Tall Tales

- 11 -

E L E V E N

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The Matter with Covers

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He frowned at the dark-haired girl that stood a head shorter than him, staring at a shelf way beyond her reach. All he needed to do was pay for these books and he could finally rest. That is, if she would step away for a moment and let him through.

"Excuse–"

"Great! Could you help me out a bit? I can't seem to reach that book – the one with the navy cover," she whispered sharply, cutting him off.

Rude. But at this point, he'll take anything just to get all of this over with.

"Thank you!" She beamed. "I'm Dara, by the way." She was smiling so brightly, it reminded him of the summer sun.

He paused for a moment and grumbled inwardly, but he reached for the book she'd requested. "Gideon," He said as he thrusted the book at her. "You don't strike me as someone who'd read science fiction," he remarked.

Her dark brown eyes flitted at him in an instant. "I saw the book online, fell in love with the cover, and apparently it got me hooked with its synopsis. So I'll let it slide how you think you know me from my cover only."

"I didn't mean it that way," he sighed and ran his fingers through his curly brown hair. "But I'm sorry, I didn't mean to offend you."

"I'm sorry for ruining the atmosphere too," she nibbled on the lower left of her lip. "Let's just head to the cashier," she pointed to the left awkwardly.

"Yeah," he stuffed his right hand in his pocket.

"Soo," she started, "What does a science fiction reader look like?"

"Uh, I don't really know, to be honest, I'm thinking someone with short cropped hair and leather jackets?"

"Isn't that a rock singer?" She laughed. "And what do I look like? Someone who'd read romance?"

"Yeah?"

"Well I do read some romance, and some mystery, and some mythology, a little bit of everything, actually," she smiled at him. "Covers aren't everything, but covers do matter. They're the first thing that people see from you, and people judge, but that's normal and human," she looked like she wasn't actually addressing him, just uttering her thoughts out loud.

"Absolutely," his reply took her attention back at him, "So I guess that's why we bother so much about our appearances when really, your choices are yours and nobody should have a say in what you should look like," the yellow in his tawny eyes seemed to gleam. "The matter with covers is that sometimes, we tend to focus on giving the perfect cover for ourselves, without knowing that we are our worst judges."

"Thank you for that," she stared at him seriously before breaking into another beam. "And thank you for helping me get this book," she waved said book. "We should probably pay for it now, though," she giggled.

"Yeah, we totally should." He felt his lips slowly arched upwards. "Hey, can we actually meet again some other time, though?"

A/N: Amazing what deadlines can do~ This prompt had been lying untouched for two months until I finished it just a few hours ago (with the power of deadline) 🙃 Well, but now I'm considering taking the next month off...

Btw I always involve a girl and a boy due to one thing and another, but mostly so that it's clear when I address them using third-person pronouns. For this particular prompt, I can actually see the two becoming more of a chill best friend rather than a romantic couple. Wdyt?

Post Scriptum

The name Dara means pearl of wisdom, while Gideon means hewer, one who cuts down, great warrior.

Love eternally,
Caera Keane