<3
a dim december night led ordinary morgan falls to work a late shift at the books n' crannies bookstore in brooklyn, new york. every november first, the bookstore began to undergo decorating for the holiday season. the owner, a tiny man named bill artinger, loved everything holiday-related and decorated his store accordingly. his store was small, only having employed four people, not including bill himself. bill didn’t have the money to employ more people, which was one reason why the size of the staff was so small. another was the fact that this store was family-owned, and the artinger’s were very protective over who they hired. they rarely hired outside the family, so for morgan falls to be hired that June, it was a shock. morgan had no relation to the artigner’s, as she was born and raised in texas instead of brooklyn or jersey city as the rest of the artinger's were.
morgan moved to new york after she finished college in san antonio. She needed an out from the toxic life she had lived for the past twenty-three years. Of course, morgan had her regrets about moving to the city, such as leaving her younger sibling, max, behind; morgan tried to push this aside, however, as she knew their older sister, molly, was watching over them back in texas.
with the small staffing, morgan was working alone that night and was told to close up after her shift. although the christmas season was associated in the sales industry as a boom in sales, books n' crannies had seen little traffic throughout its establishment. there was no denying that not many seemed to care about the family-owned book store. stores like barnes & noble and the online market of amazon meant not many people came through the store anymore. these slow shifts were calming to morgan, as she enjoyed the quiet time she was given. as quiet christmas songs played softly in the shop, morgan sat at the front desk with her laptop and notebook opened. she was writing a chapter in the novel she’d been planning since she was in high school. The girl tapped her fingers against the wooden surface in a bored manner as she blew a strand of her dark hair out of her face. her body fell back into the leather seat making a soft airy noise. a pair of hands dragged down her face in exhaustion as a result of the time. her eyes darted towards the numbers in the top right of her macbook; 10:53 pm. she had seven minutes until she was allowed to close shop. the brunette let out a dramatic sigh and contemplated closing early. she stood up from the chair and stretched.
ding!
morgan’s eyes darted open as she froze in her stretched stance. someone had entered the store. she quickly repositioned herself to a professional position as she scanned the area.
her eyes landed upon a man looking throughout the shelves hurridly, mumbling to himself. he quickly skimmed the titles and authors as he power-walked through the aisles.
"where is it?" morgan could make out. "is it under r?" he asked. morgan walked over to the man, just then noticing his purple locks. she thought it was an interesting choice, but definitely enjoyed it.
"hello?" she leaned into his peripheral view. "can i help you find anything?" the man jumped, not realizing someone was there. he recollected himself quickly and smiled softly.
"yeah, uh," his grin widened. "do you have the narrows by travis m riddle?" morgan's eyes lit up. the book had arrived a month and a half prior and instantly became one of morgan's favorites in the store. she had read everything from the author, as he was also a texan, and fell in love with his style of writing.
"i know exactly where that is, come on." morgan ushered. she could barely hold in her excitement as she led the man through the store. upon landing at the "new arrivals" section, morgan crouched to the level of the book. she grabbed it lightly and stood. the girl handed the book to the man. "one of my favorites."
"you...read it?" he asked, shocked. "that's actually really cool." he nodded.
"sounds like you're also a fan?" she asked. travis, although having fans, wasn't a well known author. his work was somewhat underground. this fact made morgan love it even more. it was like her little secret.
"oh yeah." he chuckled. "something like that." a beat of silence fell between the two. neither wanted to end the conversation, but were unsure of what to say.
"what's the occasion for you buying the book? a gift?" morgan asked him. she began to study his face. she hadn't seen a man like him before. not quite like him. he was pretty, but in a masculine way. she found him quite attractive, and although it wasn't quite her type, morgan found herself loving the lavander hair.
"yeah. i'm buying the book for my friend." the man pursed his lips, holding back a laugh. morgan noticed this and raised a brow.
"he also a fan? or are you introducing him?" she furthered the questions. it wasn't her place, but she was curious. the man let out a laugh. he wore a toothy grin as he tried to compose himself. morgan was further confused, and rather insulted.
"no actually." he laughed again. "he wrote it."
morgan's face fell.
"are you serious?" her eyebrows furrowed.
"dead serious." he responded.
"so you're buying your friend his own book?" the concept was amusing.
"yeah, i guess i am."
morgan let out a laugh after a second. she ran a hand through her dark hair and caught her breath.
"thats actually really funny." she giggled. "come on, i'll ring you up." the two began to walk to the counter morgan had stationed herself not ten minutes earlier. "so travis is from texas," she took the book from the man. "i take it you're a texan as well?" the man nodded as he reached for his wallet.
"yes ma'am." he replied handing her his credit card. she rang him up and grabbed the receipt.
"what part?" she asked. by this point, she was intrested in the man.
"houston." he replied. "you from texas too?" he asked her. she nodded. "thats cool. i'm awsten." he reached out a hand. morgan reluctantly took and and smiled at him.
"morgan."
the two smiled at eachother like idiots for a few seconds before morgan snapped out of her gaze. she looked down at her laptop, checking the time. 11:03 pm.
"shit." she mumbled. morgan began to rush around, trying to get things ready for close. "uh, i have to close." she told him. awsten's stomach dropped. "but," she caught his attention. "i know a coffee shop down the road a bit if you wanna join me?" she asked. the man was taken aback by this. he hadn't been asked out since freshman year of high school, so this was somewhat new to him.
"uh, yeah sure." he awkwardly replied. he mentally scolded himself for this but powered through.
"okay great! i'll only be a few minutes if you wanna just wait around. i bet it's freezing out there, so you might want to sit in here for a bit." morgan informed him. he nodded and headed towards the front of the store.
morgan was afraid to admit it, but she was actually excited. this guy was new and different, intriguing even. morgan could picture his perfectly formed face as she smiled, dancing throughout the store as she closed up. she hadn't had a boyfriend since sophomore year of college, but he wasn't really that interesting, so morgan didn't feel quite attatched. she wasn't afraid to find new love, but it was the fact that she was this attracted to him this quickly that worried her. she felt as though this would either be really exciting and good, or it would end disastrously. she shook this off, however. there was no point in looking on the bad side of things. negative energy would only manifest the disastrous end, and morgan didn't have the time to deal with that.
making her way to the front of the store, morgan spotted awsten admiring the small christmas trees in the window. she shut off the overhead lights, only leaving the fairy lights on the trees to lightly illuminate the shop.
"ready to go?" he asked her. morgan gripped her bag.
"as ready as i'll ever be."
hi lovelies!
thats chapter one!!!
ive had this idea for like... a year or two now? i'm not sure. all i know is that i adore this plot and i'm so happy to share this with you. its so cute.
side note, yknow the ending line?
idk if this is funny or not, but i'm listening to "sorry as i'll ever be" off the waterparks demo playlist.
gloom is probably refreshing my page as we speak so let me upload this HAHA
drink water, get fucked,
love y'all!
-jenna