The next day found Liza perusing the library aisles. She had just put a hand on a book named, "Witchcraft 101" when she heard someone cough delicately behind her. Whirling around, she found Quinn standing there, with a faint smile on his face.

"Witchcraft?"

Embarrassed, Liza left the book on the shelf.

"Um, yeah...I'm doing a report on witchcraft amongst teenage girls."

Quinn raised an eyebrow.

"Really? Wow, I'm amazed they let this book be on the shelves of a school library."

He leaned forward, past Liza and close enough for her to smell his amazingly light cologne and soap, and pulled the book off the shelf. Thumbing through it, he stopped on a certain chapter.

"Controlling Spirits for Your Own Personal Use. Interesting. What would somebody want to do with a dead guy?"

Liza perked up when he read the chapter and had to control her excitement before Quinn became even more curious.

"I know, right?" She chuckled nervously. "I mean, leave the dead alone. They already lived their lives, let them rest in peace."

Quinn smiled his crooked smile and stared intensely at her. He closed the book and held it out, offering it to her.

"I think this would be an excellent book for your research. If you'd like, I can maybe help you out a little. My dad was a bit of an occultist. He found it fascinating. Especially out of body experiences."

"Did he ever succeed?"

Quinn moved his intense gaze to the books, where it softened.

"I don't know. He died when I was younger. Mostly, I know about him through his books and notes and journals. That's all I have left of him."

Instinctively, Liza reached out a hand and placed it on Quinn's shoulder.

"I'm so sorry. My father is...not here either."

Quinn's eyes were intense again as he took in the fact that Liza was touching his shoulder. He put his hand over hers and squeezed it before removing it. He didn't let go of her hand right away, though, which made Liza a little uncomfortable. She didn't mean to touch him like that; she was just very emotional lately. She didn't want to lead him on.

Quinn's crooked smile replaced the intense expression and he released her hand.

"I should be going. I have a class. You should check out that book, and give me a call sometime."

After Quinn was out of the library door, Liza sunk into the nearest chair and breathed deeply. What an incredibly intense moment. Her heart thudded in her chest. Putting the books she was holding on the table, she looked at the one on top. "Witchcraft 101." It certainly did look like an interesting book. She looked out the door that Quinn had exited through and thought that the witchcraft book wasn't the only book that was interesting and could use some reading.

Later in Geometry, Shara prattled on about the previous night as Liza was lost in her own thoughts. She couldn't get the feeling of Quinn's hand on hers out of her mind. His hand had been so hot, but dry, not nasty and sweaty. It was as if he radiated volcanic heat. She had chanced to tuck her hair behind her ear and smelled his cologne faintly on her hand. She sat with her chin on her hand so she could continue to breathe in Quinn's scent while ignoring Shara's endless chatter.

"Are you all right?"

Liza didn't respond.

"Liza!" Shara snapped her fingers in front of Liza's glassed over eyes. Liza's head jumped off her hand and she looked at Shara.

"Wow, where were you?"

"Nowhere, why?"

"Oh, you were somewhere. What's up?" She lowered her voice and looked around conspiratorially. "Do you have another....you know...client?"

Liza looked at Shara with confusion.

"You know...like D.J."

Liza looked nervously around the room. No one was paying attention to them.

"Keep it down. And no, I do not have another...client."

"Oh, well what is it? What has you so far away? Wait, you didn't... nooo." Shara giggled.

"What? I didn't what?"

Shara could barely contain herself.

"You met a boy!" she hissed, barely keeping the giggles down to a minimum. Unfortunately, Liza blushed furiously when Shara said that. Shara's mouth dropped open and she covered it with her hand a moment before speaking again.

"You did! Who is he? Do I know him? Come on, spill!"

"Shara, stop. I didn't meet anybody. Just calm down."

Looking hurt, Shara said, "Fine. If that's how you want to be. I see how it is. You can trust me with your secret, but not with a boy." She sighed dramatically before turning her body toward the front of the class.

Frustrated, Liza did the same. She knew Shara wouldn't understand, jeez, Liza didn't even understand what she was feeling about Quinn. She couldn't explain what she didn't know.

At home, Liza was flipping through the pages of "Witchcraft 101," looking for an answer, when the phone rang. When her mother called up to her and said it was Quinn, her heart skipped a beat and she felt light headed. She picked up the extension in her room.

"Hello?" Her voice cracked a little, unexpectedly, causing her to turn crimson. She was glad he was on the phone and couldn't see her.

"Hey Liza. How are you?"

Had his voice always sounded like this? The way it sent an electric current through her caused deeper blushing.

"Great! You?" she managed to return.

"Are you all right, Liza? Is something wrong?"

Liza chuckled nervously.

"Wrong? No, nothing's wrong. I'm great. Remember? I said that."

"Right. Hey, have you had a chance to look at that book?"

"A little."

"Does it say anything to help you out?"

"I haven't gotten that far yet."

"Well, I was calling to actually let you know I found some of my dad's old books. They look pretty good. Mind if I bring them over?"

"Right now?" Liza's heart began to demand its freedom from the cage it's kept in.

"Sure, I'm not doing anything, are you? If this is a bad time..."

"No! I mean, no, it's fine. Sure. You can come over."

"Great, I'll be there in about twenty minutes."

Liza's heart stopped. Twenty minutes? That wasn't enough time to shower and put fresh make up on and brush her teeth and why on earth was she worrying about these things?

"Ok. I'll see you then."

"Bye."

Liza put the phone on the cradle, and commenced panicking. She yelled down to her mother that Quinn was coming over to bring her some study books and ran into the shower for a five minute once over. In record time she had showered, blow dried her hair, applied fresh make up, brushed her teeth and put fresh clothes on. She was just putting in her earrings when the doorbell rang. Her hands shaking, she made her way down the stairs in time to see her mother invite Quinn in.

It was as if she'd never really seen him before. He smiled his usual crooked grin, his eyes shining at her. He had three books under his arm and after giving her an appreciative look, he turned to answer her mother's question about something to drink.

Smiling weakly and struggling to keep her knees from buckling, Liza led him into the living room. They both sat on the couch, about a foot of space between them. Liza trapped her hands between her knees to keep them from fluttering or shaking and smiled at Quinn again. Quinn put the books on the table and accepted the drink from her mother that had just mysteriously appeared. With a strange look from her mother, Liza motioned with her head for her mother to become scarce.

Quinn put his drink on the table and picked up a book. His entire body was at ease. Liza wished she was so lucky.

"So, I was looking through my dad's books and these kind of popped out at me. This one is the most interesting to me." He flipped the book open and Liza tried her dead level best to pay attention to the book rather than how his hair fell in sand colored waves.

"See, out of body experiences were a huge witchcraft thing until science took over the idea. It was really popular in the seventies to drop acid and try to leave your body." Quinn turned his body so his knees nearly touched Liza's. The book rested on his lap and he never took his eyes off the page he was pointing to. A faint whiff of his cologne reached her nose and sent her head reeling.

"Do you mind?"

"Huh?"

Quinn pointed at the floor.

"If I sit on the floor. I'm a little informal and a lot of times I'm more comfortable on the floor. Helps my back a little."

"Oh! No, sure, that's fine."

Quinn slid to the floor and placed the book on the couch where he had previously been sitting. Taking a quick drink, Quinn replaced his glass on the table, not noticing that it was a little too close to the edge for comfort. Unfortunately, neither did Liza.

When Liza reached for another book, her elbow knocked the glass, tumbling it straight onto Quinn's chest, drenching his shirt with root beer. He flinched as the cold reached his skin, but he smiled when he saw the look of horror on Liza's face.

"Liza, it's ok."

Liza shook her head and jumped up, ran to the kitchen and returned with a towel. Kneeling down in front of Quinn, she was near tears as she futilely wiped at his shirt. Quinn reached out a hand and took her by the wrist, leaning toward her. Liza was forced to stop and pay attention to his intense eyes.

"It's ok," he whispered. He was so close to her. The heat of his hand felt like it could burn her, but not in a painful way.

"It's too bad I don't have more time."

"What? Why?"

"You could offer to wash my shirt for me like they do in the movies." He grinned mischievously at her.

"Oh! I can do that if you want me to. I have a washer and dryer. I know how to do laundry." Liza was rambling and she knew it, but she couldn't stop herself. The guy had just offered to take off his shirt and he was still firmly holding her wrist and to top it off, his face was about five inches from her own. It was amazing she had the ability to speak at all, much less coherently.

Quinn chuckled.

"No, Liza, I didn't mean for you to do my laundry. It was just a joke. I can't stay that long, my aunt would worry." He gently released her wrist and stood. "I need to go anyway, it's getting late."

Liza nodded mutely and stood as well. Suddenly, Quinn stepped close again, brushing a lock of hair back from her face.

"I'll see you tomorrow," he said softly, his hand lingering a touch longer than necessary to push hair away. Then he abruptly turned and walked to the door.

"Let me know what you think of the books," he called over his shoulder.

Again, Liza nodded mutely and when the door closed behind him, she sank down on the couch and cried.

"Liza?" Leslie rounded the corner in record time when she heard Liza sobbing.

"I spilled root beer on him!" she sobbed at her mother.

"You what?"

Liza held the towel out as proof of her error, her bottom lip quivering.

"Root beer. Everywhere. My fault. He didn't want to stay so I could do his laundry." Liza buried her face in the back of the couch. A little alarmed at the laundry remark, Paula sat beside her daughter.

"Why would you do his laundry?" she asked gently.

"Because I ruined it!"

Leslie finally realized she was not going to get coherent answers from her daughter so she looked around at the mess on the floor. Glass spilled, wet towel in Liza's hand, and a hysterical girl. Finally it sunk in.

"Oh! You spilled the root beer on him? But how does laundry fit in?"

Liza sniffled.

"Like in the movies. I spill on him, he takes his shirt off, I put it through the laundry and sit, looking at his bare chest."

Leslie's eyebrows shot up.

"You spilled it on purpose so you could look at the boy's bare chest?"

Liza paled, her expression horrified.

"No! I didn't do it on purpose. Oh, mom, this is just getting blown out of proportion. Other than being a colossal idiot, I didn't do anything inappropriate."

Leslie let out a sigh of relief.

"Oh, good. Look, let's clean this up and then you go get ready for bed. Sleep will help. Provided you actually sleep."

Liza nodded her head. She didn't feel much like dreamwalking right now. She had just made the biggest fool out of herself in front of Quinn. She didn't know yet what Quinn was to her, all she knew is that she didn't ever want to look that stupid in front of him ever again.