Autumn's Concerto

Autumn's Concerto 3

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Three days later it had hardly gotten better. Some of the boys had given up and hadn't come back, but once one left, there were two others to take his place. Sue was beside herself, mysteriously disappearing when another boy stood at the check out counter with a book he had obviously just picked off the shelf without looking at the title. I rolled my eyes when a boy came forward with a book titled, "Life as a Woman" and an offer to go out. I checked the book out for him and sent him on his way as politely as I could manage.

I couldn't understand it. The only solution I could fathom was that I was not someone that went to the school, someone they didn't see or had grown up with. I had always thought of myself as awkward and plain from the second I hit adolesence and this attention was unnerving. It got to the point that I dreaded with every step I took going to work at the University and that I busied myself in the deepest shadows of forgotten parts of the library for as long as I could before Sue came looking for me.

I felt I could breathe again when I heard it was exam day, meaning no one could leave their classrooms for any reason until lunch and then I would only have to deal with the unwanted attention for less than an hour and then back to a quiet day where I could read since I had taken it upon myself to organize all the books, file away papers, dust the second story to the library, clean the tables, and tidy the counter.

I groaned when the bell rang for lunch, watching the doors to the buildings fling open and students pouring out.

"Sue," I said, watching a group approaching, "will you leave the bleach beside me?"

She looked up from scrubbing an ink stain she had just spilled. "Why?"

The door opened and I cringed. "I need the protection."

She raised her eyebrows and then saw them too, bursting into laughter. "Now, Bella, they don't mean any harm. Why don't you give them a chance?"

"Because I don't have the time." I watched them throw their things on tables and rush for the shelves. "And Peter wouldn't let me anyway. Besides, I don't want to date any of them."

Sue looked like she was going to say something and stopped, tsking me instead and turning her back to me.

I knew I wasn't getting help from her and I was on my own so I pretended to prepare the already warmed up computer, getting the scanner ready when I heard, "Excuse me?"

I glanced up with my best face when I stopped. In front of me was the boy from before, the one with the car and the girlfriend and the commotion that he refused to resolve with the most stunning green eyes.

Was this day going to get worse?

He raised an eyebrow at me as if questioning my mental compacity. "Excuse me?" He repeated.

I blinked. "Yes?"

He smiled, a very charming smile that was meant to disarm. "I'm here to check out a book but I'm not sure what to look for and I was wondering if you had any suggestions."

I put on my best neutral face, hoping this was just as he said. "It depends on what you're looking for. A book for class? Non-fiction? Fiction?"

"Actually, I was thinking more along the lines of psychology books."

"Psychology?" I started running the lists of psychology and where they were located through my mind.

"Yes," he said, smiling wider. "Do you realize you've turned down boys from very rich families? Not to mention stars of seven different team sports and even the soon-to-be valedictorian? I was hoping," he continued leaning against the counter, "that if I could find the right book on psychology, I would be able to understand your mind and what was going through your head while you did this."

I felt the blush heat my face and tried to keep from looking like a fish. "I'm sorry, but I don't see how that is your concern."

"I find it hard to believe the excuses you gave them. You don't have time? You don't want a relationship? Are you playing hard to get or is the thought of tormenting some of the best students in the school enjoyable?"

My face flushed deeper and I felt the anger roll in my stomach. "If you're going to be rude I think you should leave."

"I have no intentions of doing so nor was I intending to be rude. More like understanding. You've hardly been here a week and already this much attention?" He chuckled. "I had to see for myself who was so great to cause such a huge deflating of egos among my classmates. And I find that it's the girl from a few days ago who had the courage to inturrupt an important conversation because she had somewhere to be." He looked up at me through the bronze hair falling over his forehead and his lashes. "If I had known you had to be here I would have come sooner. Or at least driven you myself."

I swallowed, trying to search my brain for the words to make a good come back. "What is it you really want?" That wasn't one.

He paused for a moment, staring off into the shadows of the library. "Now that I think about it, the book would only give me theories about you." He finally said, bringing his eyes back to look at me. "So, I think the only solution is for you to go out with me."

I blinked and then floundered for a response. "What?"

He nodded slowly. "Or maybe, just spend a day with me. Really, I don't see much coming out of it, so you won't have to worry about it turning into a time consuming thing for you nor will you have to worry about that," he nodded towards the boys hiding behind a shelf, "if they think you're with me."

"And what if I said I don't want to?"

He shrugged. "Then I will put this out of my mind and forget about it and you will continue on with your day-to-day schedule, including most of the male population of this school who are unable to take a hint." He grinned at me. "Your choice."

There was something not right about this but I couldn't find it. Why wasn't I telling him no like all the others? Maybe because he wasn't as persistent as the others?

"What makes you think I'd tell you yes when I told everyone else no?"

He grinned wider. "Because I'm not like everyone else and I have a feeling you already know it." He let that sink in. "Meet me tomorrow on the baseball field at one." He winked and then turned to leave. "And one more thing." He took my hand and kissed the knuckles. Grinning at my heated face, he whispered, "That's for their benefit."

After he left, I wasn't bothered for the rest of the day. Everyone seemed to mysteriously disappear before the bell and for it I was grateful. Sue, who was tripping over her own graceful feet in delight, wouldn't drop it.