Bookworms | ✔

fifty-five

Walking down the familiar aisles of the golden-rimmed library that held the foundations of knowledge throughout all eras of time, Nicholas tried hard to ignore the unhinged jaw from the man beside him.

Elijah stared at Nicholas like he was a Greek monster from an old lore with a human body but feral instincts.

He shook his head, choosing to stay focused on the task at hand. Although Nicholas was set to work in a few days, he refused to abandon his beloved pride, his home, his library. He refused to allow dust to gather at darkened corners of classic tales told by literature's all time greatest authors.

When no one was there, his books comforted him. The familiar, yet comforting stale of brewing coffee and delicate pages of woven worlds spurred to life like his imagination within those walls. Book binders leached onto the shelves, awaiting a grand arrival of their new masters, a realm of mystery forfeiting their rights to reality as the books sat in idle.

He could never leave this place.

Nicholas dared a glance back at Elijah, praying that the shock was overwritten with stress for law school.

Unfortunately, Elijah's gentle brown eyes widened to a shattering of timber wood during dry summers. The surprise of his engagement still shook him to the core, and to be entirely honest, Nicholas couldn't believe himself either.

"Elijah, staring at me all day won't make me your boyfriend at this point," he said in jest, hiding his smile as he distracted himself with a college law book. "Besides, I agreed to help you find books to use for next year not to be gawked at."

His friend scoffed, snapping back to the present. "You jerk. How could you not tell me you're engaged?" he accused.

"I just did."

"You know what I mean!" exclaimed Elijah, hands in the air at the Nicholas's casual tone when regarding personal affairs. "How the hell are you getting married before me? Honest to God, I never thought I'd see the day that you'd be head over heels for some girl."

"She's not some girl," refuted Nicholas a bit more aggressively than he intended. "She's my girl."

Elijah gave him a blank stare. "My point is proven, ladies and gents. I believe I deserve an award at this point for shipping you two the whole time."

Nicholas rolled his eyes, closing the book in his hands and replacing it with another. "That's not how marriage works, Elijah."

His delusional friend was far too gone in his fantasy to even comprehend Nicholas's words. In his mind, Nicholas played the character of a knight who whisked a princess away from her worldly struggles, who saved her from the dragon that guarded her dungeon, his father.

Although Nicholas was not the type to babble about his family, he had told Elijah parts of his past. Elijah fully knew his father's scope of morality.

Silly as it seemed, they both knew Dina needed no protection or a knight in shining armor. She needed an equal, a Muslim man devoted to God, and most importantly a man who could be both her best friend and her lover in life.

"So, do I get to see the pretty ring you got her?" he asked, nosy as usual but with eyes shining with glee. "I have high standards for such a ring to even exist."

"Don't worry about it," said Nicholas absentmindedly flipping through more pages of law. He sighed. "Elijah, hurry up and find the book you're looking for. I got other stuff to do."

Elijah awkwardly scratched the back of his neck, smiling nervously. "Yeah... about that. I didn't really need a book," he said, quietly at first. "I just wanted to know more about your engagement."