Work Text:
Hale Books is Lydia’s favorite place in the city.
It’s small and understated; settles nicely into the background, maybe overshadowed by other stores. She’d only stopped and noticed it that first time because of the interesting triskele design on the store’s sign. It’s not ridiculously expensive; it has the ideal mix of new releases, classics, and obscure novels she can’t find at chain bookstores anymore. Best of all, it has this little nook in the corner with soft chairs, almost like a secret where it’s hidden by bookshelves; it’s near the radiator and it has a small table, plus the store has a customer bathroom. It’s the perfect place for studying.
It’s Lydia’s go to between classes when she doesn’t want to go too far from campus, just wants a place to hang out at for an hour or so. It’s where she goes when she wants to browse and buy new books. It’s her haven when she’s hungover and wants to pretend she doesn’t exist for a while; when she’s feeling low and it’s raining or cold, it’s her little place, her quiet space. When her roommate is busy having loud sex with her boyfriend, it’s Lydia’s escape. When she’s got a test or a deadline coming up, it’s the place that soothes her frazzled nerves and motivates her to get some studying done.
Lydia loves Hale Books and it has nothing to do whatsoever with the gorgeous employee that she often sees behind the counter.
Since Lydia’s started hanging out there so often, she’s noticed only six employees, but that’s maybe enough to man a small store like it; there’s Derek, with his permanent scowl but his ridiculously good knowledge and advice on literature. There’s Laura, who talks a lot on her phone, but is always there with an award winning customer service smile. There’s Cora, who often paints her nails and kind of grunts when people approach, until Derek nudges her and she remembers she does actually work in customer service. There’s Erica, who is terrifyingly beautiful and has the confidence to back it up, but had once had an hour long conversation with Lydia about Sylvia Plath, and there’s Isaac, who’s very quiet but has one of the sweetest and most genuine smiles Lydia’s ever seen.
And there’s Malia.
Malia is beautiful, with dark hair and big, dark eyes and a face that is so expressive; Lydia’s never seen anything like it. Malia has the harshest scowl and the prettiest smile and every emotion is always written on every feature of her face, from the little crinkle between her brows when she’s confused, the bemusement in the slight curve of her smile, the excitement Lydia’s only seen once but is determined to witness again because she can’t keep her mind off the way Malia’s face had lit up, her eyes bright and her smile showing teeth.
She’s completely unselfconscious, not in a confident, bold way like Erica, but in a quiet, understated way that had captured and held Lydia’s attention from the first time she saw her.
Okay...so her love of Hale Books may have slightly been because of Malia.
*
“You know, this isn’t a library.”
It’s one of Derek’s favorite phrases, but spoken from a smoother voice. Lydia looks up, snaps closed the book in her hands.
“I was going to buy it,” she says quickly.
Malia grins. “I’m kidding. Go for it. Just don’t tell Derek.”
Lydia smiles, draws a cross over her heart with her finger, and watches as Malia carries on restocking shelves. After a moment, she places the book back on the shelf and returns to her little nook, getting comfy in the big, squishy armchair.
It’s starting to snow outside, little flakes drifting down. She has her laptop open on the table, assignment staring up at her, but she can’t focus when the weather is like this, so cold and brittle, but mesmerizing. She watches people rush around outside and, after a moment, sees Malia leave through the shop door, wrapped up in a leather jacket and beanie hat.
“Isn’t your deadline Friday?” Erica says, peering round the bookshelf.
Lydia wrinkles her nose, tugs the sleeves of her sweater over her hands. “Maybe.”
The blonde shows straight, perfect teeth. “No maybe. My boyfriend’s in your Composition class.”
“I’m just...taking a break.”
Erica gives her a knowing look but doesn’t comment, just disappears again, and Lydia sighs, tugging her computer onto her lap. She pushes the weather and Erica and Malia out of her mind and gets to work.
Ten minutes later, a coffee cup is placed on the table in front of her.
It’s from her favorite coffee store just round the corner and Lydia blinks at it before looking up. Malia shuffles slightly on the spot, offers a little awkward shrug.
“Caramel latte, right?”
“Right,” Lydia says, surprised that Malia knows her standard order.
“You bring it in all the time,” Malia grins slightly, “It makes the place reek of coffee.”
“There are worse smells.”
“True,” Malia pauses, shrugs again. “It’s cold out; I figured you could use a little pick me up.”
“Thanks. That’s really nice of you.”
Malia smiles at that, gives a little nod before resuming her post behind the counter, ready to serve a customer, and Lydia looks back at the coffee cup, unable to help the grin on her face.
*
“Move.”
The brunette in Lydia’s usual seat blinks up at her, but her fingers don’t stop flying across the keyboard of her phone. She’s all curled up in Lydia’s spot, listening to music as she texts, and Lydia raises an eyebrow when she doesn’t comply.
“This is my place,” she says coolly. “Move.”
Something in her expression must intimidate her, because she quickly gets up with a muttered “whatever” and walks off. Lydia settles into her seat, opens her books and tries to get comfy, but she can’t help but fidget, worked up from stress and lack of sleep.
She feels a gaze on her and looks up. Malia looks amused, paused where she’d been arranging a display of some new novel.
“You realize this is a public place, right?”
Lydia huffs, tossing a pen at her, kind of impressed when Malia easily snags it out of the air. “I’m aware. But I’ve got midterms coming up, I got maybe three hours of sleep last night, and I am not in the mood to be polite.”
“Wow,” Malia smirks, “For someone so short, you’re kind of scary.”
Lydia narrows her eyes because she definitely is not in the mood for short jokes. She considers sacrificing a highlighter to throw at Malia in retaliation. It’s a good cause.
“Just don’t scare off too many customers?” Malia offers with a grin. “Derek will go mad.” She winks and walks off to serve a customer.
Lydia finds herself watching Malia go with a sort of fond, warm feeling in the pit of her stomach and she takes a deep breath, forces herself to focus.
*
Lydia’s only in the city for two more days before she goes home for the winter break.
This wouldn’t be a problem, except she still hasn’t gathered the nerve to ask Malia out on a date, and she can’t help but shake the idea of Malia being asked out while Lydia isn’t there. She could come back after the break to find she’s too late. Or find that, even if Malia’s still single, she lets another whole semester fly by without just asking her out like a normal person would.
She sits in her nook for two hours, trying to gather the nerve. She hasn’t got any work to do and when Malia flicks a confused glance over at her, probably wondering why she’s just sat there, she quickly grabs a book to read.
Why can’t she just do it?
She knows, deep down, that it’s because she likes Malia, she really does, and the thought of being rejected stings more than ever before. She doesn’t want to lose the friendly rapport with her, or have to stop going to her favorite place in the whole city because she’s so humiliated.
Erica looks at her as she passes, rolls her eyes but doesn’t make a comment, just keeps going and Lydia sighs, rubs a hand over her face before getting up. She leaves the book on the table and heads into the bathroom.
When she returns, she’s pleased to see her seat hasn’t been stolen, but there’s a bright yellow post-it note on top of her book. She frowns and picks it up, reading the spider’s crawl handwriting.
Go to dinner with me?
Her heart turns over and she feels little butterflies in her belly. She looks up and Malia’s watched her closely, but when Lydia meets her gaze, she ducks her head, actually blushes, and Lydia can’t help the wide grin on her face as she approaches.
“I’m buying,” she says.
Malia looks up. “That’s a yes?”
“That’s a ‘I’ve been crushing on you for a whole semester, of course I’ll go to dinner with you’,” Lydia replies.
Malia gives her this bright, unrestrained smile that takes Lydia’s breath away and Lydia can’t help her answering grin.
Hale Books is definitely her favorite place.