josephinehamiltcn:
“Don’t you laugh, that book easily could have done some serious damage if I had been forced to use it.” It likely couldn’t have in her hands, not really, but she wasn’t going to say that out loud; it wasn’t as if she needed to look any more helpless in his eyes. And giving Carter the satisfaction of being right? Fat chance. She’d deny it to her grave. “What else was there anyway? It was either taking my chances with the hardcover or running and we both know how that would have ended.”
“Hey now, you didn’t even give me a chance to say thank you! And besides, I said I was glad to see you.” Her eyes lit up when he pulled out the hot chocolate, which quickly served as a blunt reminder of just how cold the library had become since the power cut out. Her coat was doing a decent job so she had hardly noticed until then. “Pity, but I’ll survive. You need it more than I do anyways, you’re the one that’s been outside in all of that.” She gestured wildly towards the door, finally allowing herself a glance at the madness outside. Why he made the trek just to get her was beyond her, but she certainly did appreciate it.
Arguing that she wasn’t able to leave until her shift was technically over would be useless with him, not with someone as stubborn as him. Sparing herself the struggled, she instead playfully cut her eyes at him as she walked back to her desk to fetch the keys. Slipping her hands into her pockets in effort to warm them up a bit before having to lock the doors behind them on their way out, she turned her attention back over to him. “Seriously though, thank you.”
He held up his hands in surrender and tried to wipe the smirk off his face. It didn’t work and the smile was evident in his tone. “I would never laugh at you... Not even when you remind me of angry little cartoon squirrels.” There it was, his teasing smile back in full force. Carter wasted no time making himself at home, perching on top of the nearest table. He was ready to the look Josie would no doubt give him and he was also ready to ignore it.
Carter unscrewed the lid on the flask and pored some of the hot chocolate into the dicky little cup that accompanied it. While he was tempted to take a swig out of the thing in front of her, he refrained and instead held the cup out to Jo. “Shut up and drink up. You yourself are gonna need to get warm if we’re gonna brave that.” He gestured with his head towards the door. It was bitterly cold and while yes, he could hardly feel his fingertips, he wasn’t about to let Josie know. All she’d do was mother him. “Besides... I figure I could just burn some books if I get really cold. I know some of them boring ones would make for good bonfire material.”
As she thanked him, all he could do was shrug. What was he going to do? Just leave her to suffer in the cold with nothing but books to keep her company? Carter couldn’t think of anything worse. “I figured you might need an escort back home. That storm’s pretty bad and I don’t think your little legs could power through, to be honest. We all could’ve woken up to a little Josie-sized snowman.”
