evermore

2

"Hi welcome." smiled Amelie as a new customer walked in the door of the little library. She had been working for a few hours and was almost ready to close but she didn't mind letting a couple more people in, she didn't want to leave anyway. Everything about the library felt magical and for some reason that she couldn't quite put her finger on,  everything was nostalgic. She wasn't sure if she believed in past lives, but if she did have a past life no doubt she would be here. She felt warm, cozy, and safe inside the walls of where she grew up. She knew where every book, every historical article, and every crevice of this library was. Inside, you first approached shelves and shelves of book all garnished in fairy lights. Miss may seemed to be obsessed with potted plants for everywhere you looked there seemed to be one. There were two levels so there was a twisting staircase going up to the second level where there was not only more books but a cozy couch,  hanging chairs, a big beautiful rug, and of course more glittering lights. A sweet melody from a record player flowed through the library making Amelie want to dance, sing, and read all at the same time. It was perfect. Her  trance was broken when a nice lady and her daughter wanted to check out their books. 

"Hi there." the lady said politely. 

"Hello ma'am, is this all?" the lady nodded as she  checked her out and was too preoccupied to look up when another customer walked through the door. She needed to close up she thought, she was getting tired anyway. After her last customer left Amelie looked around for her new customer. Then a deep quiet voice made her jump. "Hello miss, I need to check out a book if you don't mind. Smiling, while turning around she looked in the eyes of the green eyed and the brown floppy haired boy she met just yesterday. So he did come back, she smirked smugly to herself, she guessed yesterday wasn't a fail after all.  With a smile on that beautiful face he looked her up and down and said "well?" 

Amelie flipped her hair tauntingly and turned away "Sorry sir, it's a shame that I already closed the library for the night" she teased. "I presume you can come back another night" she tried stifling a laugh but it didn't seem to work.  

"Ah I see, too bad the book is her sincerely's." he held out the book to Amelie.

Amelie was surprised when she saw that the book cover read "pride and prejudice". She tucked her hair behind her ear. This was the most romantic thing that has ever happened to her. It was just like the books she had read when she was younger, the "library romance"  was one of her favorite book tropes and it was happening to her. Biting her lip to hold back a smile she snapped back to reality. "Hm maybe I will make an exception just this once" she laughed as asked for his library card. 

"Oops, I guess I forgot it" he said sarcastically running his hands through the curls that were always in his eyes.  

"Oh sure" she rolled her eyes but smiled anyway. "I'll have to mark you down on the list then." she showed him a list of all the people who had warnings for forgetting their card. 

"I guess I'll have an excuse to come back then" he smirked as he stared at her in a way that made her cheeks flush red and avoid his glance. 

"Well then that's your excuse." 

"But really Amelie I'd like to see you again." He said seriously not with the teasing manner he always seem to have. She flushed "I think I'd like that." 

"When's your lunch break tomorrow." 

"12:30."

"Perfect" he smiled happily. "I'll bring us something to eat."

"Oh no, you don't have to do that- 

"It's my treat" he grabbed the book off of the desk and hugged it to his side. He was still smiling when his face morphed into a frown "Amelie if  really this is too much then-

"Roman." she raised her perfectly arched eyebrows. "Like I said earlier I'd like that, in fact a lot" she turned her gaze down in embarrassment. 

"Sounds great" he replied  his smile returning as his confidence came back. "I'll see you tomorrow then Amelie."

"Tomorrow then." she turned her back to him and pretended she was putting away papers when  really, she was fumbling with random  things. When she heard the door close she turned the record up and danced to Debussy and hummed along, with a book clutched in her hand happily.

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The next day Amelie would never admit to herself that she made herself look pretty for a boy, but she in fact did. She curled her hair that day and put on a little extra makeup than she usually put on and wore her favorite sweater. She opened the library that morning and the time until seeing roman went by so slow she couldn't bear it. She couldn't stop looking at the clock. Time barely ticked by as she helped people find books, checked them out, and even read a little for herself. She even did a little refresher on Jane Austen in case he had questions about the book. Which she knew was totally silly and was a little ashamed of it even when nobody  knew. Finally the clock turned to 12:30 and she took a deep breath and told herself to act natural. She laughed at how weird she was being and told herself to quit it. I mean honestly she needed to quit thinking at all. Peeking up at the clock the time showed 12:35. Oh well she thought, she didn't fault him for being a little late, I mean she wasn't the most on time person either. She decided to read a little more to wait for him. She sighed happily as she turned the pages and was bursting inside with excitement.

*9 hours later*

Amelie saw that the clock turned to 9:30 and was utterly angry. What in the world was she doing here sitting in this library when she got off  an hour ago she didn't know. Maybe it was the fact that her heart was still hoping to see the boy with the green eyes and curls walk through the library door ready to have lunch with her even though it was way past dinner. She felt her whole face flush in anger and put her cool hands to her face. Roman stood her up. She had been waiting for 9 hours for him to come and he didn't show up. She had thought of sending him a simple text asking where he was but of course she didn't get his number. How stupid was she? She was probably a game to him, maybe he was even trying to get free books. Heck, she didn't know. She was so embarrassed. She flirted with him and definitely started to like him. Anger turned to sadness and sadness caused tears to fill her eyes. Burying her face in her favorite sweater, she cried. She was so ashamed.