Moonshadow by J.D. Gregory

she replied with a sense of pride. “I like to thank her for my passion to become an archaeologist myself. She was an accomplished woman and studied alongside one of the greatest scholars of her day. Even though she was woman, she was well respected among her peers.” She put special emphasis on the last remark for Darien’s benefit.
    Darien simply stared at her, like a mathematician trying to solve a complex problem, before an amused smirk finally danced across his face. “And here you are, following in her footsteps and on your way to being an accomplished young lady yourself. I wonder, do all women of the Selene clan have a sharp wit hiding behind their pretty faces, or does that trait skip a generation?”
    “I wouldn’t know,” Diana replied. “Charlotte was a Green and my mother and I are both only children. Are all men of the Shepherd clan standoffish and proud?” After her retort, Diana realized that Darien had called her pretty in a roundabout way that may have been a veiled insult.
    “The men of my clan do tend to come off as arrogant, but we warm upon closer acquaintance.”
    “A marble statue has more emotion than you,” Diana replied but quickly regretted that she had let her irritation with Darien get the better of her.
    “Indeed,” he replied, his smirk returning. “You seem to know me quite well, Miss Selene.” Was he being sarcastic? He almost sounded sincere. “If only you could understand a heart of stone as well as you do ancient clay tablets.” He went back to drilling vocabulary with his partner.
    What in the world is that supposed to mean? Did he just accuse her of not understanding him? Of course she didn’t. Diana didn't know why she even bothered to try in the first place. He may have softened his rude and discourteous nature in the face of Lani’s plight the other night, but any decent human-being would have done the same. Why had she expected Darien Shepherd to somehow shed his stone scowl in favor of a warm smile? Some demented notion that he had somehow developed an interest in her? He’d appeared in her dream, after all, not the other way around.
    With classes over for the day, Diana swiftly retreated to her sanctuary—the Foxwell Flinders Reading Room. Surrounded by the books that represented the man’s life work, Diana felt the tranquil calm that the library building had likely invoked during its days as a holy temple. Though the peace of mind lasted for a few hours, while she lost herself to Akkadian exercises of memorizing ancient chicken-scratch, Diana began to feel incredibly alone as she gazed beyond her piles of books.
    I need to hear mom’s voice. With her phone destroyed, Diana had only been able talk to her parents a few times using the pay phone in the dorm lobby. She’d have to endure the infrequent, and considerably less private, conversations until her cell could be replaced. Even if she could talk to them more often, it probably wouldn’t help her loneliness. Maybe it’d get better once she made more friends.
    She really liked spending time with both Eric and Lani. Diana’s roommate was already becoming very much like a sister to her, but Lani’s schedule was growing busier by the day. It was surprising how many requirements were thrust on music majors.  If Lani didn’t have classes, she had music lessons and practice sessions that ate up her time. She had promised to make time for Diana, and Audrey Hepburn, whenever she could.
    Closing her book, Diana let out a very pathetic sigh and felt on the verge of tears. She was determined not to cry in the library—such noises in quiet buildings tended to attract attention. The tears were held at bay by the sound of footsteps growing closer to her little round table. She turned and smiled to see Eric approaching like a hero coming to take her sorrow away. Seeing him now made her forget her loneliness—at least for a little while.
    “I didn’t expect to find you here,” Eric said with a hint of sarcasm.