That Sexy Librarian and Me

14th

for you to be fourteenth

& b e a u t i f u l

"Don't look."

"I'm not looking."

"I'm serious, Rem, I'm naked and if you see me..."

"Fuck, Athenia, I'm not fucking looking alright?"

"I'm almost done."

It was as if Remy was at the edge of his patience as he heard the familiar rustling of clothing against skin, running his hands through his hair, telling himself he needed a haircut.

As he exhaled through his mouth, a thought occurred that should’ve been long ago accepted. Everything was different somehow, especially after that phone call with Maddie. Sure, Athenia didn’t acknowledge it, so neither did he. What was it that made him so anxious? He'd done this with her a million times over. Standing by the couch, trying desperately to ignore what made Athenia on edge, he felt like he was hurtling to the ground.

This was still Athenia. Sure, this was weird, and sure, she was sexy and smart and all too beautiful in her own way, but that hadn’t been any different from the moment he had met her. What put him over edge now?

"Are you done?" he asked as pleasantly as possible, gritting his teeth, clenching his jaw.

"Done."

He turned around to find her in the most revealing (well, revealing for Athenia) clothes possible. Well, anyone would call them revealing if they'd seen her wear those long skirts and pants, day in and day out. And since when did he care what she wore, revealing or not? Since when had he started to pay attention?

Try not to stare. "You're wearing shorts."

"I wear shorts all the time."

"It's...” weird weird weird weird “not that hot."

An eyebrow cocked up. "It's hot, Rem."

It is hot.

Hot.

Oh, fucking... Christ.

"Uh,” looking away, he scratched the back of his head. “okay." Whatever you say, he added silently. Whatever she said ran this place, anyway. Who was he to question it now?

The drive to the library was quiet. Between wondering why he even cared that he could see his roommate's legs and swimming in the scent of her shampoo, her hair everywhere, all of it as if an overdose, he realized he'd been spoken to.

Shaking his head, trying to clear it away, hands firmly planted on the steering wheel, he spoke back. "Eh?"

"I said, I'll be late tonight, so I hope you didn't forget your keys."

That rang alarm bells, for some reason. She went out by herself all the time, to buy groceries, to meet Maddie. He had to stop acting like an imbecile. At this rate, he was going to give himself away. "Where're you going?"

"To the movies."

"With?"

She looked at him then. "I get it, you're living with me. How about you cross examine your couch when you put your behind on it?"

That didn’t deter him one bit. "If it's not with Maddie then with whom?"

"Of course it's with Maddie."

"Can I come?"

"Rem, spend some time with your own friends. I think you're losing your rep hanging out with the librarian all the time."