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four.

on the first day,

the boy with the dark, curly hair sat down next to me.

he'd told me he was going to bring me a new book, and i wondered why.

had he really noticed me reading here every day?

i'd never even seen him before.

-

he sat a few inches away, close enough so i could smell the smoke that clung to his clothes.

he took a drag of his cigarette, blowing the smoke into the air in front of us,

it didn't make much of a difference,

the air was already foggy

it always had been.

he cleared his throat, a husky sound, and greeted me by setting a black book in my lap.

the corners of the book were frayed and the papers had been dog-eared over and over.

the spine looked like it had some water damage,

i could barely read the title.

'i figured that if you liked looking for alaska as much as you seem to,

the fault in our stars is a great second book.'

he smiled, and i noticed how bright his teeth were. i'd never seen anything like it.

'enjoy.' he said, raising his cigarette as if he was making a toast with it.

and then he got up,

and walked away, down the bridge.

yours,

delia