Haunted Hearts (girlxgirl)

The Bookshop

{Yes, Jessie and Harper were in my dream last night telling me to finish this chapter. No, I do not want to talk about it. I did not appreciate it at all.} 

"Why are we at a bookstore? I hate reading" Harper says while pretending to browse through the YA romance novels.

"Just pretend to enjoy it," I say.

Our local bookstore always goes all out for holiday decorations. Halloween here is my favorite though. The shelves are lined with pumpkins and fake red, yellow, and orange leaves. They have bat cutouts in the windows. Fake spider webs are everywhere you can imagine, even in the bathrooms. They have little ghosts hanging from the ceiling. Oh and candy bowls in the kids section.

"Jessie I absolutely love reading. Do you think they have any fear street books?" She asks.

"Probably. It was a pretty popular series" I say.

"Wait it was a book series before a movie?" She asks.

"Most movies are," I say. "This is going to be your new obsession isn't it?"

We watched the second movie when we woke up this morning. She told me she is never helping out at the summer camp at her mom's school ever again.

"Yes. I'm going to read every single book" She says. I can't tell if she is lying or not.

"The books have very little to do with the movies. The movies take inspiration from different books but doesn't follow any one specific book."

"Oh, that's sad," She says.

"Want to go get a coffee?" I ask.

"Yes," She says.

We head upstairs to the little coffee shop. Luckily the line isn't very long.

"What do you usually get?" She asks.

"An iced vanilla latte. But in the spirit of Halloween, I'm going to get an iced pumpkin spiced latte" I say.

'Very basic. I love it. I don't love iced things when it is cold out but I'll try your usual," She says. "Want to know what my hidden talent is?"

"What?"

"I can repeat Chanel Oberlin's entire coffee order from Scream Queens," She says.

I think anyone who watched that show could but I am not going to rain on her parade. "That doesn't seem like the type of show you would watch"

"Oh, I didn't. It is just from seeing clips from it." She says.

"That is more impressive," I say.

We go up to the counter and place our order when it is our turn. We got our coffees and I got a cinnamon roll too. We wait around for a couple of minutes. Harper looks at the magazine rack next to the counter.

Once they call my name we get our things and go back to the YA section and sit on a little couch.

"How's your coffee?" She asks as I take my first sip. I must have made a face.

"I don't love it."

"Here," She says and hands her coffee to me so I give her mine. "Do you at least like your cinnamon roll?"

"Want a bite?" I ask.

"Sure,"

I hold it out for her to take a bite. "That is the best thing I've had in my entire life" She takes a sip of the coffee. "You're right this isn't too good. They didn't add enough syrup. I'm going to get my own cinnamon roll to make up for it." She stands up.

"Do you know where to go?" I ask.

"I'll be fine," She says.

She heads in the wrong direction but I don't correct her It buys me time. I head over to the kid section, making sure to grab a KitKat on the way to the section I want. Luckily, the book I want is out on the seasonal display.

I'm staring down at a few of the Fear Street books. I never read them but I have a vague idea of what books were used for the movie. I pick up The Wrong Number. I only recognize it because it is the first scene. They're made for kids so it should be a quick read for her. She doesn't love reading but she might like this. It's not very long so it should be able to hold her short attention span. I head over to the counter to pay. There isn't anyone else looking to be rung up so I should be back to our little couch in time.

As I am paying I feel a hand make their way up my spine and immediately tense up. "I guess we had the same idea"

I turn around and Harper is holding up some type of horror book. I recognize the cover. I'm pretty sure I've seen it in a lesbian book TikTok video. "You don't have to"

"I want to," She says.

She comes up to the counter, handing the book to the cashier. Once she pays we leave the store. She hands me the book as we are heading to the car.

"Thank you," I say, taking the book from her. "Here this is for you" I hand her the book I got for her.

"Oh, I can't wait to read it," She says. "You know I'm not a reader but I like the bookshop vibe. Maybe I'll have to go to the one back home."