Selected

Fourteenth

The sun was hidden behind thick clouds that blanketed the sky. A small chill ran through me and I hugged my jacket tighter. I felt awkward in the jeans and top Hal picked out for me. In Sector 16 girls don't wear pants. Ever. I had asked Hal if the tight uncomfortable feeling ever went away. She simple laughed and said that I had to tough it out.

Vox's hand found mine and intertwined our fingers. Vox had insisted that we walked, I had no clue as to why, but decided I could use the exercise.

I looked over at him to find he was already staring at me, I smiled, "What?"

He shook his head, "Nothing. Just admiring you."

I scoffed, "Admiring me?"

Vox nodded, his gold eyes gleamed in the sunlight. "Yes."

I could a small smile creep to my face. "Okay." I rolled my eyes.

"What? Do you not think you are worth being admired?"

I bit my lip and didn't answer the question. "How much further?"

He tucked his hand into the pocket of his jeans and furrowed his eyebrow, "Not much." He let go of my hand and wrapped his arm around my shoulders, pulling me close to his side. I tucked my arm around his waist. He kissed me on the top of the head and then whispered in my ear, "You, Emmary Eaton, are beautiful."

I grinned and looked up at him, "Thank you, Vox."

The smile he wore reached his eyes. "You are more than welcome." He stopped walking, "We are here." He shoved his thumb at the glass doors that opened to a 7 story building.

"You mean, this is it? This building is really real?"

He chuckled, "Yes."

"It's just that you kept putting this off, I was beginning to think that it wasn't a real thing."

He grinned, "I'm sorry."

I waved off his apology, "Don't worry about it." I looked back at the building, "So this whole thing is the library?"

"The top floor is part of city hall, and then some of the floors have random rooms for meetings and conferences mostly."

Wow. Six floors of books. I think I might be in heaven. I stared up at the building in awe. I couldn't process the thought of so many books being in one place.

He grinned down at me, "So are we just going to stare at the building or do you want to go inside?"

"I'm just preparing myself for what I will see. Books on books on books. It's going to be wonderful."

Vox laughed, "You are too excited."

"You would be too if you were in my position. The library back home had 50 books. 50."

He grinned, "And let me guess, you read them all."

"Multiple times."

"Well, come on, let's go, lots of books to read, little time to read them." He reached for my hand before leading me through the automatic doors. Vox smiled at me as we entered.

Inside there were shelves of books to one side and a cluster of tables to the other. In the middle was a desk with different signs pointing toward checkout and drop off and circulation. I tried to take in every inch of the place, but Vox pulled me along quickly, "This is just the children's floor." He whispered in a low tone.

I frowned, "Why are you whispering?"

He chuckled and shushed me, "Because you are supposed to be quite in a library." He stopped in front of a set of doors and pushed a button.