Jo
MOLTEN-RED LEAVES SURROUND the sidewalk that lead to Ellie's Second-hand Books and Print Shop. The wind is a soft whisper that lazily rustles the leaves together and the clouds above are clustered together like wool of sheep. White with undertones of light grey, it depicts a typical early October evening in Lakeville.
Ellie's Second-hand Books and Print Shop is a quaint bookstore with flowery shrubs hanging off the signpost and two glass walls divided into mini squares with wood. The rest of the front is made of wood and I can already see an array of books in bookshelves from the inside. A little giddy feeling settles at the base of my stomach just as a girl, about two years older than me, steps out. Her skin is about three shades darker than mine, a beautiful dark brown and her short hair is in tight curls atop her head. She doesn't notice me standing but she has an exhausted look on her face as she squats to the ground and rubs off the words in chalk on the small blackboard before writing what seems like a new pricelist.
I don't know why but I wait for her to finish up and when she does, she disappears behind the door again. I brush off every invisible dust from my jeans and head towards the store. A brown neon light beams 'Welcome' as soon as I open the door and walk into the warmth of the store.
They're a few people lingering around the bookshelves and there's a low buzzing sound of a coffee maker blending into the background. A crack and staple sound erupts from a corner and I look there to see an old printer being operated by a young guy. He hits the lid of the printer and sighs, pulling his beanie further down his forehead as the printer finally gets to work with a continuous humming noise.
"Hi and welcome to Ellie's Second-hand Books and Print Shop. What can I help you with?" It's the same girl from earlier who stands behind the counter and speaks to me. Her dark eyes are drooping and a yawn racks through her body.
I hesitate. "Um, I- the job. The sign outside says you're hiring."
Her face lightens up immediately and before she gets anymore words out of her mouth, another voice interrupts.
"I'm guessing you're Josephine?"
I whirl around to face the woman who stands in front of me. Her brown hair is short, barely reaching her shoulders and her warm brown eyes look like they conceal a lot of secrets. Regardless, she's tall, beautiful and she spots a mole beneath her lip.
"Yeah, that's me," I respond, unsure of how she's knows my name.
"I'm Talia. Your grandmother speaks about you a lot. She told me you needed a job and told me what you looked like," she explains and nods with a pretty smile. "A pretty apt description."
I almost roll my eyes albeit the smile on my lips because I know how animated grandma becomes when she talks about other people.
"It's really lovely to meet you in person," she says and I blush a bit.
"Thank you. You too."
"Well, there's no point beating around the bush anymore," she places her hands on her waist. "You're hired. Eloise will show you the ropes. I hope you have a nice time working with us."
I can't contain my excitement. "Thank you. Thanks a lot."
She waves me off and I turn around to meet the girl behind the counter, Eloise, who looks like she might hug me anytime soon.
"Josephine, it's nice to meet you. Can I call you Jo?"
"Sure."
"Good. Anyway, like she said, I'm Eloise and that boy over there is Otis," she explains pointing to the boy in front of the printer. He has turned around now and he silently waves at me before going back to his business.
"Speaking of, Otis, get your ass over here and take over for me," she demands and he gives her a look before she walks out of the counter after giving him one of her own.
"I'm always lonely," she sadly tells me as she steers me towards a room. "And tired because Otis is the laziest boy to ever exist. Talia isn't here that much and we don't frequently get so many customers so it's really just me and Otis most of the time," she says as she pushes the door open and switches on the light from the wall.
"And well, Talia's son. But he's rarely ever here."
The illuminated room contains a small table and chair, a desktop computer, a couple of papers here and there and three opened brown cardboard boxes filled with books. The walls are decorated with a light blue wallpaper and one of the set of lights above blinks repeatedly.
"But don't worry, it doesn't affect your pay," she tells me and I nod. I like the green sundress she's putting on and I tell her it's beautiful. She says, "Thanks," with a small laugh and gestures towards the office.
"Well, you could start with the inventory. Most of what you need is in the computer but these two boxes arrived this morning and they contain antiquarian literature while the last one has a couple of books that are in a really bad shape and can't be resold. You just need to take stock of them and yeah. That's pretty much it," she explains and I nod.
"Alright."
"Oh and we get a pizza break at six, so yeah, if you're interested, just come out and join us."
Surprise is definitely evident in my eyes from the way she laughs at my expression but then I hesitate a bit. "Free?"
"Free. Talia."
"Just pizza?" I ask hoping I don't sound too needy or anything. Ever since my diagnosis, I had to reduce the number of carbs I consumed and I've gotten so used to it that it's actually being a while since I had pizza.
Eloise shakes her head. "Nah. Not really. It can be anything, really. It's just called pizza break because we mostly order pizza."
"Okay," I smile. "Cool."
Because it is cool. A job at a bookstore and a boss who buys food for the employees every evening? It really is cool.
"Cool," Eloise smiles before leaving me to myself.
I take a seat on the chair and take out my bottle of water before staring at the computer. This job might not have the best pay, but I've barely spent thirty minutes in here and I already feel like I fit in. Like I belong. And there's nothing as satisfying as that tingling feeling that rushes through my veins when I place my fingers on the keyboard. I liken it to what organisms feel when they've found their niche.
Relaxed and at home.
∞
FLYNN STRETCHES HIS legs beneath the table and the sole of his shoe occasionally brushes my leg and linger there, wiggling back and forth. I withdraw my legs from his and glare at him.
"Can you stop doing that?"
"Doing what?" he asks innocently. His lips are grazed with sugar from the glazed doughnut he'd been eating earlier and he rolls the paper into a ball and aims for the trashcan that's pretty far from where we're seated in the library.
I stare at the crumpled paper towel in his hands to the trashcan and then I feel his eyes on my face for a split second but I don't look at him. He tosses the ball. It moves in a parabolic plane and then it lands right in the middle of the trash. He scores.
"You were saying something?" he asks and I turn to him. His jawline is angled at the edge of his face and narrows down to his chin that juts beneath his mouth. Sharp and set. There's a dust of freckles on the bridge of his long nose and his eyes are surrounded by thick eyebrows and a curly set of eyelashes that instantly makes me jealous.
"Wuthering Heights."
"Ah," he says thoughtfully and proceeds to bring out his copy from his bag. He flips the hoodie away from his head and runs a hand through his hair before clasping his hands on the table.
"You've read the book."
"I've read the book."
I narrow my eyes at him. "What's it about?"
He scoffs like he can't believe I'm asking him this question. "You really don't think I've read the book, do you?"
"What's the book about, Flynn?" I insist.
He hesitates and runs a hand down his face. "Look, Pryce-"
I stare at him and without blinking, I step on his foot.
He winces and then a little smirk elevates his mouth. "Is this the type of shit you're into? Sadomasochi-"
I press harder with my feet and his face twists with displeasure. "Ow, ow, Jesus."
I retract my foot and roll my lips together. He ducks under the table and looks up at me. "You haven't read the book, Flynn."
"Were you trying to break my toes?"
I roll my eyes at him. "You're exaggerating. Hyperbole."
"Well, it hurt."
"Good."
He breaks character for a split second and starts to smile before feigning annoyance again. "You didn't let me finish."
I don't say anything and then he continues. "I was going to say, look, Pryce, I actually did read the book. I just didn't get the point of the whole novel. Which is why you're here. To help me."
I sigh and take out my pen. "Is there anything at all you got from the book? Like literally anything at all?"
He shakes his head but with the little twitch in his lips, I suspect he's lying.
"You're hopeless."
"You're my tutor."
"Fine. We'll do it this way," I start and gesture for him to open his book. He does so and fiddles with his pen in the middle of the page.
"Every book has a theme, a setting, symbols, literary devices and whatnot. The theme, as you know-if you do know- is literally what the book is about. The setting is the time and place in which the events of this novel take place, the symbols represent the concepts and the literary devices are well, the literary devices."
"I'm paying you $30."
"The literary devices are basically the structures that was used to tell the story. Do you understand?"
Flynn places his elbow on the table and rests his face on his hand. His fingers drum against his cheek and they occasionally brush the beauty spot that is close to his mouth. "I knew that."
"Knew what?"
"Everything you just said."
My ears grow hot. He's annoying me and he's slowly succeeding. "That's good, Flynn. Really good."
He grins, eyes bright as ever. "Thank you."
"So," I pause and straighten in my seat. "There should have been at least one thing you figured the story was about. What was it?"
"Horror," he says very seriously.
I almost laugh. "What?"
"Heathcliff. He saw ghosts."
"Doesn't mean it's horror."
"Well, it creeped me out so-"
"So you're scared of ghosts."
He laughs. An 'you're unbelievable' kind of laugh. "I'm not."
"You are."
"My first ever gift from my dad was a doll. A vampire doll. I don't easily get scared."
"Fine."
"You don't believe me."
"What else did you think the book was about?"
"I'll take you with me to the haunted house this Halloween. Maybe that'd be enough reason for you to believe me."
I look up at him. "You wish."
"I don't."
I drop my pen on the table. "Why do you need me to believe you?"
"Because I want to."
"You'd be the first to cry when we get there."
"So you are coming? I didn't think it'd be this easy," he smiles and I narrow my eyes at him.
"I'm not going anywhere with you."
"Going where?" It's a different voice from ours. A feminine voice. A voice I've heard before.
The first thing I notice is her ember-red hair tumbling down her shoulders. I don't think it's natural for someone's hair to be this red but then again, I really don't know her. She's holding the single strap of her bag that's hanging on only one shoulder and she's leaning down on our table. A really short, cute skirt and a crop top adorns her body and her wrist is filled with bracelets of different kinds.
"Hey guys," Semia smiles. I turn to Flynn who looks like he'll need a minute to himself.
"Hi," I say as curtly as possible as though I'm at an interview.
Her wide blue eyes revolve to me. "You're Joelle right? We take History together."
"Josephine. I'm surprised you know me."
"I'm like that. I know everyone's names even though I don't talk to everyone," she shrugs with a nice smile.
Wow, her head must be a goddamn Wikipedia. I barely remember people's names after the first encounter.
"Semia," Flynn says coolly.
"Oh, hey Flynn. Thought you were ignoring me back there."
I lean back on the chair, suddenly feeling like I've been caught in a soap opera.
Flynn twiddles his thumbs on the table. "Of course not," he says and stares at the direction she came from. "So what were you doing here?"
I turn to him with an incredulous look. I think he's forgotten that it's a public library but then she coyly says, "Study date."
She points her perfectly acrylic nail towards the left and gestures to the boy who's still staring at her like he wants to devour her. "With that cute guy over there."
Flynn locks his jaw.
"I'm guessing that's what you guys are doing as well?"
"Absolutely-"
"Yeah," Flynn laughs. "Obviously."
I almost twist my neck with the manner at which I turn towards him. His eyes, however, are pleading for me to roll with it. I grit my teeth behind my lips and forcefully say, "Yes, of course."
I have no idea why I just helped him out. I'm supposed to leave him to his dilemma or whatever situation this is but I don't.
Semia falters and glances at him for a second too long. "Oh, that's cool."
Then she turns to me and excitedly says, "Anyway, if you don't mind that is, where'd you say you're going?"
"The haunted house," Flynn speaks for me. I want to pick up my book and slam it on his head. He ignores my glare and continues.
"On Halloween. After Cass's party."
Her eyes go wide with mirth. "Really? I've never actually been there before and I've always heard about how good it is. Can I tag along? Please?"
I have no mouth because Flynn's mouth does not stop moving. "Sure. Why not?"
Semia's cheeks go red. "Can't wait." She beams and waves, "See you guys." And then she's gone.
Flynn turns to me with the face of an angel. Completely and utterly innocent. "I can't turn her down when she looks at me like that."
I stomp on his toes. Hard. He screams bloody murder.
--∞--