Between the Stacks

Chapter 39

"Tell me again what happened," Wesley said, drawing circles with his finger on my thigh. "None of this makes any sense."

"It's not going to make any sense at all unless you stop doing that thing with your finger," I said. Words were hard when a man like Wesley Takahashi was doing his best to distract me. "We were all at the bar, and we were playing beer pong, which was super weird, and then- oh."

Wesley dragged his hand up the side of my waist.

"You're not playing fair," I complained, and he responded by licking my neck.

The two of us were sprawled across his bed, the sheets having long been discarded. Even though Wesley was a Real Adult - he did have his own house, after all - he still only had one pair of sheets, which made things difficult.

Several days had passed since Lakshmi's grand announcement. I hadn't seen Wesley until now - he'd been so busy since his interview that we hadn't had time to see each other. All of Friday I could barely concentrate since I was so excited to see him, like a high schooler going on their first unchaperoned date. I put my phone into the fridge instead of my lunch (RIP battery life) and spilled a box of sequins, which was on par for a nuclear disaster in terms of long-term damage. I was still finding glittery bits on the bottom of my shoes.

My plan was to fill in Wesley on the drama that night - and that plan was quickly erased when we somehow found ourselves trapped in his bed. Only after waking up was I able to fill him in.

"She announced that she was quitting, and then just left?" Wesley asked.

"Yeah. Totally crushed us in beer pong, and was like, see you later, losers. It was a vibe."

Not that she actually said that. She walked straight out of the bar without saying anything else, hopped in her car, and drove off. Matteo, Melissa and I had tried calling her over the past few days. All our calls went to voicemail. A temporary manager from the Main branch had been brought in to deal with her workload in the meanwhile. He told us that Lakshmi was doing fine and would respond to our messages when she was up to it.

"Not to make this about me," Wesley said, "but is this not proving the point I made in my presentation? Everyone is so burned out in this field."

"Tell me about it." I hoped Lakshmi would give us a call soon. In my head I was already crafting the perfect care package: there would be lots of cookies and tea involved.

On a selfish level, I wondered if Lakshmi's decision had anything to do with the upcoming budget cuts. Was she so afraid of losing her job that she decided to preemptively leave? Or would her departure cast our branch in an even worse light? And what would this mean about the performance plan that had been dangling over my head?

"I can see you thinking." Wesley kissed me on the forehead. "Stop thinking. Thinking is dumb."

"Mm." I wanted nothing more than to be kissed senseless. Perhaps I could quit my job and live the rest of my life from this spot, in Wesley's sunny bedroom with his photos on the wall and an overstuffed bookshelf. Then again, eventually I would start to miss the comforts of real life - clean sheets, for example. "I need to get to work."

"Work. Ew." Wesley dramatically threw his arm over his eyes. I knew he had a shift today as well. It was a downside of librarianship: our days off didn't always align with weekends. "Tell me more about this 'work' thing. Is it mandatory?"

"Unfortunately." Although, knowing the size of Wesley's house, I wondered if he had to work at all. How could he possibly have purchased this place?

That was a question for later. For now I slipped out of bed and into the bathroom. During my way-too-hot shower, I mulled over the plan I was beginning to form.