Stereo Heart

Katie tried to kill me!

*15 votes till the next chapter!!!*

“You have so many books!” Liam signed, gawking at the shelves upon shelves of books I had in my basement. I looked at Katie, and we both began guffawing. I looked over at Liam, who was looking at us like we had gone completely mad, which made me laugh more.

I’d been collecting books since I could read - my brother Ben and I picked up the hobby together. Wherever we went, we bought books. Garage sales, the mall, anywhere - books. Eventually, our rooms became too small to house them, so our parents gave us the basement. We spent days painting it, and setting up christmas lights along the walls and ceiling, so it could be the perfect reading environment. After the bookstore in our town went out of business, they sold us a few of their shelves for 10 dollars a piece! It was lovely!

“Not nearly enough,” Katie signed, her signing making it obvious that she was mocking me. It was true, though! I wanted more. Not because I wanted to read them though, mostly because I wanted the connection between my brother and I to last.

“I gotta go,” Katie signed. She walked over to me and hugged me, “Love you care-bear,” she signed, smiling.

She walked over to the window that lead into our backyard, shimmying out of it like the pro-window climber she was. I laughed as she shook her butt desperately, trying to get it out. Once she was gone, I gave my attention to Liam, who was wandering aimlessly through my shelves. I smile turned up on my lips as I followed him, running my fingers along the spines of the books he passed.

I waved my hand, trying desperately to get his attention, yet - he continued to focus desperately on the books surrounding us. I mentally groaned - just an hour ago Liam had promised me I’d never have to use my voice around him again.

“Liam!” I huffed, a deep set glare on my face. He turned, his large smile fading as he saw my glare, “You promised I wouldn’t have to use my voice anymore!” I signed, a frown setting deeply on my face. He stepped closer to me, wrapping his arms around me.

I sighed, wrapping my arms around his waist. I wanted to be mad, I wanted to yell at him, honestly I did, but as his grasp on me tightened, I felt the iceberg that was my anger begin to melt. I kissed his chest, and he ran his fingers through my hair.

I pulled out of his grasp, looking up into his sparkling eyes, “Pick a book, I’ll read you, my favorite passage,” I signed, leading him to a specific shelf, “But only from this shelf,” I smiled, letting out a light giggle.

He focused on the shelf a while, before pulling out my rough and tattered copy of “Looking For Alaska” by John Green. To say the book is my favorite, would be an understatement. I live and breathe that book, the words on it’s pages are like breaths of air to me.

I sat down on a the pull out couch, sitting indian style. Liam sat down next to me, handing me the book. I smiled at him, flipping through it for a while, trying to find just one passage to read to him.

“I have a few from this book, actually,” I said, laughing. Liam smiled, telling me to read as much as I wanted to. I smiled back at him, flipping to the passage I wanted to start with.

I cleared my throat, “When adults say, "Teenagers think they are invincible" with that sly, stupid smile on their faces, they don't know how right they are. We need never be hopeless, because we can never be irreparably broken. We think that we are invincible because we are. We cannot be born, and we cannot die. Like all energy, we can only change shapes and sizes and manifestations. They forget that when they get old. They get scared of losing and failing. But that part of us greater than the sum of our parts cannot begin and cannot end, and so it cannot fail.” I looked up from the book at Liam, a smile crossing my lips as he stared at me in awe.