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Love doesn't conquer everything. And whoever thinks it does is a fool.
“Andrew.”
Andrew’s head snapped up from his book to Renee, who was on the other side of the register.
He’d been working at her family’s bookstore for around a month now, ever since he got fired from Eden’s for “misconduct”. It had been a restless night, full of rude customers and drunk idiots. Andrew had been delivering a tray of drinks to one of the tables, when he turned around to see a 6’’ man trying to force Renee to dance with him.
He stomped over to where they were with the intention of punching him in the gut, when Renee had the same idea and incidentally punched him in the face at the same time. The man decided not to press charges, for obvious reasons.
After that night, they exchanged phone numbers, and when Renee found out that he had been fired, she offered him a job at her mother's bookstore, where she also worked.
Now, though it had only been a few weeks, they were practically inseparable
Andrew’s eye’s met Renee’s, “Hm?”
“Can you reorganize the kid’s section? Pretty please?” She pleaded.
Uh oh. The kid’s section. Being practically a war-zone, Andrew despised it, “Do it yourself. You know I’ll do literally anything else.”
Renee shrugged, “I was going to go by Jerry’s for ice-cream, but I guess since I’ll be in the kids section all day, I won’t have the chance. Too bad.”
Damn her. “Fine. You know what I want.” He walked over to the front of the library where all the baby books resided. He sat on his calves, and just as he started to reorganize the books from the catastrophic state they were in, the melodious chime of the door opening rang out.
Andrew turned around and was first met with the sight of Doc Martens and jorts , a combination Andrew thought he would never have to see.
Andrew looked up, already wearing his I’m judging you so hard look, but when he looked up his brain literally malfunctioned.
His eyes. His eyes. Andrew couldn’t help but notice how incredibly blue they were. The stranger paused for a second, just staring down at Andrew before he walked away, leaving Andrew breathless where he sat.
Beauty is terror. Whatever we call beautiful, we quiver before it.
Renee immediately came running over, “He is hot .”
Andrew rolled his eyes and shook his head. He is very hot, there’s no denying that, but realistically, what are his chances? No use fantasizing about something impossible.
“Y’know, it wouldn’t hurt to just try and talk to him,” Renee said, “Unless, of course, you’re a scaredy cat. ”
How dare she?
Andrew furrowed his eyes, “Fine.” He got up and scanned the library for signs of where the stranger had gone.
His eye caught on a flick of red turning the corner, probably headed towards the young adult section. Andrew summoned the courage to follow him, walked up beside where he stood, and pretended to reorganize the shelves.
“Uhm,” the stranger started, “You work here, right?”
Usually, Andrew would have replied in very blatant sarcasm (because what else is the name tag on his shirt supposed to signify?), but one look into his eyes had erased any intention of doing so.
“Yes,” he replied, nearly a whisper.
The stranger subtly smiled and said, “Do you know where The Secret History is?”
Andrew’s first reaction was to try not to fangirl at his reading tastes, but he wasn’t sure his strategy was working.
“Yes,” he responded, not offering any type of follow up.
The stranger waited for a second before adding, “Can you show me where it is?” Andrew only nodded and walked off, hoping he would follow.
Andrew barely heard his footsteps behind him, only the light breaths he took.
All those layers of silence upon silence.
Once they arrived at the psychological fiction section, Andrew pulled out the book he was looking for and handed it to the stranger.
“Thanks,” his eyes trailed a line from Andrew’s shoes to his shirt. This simple act completely fried Andrew’s brain, seeing as the only response he could come up with was a low hmm in return.
After a few moments of silence, Andrew managed to say, “Is that it?”
The stranger, startled with Andrew’s promptless query, slowly nodded his head. Andrew turned away from him and started to walk towards the cash register, again hoping he would follow, but now knowing he would.
At the cash register, Renee came over while Andrew was printing the stranger’s receipt. She looked at the book that he purchased, smiled sweetly (though Andrew knew that sweet and mischievous were synonyms when it came to her), and said, “The Secret History? What a coincidence, that’s Andrew’s favorite book.” Andrew didn’t miss the wink that she added at the end.
The stranger narrowed his eyes at Andrew, then looked at Renee, “I’m reading it because I have to. For class.”
Renee shrugged, “Well, on Andrew’s behalf, he’ll be more than happy to talk to you about it sometime. Maybe make it a coffee date?” The stranger remained silent.
“I can speak for myself, Renee.” Andrew tried to respond peacefully, but ended up sounding like a mother trying to keep her cool in front of other parents while her kids were throwing a temper tantrum.
“Okay,” The stranger said, “About the coffee date. If you want to.”
“Okay,” Andrew replied.
The stranger took one of the post it notes and a pen that rested on the counter and scribbled something on it. He handed it to Andrew, the action coercing their fingers to lightly touch.
They stared at each other, and Andrew had the thought that he could somehow get drunk off of the sight of him.
Andrew only let himself look at the note once he was sure that the stranger was far, far away.
Neil
281-644-4949
“Are you going to call him?” Renee asked when she saw him eyeing the note. If Andrew had had laser vision, the paper would have already been turned to ashes.
“No."
In short, I felt my existence was tainted, in some subtle but essential way.