boundless

the illusion of separateness

She took my hand as she led me down eighth avenue. Her fingers linked loosely with my own, and I wouldn't have minded if all we did was wander around the city hand in hand.

As the street numbers decreased, so did the number of people we saw outside. Once we got to twenty-seventh street, we were pretty much the only ones around.

"So much for the city that never sleeps," Kate joked.

I smiled. She pulled her hand away from mine as we approached what I assumed to be her bookstore. As we got closer, I realized that my assumption was right.

She pulled a key out of her coat pocket and unlocked the door. We stepped into the musty shop. The store was a quiet kind of beautiful, much like her. There seemed to be two floors. To our left, there was a checkout counter, and the rest of the place was just piled high with books.

She didn't even bother to turn the lights on. She took her coat off, and placed it on the counter of the checkout desk. I did the same. "Can you lock that door?" She asked me. "Some off-looking, yet presumably harmless characters have wandered into here during the night before even with the closed sign."

"Really?" I asked as I did what she asked of me. She told me not to worry about it and started to walk up the stairs to the second level. I quickly followed behind her.

Once we were up there, I looked around to see more books and a compact sitting area in the corner.

She continued to walk down one of the isles, without saying a word. Her hand brushed against the books, as if she could feel whichever one she was looking for. She abruptly stopped at the end of the isle, which caught me off guard, and that, along with the unnecessary darkness caused me to accidentally bump into her.

She started to laugh. "Watch where you're going," She whispered, as if we were trying not to wake a sleeping person that didn't exist. "Also, can you get that thin-ish blue book up there?" She asked as she pointed to a book beyond her reach.

I nodded, but she must not have realized that I'm not that much taller than she is. Luckily, I could reach the book. I pulled it down and handed it to her as I read the title. "The Illusion of Separateness by Simon Van Booy."

She took my hand and stole the book from the other as she led me to the small sitting area in the corner. "It's one of my favorite books," She explained as she sat down on one of the chairs.

"What's it about?" I asked curiously as I also sat down, pulling my chair so that it was positioned in front of her.

"It's a bit complicated to explain, but it's pretty much about this handful of people that are alone in the world, or, I guess, feel alone in the world, and how their lives have intertwined and connected in some way," She said.

Her hand moved on top of my own, which was placed on the arm of her chair, and I nodded as my other hand took the novel from her. I turned it to the first page, and started reading out loud. "Martin, Los Angeles, 2010."

She smiled slightly and she took her hand away from my own to play with my tie as she listened.

"The mere thought of him brought comfort. They believed he could do anything, and that he protected them," I read.

I continued to read, and somehow we had comfortably shifted positions to Kate sitting on my lap, and playing with the buttons on my shirt (my tie was on the floor by then) as she listened. Then, as I continued reading further, we somehow managed to bring the two chairs together, which made a sort of make-shift couch.

Suddenly, about halfway through the book, she stopped me, "Wait."

I looked at her. It was just like when she stopped me from entering my apartment the other day in the hall. Except this time she said, "Can I read?"

I nodded and handed her the book. Almost immediately after the book was out of my hands, I put my arm around her and played with the buttons on her sweater, just to make her smile. She started reading where I left off, "I see people by what they say to others, by how they move and how they breathe."

As she read, I tried not to be a distraction because I really liked the book, and I also really liked listening to Kate read. She was fluent with the language and the sentence structure of the book, as if she had read it a thousand times. By the way she treated it, one would think that the book was thousands of years old; she turned the pages so delicately.

"The shop had just closed, but Pascal put on all the lights and warmed some cakes in the oven, as if it were just another, ordinary day." With that, she shut the book and stared at something nonexistent in the darkness.

"You're right," I said. "That is a fantastic piece of literature."

She nodded as she looked at me, but she didn't say anything. I looked at her too, and she was stunning. So I told her.

She smiled, and even through the darkness, I could see her blush. "What time is it?" She asked.

I checked my watch. "One o'clock."

Her smile faltered slightly. "I have to open this place up in five hours," She groaned as she grabbed a pillow and covered her face with it.

I laughed as I moved so that I was on top of her, pulling the pillow away from her face. "Kate," I said.

"Carter," She mocked me, laughing.

"I can help you open up, and whatever else you need help with," I said. "Don't worry about it."

"Thank you," She said shyly as she started to play with the buttons on my shirt again.

I took her hands away from my shirt and pinned them down on either side of her. Her breathing became noticeably heavier, and I realized that we were looking at each other with complete desire.

I let go of her hands, and I pressed my lips to hers. She tasted like coffee, and vanilla, and everything pleasant in the world. Her lips fit perfectly with my own, and she was warm. Her hands ran themselves through my hair.

Soon after, she fell asleep, but I soon found that I wasn't able to.