Accidental Bibliophiles

Chapter 3

Jack

"That was crazy." I murmur to Everett as we exit the bookshop, my head still spinning from what I learned today. 

Although the anatomy lesson was actually very appreciated. 

"So your house or mine?" Everett's question pulls me back into the present.

"For what?" I ask. He rolls his eyes, clearly exasperated with me. 

"For when we host book club." He says. I look at him confused as we continue walking towards the parking lot. 

"What?" I ask. He lets out a frustrated sound and tips his head back, his lips moving dramatically as he silently prays for strength to deal with me. 

I've seen that look enough to know what it is. 

"Only the first night of book club is at the store. We take turns rotating every week to people's houses. They took pity on us and let us do it together." He says, showing me his sheet of paper showing what week people signed up for. I have one as well, but I just folded it and shoved it into my book not realizing what it was. 

"Shit, so what does that even mean?" I ask and Everett shrugs. 

"Fuck if I know." He says, grabbing something else from his bag. "Can you believe these bookmarks they gave us?" He asks, showing me the pink tasseled piece of cardboard with the words 'Smut Slut' written in gold leafing displayed proudly on both sides. 

"If we're gonna do it, we might as well go all in." I say, looking at my own bookmark that says 'Emotionally attached to a morally grey character' in loopy font. 

At least mine's black. 

"We're going to Julie's house next week. I'll pick you up." He says, heading towards his car. I sigh, unlocking my own car before stopping to look over at him. 

"You think what they said is true? That we could learn something?" I ask and Everett smiles at me, laughing a little to himself. 

"Couldn't hurt." He responds, not bothering to say goodbye before he slides in and I hear the engine turn over. 

I try to push the reservations from my mind and focus on what Gwen said. Who cares what anyone else thinks? If I want to read a book, I can read a fucking book. Plus, this one has werewolves and shit in it. Maybe it'll be cool. 

I toss the book on my kitchen counter as I enter my small house. It's not much to look at, but they allowed dogs and that's really all that mattered. 

"Hey, Basil. You miss me, bud?" I ask my Australian shepherd. He lets out a chipper little bark as he bounds towards me, trying to jump on me. I chuckle as I lead him towards the backyard, letting him outside and following him. I throw a ball around a little for him, trying to get some of his energy out. We head back towards the house and he bumps into my leg repeatedly, trying to get me to turn around. 

"Stop trying to herd me. I'm not a sheep." I tell him firmly, tossing him a treat as I walk into the bathroom to brush my teeth before bed. 

I lay down, thinking about the book as I stare at my ceiling. Basil jumps on the bed, spinning a few times before he lays down next to me. I run my fingers through his fur absentmindedly, my brain refusing to stop spinning as I think about the first few pages of the book. It started out with the beginning stages of a war, the main character building an army of werewolves to defeat their arch nemesis. 

Vampires. 

Fucking cool. 

I can't stop thinking about it and push myself out of bed, going to the kitchen and grabbing the book. I settle back in bed, cracking the spine and pulling out my bookmark. I start to read and my eyes begin to grow heavy.