Under The Nautical Star (Lesbian, GxG)

Eight

"Kaydee, do you understand this?" Bruce asks from the other side of the counter.

Finishing up the loaning process with the last patron in line, I walk over to my coworker and the computer he's struggling with.

"Huh," I say, eyeing the flashing error box. I'm not fluent in IT programming, but I still recognize the nightmare that dominated my first month here. "Yeah, I got this."

I go in the back, where the binder full of FAQs and task procedures would be. I flip through it until I find the solution in the middle. Bringing the binder out, I use the solution as the guide as I press random keys and fix the program.

Bruce is eyeing me the whole time. "You can just... find the answer from a binder?"

I nod. "You're not the first person running into all the issues. Hell, I'm pretty sure the manager wrote the binder because of her experience when she first started."

He lets out a sigh of relief. "I'm not stupid, thank god," he whispers to himself.

Aw, poor Bruce.

There are a couple of patrons left in the building. Neither of them seem to be ready to go check out, so I take the free time to ask Bruce for his ears.

He organizes the on-holds while I recap the club party. After Teegan's reaction, one of the members brought out what looked like a cake with the Christmas tree on top, but were actually those cupcakes that shares the frosting. She could have let us pull a cupcake and enjoy it, but she had us do this 'challenge' where we get good luck for the next year if we manage to pull a cupcake away from the cake without taking more frosting from the other cupcakes.

I thought it was dumb, but the member was so happy everyone took part in this 'challenge'. I ended up not saying anything and participated.

Good luck better be coming my way with the new year.

"You said your 'cute girl' wrote you a little werewolf story?" Bruce brings up eventually.

I nod.

"And you're appreciating it, right?" He's acting wary. 

"Why are you asking like you learned that the hard way?"

With a low whistle, he says, "I caught Ash last week just as she was taking shit we didn't use anymore to Goodwill. She was about to donate the board games she got me, and I had to stop her."

One of the patrons finally comes up to the counter with a handheld vacuum. Bruce checks it out and tells the patron when to bring the item back.

"So, were you trying to convince her that you actually loved the games you never used?" I guess after they walk out of the building.

"Hey, only reason I never played them was because neither of us had free time together. I'm still waiting for the day we both have a good three hours and play then. Now, are you appreciating the fuck out of the present your crush gave you?"

"I... yeah. I'm on my fifth time through with it. I made the commitment to read it fifty times, but this one needs to be read fifty more times so I can feel more prepared to let it go and find another --"

I stop talking when my eyes meet Teegan's. Under her hoodie, she's equally surprised to see me. Somehow, she came into the library without my noticing.

With a nervous smile, she throws up a peace sign. She then darts into a section as if she's hiding from someone. That someone wouldn't be me, right?

Bruce's as concerned as I am. "You think she's a shoplifter?" he asks me in a low voice. "One of us should follow her."

"She's the cute girl I was just telling you about," I say. "She isn't going to shoplift."