A One Direction Christmas

Chapter 13 | Bea

Bea Archer stood in her bookstore, restocking the shelves, when the bell jingled, signifying someone had just walked in. "Welcome in," she called, turning around to give the customer a smile. Her smile widened as she saw Niall in the entryway, wiping his boots and shaking some of the snow off of his green winter coat.

"Niall, hi!" She set down the stack of books in her hands and walked towards him. "Back so soon?"

Niall grinned, his cheeks pink from the cold. "I finished the book you gave me."

Bea clasped her hands together in excitement. She loved hearing what people thought of her recommendations, especially if they liked them. Sharing books was her love language, which was why owning her own bookstore was the perfect job for her.

"So...what did you think?"

"I think I need to purchase the rest of the series right now."

"Yay!" Bea did a little dance of excitement before turning her attention back to Niall. "Okay, we totally need to talk about it now. What did you think of the plot? Who was your favorite character?"

Niall laughed and ran his hand through his hair. "I honestly don't know if I can choose a favorite! The princess was super cool. And I thought the plot was really great, I couldn't put it down once I started."

"Oh my goodness, I know. It's insane how quick it pulls you in." Bea moved towards the bookshelves, pulling one off from the red section before heading towards the blue section. She turned back to Niall with a grin. "And that plot twist with the faerie king?"

Niall held a hand to his eyes and groaned. "Don't even get me started on that."

She walked over to the yellow section, eyes skimming the shelves for the last book in the series. "Okay, I have almost all the books here for you..." She finally spotted the one she was looking for on the top shelf and turned to Niall, holding out the red and blue books she had already gathered.

"Would you mind holding these for a second?"

He took the books from her with a smile. "Are these the next ones?"

"Yes," Bea shot him a grin as she grabbed her ladder from behind the counter. She pulled it up to the yellow shelf. "The last one is just right up here."

"It's honestly impressive you can remember where everything is by color," Niall chuckled.

Bea climbed up the ladder, letting out a laugh. "Thank you. I may not be able to remember my to-do list for the day, but I always know where books are in the store." She had just grabbed the book when she saw a flash of movement out of the corner of her eye.

"Uh oh, I think someone wants to say hi."

Noodle came barreling towards them from the back room at full speed. His furry face was full of glee, tongue hanging out – unfortunately, Noodle didn't have the best control at high speeds, and in his attempted path to Niall, rammed into the ladder Bea was standing on.

In a start, Bea let go of both the book and the ladder, and then she was falling. She painfully anticipated the hard floor, but instead, she was met with warm, firm arms.

Niall's eyes were wide with concern as he held her in his grasp. "Are you alright?"

"Um..." Bea's face was on fire as she let out a breath. "Yes, I'm okay. Thank you for catching me."

He gently set her down so that she was standing on the ground again, and Bea shakily gathered the book that she had let go of, along with the ones Niall had also dropped when he rushed forward to catch her. Straightening, she laughed nervously.

"Guess I might need to get a sturdier ladder."

"Might not be a bad idea," Niall laughed and held a hand to his heart. "Whew. You gave me a good fright."

"You and me both," she said, her face still warm. "Who knew such a little dog could be so powerful."

Noodle sat on the ground near Niall's feet, panting happily, completely oblivious to the consequences of his actions.

"Um...anyways, where were we?"

"Books are amazing?" He suggested.

"Yes! Right." Bea handed him the stack of books. "Here's the rest of the series. I personally think book 2 is the best, so I'll be super curious to hear your thoughts."

Niall accepted the books with a grin. "I'm already looking forward to it."

They made their way to the front counter, continuing to chat about the first book. He slid the books towards her to ring up, but Bea just placed a bookmark on top of the stack and slid them back to Niall.

He frowned. "What are you doing?"

"Oh, you have a coupon for these," Bea's lips quirked into a smile. "It's part of the "Save a Bookseller's Life and Get a Series Free" sale."

Niall laughed and pushed the books back towards her. "Funny, but absolutely not. I'm paying for these."

"Funny, but no you're not. It's part of the sale, sorry." She pushed them back.

Niall attempted to slide them towards her again, but she held firm.

"Niall," Bea said sweetly. "Don't hurt my feelings by not partaking in the sale."

There was a moment of terse silence as they started each other down stubbornly, until Niall finally conceded with a sigh. "Alright," he said. "Thank you for this very generous, but not real, sale."

Bea grinned, happy to have won. She grabbed one of the store's paper bags and was placing his books inside when an idea popped into her head.

"Would you be interested in starting a book club with me?"

His brows raised in surprise. "A book club?"

"Yeah, I've been wanting to start one for a while but have had a hard time getting anyone else to do it with me," Bea sighed. "No pressure, of course, but it could be fun." Her eyes brightened. "Then we could read the same book together at the same time, and we could get coffee and talk about it ..." She cut herself off, realizing she was starting to ramble. "Sorry. I've thought about this for a while."

"Sounds fun," Niall smiled widely. "Count me in."

Bea beamed in excitement. She started to suggest a book when there was a sudden commotion from the front door of the shop. She and Niall turned to see Harry and Ava, elbowing each other as they both tried to step inside at the same time.