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Eliza: I knew it! Spill!
Me: I might have a second crush. Remember I told you about the guy who gave me a ride to Rye?
Eliza: Wasn’t that weeks ago? Why didn’t you say anything before?
Because I thought if I pretended the crush wasn’t there, it would just go away. But it’s still here.
Eliza: On a scale of 1–10, 1 being “I guess we can hold hands” and 10 being “take your penis out right now!” how hard are you crushing?
Me: Like a 7?
I’m lying. My attraction to Nate is at that visceral level where he simply breathes and I swoon.
Eliza: You slut.
Me: Would be an 8, but he’s a bassist.
Eliza: Oh no. I suppose it was inevitable.
Me: What was?
Eliza: That you’d end up with a rocker. Seems like a natural fit.
Is it? There’s nothing less appealing to me than Dad’s former lifestyle.
Then again, Nate isn’t interested in becoming a touringmusician, so really, there’s no reason we shouldn’t be able to make it work—
What part of “he has a girlfriend” don’t you understand, Abbey?
Right. I need to stop acting as if I have any shot with him. He’s with Yvonne. The end.
Me: Gotta go. Still at the library.
I slide my phone in my pocket and head back inside. As always, Mr. Baxley sits at his information desk guarding the precious archives from us ne’er-do-wells and our greasy fingers. He scowls at me as I approach.
“Tell me something,” I say. He’s already slapping down the clipboard. “Anyone ever try ordering a pizza? Some tacos, maybe? For the sake of variety?”
He doesn’t twitch a muscle. Perfectly still in his abject disdain as I fill out yet another request form.
“I’m going to crack you, Mr. Baxley. One of these days.”
Unconvinced, he jerks his head to allow me access. As if I don’t have a sleeping bag and mini fridge set up under a desk with my name on it by now.
And so the cycle begins again. I read, and a footnote sends me to yet another volume. Not an hour later, I’m back. An exasperated Mr. Baxley slides the clipboard in front of me without so much as a grumble under his breath.
“Is this really necessary?” I ask. “I’m already in there. I keep filling out the same information for the same reason. Why kill all these trees?”
He doesn’t budge, so I scribble down a snarky response on the form in protest of this library’s archaic and redundant regulations.
REASON FOR REQUEST:
I like books that start with the letter R.
The next time, I get more creative.
REASON FOR REQUEST: A HAIKU
The quest for knowledge
