Brazen

1

i wrote this when i was like 10 so please don't bully me for how bad it is.

***

School had started only a few weeks ago. The days were getting colder as the autumnal September days grew darker and lead into winter. Classes had begun again, and no matter what people said, university life was as difficult and depressing as it was last year - and I suspect it to be so for the duration of my college experience.

But fortunately, it's , and unfortunately my shift at the local library where I volunteer, is . Yay for my social life. So, while I'm stuck here aimlessly stacking books back on shelves in alphabetical order, my friends are out drinking.

And as I do so I wonder why I need to be here when the only people in the library are my co-worker (an eighteen year old whom was only just experiencing the university life and who, I expect, knows nobody in the area and therefore has nothing to do tonight), myself and a weird bald guy sat talking to himself as he reads Stephen Kings 'Carrie' for the third time.

An uplifting factor about being here is that I don't have to squeeze myself into a tight dress or pair of skinny jeans to appease society. I can gratefully wear my tracksuit pants and the most unflattering oversized shirt and hoodie you may have ever seen which I will probably be going to sleep in tonight as I know my lazy tendencies will come into play.

"I'm going to head off," Jessica, my co-worker taps me gently on the shoulder, "Have a great weekend Brazen." So, she could leave, and I couldn't? I know my guilty conscience would never have made me leave her like she's about to leave me.

I turn from the non-fiction section on reptiles and look at her. "You're going? It's only , we still have fifteen minutes until we shut for the night."

Her face glowed from the intrusive white hanging on the ceiling. The library was set out in the shape of a long rectangle, and sized that only four lights were recognised and needed. Books lined the circumference of the room apart from the regular spaces reserved for ceiling to floor windows. The rest of the room was also full of bookcases except from a desk, the colour of deep mahogany to the left of the double doored entrance and four desks, which each can occupy four people, in the formation of a square in the central area.

"Exactly! Only fifteen minutes. I'm sure nobody will come here in that time. All you'll need to do is kick out that one guy over there and lock up."

She grabs her jacket and slings her canvas bag over her shoulder, already making her way over to the front door. "But- "

"And my boyfriend's here for the weekend so..." Flashing a smile as golden as her hair she opens the door and steps out, only shouting a brief, "Have a great weekend Brazen!" Before completely disappearing.

Great. Guess she isn't the antisocial loser I branded her as.

As I walk over to the front desk, I can hear the brisk footsteps of the one man leaving the library and I make the conscious decision to lock up early. I know my boss would be pissed but there's a party I don't want to miss.

The keys on the counter are soon in my hands and just as I make action to leave, I hear a thump on the counter, most likely a drop of books, and I jump.

"Can I renew this please?"

Only with my luck, would a customer come in just when I was about to fucking leave. Oxygen fills my lungs as I take deep breaths - whether to calm myself down from the shock, from the anger of not being able to leave or from the increased thumps of my heart rate when I realise how deep and masculine the voice is. It's probably just some sixty-year-old man wanting to renew his copy of Twilight.

Not that I judge people on their choice of books.

My voice clears and it echoes in the room as I take into recognition the book sat on the counter, not the boy stood behind it. It's thick and worn. The pages large and the writing small, almost unreadable.

I can't help the comment that comes out of my mouth. "This looks like something my dad would read."

"I've only read the first page. I've been busy and if I didn't renew it now, I would've been fined."

I look up. "And you're attempting to read it again why?"

"I never give up." With that he takes the book out from my stretched hand and leaves. And as I look at him leave, I can't help but think of the trail of light freckles along his bottom lip and the urges I get along with it.