Marah was so happy, she still would have been clapping. If she could, but she couldn’t because her hands were full at the moment. She was holding Dustin’s trophy while he loaded his bike onto the trailer. Ninja was being incredibly helpful by barking like mad all the while. Shushing him wasn’t doing a lot of good either. He wanted attention, but everyone’s hands were busy.

“Ninja! Please!”

“He’s just being a puppy,” Dustin grinned as he tightened the straps on his bike.

“He won’t be one for much longer,” she mused. “He’s nearly a year. Time for him to start behaving, right?”

“You know, there isn’t any magical thing that suddenly makes them all well behaved just because they’re grown up and aren’t technically a puppy anymore.” He laughed and now that he was done with his bike, he stooped to pet the dog’s head. “Besides, he doesn’t misbehave that much.”

“I know,” she pouted. “I just,” she hesitated. She looked up when Dustin’s boots entered her field of vision. His look said he wanted her to go on.

“I just don’t want to cause any trouble. Being at the Academy is one of the best things ever. And I so don’t want to screw things up and get kicked out or anything and—“

“Marah,” he interrupted her, placing his hands on her shoulders. “You are not causing trouble. And you so aren’t going to get kicked out.”

“Really?”

He shook his head. “No way, Dude. You’re one of my best students! It’s just not gonna happen.” He offered her a lopsided grin, “’Sides, I wouldn’t let that happen. Ever.”

She couldn’t help smiling, and she knew she was blushing. There was no way to hide it though, and the trophy was just heavy enough after that long to make it not worth it to try to walk away.

“Sorry, let me get that heavy thing,” he offered, as he noticed her discomfort, and took the trophy from her sagging arms.

“Thanks. I should probably get going anyway.”

Dustin’s face fell slightly, but she couldn’t tell if it was disappointment or confusion.

“You’re leaving? How are you getting home?”

"I thought I would just teleport. Why?” She was curious to what had caused his moodshift.

“I just thought, well, you know, you might like to ride back with me,” he stuttered. “I mean, I know I should like have asked and stuff. But I just figured we could keep each other company on the ride back.”

“I,” she started to answer. She was going to say she didn’t want to impose, to be a bother. But she started giggling when she caught sight of something over his shoulder. Dustin turned then, to see what it was.

Ninja was already in the Storm Chargers’ van, tail whipping happily as he sat there waiting for them.

“I’d love to,” she said. And watched Dustin’s face light up again.

When Dustin and Marah finally arrived at Storm Chargers, they were greeted by an excited shout.

“Thank goodness you’re finally back! I’m so outta here!” And Tori punctuated her statement by slamming a textbook.

“What?” Dustin answered, as Marah watched Ninja run through the store and behind the counter. “I’m only here to drop off the van and store my bike.”

Another textbook slammed. “What you meant to say was that you’re here to relieve me, right?”

“But it’s my day off,” he whined, though it seemed clear to Marah that Dustin knew he would lose this argument.

This time textbooks slammed together as they were stacked. “Ah, you see that’s the difference. You have a day off because you actually work here. I however don’t work here.” She began stuffing her homework into her backpack. “So now that someone that does work here is here, I’m going surfing. You won’t have to stay long,” she added. “Kelly should be back soon.”

“You should totally go de-stress, Tori. We’ll take over here, right Dustin?” She wondered if it was the combination of Tori and her pleading looks that did it. But either way, it worked. Dustin shrugged, but not without a smile.

“Okay, I’ll stay till Kelly gets back. You don’t have to stay though, Marah, if you wanna go I mean.”

Marah shrugged herself, and tried to act nonchalant. “Nah, I’m okay. I can hang out here for a while.”

“I’m just going to go put my bike away then.” And he walked to the back of the store to open the service door.

Marah clapped and ran up to the counter. Tori stood from her stool and had stopped to give Ninja a last pat.

“Oh, thank you, Tori! Now I’ll have a chance to see how this job goes!”

“You’re so welcome,” she answered and picked up her backpack. “I spoke to Kelly too when she called earlier. She didn't decide either way, but I know she’ll want to interview you and stuff. Kelly likes to make sure her people know their stuff really well.”

“Sounds like I have something else to study then,” Marah laughed.

“I still don’t know how you and Kapri do everything.”

“Same way you do, I suppose. You make time for the things you care about.”

Tori smiled as she looked back at the sound of the service door closing. “And you care about working with Dustin.”

“Among other things,” she smiled shyly.

“Why don’t I just leave you to it then?” she winked. “Later, Dustin!” she yelled, and headed for the door. She stopped only long enough to wave to Marah before she ran out the door.

Kelly arrived about an hour later. Thankfully they hadn’t had too many customers. Dustin had been able to help them find what they needed, and Marah had been more than happy to run the cash register.

“Hey, guys,” Kelly called as she walked in carrying a box of supplies. “How did today go?”

“Dustin was just totally awesome!” Marah spoke up quickly, pointing at his trophy on the counter.

“Dustin, that’s great!”

“Thanks, Kelly,” he answered. He put down his towel on his workbench before coming around the counter to relieve Kelly of her box. “How’d Shane do?”

“He got second. You can really tell he’s been practicing.”

“Yeah, he skates rings around all the other messengers all day,” Dustin laughed and set the box on the counter. “So he didn’t come back with you?”

“No, he left with Kapri. They didn’t say where they were going though,” Kelly called as she headed back to her office.

Dustin looked at Marah, but she could only shrug. Kapri hadn’t mentioned any other plans for the day besides Shane’s competition. Not to her anyway. Dustin though broke out in a grin from ear to ear. Before she could ask him about it though, Kelly emerged from her office.

“Why don’t you guys go ahead and go? I’ll close up here.”

“Are you sure, Kelly? We can help,” he offered.

“Nah, I got things under control. Go have some fun. It’s been a long day for everyone.”

“That’s for sure,” Marah agreed, and Ninja barked his opinion. She stifled a laugh and called her dog, running outside with him and tossing a wave over her shoulder to Kelly and Dustin. Better to get Ninja outside on her own before Kelly threw him out, she figured. She didn’t want Ninja banned from Storm Chargers, so him keeping a low profile sounded like a good idea.

Dustin appeared outside a moment later, carrying his trophy. “You didn’t have to leave so fast, you know. Kelly likes Ninja.”

“Does she really? Doesn’t she have any like rules about dogs in her store?”

He shrugged, “If she does, she’s never told me. I don’t think she minds as long as they don’t, like, leave a mess somewhere.” Dustin looked like he wanted to say more. He walked a few steps away, then turned back. She thought for sure he would have been gesturing with his hands if they hadn’t been busy holding his trophy.

“Hey, um, Marah. What are you doing tonight? I mean, I’m like so hungry. We could pick something up, and go back to the apartment to eat and watch a movie.”

“I,” she paused. It had been a long day, and she was tired. But food sounded great. Food with Dustin sounded even better. “Sure, why not.” She loved the way his eyes lit up when he smiled like that.