-Sky-
"Where are you taking me?" I asked with a chuckle when we stepped on the busy sidewalk.
"It's just around the corner," Max said reassuringly, and I tried to guess what he was talking about.
Since I still thought that he was talking about something that was related to football, I couldn't understand why he was leading me towards...
"The public library?" I frowned when he suddenly stopped by the corner of the mall and pointed at a huge, old building right in front of us.
"Yes," Max said almost proudly. "It's one of the oldest buildings in this city.
Part of me wanted to hit myself. Of course! Max loved buildings, not football. He wanted to become an architect. I looked at his face, and his eyes were sparkling in a way I knew mine always did when I talked about animals. He didn't usually talk about his passion, so I had forgotten all about it, and I felt ashamed.
"It is beautiful," I said hastily when he turned to look at me. "So, our first date is in the public library?" I asked, trying to sound as casual as possible.
"This isn't our first date," he smiled. "You took me camping on our first date," he continued with an adorable smirk that melted me completely.
"I didn't know it was a date," I said when we continued walking.
"Neither did I – at first," he said. "But then we kissed..."
I blushed when I remembered all the happy feelings I had felt that night, and every day ever since. That trip to the barn felt like it happened a lifetime ago, but only a few weeks had passed.
"Well, I guess the first official date was when we visited that shelter," Max spoke.
"Oh yeah," I smiled. "I forgot it was a date."
"You forgot?" Max chuckled. "Thanks, dude."
"No – I mean..." I stammered, hoping I hadn't just hurt his feelings, "I just thought dates were more like... dates."
"What?" he chuckled.
"You know, movies... restaurants... dancing... that kind of stuff."
"Do you want a date like that?" Max asked in a surprised tone. "I don't know how to dance, but if you want–"
"No!" I hurried to say. "If you don't want to go out on a date like that, then neither do I."
Max bit his lips for a moment, like he was trying to think about how to put his thoughts into words without hurting my feelings. "I think restaurants and dancing are grown-up things. I thought you'd love having a date in an animal shelter."
"Of course I do!" I gasped and grabbed his sleeve to stop him and force him to look at me. "It was perfect!"
Max stared at me with wide eyes for a moment before he smirked. "Or did you mean purrfect."
I had to laugh at his joke. I let go of him so we could continue walking, and he patted my shoulder a couple of times.
"I'll take you on an adult-date someday. I'll even try dancing if you want, but I think I like animal shelters and libraries more than restaurants," Max said.
"Me too," I smiled.
I started to feel excited when we walked – in my case, wobbled with my crutches – the stairs up to the huge front doors of the library. I knew I should have watched where I was going, but the massive front of the library was fascinating – maybe because the frames of the doorway were carved in the shape of tangled ivy. I had never been in that exact library, but I already liked it more than any other I had been in. The building itself was unique, and surprisingly big with two stories and massive, white windows. Above the front door was a heavy-looking roof that was supported by four white pillars, sheltering the people who stepped out of the library. The yard around the building was well kept, the picket fence looked freshly painted and the old oaks had turned yellow, making the place a big, colorful spot in the middle of the gray city.
I stumbled a little when I stared at the pillars, and Max had to grab me by my clothes, so I wouldn't fall. I hardly even noticed it in my enthusiasm. I had never been interested in architecture before, but Max was, so I was eager to see what he saw in buildings. I gave him a smile before turning my attention to the pillars – those also had carvings of leaves.
"Is there a particular reason why they chose to carve leaves into the pillars and frames?" I asked Max, who gave me a funny look.
"You don't have to do that..." Max said quietly, and for some reason he looked down at his feet.
"Do what?" I asked with a frown.
"Humor me," he said shortly.
"I'm... not?" I spoke slowly, not understanding what he meant by that.
"I know buildings aren't interesting–"
"They must be," I interrupted him with a smile. "You like architecture, so it must be interesting. I'm here to learn why."
We were by the doors already, and he stopped to give me a shy look. He had his hand on the door already, but he didn't move in the next couple of seconds. Then he cleared his throat and I saw his eyes sparkling when he returned my smile.
"You might regret it," he chuckled.
"I ranted for half an hour about pigeons when we became friends. Now it's my turn to be all ears," I said reassuringly, when he finally opened the door.
"Well... If you really want to know..." he paused, and I nodded. "This building was built in the early 1900s, but the pillars are actually much older," he spoke, but I could still detect doubt in his voice, like he didn't believe that I could find his story even mildly interesting. "Tornado destroyed the front of this building almost fifty years ago, including the roof and the pillars. There was a mansion on the other side of the forest that was completely destroyed during that same storm. These four pillars are all that's left of it, and the mansion had over a dozen of them. The city saved them, and later when this library was reconstructed, they moved the pillars here."
"Really?" I said and gave another look at the white pillars. "Why did they do that?"
"To preserve a small piece of our history," Max said. "These pillars are over two-hundred-years-old."
"They have seen a lot," I spoke respectfully. "Just like those trees have," I added and pointed at the oaks.
"Yes, they have," Max said and held the door open for me. "It is quite common in old buildings to use nature and people as inspiration in details. Here you'll see a lot of examples."
"Awesome," I breathed out and couldn't wait to see inside.
We stepped into the warm library, and I saw immediately that Max wasn't wrong, and that the building was definitely a lot different from any other library I had seen. For one, the huge bookshelves seemed old, and they were made of wood and decorated with carvings. The wooden feet of the shelves resembled old roots, and the top of every one of them had roses and lilies carved on the wooden surface.
"This place is also a protected landmark now," Max said. "Most of the bookshelves have been here from the beginning, but some were brought from all over the country whenever they needed more space for the books."
Everything in the whole library seemed massive. The building itself wasn't exactly huge, but on the outside, it still looked massive, like it weighted somehow more than the building that size could. On the inside, the tall windows seemed even bigger, and the huge entrance hall of the place was bathing in sunlight, illuminating the big bookshelves with warm light.
Right in front of us was a long front desk that was shaped like U, and the visitors were talking cheerily with the librarians, putting books carefully in their bags. Behind the desk, there was – not so surprisingly – a massive staircase leading upstairs. The second floor consisted of four wide aisles that seemed like they were just floating in the air, each of them were supported only by two massive columns, and the aisles were touching the outer walls only in the corners.
Massive. That was the word to describe everything I saw.
"So you haven't been here before?" Max asked, sounding a little surprised.
"I've only used the library at school," I told him, trying to stare at everything at the same time.
"I used to spend a lot of time here when we had a project in history last year. I chose to do it about this place," Max spoke almost tenderly. "The librarians helped me a lot. They had a lot of stories to tell, especially the ones who have worked here the longest."
"That's awesome," I said, and at the same time one of the ladies at the desk noticed us.
"Max! Look at you – it's been a while," she spoke with a wide smile. "We thought you forgot all about us."
The woman was probably in her thirties and had long hair in a tight ponytail. She also had big, black glasses and wore bright-red lipstick, and I was pretty sure that she was one of those "sexy librarians" the guys sometimes talked about. She was pretty, but the only thought I had of her was that she seemed nice, so I couldn't be sure – I had understood that women like her were supposed to make guys go crazy, but I just didn't feel that.
Maybe it was because I had Max. I looked at him to see if he knew the woman, and he obviously did.
"Mrs. Gilmore," Max said as politely as ever. "How could I ever forget?"
Max gestured for me to follow him, when he walked to the desk. The lady flashed a kind smile in my direction and leaned her elbows against the desk.
"Who's your friend?" she asked.
"This is... This is Sky. I wanted to show him the library," Max explained and the woman's smile turned wider.
"Do you like architecture too? You're here to see the exhibit with Max?"
"Exhibit?" I repeated and looked at Max.
"Yeah – we have the biggest collection of architectural models in this entire city," Mrs. Gilmore spoke proudly.
"And the only one," Max smirked, and Mrs. Gilmore laughed lightly.
"True. But it still is quite impressive if you ask me," she said. "We actually have two new models – you might find the other one very interesting," she added with a wink.
"Yeah? What is it?" Max asked, and I could tell that he was getting more and more excited.
"The Doyle's donated it to us," Mrs. Gilmore said in a way that was clearly meant as a hint.
I looked at Max, who looked more than eager to see the model.
"It's the old railway station?" Max guessed.
"That's the one," she said. "Go check it out – I need to get back to work," Mrs. Gilmore said and pointed over her shoulder. "You know where to find it."
"Okay," Max said and touched my arm. "Come – it's this way."
We waved our goodbyes to Mrs. Gilmore and Max started to lead me around the staircase. He was practically reeking of happiness when we walked slowly towards the back of the library. Behind the staircase, I saw double-doors that were open, leading into a small room where I could see big, sturdy tables. Even from afar I could tell that the models were resting on top of them under glass-cases.
So that was Max's world. He had a wide smile on his face every time I sneaked a peek at him. When we stepped inside that room, he somehow looked like he was home. I was happy to see he got excited about buildings, just like I got excited about nature. It was nice to know that I wasn't the only one who got excited about other things than just fashion and smartphones. Max made me feel like it was okay to be a geek, maybe even a little proud to be different.
"It's just as awesome as I thought it would be," Max breathed out when he stopped next to the replica that was right in the middle of the room.
"I know that building," I said when I peered through the glass. "But it looks.... different."
"This is how the railway station used to look like when it was built," Max said. "The main building is still the same, but it has grown almost double the size in the past sixty years."
I stared at the building. For a miniature model it was quite big, and extremely detailed. Even the train tracks surrounding the model seemed real. When Mrs. Gilmore first spoke the words miniature model, I thought about something made out of matches - I once made a small hut using matches. But that model in front of me looked so realistic that I was sure it was made of the same materials as the actual building.
"How are these made?" I asked and moved a little to see the other side of the building.
"Well, there's online stores where you can order different materials made for this purpose. I know there's a few shops too, but it takes a couple of hours to drive to the closest one. I know this great website where you can find pretty much everything you need," Max explained.
"So there's companies that actually make the building materials?" I asked with wide eyes and thought of my small cottage made of matches. "Have you ever built a model?"
"Yeah – I have a few in our basement," Max said and blushed a little. "I know it sounds lame–"
"Can you teach me?!" I asked, dropping my crutches and grabbed his hands. "I want to try it too!" Max stared at me like he didn't know who I was. It was clear he never expected me to have any interest in such things, but the truth was...
"It sounds so awesome!"
"Seriously?" Max managed to say. "You – you want to try it?"
"Yes!" I squealed, and snapped my mouth shut when I realized we were in a library. "Yes, absolutely," I added in a hushed tone.
Max started to smile and squeezed my hands. "Then I'll teach you. We can do a model together if you want."
Because he looked so excited, I got almost a hundred times more excited. I just wanted to start screaming out of joy, but I managed to suppress it. Instead, I hugged him really, really tight and made some quiet squealing noises against his chest.
"Another project!" I muttered happily. "This is going to be so awesome!"
Max laughed and hugged me tightly, and I felt happy because he seemed reluctant to let go of me when I turned to look at the model again. I didn't want to let go of him either, but I saw an older woman staring at us. I didn't think that we looked overly gay – it was just a friendly hug – but after being attacked by Cain and his friends, I didn't feel safe around strangers.
"So, this is the place you wanted to show me," I guessed and looked around.
"Yeah," Max said, and his voice sounded shy again.
I saw a few familiar buildings inside the glass-boxes, but I didn't recognize most of them. Max gave me my crutches and followed me to the table that was closest to the door. He seemed to know every building in that room, and he told me a lot about their history. I had never thought how old the buildings really were, who built them, what they used to be for, and how they had changed over the years. I had never cared about things like that. To me, they had always been just boring shelters of people, but while Max spoke, I started to understand why he appreciated them so much.
I had no idea how much time we spent in that room. Max spoke so much that his voice started to sound hoarse, and there still were two models he hadn't introduced me to yet. I think it was the longest time I had listened to anyone talking about something else than nature, and I understood and remembered almost everything he said. It was fascinating to realize that if it wasn't for that model in the middle of the room, the railway station, none of the other buildings wouldn't have existed. It was the heart of our city, one of the first buildings they had built, and it gave the reason for all the other ones to be born.
"I hope I didn't sound too boring," Max said, when we stopped our tour by the railway station.
"Not at all!" I said truthfully. "I actually understand it now."
"Understand what?" Max asked.
"Why you like them so much – the buildings," I explained and looked at the model of the railway station. "They are a big part of who we are."
"Yes," Max said. "I like to believe that we humans wouldn't even exist if our ancestors hadn't learned to build shelters."
I thought about what he said for a moment and believed that he was right.
"Is that why you want to build houses too?" I asked.
"It is one of the reasons, yes," Max said slowly, and a small smile appeared on his lips. "But I've always loved to design and build stuff. I had tons of Legos when I grew up, and I never really played with other toys. I still have most of the pieces, but when I grew old enough, my mom bought me my first scale-model kit, and I stopped using Legos."
"So, you have always known that you want to be an architect?" I asked.
"Maybe. Or then I just loved making scale-models and figured that I could make real buildings too," Max said. "You know, first it was Legos, then models, then a treehouse, so the next logical step would be real buildings," he laughed.
"You still haven't invited me into your treehouse," I smirked.
"I'd love to see it anyway," I told him.
"Then I'll show it to you," he promised. "We should get going – I bet you're getting hungry."
"A bit," I smirked – I hadn't even noticed that I was hungry before he mentioned it.
"Let's go then," he said and placed his hand on my arm lightly, guiding me towards the door.
When we stepped outside on the street, I looked at the tall buildings in front of us. I felt small when I looked at them. Most of the buildings were older than me, and most of them would be there long after I – and everyone else on that street – would be gone. I understood perfectly why Max wanted to build something like that, too.
I thought about my own home. Three other families had lived in that same house and called it home. That one house had affected so many lives already, and now it was a part of my life, too.
"What are you thinking"? Max asked while we walked slowly back towards the mall.
"Just that how small we are, but still we manage to do something so big that we will be remembered for centuries," I said. "It's quite awesome."
"Yes, it is," he said, and a second later his phone beeped.
"Is it Troy?" I asked when Max took his phone from his pocket and read the message he got.
"Yup," he said. "He was with Luke."
"And...?"
"I guess things are going well," he said and put his phone away. "You were probably right when you said I should back off."
"I never said that," I chuckled. "I just think that you're worrying too much. Give them some room and they'll figure things out on their own."
"Yeah, yeah... You're absolutely right," he said and gave me a smile. "Enough about those two – I promised this day is all about you."
"Well, actually, it was all about you," I smirked. He looked apologetic, so I hurried to add, "This city is my home now, so technically it was all about me."
"Nice," he said. "But I really am sorry for talking so much..."
"I'd listen to you even if you talked about measuring tapes," I told him. "As long as I get to be with you."
He smiled at me, his eyes were sparkling when he looked at me, hugged me with one hand and kissed my temple without caring who was there to see us, and I loved all the feelings that went through me.