Love Bites *DISCONTINUED*

Four

Moments after walking through the door with groceries, the doorbell rang, signaling that Isaac had arrived. I called out saying that I'd be there in a minute since I had to put all the bags on the counter. I had picked up some soda and snacks for reading.

I opened the door in one swift moment and saw Isaac with his hands in the pockets of his blue jeans and his solid black shirt clinging to his torso, showing off his muscles. I smiled and told him to come in, leading him to the living room where he sat on the couch.

"Just give me one second, I have to put groceries away," I nodded my head and walked into the kitchen and began unpacking the bags.

"Here I'll help!" Isaac offered. I didn't even hear him follow me but I was thankful for his help.

"Aw thanks but you don't have to."

"Of course I do. I'd be rude if I didn't."

"Well thanks then," I smiled. He was actually really sweet and I had no idea.

We packed away the perishables first but left out the chips, pretzels and sodas, bringing them into the living room with us. He instantly opened a Coke while I took a seltzer and sat down beside him.

"You have a copy of the book, right?" I asked nervously. Why was I nervous? It was probably just Scott's worries becoming mine. That happened a lot since we were so close.

"Yeah, right here!" He began to dig through his bag and pulled out a crisp copy of the heavy novel.

"Great! Alright so do you want to just like read a few chapters and then talk about them?" I suggested as he opened the bag of chips.

"Sure sound good."

And then we read. I was already fifty pages in but I decided to start from the beginning just in case I missed something. So far, it was dry and boring but I had a feeling it would get better soon. My reading buddy, Emily, had told me that it got really good but the beginning was boring because it was just background information to set the scene. For someone's first novel, it was exquisitely written. The descriptions had so much beautiful imagery that I could picture every little aspect perfectly down to the specific shade of green of the grass.

As we read, I totally zoned out. When I read, everything disappears around me. The present is gone and I become immersed in another world, forgetting all the struggles of life. I become someone else trapped in another world that I would never be able to see except in novels. I don't like to read, it is simply part of my existence as one needs to breathe in order to survive. Without reading, my life would be a clock without hands, pointless.

Without realizing it, I had read over one hundred pages in an hour and a half. Well shit. I glanced at Isaac's book and saw he was only on page sixty, about to end the chapter he was on. I felt bad for reading so quickly but it wasn't entirely my fault.

He put his book down and rubbed his eyes. "This book is boring."

"It'll get better, I promise! It's Riggs's first novel, you can't blame him for having a boring beginning. Emily told me that it gets better!"

"All right I'll take your word for it. Let's take a break. What page did you get up to?"

"One hundred and fifteen..." I shyly admitted. I knew he read half of what I did and I could see a splash of embarrassment on his face before he responded.

"Oh damn. I only got to page 60! Has it gotten better yet?" He asked genuinely. He seemed legitimately interested in the book, hoping that it would get better.

"So much better. As soon as you hit page 101, it gets interesting," I exasperated. "It's so good. I love the imagery he uses and the way the words just flow so smoothly. And he varies the sentence structure so well, initiating a state of emergency with his terse sentences."