Between the Stacks

Chapter 4

I stared into the fruity depths of my strawberry daiquiri. "This isn't making me feel as good as I thought it would," I admitted.

Melissa, Matteo and I were haunting our usual booth at the back of Sunrise, the restaurant that shared the same plaza as the Northern Ridge library branch. It was our preferred table for a few reasons: it was equidistant to the bar and the washrooms, the lighting from above was particularly flattering, and it was far enough away from the dancefloor that on rowdy nights, no one ever stumbled into our table.

The other benefit that we never discussed: the view from Matteo's seat against the wall allowed him to long-distance flirt with Rob, the owner.

Matteo would deny it. Rob would deny it. But there was so much love between them that one day the two of them would wake up and discover they were practically married.

The biggest problem is that Matteo had the body of a Greek god, and the mind of a grandfather who wanted to go to bed. His warm dark eyes and his effortlessly stylish auburn hair were wasted on him. He self-described as "an old soul," but really it was just an excuse to skip going to parties and lounge in pajamas. It's probably why we were such good friends.

Rob, meanwhile, was the textbook definition of an extrovert. In his spare time he volunteered at the Humane Society; he was the founding member of the Cherryhill Black Entrepreneurs Society; he played ultimate Frisbee on Wednesdays and did yoga on Saturdays. If he invited Matteo to something, Matteo would often be too "busy." Which was code for "watching baking shows on Netflix and unwilling to get dressed."

The inverse was true as well - if Matteo asked Rob to come hang out with him, half the time Rob was booked for something else.

Despite the glacial pace of the relationship, I was their biggest cheerleader. I had invisible pom-poms stuffed in my back pocket. Matteo had instantly welcomed me to the Northern Ridge library when I joined, and I wanted him to be happy.

The two were stuck in the awkward pre-dating phase for the moment. The only upside was that Rob liked to flirt by supplying Matteo with discounted snacks, which were then shared with me and Melissa. I had absolutely no qualms about being a seagull and scavenging off the goodwill of my friend.

Matteo dipped a nacho into the homemade salsa and took a bite.

"Even nachos aren't helping," he moaned. "The nachos have failed me."

"What's wrong with my nachos?" Rob called from behind the bar. "You love my nachos."

"If they can't guarantee my job, then they're no good," Matteo said.

We'd already filled Rob in on the situation. The nachos had come to our table faster than usual. "Drink some more, and then they'll taste better," he said. I raised my drink in a toast.

"So. Do you think it's going to be us or them?" Melissa asked.

That was the question weighing on our minds. Either our branch or Riverside would be closed; both would be a loss to the community, but I couldn't help it if I was feeling a little selfish. I wanted my job. Needed it.

"I'm not going to let my dream die this quickly," Melissa said, taking a sip of her piña colada. "We'll figure this out."

I shifted in my seat, knowing that Melissa was referring to her own job. Since she didn't have a Masters degree, she was a library assistant, rather than a librarian. She'd been mulling over making the jump to becoming a librarian since I'd met her.

"I'm hoping we can pry the details out of Lakshmi tomorrow," Matteo said. Or at least I think he did. His mouth was still full of nachos and he was a bit hard to understand.