you thinking so hard about?"
Bringing my finger up to my lips, I sucked at the blood, wincing a little from the sting. Jesper watched me in concern, knowing something was up.
"Nothing. I'm sorry, I guess I'm just tired," I answered weakly. It wasn't exactly something I could share.
Jesper shook his head. "No, don't give me that. That excuse doesn't work on me. What is it?"
I sighed at his insistence. "I can't tell you, Jesper. Not right now, at least."
He studied me for a second before he lifted his hands in surrender, seeing I wasn't going to crack. "Fine. Just make sure you tell me when you're ready. It's not good to keep things bottled up."
I nodded, knowing I would never tell him. I didn't have a death wish.
"Anyways, I wanted to tell you that the dungeon raid is three days from now."
Already? I figured there were still a couple weeks before they attempted a dungeon.
"I know it doesn't really affect you," Jesper continued, "but I figured you'd want to know since you'll be left here alone for a day or two."
I rolled my eyes at him. "I'm sure I'll be just fine. I've lived alone my entire adult life, you know?"
Jesper scowled back at me. "That's not what I meant."
"Yeah, yeah. I'll have to talk to Ash and find out if he wants me to do anything while you guys are gone." I grimaced internally thinking about having to speak with Ash.
Jesper leaned back in his chair, crossing one leg over the other. "Oh, that reminds me, is he still having you clean out that mess of a basement?"
I nodded, also relaxing my posture. "Yep. I'm still working on it. It's been about a week now, I think."
Jesper grinned at me. "I haven't visited you down there in a while. You been making good progress?"
"Actually, yes. I work pretty efficiently without you there to distract me."
He threw me a shameless grin, fully aware that I was speaking the truth. Jesper had been so sticky that I'd eventually snapped and told him not to bother me while I was working. My job has been a lot easier since I did so.
"In all seriousness, though, I should be done fairly soon. Then Ash will find me something else to do." The approaching end to my work in the basement was definitely cause for celebration. I was ready to move on to somewhere with better lighting.
Jesper did a small victory jig in his seat, making me laugh at his goofy antics, before his face settled into an inquisitive expression.
"Why are you working a cleaning job for the guild anyways?" he questioned.
So I had to explain that I was working off my debt to the guild and also trying to collect a bit of savings. I didn't mention my other concerns of needing potential escape funds, since most of my reasons for worrying came from my own personal screw ups.
"Is your salary not enough? I was really surprised when I read the contract at first. My old guild only paid about half as much."
Excuse me, what now?
"You're getting paid?" I asked incredulously.
"Duh? We're employed by the guild, why wouldn't we be getting paid?" Jesper's eyes narrowed as he noticed how confused I looked. "Are you not?"
I looked at him with wide eyes. "No? I thought the free housing was the pay."
I jumped in surprise when Jesper's head smacked on the table. He groaned loudly and I shifted uncomfortably, realizing I had said something stupid and he was about to let me know it.
He lifted his head and stared me down with a steely gaze. I tried to hold it, but the disappointment being transferred through the eye contact was so much I eventually had to look away.
"Grey, are you an idiot?"
"No!" C'mon, that's not fair! I was new to this whole fantasy stuff. Okay, maybe getting paid for your work wasn't exactly a new thing, but I had just kind of assumed all the great benefits the guild offered was a sort of alternative pay.
Though, now that I'm actually thinking it through, I probably should have questioned my thinking there.
Jesper ran a hand through his curly red hair, stressed on my behalf. "This is so crazy. Did you not read the contract? How did you not notice you were being ripped off?"
"I never signed a contract."
Jesper stilled. "You never signed a contract…" he said slowly. "What the hell, Grey!?"
I bit my lip anxiously in response to his yelling. I'd never seen him so worked up before.
"This is labor abuse! You need to go to the guildmaster and demand that he pay you for your work. I'll go with you."
I shook my head. "No, don't do that. I'll talk to him about it later. It's not that big of a-"
"It is a big deal," he interrupted, angry. "You're just embarrassed, that's why you're saying this."
I could feel my own irritation start to bubble up. "I am not. I just don't see the need to make this into a huge spectacle."
Jesper threw up his hands in vexation and pushed himself out of his seat. He paced a couple lengths in front of the table, trying to calm himself before he turned to confront me again.
"You don't want me to come, fine, but you need to do something about this. I'm really not happy with how the guild is treating you. And, before you say anything, I would think the same even if we weren't friends."
The statement took the wind out of my sails. He called me his friend. Did I want to be his friend? I thought about it, and decided I was okay with that. He could be annoying, but he wasn't all bad.
Why do I never realize I'm friends with someone until they say it first?
"Grey?" Jesper snapped his fingers in my face, drawing my attention back to the conversation.
I knocked his hand away. "I get it, geez. I'll deal with it later."
"Grey," he replied, using my name to admonish me.
As he was gearing up to give me the whole spiel again, my phone started buzzing in my pocket. I pulled it out to see an incoming call from Ash. I shushed Jesper with a finger to my lips before I accepted and held the device up to my ear.
"Come to my office." The phone went silent then, and I pulled it back to see he'd already hung up.
"Who was that?"
"Ash. He told me to go to his office." I replied, wondering what that was all about.
Jesper clapped his hands, making me look at him. "That's perfect! Go and ask him why you aren't getting paid like the rest of us."
"I can't just-"
"If not now, then when? You know you'll just keep putting it off."
I winced at how accurately he knew me. "Okay, okay. I'll ask."
Jesper smiled and pulled me from the chair, pushing me towards the door. "Don't chicken out when you get there, got it?"
I waved him away before I started the walk to the office, telling him I wouldn't. Except, I wasn't sure about that. If the opportunity presented itself, maybe. Conversations with Ash were dangerous, though, and I didn't know what I'd done to make him call for me.
What did he want this time?