Library Cards - Joshler

Week 3

"So he's come into the library twice to move some alien books into the real truth books section?"

Tyler sighed "Yes, essentially."

Mark can't help but cackle as Tyler sits with a glum expression on his face. "That's priceless! I hope he comes back again, you should get his number." He nudged Tyler and in response Tyler groaned.

"I don't want to be his friend, Mark! I just want him to stop terrorising my library." He banged his head onto the table and yelped when he realised he came down too hard and Mark only pats his back as support.

Tyler may have been more amused than anything about the Red Headed Menace but if you asked him that he would have vehemently denied it and threatened to throw those X-files novels at him the next time he saw his curly mop of bright hair.

He may have just been mostly annoyed that he had to clean up the messes the short punk left behind however.

"I didn't mean as friends, buddy." Mark started patting his head instead, which was still resting on the cool surface of their kitchen bench. Tyler sat him and squinted his eyes at Mark.

"I don't want anything to do with him!" he stood up from his chair and punched Mark in the arm as a good night gesture.

Tyler was heading to bed early since he had to be up early to open for Jenna, he also wanted to be ready in case he happened to show up to cause more shenanigans for Tyler.

Relief washed over him like a wave as soon as he hit his bed, wrapping himself up in his blankets and purposely taking up as much room as he could in his comfortable double bed.

Sometimes he had a lot of trouble even managing to fall asleep, over thinking and over analysing things until the early sombre hours of the morning but tonight his brain was more than happy to shut up and let Tyler sleep. His snoring carrying on until his alarm just as the sun started rising.

He found himself half asleep and drinking his coffee like it was water the next morning as he was the first person to enter the library, no matter how much he slept Tyler always felt like the walking dead when he woke up.

He left all his duties he usually had to tend to in the morning while Jenna was around and opted to instead attempt to nap at the checkout desk.

Tyler did not manage to get any sleep and was instead forced to do the returns once Jenna arrived and found him unable to keep his eyes open.

"You should really get some more sleep." Jenna muttered as she directed him to the trolley and Tyler simply shrugged.

He wasn't really in the mood to explain how he'd literally gotten more sleep than what was probably recommended. Instead he grabbed the trolley and wheeled it away, ready to instead lie on the floor until someone rolled him out.

Today was not a good day for Tyler.

Managing to successfully dodge any questions from patrons, Tyler spent a good portion of his shift sitting on the floor in front of various bookshelves and looking as though he was working when really he was just questioning his career choices.

Sometimes Tyler really enjoyed his job as a librarian but overall he really just wanted something different.

Something that wouldn't involve having to go back to college for or something that wouldn't involve him sitting behind a desk all day every day. He had little hope he would end up being lucky enough to find something better than his current job to pursue.

Tyler really didn't want it to be like that at all, having a job with such little purpose.

He just didn't want to have struggled through high school and college, promising himself that things would get better only to be stacking books all day and trying to sleep through his lunch breaks.

He loved the people he worked with and the lack of stress but Tyler didn't belong there and he knew it.

A thump from behind the shelf he was currently stocking surprised him, making him fall back onto his palms. Tyler rolled his eyes and continued putting the books away, dismissing the noise as something insignificant.

A couple of minutes later Tyler stood up and turned to his right only to see a certain alien fanatic who had been terrorising the library as he stopped dead in his tracks and stared at Tyler with wide eyes.

As quick as a rabbit, the book menace had darted away as Tyler started to chase after him. He wasn't doing a very good job however in his sleepy state of mind and the red head got further away until he slipped on a book that had been lying nearby.

The punk screeched in surprise and fell back, whacking his head on the side of a shelf.

Tyler ran up to him ready to shoo him away but instead knelt down when he realised how serious it was. He was clutching the side of his head as he winced, making no attempt to get up or even acknowledge Tyler's presence.

"Hey, are you alright?" Tyler tried to ask but the boy continued to groan and squeeze his eyes shut, obviously in pain. "Can I help you up then?" was his second question as Tyler held his hand out.

He obliged and grabbed Tyler's hand, being hoisted up while he had to grab the shelf next to him for support.

"Shit, man. Come on let's get you some ice." Tyler pulled the shorter boy's arm across the back of his neck and held onto his arm as he led him to the staff room.

Putting him down once they got to the break room, Tyler went in search for ice. Pulling out a frozen water bottle from the freezer, he wrapped a tea cloth around it and handed it to the red head.

Tyler pulled up a chair in front of him and sat down; the other boy still hadn't said anything yet.

"So," Tyler started "what do you have to say for yourself, you terroriser of books and librarians?"

"Uh, thanks." He mumbled as he tried to keep the water bottle against his head. "For the ice." He quickly clarified.

Tyler stared at him "Why are you harassing my books?" He tried again.

The red head looked down at his feet, seemingly embarrassed that he had been finally caught. "Because aliens are real" was his only answer. Tyler tried to ignore just how cute his voice was.

"I- ok. What's your name?"

"Uh, it's Josh." He ducked his head and continued to look down at his high top shoes.

"Alright well, I'm Tyler and you're leaving the non-fiction books alone or so help me." Tyler found it hard to be mad at Josh after witnessing his fall but he wasn't ready to forgive him any time soon.

Josh with some new-found confidence just chuckled "Yeah, alright. If you can catch me next time."

"Hey! No!" Tyler pointed at him and glared "You- No. Stop that" a frustrated tone lacing his words.

"If I catch you in here swapping the books again I'm getting the broom out and you won't be laughing then alright." Tyler tried but he was unbelievably bad at being intimidating.

Josh put his hand up in mock surrender, the other still nursing his bump "Yes, sir. You won't see me here again."

"Ok, you know what. Shoo. Let me live my life in peace." Tyler stood up and started attempting to wave him off and Josh laughed in response.

He also stood up after Tyler and began making his way out of the room, "See you next week." Were Josh's final words as he waved a good bye and disappeared from Tyler's sight.

Tyler sat down and buried his head in his hands before emitting a loud and annoyed groan. "Why is he so cute, why are the assholes always so cute?" he whined.