Roxy didn't really feel a need to knock on the library door before she entered. It was so vast, Jade probably wouldn't hear her anyway. Instead, she let herself in and resisted the urge to call out a loud "Hello". Jade would have her thrown out without a trial.
She knew roughly where he liked to hang out - his bedroom had a door that led into the library, and there was a cozy little seating area right around there. All Roxy had to do was navigate the sections and genres to find it.
By the time she did, she remembered how much Jade hated people bringing food into his library. (It wasn't his library per se, but he was the unofficial caretaker of these books.)
Luckily for Roxy, it looked like she wasn't the only one here with food.
Jade was curled up in a cozy-looking armchair with a thick book in his hands. In the armchair beside his was Jamie, sitting with his legs dangling over the arm, one hand in a bag of cheese-dusted tortilla chips. They both looked up as she entered the space.
Roxy was the first to speak, and her tone was slightly teasing. "Jade, are you aware your boyfriend's got cheese dust fingers?"
"He knows he's not allowed to touch anything." Jade's response almost sounded bored, as though Roxy wasn't the first one to point it out. "What brings you here?"
"Just came from the kitchen," She said, holding up the cookie that remained, of the two she'd taken. "Figured I'd bring you a little something."
She stepped over and offered the cookie to him, and there was only a second or two of hesitation before he accepted it.
Jamie reached out and nudged Jade's chair with his foot. "Now you're not allowed to touch anything either," He said, grinning mischievously.
Jade just scoffed and polished off the cookie in two bites before turning to Jamie and saying in an absolutely deadpan tone: "This isn't the democracy you think it is."
This startled a laugh out of Roxy, but Jamie's laughter was good-natured.
"Sorry," Roxy said to Jamie as she picked the armchair across from the two of them to settle into, even just for a little bit. "Didn't think you'd be here too, or I would've grabbed another one."
Jamie waved a dismissive hand at her. "Don't worry about it. It's not like I'm starving." He paused to crunch on a chip, and there was a thoughtful tilt to his head with his next words. "You seem tired though."
Roxy groaned and slouched down in her chair. "I've spent the whole morning looking for one of my swords that's gone missing, and I've got eyewitness testimony that puts it in Salem's hands." She sighed. "The only problem is Salem has never been so hard to find before. Usually he wants to be noticed."
Jade frowned and slipped a bookmark in his book before turning his full attention to her. "You're right, that does sound fishy. It's not like Salem to miss an opportunity to flaunt himself."
Roxy nodded, then breathed a chuckle at a memory of the first few years her and the rest of her housemates at the time had known Salem. She could remember it with laughter now, but at the time it was awful. "Do you remember when he was insufferable?"
"'Was'?" Jamie arched an eyebrow up underneath his sweeping blond hair. "He's still pretty bad, if you ask me."
Jade nodded. "He stopped calling us 'peasants', but he never really lost that superior edge."
"Yeah I guess you're right." Roxy sighed.
"Well, good luck with your hunt." And just like that, the book was open again and Jade's full attention had diverted.
That was Roxy's cue then. She stood from her chair, and heard the crinkling of a chip bag from one of the other chairs. Jamie was standing too.
"I'll come with for a bit," He offered with a lazy grin. "Who knows, you might need a bad cop."
Roxy arched an eyebrow of her own. "Who's to say I'm not the bad cop?"
"Well then, you might need another."
As they headed back to the doors Roxy came in through, they heard Jade's voice calling behind them: "Don't let him touch anything!"
