little bird // r.keene

ix. living alone.

"Thanks again, Keene." She handed Robby back his phone and he slid it into his back pocket smoothly, he cocked a brow at the nickname.

"Yeah, you're not selling me on the whole 'being fine' thing." Wren cleared her throat at his observation, shaking her head.

"I'll get over it- I just gotta be dramatic first," Wren said as she pressed a light hand to her bruised ribs. "Seriously though, I'm fine. It only hurts to breathe." She whimpered, then did her best to straighten. "But Keene-" he looked from her bloody clothes to her face, "it could have been a lot worse if you hadn't shown up. Thank you."

"It's okay-." He paused, "Where are you going anyway?"

"I'll show you." She told him with a small smirk and the two continued to walk down the streets of LA. They spoke of all sorts of things but if you asked either to recall what the other had said- they could recite it by memory because they had listened so intently and intimately to each other.

"Here we are," Wren said and Robby looked up at the sign, The Bookshelf.

"You live here?" Robby asked and Wren answered by using her keys and pushing the door open, she walked in and flicked on the light switch, Mr. James was almost always locked up the shop by 7 and if she wasn't there to play cards with him he was almost always packed up and at home by 8.

The warm light flooded the shelves and shelves of books and the whole place smelled slightly of old paper, wood, and old leather from the bound books Mr. James kept behind the desk.

"Come on." Wren told him, gripping the banister as she pulled herself up the small flight of stairs.

"This is incredible." Robby breathed and walked up behind her.

When they reached the top, Wren pushed open another door to reveal her small living space. She flicked on her bedside lamp and sat on the bed in the corner of the room. Robby took a few minutes to soak in the scenery. He saw the piles of books in the corner, the rolled joints on the desk, the postcards pinned up on the wall in a collage- all of them of various cities around the states. Then the girl sat on the bed, a shoe box balanced on the bed beside her, with a smirk plastered on her face.

"Enjoying yourself?" She asked, as he still looked all around him in awe. Robby had to guess they were the same age and she lived all alone like him since his mother had gone off to live with her new boyfriend for the rest of the month. But the way Wren lived was so much nicer, more organised and homely than his apartment could ever be.

"This place is amazing." He told her when he finally stopped turning, looking around at the room.

"Thanks, Keene," She said and shrugged off her jacket.

"This isn't normal- this isn't a normal way to live." He breathly laughed.

"I'm going to take that as a compliment."

"You live here all by yourself?" He asked, Wren stood and walked over to the sink on the opposite side of the room and ran a rag under the water. She then began to slowly press the rag to her face, cleaning off the blood.

"Yeah- The shop was in the family on my mum's side for some time but when she went into journalism, like she always wanted, she started traveling so she sold it to Mr. James. He and his wife used to come into the shop every other day to see what new stock we had, they ran the shop together when I was a little girl."

They looked after me when mum and dad were fighting and I was too afraid to sleep at home.

"But after his wife died, he decided to keep running the shop, Mum still owns this little flat but she gave me the keys."

"Mr. James sounds like a really nice guy," Robby said and Wren lowered the rag to look at him.

"One of the best." She answered simply and it was the honest truth, she didn't like to think what her life would be like if Mr James wasn't in it.

"But don't you ever get lonely?" He asked and she was taken off guard by his question. In all honesty, Wren had always been too busy since she had arrived in LA.

"Not really." She lied, "I go to school, come home, work in the shop, go visit my friend. It's quite the routine." She chuckled.

"A friend? Is that the boyfriend?" Robby gave her a cheeky smile.

"Why? Jealous pretty boy?" She asked and Robby shoved his hands in his pockets.

"He's just curious about the girl he met on the street tonight is all because she seems too nice to have been jumped, she lives above a bookshop in an incredible spot all by herself and he's wondering how she got here is all."

"Maybe she'll tell him another night. You know where to find me, Keene."