I slung my rucksack over my shoulder, picking up my massive pile of books as my Literature lesson came to an end. I waited until all the bigger people had left the room then quietly slid out of the door, walking through the halls of the school down to my favourite place.
I reached the door checking that it was open on that Monday afternoon, I ran my finger down the piece of paper stuck in the window seeing that it was. I tried to open the door, which was a struggle with my books, when a hand reached above me opening it up. I turned around to be met with a tall smiley guy. "Thanks," I said as the two of us walked in. Everything fell silent as I looked around at the cases of books.
"You're welcome," the guy quickly responded, walking off down to where the autobiographies were. I, on the other hand walked over to the reading zone, scanning the shelves on my way over.
I sat in my usual seat in the corner, dropping my belongings and unzipping my bag, pulling out my current read, The Fault In Our Stars. I slipped my bookmark out, as I began to read from the top corner of the page. I was just at the part where they visit The Anne Frank Museum and my mind was already a mess. There was something about reading that cut the whole world off, reading was my way of escaping reality, and dealing with all my little problems.
I sat for over an hour, slowly turning the pages as the tears threatened more and more to spill. "The Fault In Our Stars?" I looked up to see the guy from earlier who held the door for me. I smiled watching as he took a seat opposite me, placing a wrestling book on the table between us.
"Oh yeah, my friend recommended it so I thought I'd give it a go." He nodded as I placed my finger in between the pages as a marker.
"I heard it's a great book." I smiled at him again, fiddling with my curly locks. "I'm Roman by the way," he told me, introducing himself.
"I'm Charlotte." I whispered, as I caught the librarian staring at us from the desk. "So you like wrestling?" I questioned looking down at the book.
"It's just a little hobby, well not that I do it, but I like watching it." I nodded, understanding what he meant. "You probably think I'm really weird now."
I shook my head. "Not at all, if I have to be honest I'm partial to be a bit of wrestling too, I'm a massive Shawn Michaels fan." His expression brightened, probably in shock more then anything.
"Me too! He's amazing." I nodded in agreement, watching as he looked down at my book. "So tell me about yours?"
"Well, it's about Hazel Grace, she's got cancer, but she meets
Augustus and he makes her last few weeks the happiest of her life, it's a true love story." He nodded, the whole love thing probably not being as much of an interest to him.
"That sounds lovely," he said.
"It really is, I know you wouldn't but it's well worth a read."
"No one's saying I wouldn't read it, I'm open to anything." A near silent giggle escaped my lips, again being careful of my volume. The librarian had never liked me, the library was pretty much like my second home so when she wanted to shut and I was still sat in the corner lost in my own imagination she wasn't impressed. "Don't worry about her, she's always had a problem with me."
"Me too!" I exclaimed. "I think it's a teen thing." Roman laughed at me, as I watched him look down at his watch. Was I really that boring?
"I know we don't really know each other, but do you fancy going for coffee? Get out of here and away from her?" I smiled, staring over briefly at the librarian.
"That sounds amazing." I whispered grabbing my bookmark and placing it in my book.
"Maybe you can give me some book suggestions, I'm always looking for things to read." I nodded back too busy to verbally respond as I placed my book in my bag, placing it on the back of my shoulders. I then bent down to pick my books up, only for Roman to get them first. "I got these, I saw you struggle earlier." I smiled, as we both walked out, smirking at the librarian. I got the door, holding it open for Roman as we walked over to the exit of the school.
Luckily the coffee shop was only a couple of minutes away as I don't think he could have lasted much longer. "So you're in to Shakespeare?" I turned around noticing the book on the top of my pile, Othello.
"Not quite, it's literature homework, a little project our teacher has for us." Roman smiled at me as we reached the entrance of the shop. I got the door again as he walked behind me. "You go grab a seat." He walked over to the window table as I went up to the counter. "Oh, Roman what drink would you like?" His eyes widened.
"No, either we buy our own or I buy both, no way are you buying me coffee." I smiled back over at him. "I'm not joking Charlotte."
"Fine, you wait there and I'll be back in a minute with mine." I slowly moved along in the queue, watching as Roman searched through all my books. I smiled at the rarity of someone having such an interest in words on pages.
"Next please." I was snapped out of my daze by the cashier as I realised the giant gap between us, hastily closing it.
"A gingerbread latte please." I moved along, quickly paying then getting my drink. I walked back over to our little hub at the front of the shop, sitting down as me and Roman swapped positions.
It only took him a couple of minutes as he came back with a hot chocolate. He instantly grabbed his bag, pulling his bag onto his lap, whacking out a giant pad of paper and a pen. "Right, hit me with everything you suggest?" I thought back to all of my great reads, slowly listing them off.
"...my all time favourite has to be the Bodyguard set though." I watched him scribble it down, smiling contently that after spending countless nights alone lost in the work of others I had finally found someone who had the same passion as me, a close bond already striking up between us, my first real school friend found.
For LostDemon16