Learning to Love

Chapter six

                                Chapter six

Bo’s Books was busy. It was so busy that we had to send an emergency text out to another worker to come in and man one of the tills while the shelves were stocked. I rushed past Scott as he spoke to a customer, discussing a book she had cradled in her arms. The, just short of, dozen books I held in my arms were for various customers that were loitering in front of the store. Mason Thorne’s books were the top requested to be fetched from the back.

“Here’s your book,” I told a little girl, kneeling down and smiling at her. “Enjoy, it’s really good.”

Showing me a gap-tooth smile, the little girl bounced towards her mother and they walked towards the till together. I stood back up straight and looked at them for a moment, it reminded me of my mum and I back in England, when I made her go into the local book shop and get the latest book in the collection I was obsessed with.

“Izzy!”

Not expecting it, I toppled sideways and sent the pile of books flying. I pushed myself up onto my elbows and looked at my best friend. She blinked back at me before grinning like a mad woman and clapping her hands together eagerly.

“What on earth are you doing?” I asked her, quickly getting up and brushing myself off. Customers were glancing our way and I could feel heat pooling in my cheeks. “Alex, you can’t just tackle me in the middle of the shop!”

My annoyed tone didn’t deteriorate her grin, instead it seemed to widen until it looked like her face would split in two. I bent down and picked up the dropped books, noticing another set of feet appearing next to me. A pair of hands clutched the books I missed, making me lift my head to see Mason at eye level.

“Here,” he muttered, pushing the books towards me as we stood up. “She’s a little happy.”

Happy was an understatement. Alex looked like she could bounce off the walls in excitement, her smile dimmed a smidge when she realised we weren’t eagerly asking her questions but it fixed itself when we turned out attention to her.

“Guess what?” she cried, flinging her arms out.

“I’m sorry,” I told the woman as she nearly lost her book to Alex’s hand. “She has news,” I offered, hoping the surprised, paying customer, wouldn’t decide to leave because of my friend’s actions. Once she was out of ear shot I turned to Alex and grabbed her arm. “Come with me, we’ll take in the back.”

Miranda spotted the three of us but she clearly decided it would be best to leave us be. I don’t think anyone wanted to get in the way of Alex’s excitement, in case they got hurt. The already small room felt even smaller when the three of us crammed in and tried to take seats on the sofa. I curled myself into the corner and looked between Alex and Mason, what was going on that meant they were together?

“What is the amazing news, Alex?”

Mason chuckled when Alex started to squirm in her seat before bursting out, “my art is going to be in a gallery! And not just any gallery, the gallery that has Audrey Laurent’s latest work!”

It took me a moment to comprehend what she was telling me. Audrey Laurent was a name I had heard often around the flat but I couldn’t get any thoughts about her to stick – she was an artist that much I could gather and piece together from the jumbled thoughts. Alex’s art was going to be in the same gallery as one of her favourite artists.

“This is where you tell her you’re happy for her,” Mason whispered, albeit not very quietly.

“I got the news when we were at lunch,” she continued, not fussed that I hadn’t commented on her good news.