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“I know,” I smiled at him.
“Good,” he leaned forward, drumming his fingers on the table. Jude was the kind of person that couldn’t sit
still to save himself. Sometimes that really irritated me since I was a quiet person by nature. I honestly didn’t understand how we’d become friends. We’d met our freshman year at the university. He’d sat down beside me, flirting shamelessly, and I—of course—shut down his advances. From that moment on, he became my only other friend besides Tatum. “We should go out tonight,” he suggested. I glared, so he added, “As friends of course.”
“I can’t. I’m working, you know that,” I sighed.
“You’re always working,” he grumbled, “when do you have time to just…chill?”
“Never,” I answered without hesitation.
“That fucking sucks,” he rubbed his hands over his face and stifled a yawn.
“It’s called life.”
“You deserve a break, everyone does,” he commented.
“I don’t have time for breaks,” I shrugged, pulling a pencil out of my backpack and a notebook. “It is what it is.”
He opened his mouth to argue but the professor finally decided to make an appearance—ten minutes late I might add.
I turned away from Jude and set about taking notes.
???
I was running late and I hated being late, but I had gotten stuck in traffic thanks to a train passing through town.
I ran into the library bathroom and locked myself in the wheelchair accessible stall. I changed out of the clothes I’d worn to class and into my work clothes, stuffing my jeans and sweater into my backpack so I could change into them again after my shift ended.
I opened the stall door, washed my hands, and jogged down the hall to the backroom where we stored our stuff.
I ran back up to the front—winded at this point—and stopped in front of Mary, the head librarian. She was an older lady, in her sixties, with short gray hair. She was one of the kindest people I knew, but I hated to disappoint her by being late, especially since she was the one who had hired me.
“I’m so sorry I’m late,” I gasped.
She looked at me for a moment and her eyes flicked over to the clock on the desk. “You’re two minutes late,” she stated.
“I know, and I’m really—”
“Shush, child,” she lowered her reading glasses, “I hardly constitute this as late, besides, you’re usually early. Don’t worry about it.”
“But—”
She raised a brow and the look in her eyes silenced me. “You have nothing to be sorry for, Rowan. Now quit wasting my time with your apologies and put those books back on the shelves,” she pointed to a cart full of books.
“I’m on it,” I assured her, taking the cart and grabbing the first book.
“And Rowan?” She called before I was out of earshot.
“Yeah?” I turned to look at her.
“If you’re late again, don’t apologize. Just get to work,” she smiled kindly.
“Sure thing.”
I started the mindless job of replacing the books on the shelves. I loved being surrounded by books. They were the only thing in my life that always managed to make me happy. Reading allowed me to escape from my shitty life, even if it was only for a few hours. It was nice to…disappear for a while.
Before I knew it, the cart was empty. I rolled it back and there was another waiting for me.
