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↳ SHE was the prettiest darn thing he'd ever seen. Brown hair, cut just above her collarbones and wavy, bright golden eyes that shone with curiosity. Her style was simple and sophisticated, lots of beige and greys and black. She fit in perfectly with the dull greens and royal blues of the fiction section of the library. She always seemed happy or at least content with the smell of new books and paper cuts in this place of potential discovery.
He'd met her two weeks ago, well more like seen her. She caught his eye instantly. He stared a bit too long when she'd come in, which happened to be on routine of Tuesday's and Thursday's. It locked in his liking to her when she knelt down and helped a little boy look for a book for school. She was just so...so kind and down to earth from what he could tell. Out of his league of course, people considered him a loner and thought of him as strange and desolate. He could never speak to her at the rate he was going.
She couldn't have been more than 5'5 and she wasn't the skinniest character, but something about her figure made her more appealing. He wasn't one to judge solely on looks anyway. The bookshelves were certainly too high for her but Techno was afraid to ask if she wanted help when she couldn't reach things. The cute little dimple that showed up on her left cheek vaguely when she smiled made his mind scattered out of control. He didn't know her name, though he wished he had the courage to ask her. The only time he came close was when he managed to listen in on her conversation, finding out that she was the librarian's niece. Anything beyond that, he would probably never know.
Her taste in books too was immaculate, she always picked out what he had an interest in too. Greek mythology, collections of poems, magical realism, you name it. It all just made Techno want to push himself to strike up a conversation and offer her some suggestions of his favorite books. His friends online had all told him to go for it, the worst that could happen is she politely declines. Though every time she entered his aisle, he would shy away and find a different shelf to pick at.
Today he was determined to take all motivation he had and put it forward towards possibly saying hello at the very least. He was ready to go, confidently strolling through the creaky wooden entrance doors and heading to the section he knew she would soon arrive at. He brought his wrist up to check the time, 12:30. She'd be here any minute, he took a deep breath and paced the short aisle back and forth before completely stopping and looking at the countless mass of books. He picked out the first he saw, Cat's Cradle, Kurt Vonnegut. Pretty blue color with a bird cage displayed on it. He'd read it a million times already, but he had to pretend to be normal for at least a couple more minutes.
His heart dropped to the floor when he saw her out of the corner of his eye. She passed him and looked at the books, picking one and standing a couple meters from Techno. He kept his eyes towards the book in his palms that were slowly becoming wet. He was embarrassing himself already for sure. He wondered if she thought he was a weirdo, he usually would avoid her by now. Walking away was impossible now that she was so close. She didn't seem to mind his presence as she read the back covers of a few books, seemingly finding one that suited her liking of the day. Today would probably end up being low fantasy.
Getting lost in his thoughts of completely failing this social interaction, he hadn't noticed that she had gotten closer to him. Techno bit his tongue nervously, not ready for whatever comments she would be associating him with. Would she make fun of his shyness? What about his creepy staring? He glanced at her directly for a quick moment, shock taking him over at how angelic she was up close. He tried not to gape, gluing his lips together in a thin, emotionless line. He wanted to talk, breathe, anything but his mind was in a sea of static. He didn't want to drown this time,"U-Uh hi.."
"Hello," She smiled sweetly and pointed towards the book on his hands,"Vonnegut is one of my favorite authors, you should definitely check some of his other works out."
"I-you—Really?" He felt so damn awkward. He wanted to kick himself into shape and stop being a coward for once but that just wasn't possible when his anxiety was eating him alive. God the feeling was like bugs crawling over every inch of his skin while someone poured boiling water over his head. Numb and tired were his limbs, afraid to move, shaking. Come on, ask for her name,"Uh..sorry, um, I'm..Techno."
"Rose," She held a hand out and he stared at it but eventually took it, shaking on their new acquaintanceship. He wanted to walk away like usual, but maybe this was for the best. His shell was still there as he bit his lip at the awkward silence. A silence that filtered through with the rest of the mostly empty public building. His senses had gone into overdrive as his mind went more into a frenzy. The smell of dust and wood crowded his mind, the LED swing lights above them were taunting him. Christ, he needed to say something.
"Have you...do you look at the other genres or only this one?" What a stupid ass question, good going. Of course she looks at other sections! He'd watched her look at the opposite side of the library for god's sake. Blood boiled in his ears as he tried to suppress his embarrassment for such a dumb way to reignite the conversation.
"Hah, that's um," She flustered a bit and turned her face away, he couldn't help but become curious. Had he finally made her uncomfortable? She put a smile on and looked him in the eyes again,"This actually isn't even my favorite genre, I just come over here to try to talk to you. I'm not the most social butterfly, sorry if it's creepy."
"You..." Techno's mind shut down. He did not just hear that. There was no way she came over for him after all the times he avoided her and treated her less than him. He was so cruel and yet the look on her face read of innocent curiosity and pretty droplets of hope. His breath had caught up with him,"I...I don't think it's creepy—I'm afraid of you—wait no! I m-mean like I want to talk to you but I always chicken out and you're really pretty and I'm well—me and you are just so many steps up from me but it's not a bad thing!"
His rambles had made Rose smile and let out a small laugh. Techno wondered if this was it, the humiliation stage. He braced himself for harsh words,"I think you're more than perfect, don't worry."
"I'm sorry f-for being super ignorant," Techno started with a small sigh of relief. He took second to mentally perfect his next words. He couldn't mess this up, this was it,"Um..maybe I could make it up with some dinner?"
"Yeah, I think that'll do," They both smiled shyly and gave each other glances of pure adoration. Techno prayed this was it, this was his chance to get someone finally after years of nervous breakdowns and harsh rejections. It certainly seemed so at the very least.
