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“What happened with the dream boat?” Latisha asks me before she leaves for the day. She’s been dying to all day and I’ve been avoiding her.
“He rode home with me and made sure Kyle wasn’t there. That’s all.” I shrug and she huffs.
“You should have thanked him with dinner,” she remarks on her way out the doors with a wink.
I purposefully didn’t tell her about this morning. That would only make her harass me more. I love her, but I’m glad to be solo for the next few hours. It’s too hard to explain all of my complexities with dating, even to someone like her whom I trust.
The closing shift has never bothered me. I like the quiet of the late evening hours and I tend to get a lot of work done.
Once the doors close at seven, I linger, stocking the shelves with new books we’ve gotten while music plays on my phone. Lit only by the random emergency lights on the ceiling that never turn off. It’s peaceful and productive.
Latisha doesn’t mind as long as I don’t stay too late, for my safety. She doesn’t want me to get mugged in the parking lot.
I’m loading a cart up with a bunch of new books when I hear a tap, tap, tap. My whole body pauses what I’m doing, unsure of where it came from. When I hear it again, tap, tap, tap, my head whips in the direction of the sound.
The doors closest to where I’m standing are darkened, but I recognize the grin staring back at me immediately.
Jay.
I jog over to the doors, unlatching them to let him inside, unable to contain my smile at seeing him unexpectedly.
“You know, you really shouldn’t open these doors for strangers,” he smirks, slinking past me.
“I thought we were friends?”
“Nope, only acquaintances until I know your name,” he counters, making me roll my eyes.
“What are you doing here?” I re-lock the doors behind him, trying not to be blatant with my excitement to see him.
“I like libraries.” He shrugs.
“It’s not Tuesday or Thursday… And, we’re closed,” I point out.
“Ahh. Keeping tabs on me, are you?” He smirks, making my blood rush to my cheeks.
I just admitted to stalking him, again. I blink hard before I respond, needing to gather my thoughts before outing myself on any other obsessive behavior.
“So, what are you doing here? Since the library closed an hour ago,” he inquires before I can come up with any type of articulate response to the last question.
“I’m getting caught up on some work while it’s quiet… Your turn,” I counter.
“I… Honestly, I don’t have a good excuse. I drove by your house to make sure you got home safe, but you weren’t there. So, I tried here,” he confesses. He just admitted that he was specifically out looking for me… Do friends do that?
“Why?”
“I don’t know, Sunshine. I can’t seem to leave you alone,” he admits, casually. He doesn’t even glance up from the book that he’s flipping through the pages of.
“Don’t say that,” I plead under my breath, but he hears it.
“Why?”
“Because I like it too much.” My cheeks are warm with my confession and he studies them closely.
The silence is deafening though and I feel like he can hear my heartbeat. He sets the book down, eliminating the only buffer between us and it fills me with fearful anticipation. So much so that I thwart whatever this moment might be before it escalates.
“Jay. I need to tell you something.” I take a deep breath, preparing myself to rip the band-aid off and to make sure he’s clear of my intentions.
“What’s wrong?” His concern for me is never wavering, it makes my heart ache, desperate to earn more of his affection.
