I walk through the doors to Chapters, breathing in the scent of paper and coffee. It feels like comfort, happiness, sanctuary, home, more than any other place I've been to. Including the house I actually live in. Books have that effect on me.
I notice Blair smiling (with dimples) at me out of the corner of my eye and promptly blush. I can't remember to be shy/embarrassed for long, though, because there are books. Everywhere.
Starting at the display nearest to the doors, I make my way around it, reading the back of every book that looks interesting, before moving on to the closest shelf. I go down it, stopping at a few points, before reaching the end and checking out the books on the end of the shelves, oohing and ahhing at the artistic cover of this book and that author's latest release and oh my goodness THAT BOOK HAS A SEQUEL NOW???
I try to check myself at least a bit, since I don't want Blair to think I'm some kind of book fanatic, but I kind of am so it's kind of hard. Once I realize he's not distancing himself from me, and he's still smiling at me with dimples and a look of adoration in his eyes, I give up on not looking like a crazy person. If he has a problem with my love of books, then it's not like this relationship would work out once I actually buy a book anyways.
"Oh my gosh look at this person's pen name, that's like, the best, funniest, and worst thing I've ever seen someone call themselves before, all in one," I say, stifling giggles as I point the name out to Blair. The corner of his mouth quirks up.
"I don't know whether to laugh or cry."
I grin up at him. "You look like you're closer to laughing."
He smiles down at me, pressing a soft kiss to my temple. "Only because you are."
I blush, averting my gaze. My eyes land on a book at the bottom of the shelf beside me, and I perk up a little, kneeling to get a better look.
I inspect the front cover for a moment or two before gingerly plucking it off the shelf and turning it over, doing my best not to get fingerprints on the hardcover sleeve. Without my permission, my eyes skim over the paragraph, despite my attempts to read the top sentence fully first. That only happens after my initial once-over is complete, at which point I read the whole thing very intently, soaking up every word like it's precious.
With some hesitancy, I return the book to the shelf, before standing back up. Blair is smiling at me, one eyebrow raised. "Is that it?"
I blush a little. "I want to keep looking."
So we do. We spend almost two hours in the bookstore, with me somehow ending back up at that one particular book every twenty minutes, sometimes passing right by, sometimes looking at the books around it, and sometimes (usually) re-reading the back cover and reviews and admiring the cover. When I return to it for the fifth time, carefully picking it up and just staring at the cover, smiling inadvertently, I don't put it back on the shelf. Blair is smiling at me knowingly as I turn back to him, an uncontrollable smile on my face.
"You're getting that one?"
I nod, blushing. He slides an arm around my waist as we start towards the checkout, until I realize that my money is in my backpack, which I left in Blair's car. I stop walking, looking up at him. "Wait, I left my money in my backpack."
He waves a hand. "It's fine. I'll buy it for you."
I give him an imploring look. "No, you don't need to do that..."
He cups my cheek tenderly. "I want to."
"But I feel bad that you keep buying things for me."
"You don't need to. I like buying you things that make you happy."
My cheeks warm a little. "But..."
He places a feather-light kiss against my forehead. "No 'but's. You can pay me back later, if you really want to."
I squint at him, trying to determine if I should agree to this or not. Eventually I decide that if he'll let me pay him back, then it's fine, so we go to the checkout, where the teenage girl sees my book and immediately says something about loving the author so much, so we discuss that while Blair tries not to smile too much (making his dimples even more prominent) and pays for the book.
We go back out to the car, me hugging the bagged book to my chest protectively. Blair is still smiling at me like I'm the cutest being on the face of the earth, and I blush every time I look back at him and see the look on his face.
As soon as we get back to the car, I grab my backpack and rifle through it, trying to find the money I know I packed to buy books with. "Cash is okay, right?"
He shrugs as he pulls out of the parking spot. "I guess. Am I taking you home now?"
"Yeah, I should probably go home for dinner. But- you 'guess' cash is okay?" I eye him suspiciously. "How do you want me to pay you?"
He smirks, dimples appearing. "I mean, cuddles are fine too."
I stare at him for a moment, before he glances over at me, smiling widely enough to show his teeth. I pull my hoodie up to cover my face. I can hear him laughing, the sound muffled but still beautiful through the fabric of my hoodie. "Blair!"
"Yeah, Teddy Bear?"
I let out an odd squealing noise and sink down further in my seat. He's laughing even more now, and it's all I can do to keep from laughing along with him. His joy is contagious.
Once he's calmed down, he reaches over and tugs on my hoodie. "Alright, I'm sorry. Come back, I want to be able to see you."
I peek out, squinting at him. "Was this your plan all along? Make me pay by teasing me?"
He's still smiling so widely it's almost hard to believe that this is the same person who moodily slinks against buildings and smokes cigarettes and never seems to have emotions in public. "I said I was sorry... here, look at it this way: you don't have to feel guilty about letting me buy you the book, now."
"I still do anyways," I huff at him, trying to maintain the facade of being irritated. And I do still feel guilty for letting him buy me the book... but less so.
"So I do still get cuddles?"
I wrinkle my nose at him, blushing madly. "Blair!"
"Okay, okay, don't hide again." His grin hasn't faded, and I don't really want to hide in my hoodie again because then I wouldn't be able to see it. He looks so gorgeous right now, even more than usual.
I tug down my hoodie so he can see my red cheeks as well, and he glances over at me, smiling radiantly as he reaches for my hand. I intertwine my fingers with his, still blushing a bit and still feeling a bit guilty for letting him buy my book for me, but I don't really mind either anymore.
We pull up to my house soon enough, and Blair is still wearing a small smile that expresses just how happy he is. I feel unbelievably lucky to be able to see it, much less be (somewhat) the source of it. He lifts the hand still holding mine and kisses my knuckles, making me blush and look at him shyly.
"Thank you for taking me to Chapters," I say quietly, smiling a little.
"Thank you for going out with me," he replies.
I trace a circle around the knuckle at the base of his thumb with the tip of my own thumb. "Thank you for buying my book."
One corner of his mouth quirks up. "Thank you for being the most adorable boyfriend ever."
I blush. "I think I'm more of a book maniac, personally... I basically just run around Chapters for a few hours and obsess over books."
"It was very cute, trust me."
I focus on tracing circles around his thumb knuckle. "Whatever you say..."
"Good." He leans over the console to press a soft kiss to my cheek, but I turn my head and catch his mouth with my own instead. I can feel him smiling a little as he closes his lips over mine, his kiss almost unbearably sweet and gentle. I lean closer, and he turns his head a little, letting his tongue brush over my bottom lip, sneaking into my mouth for the shortest moment before he draws away. I close my eyes and sigh contently, falling against his shoulder. He reaches up to stroke my cheek, pressing a tender kiss to my forehead.
"I should probably go inside... someone might see your car and wonder what we're doing in here," I reluctantly mutter after a minute or so.
"Yeah," he says, not sounding super thrilled either.
After another long moment, I shift, then move away from him. "I'll see you... later?"
"Yeah, if I have anything to say about it." He gives me a sweet, sincere smile, complete with dimples and everything.
"Okay." I lean over for one more (shorter) kiss, before grabbing my backpack and Chapters bag. "Bye, Blair."
He smiles like he's trying not to grin too much. "See you, Teddy Bear."
I blush, hard, and hop out of the car, practically slamming the door behind me and hurrying up to my house, trying to hide my smile. When I look back before going inside, though, and he's so busy smile-smirking that hasn't even turned on the car yet, I know he saw it.
What did you think of Theo and Blair's first date to a bookstore? How about Blair buying Theo's book for him? And then Blair teasing him? Let me know in the comments!
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