This chapter is dedicated to JamieWeasley because I know you've had a rough time lately, and I thought that this would be a ncie way to chear you up! Also, your votes on this story helped push me to 500 total votes on my profile! Thank you sosososososososososososososoooo much!
Chapter 4
I truly loved working at Henson’s Books. There was something about the smell of archaic books and the comfort of warn leather chairs that just sang to my soul. When I walked in, a little bell above the door dinged loudly, echoing off the high walls that were crammed with towering bookcases and overflowing with books. Stepping behind the glass counter, I dropped my backpack to the ground and stretched my arms high above my head, cracking my spine and shoulders.
“Mr. Henson,” I called out. “I’m here.”
A man in his late sixties with solid white hair that he kept tamed by one large braid running down to the middle of his back stepped into view. His face was kind with soft, gentle features and his almond eyes shone in the golden light of the store. “You’re early, Alexander.”
Shrugging at the old man, I smiled. “I ran here.”
Mr. Henson disappeared behind a shelf of books as he spoke. “You aren’t expecting a raise are you?” He asked with a chuckle. Mr. Henson was probably the kindest soul I ever came across. His towering stature didn’t even hold an air of intimidation for the sheer face that everything else about him practically screamed that he was a nice person. Even his voice held a kindness that people loved and flocked to.
It would be an understatement to say that everyone around town absolutely adored Mr. Henson.
I chuckled as I rolled up my sleeves. “Not at all, old man; though, I do work my fingers to the bone. I believe some retribution is in order.”
Appearing seemingly out of nowhere, the kind giant stepped in front of me and wrapped his arms around my shoulders. It was a simple hug, a hug that friends share. Mr. Henson held the ability to care for his business all on his own, yet when I walked through his doors utterly exhausted from desperately searching for a job and trying not to become absolutely homeless while still trying to cope with the loss of my sister, he offered me a job instantly.
I cried that day, and all he did was wrap his arms around me.
“How was school today, Alexander?” He asked when he stepped back from me.
I shrugged. “Uninteresting as usual.” I chose to exclude the fact that something interesting did happen; I didn’t want Mr. Henson knowing about my gifts.
He turned and went back to straightening the contents of a bookshelf. “You really should care more about school.”
I waved him away with a smile. “Why would I care about school when I get to work in this lovely establishment for the rest of my life?”
Turning around, Mr. Henson raised an eyebrow at me. “As much as I would love the company, you should start looking into colleges.”
I wrinkled my nose at the thought of going through even more school. “No thank you.” I had alternative plans for my life outside of high school.
Mr. Henson locked his dark eyes to mine, giving me the this-discussion-is-far-from-over look before turning around and returning to his work.
I looked up to Mr. Henson, and I felt that he took over the role as the authority figure in my life when my parents kicked me out. It worked out nicely for both of us though. Mr. Henson had no children of his own, and my parents didn’t want me.
I considered each of us lucky to have found each other.
Friday always turned out to the busiest day of the week for the store. About ten minutes after I walked through the door, the hoards of kids coming home from school strode in for their complementary cup of coffee and gossip time.
The main room of the store consisted of the books, but there was a black iron, spiraling staircase that led upstairs to a balcony that overlooked the main room. The top floor held a small coffee pot and several large worn, leather chairs. The upstairs lounge was considerably brighter than the lower level and was used as a place to hangout and do homework or grab a nice book and spend a few hours reading.
I told Mr. Henson that he should convert a space upstairs into a small coffee shop, but he insisted that he was too old to justify such a renovation and hated to charge for coffee. In his mind, coffee was just as vital as water, and I was absolutely positive that there were coffee-junkies out there who thought the exact same thing.
My job, when the store was busy, was to man the cash register. Despite being in a smaller, coastal town, the business actually made quite a bit of money. Something about buying used books spoke to the people around here. Sometimes, a person would come in with a box of books they wanted to sell the store. That was Mr. Henson’s job; I had absolutely no idea how to bargain with people and be the one to come out with a profit.
I enjoyed my job; I even dared to think that I loved it.
The rest of the day drug out, and when I finally began to feel weary from standing on my feet for the past few hours, Mr. Henson popped in front of the desk and handed me a white envelope. “Go on and call you’re friend to pick you up, Alexander. It’s Friday night movie night, huh?”
I smiled down at him as I took my paycheck from his fingers. “Zombie movie night actually.” I tucked the envelope into my back pocket. “Thank you so much, Mr. Henson. Do you need me to do anything before I head out?”
He shook his head and just smiled. “Get out of here, kid.”
With a final smile, I slung my bag over my shoulder and pushed open the glass door as I stepped into the cool night air. Instantly, I pulled my cell from my pocket and dialed Sarah’s number.
She answered on the second ring. “Hello?”
“I got out early. Think you can swing by and pick me up now?” A gentle breeze pulled at my hair, sending a chill down my spine. Goosebumps prickled up my arms, making the hair on the back of my neck stand on its ends.
I spun around quickly, straining my eyes in the darkness around me. An uneasy feeling settled in the base of my stomach.
“Alex?” Sarah’s voice yanked me back into reality.
“Huh?” I asked intelligently.
“I asked you if you wanted me to pick you up before I picked up Matthew.” There was a hint of worry in her voice.
“Oh,” I said squinting straight ahead, “pick me up first if you don’t mind. I’m getting a weird feeling from over here.”
“Weird how?” I heard Sarah honk her van’s horn and utter a string of curses at another car. There was a definite edge in her voice now.
I blew out a breath as I slowly pressed my back against the façade of the book store. The only light came from a single lamp that hung beside the door. “Don’t worry about it,” I said as I swallowed hard. Suddenly, my throat felt like a desert. “Just hurry up,” I took a deep breath, “but be careful. You’re a terrible driver.”
Sarah scoffed loudly in my ear. “I’ll be there in a minute.”
“Bye.”
“Bye.”
I stuffed my phone into my pocket and ran a hand down my face. “Get yourself together, Alex.” Stealing another deep breath, I cleared my mind as I withdrew into myself. I cracked open the boundary of my mind, reaching out into the darkness.
The only mind I could feel belonged to my boss. Not daring to enter his thoughts, I extended my mind farther, feeling a near immediate headache pulse at my temples. I grit my teeth as I pushed my mind farther.
When I didn’t come in contact with another mind, I quickly sealed my mind away and found myself gasping for breath. Sweat laced my pulsing forehead as my stomach tightened uncomfortably; my heart beat rapidly in my chest.
I felt bile rise from my stomach, but I swallowed it back down, refusing to throw up on the doorstep of where I worked.
I was a bit classier than that.
Dragging deep breaths into my lungs, my headache slowly passed just in time for Sarah to come speeding in front of the shop. Her tires squealed as she came to a stop. Rolling her window down, she poked her head out. “You look like shit, Alex.”
Leave it to my best friend to put thins so eloquently. “Thanks,” I grumbled as I walked around to the passenger side door. I tossed my back behind the seat as I climbed into the van, pulling the door shut behind me.
“You sounded freaked out on the phone,” Sarah began as the car lurched forward. There was concern hinting in her words.
As we drove, I sighed quietly as relief sapped away the remaining worry dripping through my veins. I was just happy to be on the road; something back there had me completely freaked out.
“I guess I’m just getting jumpy,” I said with a shrug. Maybe that was it. Dealing with Matthew and stressing over my creative writing assignment must have played with my mind. Not to mention, I was reaching a point of utter exhaustion from using my gifts so freely today.
That had to be it.
I decided to take the quiet drive as an opportunity to talk to Sarah about Matthew. “You really like him don’t you?” I asked with a small smile growing on my lips.
Sarah turned her freckled face to me for a brief moment to smile shyly. “Not like that, Alex. Matthew just seems like a really cool guy, and I mean it’s not like the two of us couldn’t use a few more friends.”
I didn’t need anymore friends; I was perfectly content with Sarah and Mr. Henson, but if she wanted more friends, I had to be on my best behavior, even if there was something fishy about that boy. “Oh, I see. Am I not enough for my best friend in the entire world anymore?” I teased with a small chuckle.
Sarah turned to me once more as she furrowed her brow in annoyance. “Did I say anything like that?”
I pressed my lips together to keep myself from laughing. Something about Sarah’s serious face painted over her cherub features always made me giggle. Being serious was never one of Sarah’s greatest or strongest skills.
The drive to Matthew’s house was surprisingly short. To be honest, he lived in a small subdivision a few minutes down the road from the book store. If he wanted to, he could walk with me whenever I walked to work.
I stopped that thought short and frowned at myself. “What are you thinking?” I thought. “Stop thinking crap like that, Alex.”
“I think we’re here,” Sarah said more questioningly than conformingly.
I shook my head and stared at the house before us. It was a modest, grey bricked single-story home. The porch light was on, casting a halo of light around a small vicinity of the front yard.
Sarah pulled her phone from the middle console of her van and dialed Matthew’s number. “I think we’re here,” she said mimicking her pervious statement.
The front door opened briefly, revealing a figure that looked like Matthew. His pale hair caught the light, turning it into a sparkling gold.
“Ok,” Sarah said simply to the phone. “We’ll be waiting.”
She waited for a response, smiled, and then said, “Bye.” She turned to me and said, “He’ll be out in a second.”
I nodded and blurted, “I can’t read his mind, Sarah.”
She blinked a few times at me, shifted her gaze to his front door, and then turned back to me. “I thought you could read anyone’s mind.”
“I thought I could too; Matthew is the first mind I have come across that I can’t read.” I ran a hand down my face. I needed a hot shower to clear my mind of all this crap.
Sarah leaned back in her seat and folded her hands in her lap. “I wonder why you can’t read his mind.”
I shrugged. “It’s the strangest thing I have ever felt,” I explained. “It’s like there is this giant wall surrounding his mind.”
Sarah leaned closer to me. “What does it feel like when you slip into someone else’s mind?” We usually never went into great detail about the details of my gifts; they were just there, but I could see the curiosity glowing in her green eyes.
I smiled. “It feels like I’m weaving through fibers or maybe tightly woven tree branches, but I never have a problem slipping through and reaching the person’s thoughts.”
Sarah smiled widely. “That’s so cool, Alex.”
Shrugging, I smiled at her, but my smile faded as my mind went back to Matthew. “That’s why it’s so odd with him,” I said glancing at the front door. It slowly opened as Matthew stepped back into the golden light. “The exterior of his mind is completely solidified into this hard, cold surface, frigid actually.”
Matthew began toward the van, and Sarah and I fell silent. When he reached the van he smiled through my window and pulled open the sliding door as he climbed inside. “Hey, Sarah, Alex,” he said nervously.
Sarah spun around in her seat to smile brightly at him. “Are you ready for a killer zombie movie night?”
Matthew chuckled. “Of course.” I turned around and he fell silent.
“Hey, southern boy,” I said meeting his grey stare.
“Hi, Oregon boy,” he retorted.
A slight smile formed on my lips at Matthew’s words. It appeared as if the southern boy had a little fight in him.
I liked that.
Sitting back in my seat correctly, we drove in near silence. Matthew was the one who chose to shatter the silence. “So, where do you live, Alex?” His words came out in a single rushed breath.
Keeping my eyes straight, I answered, “In the apartment complex across from the school.”
Matthew fell silent for a long moment before blurting, “You have your own apartment?”
Sarah’s bright green eyes caught mine, and she practically held an invisible knife to my throat while silently urging me to be nice. I spun around in my seat, meeting Matthew’s stone stare. He seemed to sink deeper into the dark fabric of the seat as our eyes met. “Be nice,” I muttered mentally.
“Yeah,” I began with a small shrug, “not by my own choosing though.”
Matthew’s pale eyebrows shut up quizzically, but Sarah elbowed me in the ribs roughly before I could go into detail about how I came to live on my own. “Let’s not get into the depressing things,” she practically barked. For such a small girl, she had some serious flames burning inside her.
I shrugged apologetically at Matthew before turning back around in my seat and glaring at Sarah. “What am I allowed to talk about, your highness?” I said with a wide grin. Sarah opened her mouth to speak, but I went on, silencing her. “Wait. Are you the princess or the wicked witch? I can never remember.”
Matthew laughed loudly in the back. I had to admit that it was a pleasant sound, and it caught on. Within a few seconds, all three of us were giggling.
Sarah swatted at me as she drove, causing her to swerve into the oncoming traffic’s lane. Thankfully, there were no other cars around us. Highland was a weird town; no matter the day, whether on a Monday or a Saturday night, the whole town shut down at nine at night. It was almost like the entire town just up and died.
The rest of the short trip was filled with a pleasant silence. I didn’t actually mind Matthew all that much; I just didn’t particularly enjoy letting anyone new in my life. In the end, it would just turn out to be more people to say goodbye to.
When Sarah plowed into a parking space in front of my apartment, Matthew was the first to throw himself out of the mom van. Sarah and I shared a soft chuckle as we climbed out of her death vehicle. “It looks like I’m not the only one who thinks you’re a bad driver, Sarah,” I said as I slug my backpack over my shoulder.
Matthew raked a deep breath into his lungs and turned to face me. He let out a nervous laugh, and I couldn’t help but laugh at how pale he looked. Maybe Sarah’s driving scared him a bit more than I thought it did.
“That’s not funny,” Sarah said as she walked around. Despite the annoyed tone in her voice, she smiled brightly; however, her smile faltered when she caught a look of Matthew. “Jesus,” she said worriedly, “you look like shit.”
Matthew straightened his back and frowned. “Thanks,” he muttered dryly. “Are you sure you have your license?”
I burst into laughter. The two of them looked at me like I was absolutely insane, but I didn’t care. I was just beyond overjoyed that I wasn’t the only one who thought Sarah seriously lacked the skill set needed to drive properly.
Matthew smiled finally, and the color started to come back to his cheeks, but Sarah put a hand on her hip and glared up at me. “I’ll have both of you know that I passed my last driver’s test with flying colors!”
I glanced down at Matthew, meeting his grey stare. “She forgets to mention that it took her three times to pass it.” I couldn’t help but smile; unfortunately, my smile faded when Sarah elbowed me in my ribs once more. “Ow,” I said as I absently rubbed my side.
“Leave my driving alone, the both of you,” Sarah said defensively. A smile still grew on her full lips. “Now, let’s get inside. I’m freezing my tits off.”
My best friend apparently learned how to be vulgar on top her sudden ability to make friends. I had to wonder if the moon was in some special phase or something.
I pulled my keys from my pant pocket as we climbed the few stairs to my apartment. Sarah pushed past me before I could even pull my keys from the lock. I shook my head at her as I stepped back and gestured with a hand for Matthew to go in first.
He flashed me a shy smile before walking into the darkness.
“Let me turn on the lights,” I said as I flipped the switch beside the door. The lights came on, and Sarah was already plopped on the couch. Matthew stood just a few steps in front of the door and glanced around.
I pulled the door closed behind me, locking it behind me. “Well,” I began, dropping my bag off by the door, “this is my home.” For some reason, my words came out a hell of a lot more awkward than I planned.
“It’s so cool that you live on your own,” Matthew said as he turned around to face me. “I would kill to be out on my own.”
I shrugged as I suddenly felt super self conscious. I really needed to buy a vacuum and maybe a mop or something. “It’s not as much fun as it sounds,” I said finally. “You have to pay your own bills and take on all this responsibility.”
“You sound like an old man,” Sarah said from the couch.
I felt the tips of my ears begin to burn. “Well,” I said, scratching the back of my head, “I need to jump in the shower. Did you bring over your junk food?”
Sarah opened her mouth to speak, but she furrowed her brow. “I forgot.” She knew that I didn’t keep any of that crap in my apartment. “Wanna come with me to Wal-mart, Matthew?”
He shifted on his feet nervously as his eyes switched between Sarah and me. No doubt, he was contemplating if getting in the van with her again was worth it over sitting alone in my apartment. “Um, sure.”
Sarah jumped to her feet and wrapped her hand around Matthew’s wrist as she pulled him to the front door. “We’ll be right back,” she called out.
In a second, they were on their way out of my apartment. Suddenly, I felt sorry for Matthew. Because Sarah took to him so quickly, there was absolutely no doubt in my mind that she would be talking his head off.
I smiled at that thought. I learned pretty quickly that once Sarah trusted you, she never shut up. Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t a bad thing. I actually liked it about her, especially in the beginning of our friendship; she spoke so I didn’t have to.
I walked into my room and began to strip down. Once properly undressed, I strode into the bathroom, flipped the light on, and knelt down to the tub, turning the hot water on. Once the water basically boiled, I turned the cold knob and tested the water with my hand.
I pulled the lever by the knobs, initiating the shower as I stepped in. Immediately, I sighed as the warm water flooded over my body. The stream of water seemed to work the tension from my shoulders and even managed to message away the threat of a headache from my temples.
Once I cleansed my body with overly fluffy sponge and scrubbed my scalp with my highly aromatic shampoo, I climbed out of the shower and began drying off. The air was thick with moisture and the sweet scents of all my bathroom products; I didn’t think too much of it because in my head, it was still perfectly manly to use sweet smelling shampoos, body washes, and conditioners.
I knew for a fact that other people thought differently.
I finished patting my body dry and glanced around the steamy bathroom for a pair of sweats to step into, but I found none. I cursed silently as I wrapped my towel around my waist and opened the bathroom door.
The air was cool outside the bathroom, but it did little to cool the heat that instantly burned on my cheeks as Matthew’s grey stare met mine. He was sitting with Sarah on the couch while she blabbed on, but his attention was on me.
I wasn’t exactly sure why having his attention made me embarrassed, but I swallowed hard and silently walked into my bedroom, shutting the door behind me. Suddenly, I was more than thankful that I spent so much time running and working out.
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Sorry that the updates on this are taking a bit longer than planned. I'm working on some new and exciting things for you all though, and I'm (hopefully) going to be able to put up a prologue to a NEW story I've been working on.
That'll be exciting, huh?
Anyway, this is actually an important chapter. Can anyone guess why? hehe
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