serendipity: Will Darbyshire

Part 3

Pulling the white ruffled covers away from my head, I finally turned my alarm off and let my small feet hit the hardwood floors. I grabbed the clock from under my bed where I had thrown it earlier and placed it at its home on the bedside table. Mentally slapping myself for choosing the morning shift, I threw a pair of wooly socks on and headed towards the kitchen. After finding eggs and sausages in the fridge, I placed them on separate pans and let them sit while I let my mind wander to the night before. I felt my fingers graze over the places his lips had touched. Lightly tracing the shape of my lips and moving down my jaw, stopping at the parts of my neck where he had left a mark. I looked down at the pans to find my food done. Setting it on a plate, I brought it to the small table next to the kitchen and ate while watching BBC News.

I moved into the bedroom and buttoned a wrinkled flannel from the my chair, not bothering with a bra. I slipped my legs into a pair of high waisted black jeans, and put some fuzzy socks and Doc Martens on my feet. I put a rain jacket on, grabbed my keys and book bag and shut the heavy door behind me. Cautiously going down the eight flights of stairs as our elevator was broken and the stairs themselves were under construction, I checked my phone to see a text from Will that read:

Any chance you could tell me where you work?

I simply replied with the name of the name of the second-hand bookshop I held dear to my heart, "David's Bookshop". Gently tossing my phone into my bag, I continued down the stairs, breathing heavily by the time I made it to the parking garage. I threw my bag into the passenger side and sank into the driver's seat. Normally I would just walk to work but I didn't really feel like shivering through the rain today. I quickly pulled out of the parking lot, and listened to the drops of water hit the windows and how they were suddenly pulled to the side by windshield wipers.

  

After parking fairly close to the shop, I stepped out of my car and walked the short distance to the shop. The bells on the door chimed as I walked in, going directly to the door marked "Employees Only". I set my things into the locker which had my name on it, and put my name tag on. The bookshop was normally quiet on a Monday morning and we only had one person on shift at a time, maybe two. I flipped the sign that once read "closed" and now said "open" in cursive. The shop was normally quite tidy other than a few books lying about. The store had four aisles and two bookshelves per aisle. There was an opening that led you to a children's section. This had four more bookshelves and a table scattered with picture-books. After putting the books away, I made my way to the teen-fiction section and found a romance novel. Hey, 19 is still an appropriate time to be reading teen novels!

For the next hour and a half no one came in and I was sat reading, so to say I was startled when the bell chimed was an understatement. I heard two men arguing outside, one voice I vaguely recognized.

"Will?" I called out. Another man's head poked out of the door.

"No, I'm Joe. Will is too afraid to come in and talk to you because he says you're too pretty-ow!" The small man said. Will appeared behind him, blushing. They came in and sat on a table covered in newspapers and magazines.

"So, Serena, do you happen to have any books in this bookshop?" Joe asked sarcastically.

"Take your pick," I said, motioning towards the bookshelves. He ran through, finding the children's section almost immediately.

"Hi," Will breathed, taking a few steps towards me.

"Hi back," I said, giggling against his chest (He was much taller than me).

"I have a proposition,"

"And what would that be"

"Go on a date with me, tonight," he asked, his eyes meeting mine.

"I would love to," I replied, smiling at him. He smiled back, and quickly pecked my lips before Joe coughed.

"I cannot believe I wasn't invited, traitors."