Breathe Easy

Chapter 10

I was leaning against the side of a bookshelf watching Camila put books back into their proper place. She was oblivious to my presence, and well, pretty much everything else. She had this faraway, yet determined look on her face, as if she was so taken with the act of putting away books. I found it intriguing, so I stalled getting her attention.

She was wearing that beige cardigan, the one I practically went through hell and high water to get back from Lacey. It swayed at her side below her hips as she moved busily, and the sleeves almost came over her knuckles. It was long and oversized on her petite frame, in a cute way.

Whenever she turned to the shelf I was standing by, I eased on back out of sight. Eventually I stalked forward again and peeped around it.

"Think you could get me a job here? This looks like quite the thrill," I murmured.

I must have startled her, because she recoiled and gazed at me all wide-eyed. Snickering like the amused asshole I was, I held my hands up in the air and motioned them toward my face.

"It's just me, Lauren; your roommate."

Camila gave me a look as he arms dropped down to her side. "I see you. Who do I look like, Hellen Keller?"

"You looked like you didn't even know what planet you were on."

"I was lost in thought."

We stared for a bit, unnecessarily. My arms were folded, eyes fondly examining all of her features. Every time I did this it felt like the first time. I still got that same feeling of wonderment, the one I'd gotten when we met up for the first time at the coffee shop. How the fuck could someone look like that, were my exact first thoughts, followed by something along the lines of It should be illegal to walk about the Earth with an ass like that.

I covered my mouth and averted my gaze, biting back a smile. Camila's eyebrows furrowed suddenly and, now all riled up, she said, "What is it?"

"Nothing." I shook my head a thousand times, hardly able to hold back my grin. So I stood there with my teeth gritted, looking constipated. "Nothing at all."

Camila pushed my shoulder, hard, a deepening grin upon her face.

"Ow. What?"

"That's for laughing at me."

Holding my arm, I drew back as she came forward because she was always getting me with those surprise attacks. And who knows when she would strike next?

"Wasn't even laughing at you. You know, if I were as mean as you I'd hit you back. And I hit pretty damn hard, so consider yourself lucky."

"Whatever. You're here kind of early. My break doesn't start until about fifteen minutes..." she trailed off, and craned her neck to get a glimpse of the clock on the wall on the other side of the big room first floor. "I would just leave now, but I want to see if I can finish this up really quick."

"I can wait. Not a problem at all."

I took a seat at a table over in the children's books section. The library was huge and very expensive looking. It was right in the heart of downtown so I guess it would only make sense for it to be all extravagant and whatnot. There were two floors, two escalators; one lead down on the left and one that lead up on the right, with a myriad of shelves in between.

A few people sat at the rows of computers over by the entrance, looking lifeless as the glow of the screen lit up their dull faces. Others ambled around silently in search for the perfect book. Maybe I should pick up one every now and then. At least that would be an excuse to come by the library a few times a week whenever I had time. Or I could always break my laptop in two on accident and come in here to use the really sweet looking desktops.