Library love

Closed and confused

I drove to the cafe, and despite being barely 2 minutes late, by the time I pulled into an empty space near the cafe, and glanced at my phone, Alex was already blowing it up, telling me to hurry up.

I rolled my eyes, and didn't bother to reply, as I made my way towards the cafe. I saw Alex standing outside, and was confused as to why he hadn't gone in yet.

"Hey," I greeted him. "Hey. So uh, slight problem," he awkwardly scratched the back of his neck. "They're closed."

"What?" I turned towards the cafe, and sure enough, the closed sign hung at the door.

"How are they closed? They're never closed!" I questioned in disbelief.

"Well, I mean, the closed sign would beg to differ," Alex commented, smirking.

"Hilarious. Oh hey, we could go to the library! I'm sure Mrs Winters won't mind," I suggested.

"No!" Alex exclaimed, hurriedly. "Huh. Why?"

"We can't talk in the library. It'll be hard for me to explain a sport to you through miming."

"Firstly, you need to work on your sense of humour." This earned me a flat look from Alex. "Secondly, we can talk in the library. We just can't be too loud," I informed him.

"Exactly. I like being loud," Alex said. I snorted at that, and his cheeks turned a light shade of pink as he realised what his statement could be taken as. "And I'm the one who needs to work on my sense of humour."

"I didn't say anything. Anyways, so to the library?"

"Yeah, whatever. We can go to the library," Alex relented.

I grinned in victory. I hadn't had time to go to the library in a while, so I was excited.

"Why the hell are you so eager to go to a library?" Alex raised an eyebrow in my direction, as I bounced, waiting for the traffic to slow down so we could cross the road.

"I love the library," I shrugged.

"Nerd," he snorted. I elbowed him in the ribs, and thankfully, before he could retaliate, there was a break between the cars driving down the street, so I rushed across the street.

Alex followed behind me, grumbling about how my elbow was sharp.

"Hazel!" I was greeted by Mrs. Winters, as I entered the library. "Hi!" I grinned back. "And..Alex? What are you doing here?" She asked him.

I was surprised she knew who he was. I never pegged her to be a football fan.

I turned to Alex, and he was shaking his head, smiling nervously. "Just, uh-" "Oh, he's going to be explaining football to me. For a journalism project. We we're going to go to the cafe, but it's closed, so here we are. Is that alright? I promise we won't be loud." I answered instead.

"Of course! You know you're always welcome here. You too...Alex," Mrs Winters shot him a knowing look, which I was puzzled by, but ignored.

"Thanks a bunch. We'll see you around," Alex smiled at her, before placing his arms on my shoulder, and steering me towards a table at the back.

"I did not see Mrs Winters as a football fan," I stated, once we took a seat.

"What do you mean?" Alex frowned. "I mean, she knew who you were. And for the sake of not beating around the bush, you're known for football. Hell, you're like famous for it."

Alex awkwardly laughed. "Yeah. Neither did I. Anyways, should we get to it?" He changed the subject. I didn't ponder on it too much, and instead nodded.

I placed my laptop on the table, and opened a fresh document.

"Okay, so?" I turned to Alex, who was looking at me in amusement.

"What?"

"You plan to...take notes?" he fought a grin.

"How else do you expect me to remember anything?"

He was no longer fighting back his grin, and it was obvious that he found this hilarious, for whatever reason.

"Okay then. Let's get to it. So what do you know about football?

"Dog shit."

And after the next hour and a half or so, my knowledge about football went from me knowing dog shit, to me knowing a little less dog shit.

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