Pumpkin Spice Mocha

-7-

"Who would have thought that he is a book worm?" Nicholas moves his chin in the direction of a shelf full of history and non-fiction books and Leo follows his gaze.

Aaron appears from behind the shelf, carrying a stack of books. Some of the books look old and Nicholas looks carefully at them.

"Are you really planning to read all of them?"

"Well... Yeah... That's why I'm borrowing them" Aaron nervously looks at Nicholas who just nods not asking any further questions.

The boy has been in the library since morning. He walked around at first, exploring the shelfs that carry all types of books. Old books. New books. The type didn't really mattered to him as he took one of every book there is and examinated them carefully, gently flipping through them and moving his fingers across the words written in black.

Leo never saw someone, not even Nicholas, so passionate about opening a book and unraveling its secrets and stories. He has a spark in his eyes when his hands touch the delicate pages of a book.

When Leo brought Aaron here he acted like a kid in a toy store on Christmas. He looked curiously around and then back at his friend, almost like asking for permission and when Leo nodded he took off almost running around the library.

Its only been two days since the boy started working at the café. Leo has always made sure to be there until Naomi finished her shift so they can go home together. Now Aaron joins them too on their way home.

Naomi, surprisingly, admitted that she acted like an asshole before getting to know Aaron better. She was surely surprised by the fact that she gets along with Aaron so easily. Normally it takes her more than just a few days to make new friends.

Leo, on the other hand, always made friends easily. He likes talking to people and it doesn't matter if they're just strangers that he won't see again probably. This means talking to the person next to him on the bus or someone who is in front of him when he's waiting for his turn somewhere.

Nicholas considers anyone, who can suggest him a good book, a friend so he was happy seeing Aaron coming to the library and immediately finding something to read.

Both sit down at a table next to the window and Aaron opens one of the books feeling impatient. Leo opens his laptop and looks at what he wrote these days. Almost half of the essay is done and all he can say is that he is thankful to Nicholas who let him borrow a book from his private library. He found the inspiration that he needed in that book and somehow came up with the love story for his essay.

When he tells other people that he studies literature they believe that he can write books one after another without too much effort and that everything he creates sounds like it's made in heaven. Like everyone, sometimes he feels like even if he studies something he loves, it can get too much. It's two different things when you read a book because you have to and when you read one because you enjoy it.

He remembers all the times that he stayed in the school library after school ended because he liked the calm and quiet atmosphere there. At home he didn't get too many chances to read because there was always screaming in the background. The school guardian formed an unique friendship with him and sometimes helped him sneak into the library when the teachers were ready to leave.

It was quite a shock when he found out last year that the school guardian died of illness. Knowing that a person who helped him so many times left this world was kind of scary for him. He didn't felt like that before, only when his grandmother died.

Leo, sadly, didn't had a good relationship with his grandmother. He felt like she made his mother insecure. She always wore a frown and looked with disgust at anyone who dared to disturb her peaceful playing session with her cats.

The unfortunate cats. She had a lot of them. Whenever Leo had to visit her he needed to prepare himself for the smell of tuna and the sound of cats meowing and scratching the couch aggressively.

Most of the time she didn't even show Emma any love at all. Telling her that she's too fat, or that her clothes are ugly, or that she doesn't have manners. She always found something wrong with her daughter.

The only good thing she did was encouraging Emma to get a divorce after seeing how toxic her husband became.

The funeral was probably the most weirdest thing Leo ever saw. There were only a few people there who had the same stoic face as her. He remembers that not even one tear was shed that day except that his mother found it hard to breathe inside the church a few times.

Leo looks around realizing that his mind drifted off again. When his eyes meet Aaron's he remembers where he is and that he needs to finish his essay as fast as he can.

"This is a good book" Aaron tries to start a conversation after the air starts to get awkward.

They've only been friends for a few days so the awkward silence between them it's not something uncommon. It's only a matter of time before they can actually sit in silence comfortable, without thinking that something is wrong with the other.

"What's it called?"

"Huh?"

"The book" Leo points at the book that Aaron holds in his hands and he smiles slightly pushing it towards him.

"It's Pride and prejudice "

"Oh... I've read it in my first year of high school. I mean who hasn't heard of it?"

"Then it must bring back a lot of memories huh?" Aaron expects to see a smile on Leo's face but he's met with him staring at the book with a blank expression, quite hard to read.

"Yeah it does" He finally comes back to his senses and rests his chin in his hand looking down at the book in front of him.