"Ugh, she's here again."
I immediately look up as she walks through the door. Every Sunday she comes in and reads a book. I don't just mean skims a chapter to see if she wants it. She grabs a novel off the shelf and spends the day reading it before placing it back on the shelf and leaving at the end of the day.
I work at the Half Priced Books right off campus. I've never talked to her, I've never seen her anywhere other than here, I don't even know her name.
But the way she smiles, laughs, stomps her feet in frustration, or even wipes tears from her eyes while reading, makes me feel like I've known her forever. I kinda think I'm in love with her.
I don't wanna sound like a creeper though.
I hear my boss clear his throat behind me and
realize that I've been staring too long. He hates her. She comes in uses the product without even buying. 'She's bad for business' he says.
There was one day he went over to kick her out. It was a while before he came back but when he did he was fuming and she was sitting there still reading, a content expression on her face.
Later in the day my boss goes on break and I work up the courage to talk to her. I walk over to the window she's sitting by and say, "Hi."
As her head whips to me her red hair lights up like a fire only to be extinguished by her ice blue eyes.
"Hi," she replies.
"My name is Ryan. I work here."
She gets an annoyed expression on her face and opens her mouth, but before she can say anything I say, "I promise, I'm not here to kick you out." I hold my hands up in a surrender pose.
Her face calms and she looks at me waiting to get to the point.
"I just see you reading here and I wanted to give you some recommendations." I hand her the list.
"I've read a lot of the books here and based on what I've seen you grab I thought you might like these."
She grabs the list still looking at me. She opens it up and smiles.
"Thanks," she says looking back up at me.
She reaches for a pen in her purse and rips off a blank corner of the paper. She jots something down on it and hands it to me.
"Here. Just in case you think of anymore or I need someone to talk about them with."
She gives me a wink and returns to her book.
