𝐎𝐍𝐄 𝐍𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓 | AUSTIN BUTLER

introduction.

I WILL NEVER FORGET the day I realized I was everything my parents had expected me to be. I graduated college, moved closer to the city, got a job sitting at a cubicle for 8 hours a day, and called home at least once a week. Traditionally, the only thing I was missing was a husband and a wrap-around porch.

I was on the right track until I caught my boyfriend of 3 years on a couple of those "SinglesNearYou" type accounts in his email, so I logged on and low and behold, he's set his preferences and uploaded photos. The only reason he didn't go through with actually messaging people was because he's a cheapskate and you had to pay for it.

Definitely dodged a bullet.

I was a stranger to my alone time. I never realized how much I was missing out on. I was able to get so much more done throughout the day. I didn't have to clean up after anyone else, I wasn't forced to watch SportsCenter, or calling the local brewery with nauseating IPA's "date night."

Aside from scrolling through the local animal shelters website looking for companionship, I swiped endlessly on every dating app you could name. Not really looking for anything serious, and to be honest, I wasn't even looking for any hook ups. The attention and compliments of random guys wanting to send me a nonconsensual dick picture was just enough to boost my confidence. I didn't have the energy to put myself out there again.

My 3:00 p.m. daydream was interrupted by a stack of freshly printed copy paper being slammed onto my desk by my pesky coworker.

"I'd hate to bother you Alina, but we have deadlines to meet by 5:00 p.m."

I sighed, grabbing the warm heap of documents and sorting through them slowly.

"Sylvia, I don't think it's fair I get handed this two hours before it's due." I replied as she found her way back to the cubicle behind me obviously not caring.

Days like today made me think of all the times I pleaded to my parents to let me drop out of college and do something more interesting with my life. Anything more interesting than this probably wouldn't pay for my shitty one bedroom apartment in this not too shitty part of town. Oh! How could I forget about George? My 76 year old neighbor who bangs on the wall if my TV is on after 9:00 p.m.

I guess I'm stuck here living the American dream.

Tuesdays and Thursdays are my "mental health" days where I drink a little bit more water than usual, believe I'm actually motivated to go the gym, get my life together, contemplate cutting my bangs, and maybe trying out a new hobby. Lately I've been skipping all of those activities to sit at the downtown bookstore and read rom-com novels with repetitive story lines.

Maya, the owner of the bookstore, has antique chairs set up in random corners across the store, each with a small reading lamp sitting on her makeshift bookshelves. My go-to chair sits on the first floor next to a large staircase that leads to the music room with thousands of records stacked for sale. Despite being underneath the record player it was quiet where I sat. No one really bothered since it was next to the self help books section.

My attention is caught when I see a tall figure walking towards me from the corner of my eye. Oh great, it wouldn't be the first time someone's coming over here to look like they're searching for a book that will help them "turn their life around in 10 days" then proceed to beeline to the comic book section. To my surprise the tall man stopped about two feet away from the chair I had my legs propped up on.

I put my book down cautiously to see 6 feet of handsome right in front of me. His blonde hair had long strands that slightly curled and sat on his forehead. His white T-shirt was somewhat loose around every part of his upper half apart from the sleeves that slightly squeezed his muscular arms. Before I could keep admiring what I had in front of me I quickly realized that this is a stranger trying to get my attention.

"You know I used to sit over here for a while too. Even though it's under the music room it's still quiet since it's next to-"

"The self-help and relationship section?" I cut him off and finish his sentence.

"Exactly."

He smiles at me and continues walking towards the staircase making his way up to all of the vinyl records on the second floor.

I can't concentrate anymore on my book. I keep re-reading the same line and then directing my attention to the staircase to see if the mystery man is making his way back down.

Im starting to get impatient at this point. I hear the wooden staircase begin to creak and my hope is restored.

Act natural Alina.

I position myself to look like I was so caught up in this book I've barely touched since he last spoke to me.

He comes down with three records in his hands. All of them happen to be an Elvis Presley album.

"Find anything good?" I ask still looking at my book, pretending like I didn't just spend 20 minutes staring at the same page contemplating what I was going to say to him when he came back down.

"Oh for sure, I found some classics that I've been meaning to add to my collection." He makes his steps slower to speak to me as he makes his way towards the check out counter.

The bell on the door chimed as he exited.

Maya made her way over to me after he left. She's in her late 50's but you wouldn't be able to tell with her long naturally curled red hair, somewhat up to date fashion sense and not a wrinkle or aging line on her skin. I hope I look as good as her when I'm that age.

"He's not too bad on the eyes isn't he?" She asked looking down at me with her reading glasses sitting at the tip of her nose as she starts to put away books people decided they no longer wanted.

"Definitely not. I think I'm going to replace the face of my daydream lover with his." I laugh.

I wish I could put a name to that face.

He did make it seem like he was a regular here. Why have I never seen him? Is there a better hiding spot in the store other than this one that I'm unaware of?

I might have to make my trips to the bookstore a bit more consistent.