The Renovation Complication

3. Smile. Back.

Annandale Universal Library. I've worked here every summer that I've visited since I turned twelve. I only moved in two days ago and already the parents have organised for this to be my permanent part time job.

Everything is so damn permanent now.

I walk through the doors and am instantly welcomed by the scent of fluttering pages and study cards. You know how things don't really have a scent until they do? Yeah.

Janet spots me by the doorway and collects me into a hug. I've been working as her junior assistant since the beginning of time; she's the one who recommended me to the staff. Her and my mother used to be very good friends when we lived here.

Used to be.

"Victoria Aspen!" She takes a look at me. "My goodness you've grown. Beautiful. Just beautiful."

Heat rises to my cheeks before she pulls me toward the back, to my alleged boss. She knocks three times before rolling back and forth on her heel, humming. She is adorable. The sweetest woman you could ever meet. Unless you talk loudly in her library, then she turns into Satan reincarnated.

But aside from that, just peachy.

"Tori, it's been so long." I nod and smile politely at Candice, the elderly librarian. She practically runs the entire thing, with little elves to do her bidding and whatnot. She isn't a nice person but then again she isn't a nasty one. I suppose age doth sour the milk, am I right?

I enter her office and leave an ecstatic Janet behind the door, always happy to see me. I wonder if she knows about...

Of course she knows. Everyone knows.

"So, you'll be working here after school on Mondays and Thursdays and in the morning on Saturdays." She states. I clearly have no choice in the matter, though I'm used to Candice's presumptuous ways by now. Always business, always polite, but never really kind.

You gotta love Candice.

"You know our dress code. Look smart and presentable." Yada yada yada. Yeah, I know the drill, Candice. I've been working here for four years if you do not recall.

"And you can get started right now." She pulls me back from my inward eye rolling and cuticle checking. I say thank you and it's very generous of you and I'll speak to you later.

That's just how you talk to Candice.

It's 2:30pm and I've been shelving books for three hours. Heels were definitely not a good choice. Candice pointed it out earlier but no way was I going to admit defeat now.

Smile through the pain, smile through the pain.

Oh my God, I think my feet are bleeding. Flats next time, Tori.

"Tori, could you please stack these?" I turn to find another mountain of books directed at me. I force a bright smile at Janet and take a heap in my arms. I happen to glance down at the novels and see something I definitely didn't expect.

Wuthering Heights.

That was mom's favourite book. Haunt me, a voice whispers. A second passes but it's too long and Janet notices. She picks up the tattered looking book and sports a weary smile. There is no way Janet and mom never talked about this book, just no way at all. It makes me want to dissolve. "I know it's been hard, love. And it's going to be hard for a while, but it'll get easier one day. One day you'll look at this book," She holds up the cover sadly, "And you'll forget why it made you so sad to look at. You'll smile when you see it. I promise."

But I don't want to forget. I don't want to let myself forget how this feels. Is what I don't tell her.

Haunt me. Drive me mad.

I look up at her through lashes before spinning around and taking small steps toward the Adult Fiction section. Let's put this stupid goddamn classic back with the other forgotten spines and empty pages because no one bothers to spare a glance at the words inside.

When I was a kid, I used to think that books were just pages and pages of blank paper, and that every time a person opened them, the stories would be woven to best fit them. If you were feeling lonely, the pages would build friends for you. If you were feeling sad, the letters would fall and fill that emptiness inside of you enough to stop the tears.

Books could always make you feel better or worse because you could always find a story that was exactly what you needed. There is an eternity of plot twists and cliff hangers and happy endings out there to suit any emotional state.

I think most of the comfort comes from knowing that somewhere, at some time, someone understood exactly what was happening in your heart. And somehow they knew exactly how to mend it.

I sense someone standing beside me as I place the book between its comrades, though don't dare to look up. Do I acknowledge them or not? I'm pretty sure it's a young man, and that messes my entire persona up from head to toe. Kind, polite, bubbly Victoria gets thrown out the window by sheer force when a male of equal is introduced.

I go with my gut, which ends up dragging my ass to the farthest section of the library I can possibly reach. Yep, that's me. The girl hiding in the corner. Hopeless, they all sigh inside my head and I can't help but agree.

When I am a safe distance away, I steel a glance over my shoulder at what precisely I escaped from.

Oh.

My.

God.

There aren't word enough in this library to describe how gorgeous this boy is. I could flip through every description in every book in every library and never find enough adjectives to capture his angled jawline and his figure and his really sexy dress sense. I think I'm in shock when he wanders around, doing a double take when he spots me goggling.

I can't move.

My every limb is frozen with an equal amount of embarrassment and awe. I should be moving. Why is my body not responding? What the hell is wrong with me?

He has golden curls that are styled so that he surprisingly doesn't look like an infant with them. Crystal blue orbs brighten at me and he sends me a crooked, charming grin.

Smile back.

Smile back.

Smile. Back.

I retreat behind the book shelf so quickly that I'm hoping I disappear. I am not good at handling boys. Not at all. I whack my head against a book several times, hoping to wait out the duration of my existence and maybe even the blush making my head expand.

A super cute guy just smiled at me and I played invisible.

I groan inwardly and hang around this section, hoping to avoid him at all costs. Twenty minutes pass and surely he's gone by now. Yep, coast is clear.

I am never going to let myself live this down.

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Hey, guys! I'm just trying to update as much as possible before I get stuck into school. Just to kick start things. I might write some chapters spare so that I have some to update when I'm really busy, though I must admit I'm an update addict.

I mean, if I write a chapter, I'm like OH MY GOD I NEED TO SHARE WITH THE 5 people actually interested.

If you are up to it, I am looking for a trailer made or even some covers to post with chapters!