lacuna

Chapter Sixteen

Fallon's pov

It just came out before I could stop. Offering Eli a post at Fine Feathers never crossed my mind till now and as soon as it did, without considering anything, I'd just blurted it out. Now that I think about it, I didn't even ask Mr Oscar for permission and he'd never seen Eli, only my little rants from time to time. But as we stood there, staring at the old shop together, I knew we both felt different things.

Mr Oscar loved to personify books. 'The books missed you', 'talk to them and maybe if you listen closely, they speak back', or 'let's welcome these to their new home'. And for whatever reason, I loved it too. The feeling that I was home was only something I felt at Fine Feathers as I introduced new books to their brand-new shelves or just spent my time there.

"You can't be serious" Eli frowned at me.

"What? It's a bookstore"

"Yes, smart ass, I can see that. But how the hell am I supposed to make six thousand and two hundred dollars working here?"

He had a point.

"I know, it's not much. But if you work for around a year maybe, you might be able to gather some sort of money" I reasoned, shrugging, "This was unless you have another option".

He groaned, "A year?".

"Alright then, how about till graduation? You can find a permanent job afterwards so just keep this as part-time for now" I tried to help. He switched his gaze from me to the store, exploring its every brick and crevice.

"That's still a year, dumbass", but after a moment he faced me, "You...you think I'll graduate?".

I looked up at him, an eyebrow raised in confusion, "Yes, why?".

He laughed and gestured to himself, "Me? The one person who can't even get a simple maths equation right let alone other subjects".

Oh.

"But you're getting better. See? Today you were so much quicker at that geometry question. I timed it" I scrolled through my phone trying to find the timer I saved. I found it and held it in front of his face, making him look at the reduction from the time he used to take.

He pushed my arm out of the way, scratching the back of his neck, "It was only one lesson, Fal. There's like twenty more to go".

"Eli, that's just the way it is. I used to do these exact lessons and these exact exams when I was a year younger than now. So, one step at a time, okay?" I gave him a smile which I hoped was comforting.

You're definitely graduating, I'll make sure of that, was what I didn't say out loud.

His mouth tilted in a smile of his own, "Yeah?".

"Yeah".

*************

"...and young adult books go here" I slid a book into place, "They're usually colour coded according to the types of books they are, like children's books, biographies, notebooks and blah blah blah".

I'd sneaked out of the house with Eli, making sure Mrs Smith didn't see and that my car was parked visibly in the garage. I'd closed my bedroom door with a few pillows arranged under the covers, making it look like I was asleep. Most likely, my parents won't check.

He followed my lead and started picking out the young adult books from the piles stacked, "Is this where your grandpa works?".

I nodded, "He's not my grandpa, actually. I call him Mr Oscar".