The Curse Of Immortality

do libraries count as dates?

"Do you really think we are going to find anything in here?" He asks, Grace scrolling through his spotify, trying to find a good song.

"Maybe, and you barely have anything good in your liked songs" she says playfully, as Austin's were set on the road.

"It doesn't have to be from my liked songs, and I'm not sure if we will, nobody really knows about it other than my family and you" she settles on a song from an artist they both enjoy, she stares out the window as she thinks.

"It's worth trying" she's right, of course it's worth trying. "And think about this as a date"

"Libraries count as dates?"

"They can"

"Great, anyway, we are here but I like this song, let it play" as the last notes of the song fill the car they get out of the vehicle, stepping out into the foggy October air. They walk in, their hands together. They look in the shelves for hours, barely talking, but it was a comfortable silence.
"Hey what about this, Grace pulls out a book. It looks old, but not ancient. The silver letter on the cover slightly shine when the yellowish light hits it just the right way.

"Witches, curses, and spells?" Austin thinks out loud, Grace shrugs taking the book over to a small table. "I mean it is a curse, and it's from a witch, so maybe we will find something" Austin says as he sits down, Grace is already flipping through pages.

"I'm bad at reading you read it" she pushes the book over to him.

"This was your Idea"

"It's your curse"

"Point taken"

Austin skims the pages, finding nothing, it looked like a story more more anything. "Is this a children's book? Are you kidding me, this feels like clickbate for a  book" he sighs and closes the book. "This is pointless we are never going to find anything" he puts his head down, giving up for too easily.

"Don't quit, we just got here, I'm gonna keep looking, and your coming with me" Grace drags Austin along, they the last isle, and even Grace wasn't very hopeful about finding answers. Austin helped her skim the book titles, everything was very fictional. "Hey look I think I found one, why not to betray a witch. On the back it says it has stuff about being immortal."

"Probably just another child book, let's go" Grace's smile fades. Despite Grace think the book would have answers, they left. "This was a stupid idea"

"Was not, look just because we didn't find what we need doesn't mean it's stupid. We tried-"

"We failed" he cut her off, "you can't always be positive, we failed. That's it, we didn't get anywhere we only failed"

Grace sighs, "whatever" the car ride back to her dorm was different. It wasn't like every other ride, it was silent. The radio was off, and neither of them dared to speak a word to the other. As he pulle dup to her dorm, she loomed at the floor, she didn't really know if she wanted to go, buy she had to she had classes tomorrow. "Bye Austin, talk to you later" she pressed a small kiss to his cheek and shut the door before he could say anything.

"Bye?" He said to himself and drove off. A little angry she shut the door before he could say goodbye to her. Atleast she didn't sound mad or upset, he felt bad for cutting her off earlier, but decided it was best not to mention it until later.

He walked into his apartment, locking the door behind himself. It felt so empty, so cold without Grace's warm presence, he knew she couldn't be there all the time, she had a life too. Despite knowing that, his apartment didn't feel the same without her. He shrugged it off the best he could, and turned the lights on, his black cat Eva comes around the corner. When he spots her, he sits on the floor, petting her soft fur.  Eva purrs quietly as he does so her yellowish green eyes stare up up him.

Grace was in her dorm, her roommate out, as always. She felt alone without Austin but knew they couldn't be together all the time, they both have lives, she has school, and is trying to find a job. Austin has the coffee shop and the online classes. She questioned if the library counts as a date considering how it ended. She wishes she had talked during the car die home, that she didn't shut the door without giving him a chance to talk.

The both of them stared at their phones, waiting for the other to text or call, Austin felt too bad to text first, and Grace didn't want to seem desperate.

Eventually Austin gave up and decided to look up his curse. The internet has everything, right?  "Alright, I really hope this works" he mutters to himself. Eva stares up at him from the floor. "Curse of immortality" he speaks to himself as he types. The light of the computer reflects of his dark green eyes. "Nothing...as expected" he says it defeat. The only thing that had came up with the simple search were fantasy books, and joke websites.

Austin's tired face was a reflection of how he felt, he was tired. He was physically okay, he was fine even, he is mentally exhausted. Trying to balance a relationship, work, school, and this stupid curse was too much, but as always he delt with it. He thinks he loves grace, or maybe he knows. He is still figuring it out. He needs money, and  if he's gonna be a teacher like he has always dreamed of, hr needs college. 

Grace stared at her computer, she was taking cosmetology, she stared at her grades, they weren't bad, but she knew she could do better. It upset her, her mind flooded either thoughts of hoe she wasn't using her full potential, when really she was, and her teachers were proud of her hard work, but she couldn't see that, no matter how hard she tried. She has always been this way, no matter ehat other told her, she managed to look down upon herself. Even if her thoughts arent true, she believes them as if they are. "Really, I got a C on that stupid perm assignment, I did the best one in class!" She let's out a frustrated sigh, laying her head down on her desk. "Now I've got a 80, that's almost a C" she speaks to herself, nobody  was there to hear her frustrations, but she likes it like that.

Austin lays in bed, staring at the ceiling. He's still tempted to text Grace, but he doesn't want to bother her. He looks found to the sleeping cat that occupies the space beside his knees, he briefly smiles, before rolling over, and falling asleep, secretly hoping for Grace to fill us dreams.