Expectations || Completed but unedited

{8}

Rubatosis
the unsettling awareness of your own heartbeat

"Death to reading slump." I gave myself a pat on the back and exited out of Cinder on my computer. I don't know I haven't listened to audiobooks before now. "I've read and completed two books in a week."

I glanced at the clock on my desktop and saw I had about ten minutes before my shift; I'm still in one of Gabe's shirts and a pair of sleeping shorts from Target. "Shit."

I rush around my room, pulling clothes off and tugging on clean clothes from the dresser then shoving my feet into socks and shoes. I quickly put my hair up in a messy bun and grabbed my bag before knocking on Ariel's open door. "Hey, Ari?"

"Yeah?" She looked up from her book.

"Can you drive me to work?" I bit my bottom. "I don't have enough time to walk."

"Sure." Standing up, Ariel tossed her book on her bed and set her bookmark on the nightstand. "Have you read Six of Crows yet?"

"No, we just say our last secondhand the other day." I groaned and pressed myself against the doorway. "I don't wanna buy it for full price. It's like twenty dollars."

"You're in luck." She picked her book up from her bed and handed it to me as she walked out of her room. "I just finished."

I gasped and opened her copy of Six of Crows. "I love you, you're my favorite older sister."

"I'm your only older sister."

"Yeah, but I can't say your my favorite sister cause Wills is also my favorite sister, so..." I shrugged and removed the dustjacket. Ariel's a weirdo who enjoys reading hardbacks with the dustjackets on, how do people do that?

"Hmm, hm." She rolled her eyes when I handed her the dustjacket. "Come on, let's go before you're late."

*****

"Did we get any more secondhand copies of Six of Crows or Crooked Kingdom?" Late afternoon sunlight stretched across the books and shelves in front of me. It was slow with only Winn and me in the store; my coworker was moving the Nora Roberts around to be in order.

"No." She shook her head and pulled three more books down. "But we did get some copies of her trilogy, though."

I dropped my head on my arms and groaned into the front counter. "Why are they so expensive?"

"Because they're new and in hardback."

I peaked up and glared at her. "You're sassing me right now?"

"Stating facts." Her eyes widen innocently as she tried not to smile. "So was not sassing you."

I watched her for a few seconds before checking the time. "And... my shift's over!"

"Fucker." She lowered her voice as if the owner or a customer were around.

"Love you too," I told her and went to the back room to get my things.

I slid my bag onto my shoulder and wandered over to where James Patterson's books were located. Humming the song that was playing in the store, I read his titles to see if there was one Gabe didn't have. "Do you know if James Patterson has any new books out?"

"No clue, I gave up on him after the disaster that is Maximum Ride ." Winn looked over her shoulder at me. "Why?"

"No reason." I pulled one called Private London. I don't think he has this one...