Read the room-The Library Between

A Reaction(?)

"--and he had to make me say it! I wasn't even involved in the whole thing!" 

Her coffee-colored brown hair is braided and resting on her shoulder, and as they enter she changes her tone so that it's close to a whisper.

"You say that like you wouldn't involve yourself anyway, Amber." Her friend rolls her eyes, and doesn't really lower her voice. She snickers, and Amber raises a finger to her lips to shush her. 

"Can you wait outside? I'll be quick, but I don't trust you inside a library. And your water bottle is leaking." Amber's tone is flat and she glares at her companion.

"Wow, I'm not even that loud!" She exclaims, raising her voice and getting glares from eyes lying behind book covers. 

"Tch. Fine. But if coach blames me for being late, you owe me." She begins walking towards the doors they came through. 

Amber nods and turns away from the door, muttering under her breath, "Who's fault is it for wrecking their own wheels?" 

She sighs and proceeds to look for something to read at her normal pace. 

Instead of her usual leather bag, she had a black backpack hanging off a shoulder with a few books peaking through the unzipped opening of the bag. 

Amber drags her feet between shelves with eyes breezing through tons of familiar titles. Her eyes finally stick to one book, and she removes it from the shelf. She holds onto it, catching glimpses of more titles as she drifts towards the check out desk. 

The librarian's eyes barely graze hers as he checks it out, but when he looks up again he doesn't even look directly at her. Instead, his eyes lead up and past her.

"All checked out. Have a nice day."

Amber raises and eyebrow and hesitantly takes the book from the desk. As she turns, her path is immediately blocked by a towering figure. She looks up.

"Did you finish the book?"

Amber instinctively flinches, and frantically glances back at the librarian, who is sighing and resting his head in his hands. When she looks back up at Faust she sighs too.

"You're making a really bad habit out of this."

"wha--oh. Sorry, did I scare you?" He raises his arms and his body language makes him seem a little nervous. His tone is the same as it normally is though, which is oddly comforting. 

Her shoulders relax and she presses a hand to her forehead. She smiles a little and breaks her gaze. "Don't worry about it, I have your book. Just give me a second."

She leads him over to a couch and drops her bag on an empty sofa, digging through it to find the book.

"You look different. You've got a new bag, too." He says quietly, with an unreadable far-off look on his face. 

"Wow, you're very observant." She smirks and shakes her head, finally grabbing hold of the book that was lent to her. He just tilts his head in response.

She glances up from her bag waiting for a better answer. When she doesn't get it, she looks away and pulls out the book. 

"...That was sarcastic by the way. I'm on my way to volleyball practice. That's why I'm in these clothes." She hands him the book and he takes it with both hands. 

"Oh," A hint of surprised mixed into his voice. He raises his eyebrows, and he grips the book close to his chest. "That's really cool." 

Amber draws back in shock at an actual reaction from Faust. He speaks up again after a few seconds.

"I'm not very good at volleyball, but it's cool." He's quiet still, but he's also amazed for some reason. 

"I-it's not that interesting! It's just volleyball!"

"If you say so." He blinks, and his eyes soften.

For a moment she's speechless. Heat rises up to her cheeks, and she quickly turns to zip up her bag and look away.

"You're weird as hell, dude."

Again, he just tilts his head, confused. 

"Thanks for the book. I should get going."

The confusion melts away, and he nods. Raising a hand, he waves. "Bye."

"See you."

She tugs the bag across her shoulder again and hurries to the exit with her hands pressed on her cheeks.

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