green & town // adam met

two- those damn eyes

EH EH EH EH

I groaned at the sound of my alarm going off on my bedside table. I hit snooze one last time, knowing that if I hit snooze again, my whole sleep schedule would be ruined.
Getting used to the New York time is going to be a big adjustment, I knew that coming here and I've known that every time I visit the states. Somehow, I still manage to stay up until 3 am here and sleep until 1 pm.
I closed my eyes again and let my head hit the pillow again. What felt like three seconds had gone by, and the alarm was already going off again.
EH EH EH EH
"Fucking hell," I groaned and picked up my phone, squinting with one eye to turn off the alarm. I groaned again into my pillow and I could hear the sound of laughter and music coming from the living room/kitchen area of the apartment.
I got out of bed and groggily made my way to the door, opening it and getting hit by the smell of something baking.
Camryn and Ryan's laughters and yelps filled the apartment as music played off of Camryn's phone. I leaned against the hallway entrance as I watched the two in the kitchen.
The two were attempting to make breakfast, but amidst that was supposedly a good fight happening with the ingredients.
"Oh, Lish," Cam said as she noticed me in the room now. She paused her music. "Did we wake you? I'm so sorry-"
"No, my stupid alarm did," I said, walking over to the kitchen table. "Are you guys having fun."
"Oh yeah," Ryan said, licking the banana bits off of his fingers. "A blast. Want some chocolate chip banana pancakes?"
"Some what?" I asked laughing, looking at the mixing bowl on the counter.
"You'll love them," Cam said, wiping her hands off on a nearby towel. "Ryan showed me them. I thought the exact same thing you did before but they're delicious."
      "Oh I bet they are," I said, wiping my glasses off on my sleep shirt. "But do you guys mind if I run to the library around the corner really quick? I want to grab some books to read while you guys go to work and when I have some downtime."
      "Lish, you're 26 years old, you don't need my permission to go anywhere while you're here," Cam said, stirring the contents of the mixing bowl together with the spoon. "Plus we will save you some pancakes for when you come back."
      "Sweet," I said, standing up from my seat at the table. I moved back to my room, hearing Camryn's music and the food fight start again. Cam let out one of her contagious laughs, making me smile as I walked away.
I grabbed a change of clothes and my toiletries and headed towards the guest bathroom down the hall. I decided to set up my shower items and everything now just so I could have them later.
"My goodness, Elisha, why can't you just wake up like a princess," I said to myself in the mirror as I tackled my tangled mess of my hair.
I somehow smoothed it down the with brush and I moved to brushing my teeth. I was grateful that Cam and Ryan has their own bathroom and that I had this one to myself on this trip.
I changed into my clothes and headed towards the kitchen area again. I slipped on my shoes and threw on my coat as Ryan and Cam still laughed and danced around.
"Oh, Lish," Cam said, running over to the coffee table. She walked back to me with a key chain and a key. "Here's the spare to the apartment in case you need it." She threw the key at me.
"Thanks," I said, catching the keys in my hand. "Need anything while I'm out?"
"I'll text you if I do," she said, returning back to the kitchen. "Be safe."
"Okay mom," I joked, leaving the apartment.
I shut the door behind me and headed down the three flights of stairs and out of the complex. The cold, rainy day hit me as I looked down at my phone to check the directions.
     I tried my best to stay out of the rain, but the crowds of people on the sidewalks proved that to be a difficult task in itself. I was glad the library was just around the corner, because the crowd was proving to be too much and something I was definitely not used to.
     I opened the library door and walked in, the warmth of the furnace hitting my pink cheeks and nose first. I felt myself quickly warming up as I walked to the front desk.
      "Hi, I'm Elisha Marcus, I'm here to set up a library card," I said, pulling out my ID for her from my wallet.
      "Are you from around here, Ms?" The head lady asked, typing into her computer.
      "No, just here for a few months and I know I'll be at the library a lot so I'd thought it be a good idea," I said to her as she took my ID information.
       "Well, you're right, it is a good idea," She said smiling at me. "I'll have a card printed out for you by the time you check out."
      "Thank you," I smiled at her and headed towards the nonfiction sections of the library.
      I started to gather books and novels in my hands. I found myself amongst many of Stephen Hawking's works in one aisle, being indecisive of my choice.
      "If I were you," a voice said behind me, making me jump out of my skin. "I would choose The Intimidation Game."
      I turned around and was met by the smiling face of a taller man. His big smile was hidden behind his scruffy beard and the hair on his head was placed in all different directions.
"Scared you?" He asked, smiling down at me with a flirty smirk. "Here."
He reached up to the shelf that I couldn't and grabbed The Intimidation Game from its spot in the stack.
"What's this about?" I asked him, waiting for his clever response.
"Well, you see," he said, frantically thumbing through the pages. "I really couldn't tell you because I just wanted a valid excuse to come over here and talk to you."
    The man gave his biggest smile as he stuck his hand out for me to shake.
     "I'm Adam," he said, his eyes glowing soft brown in the dim light of the library. They gave off a radiant youthfulness while also giving wisdom behind them as well.
     "Elisha," I said, shaking his hand in mine. "And for the record, The Intimidation Game is about 20th century mathematical genius, Alan Turing to crack Nazi codes, including the Enigma."
"Huh, That- that actually sounds interesting," he said, checking out the back over as I started to walk towards a new section. "Hey wait, I actually have a good recommendation for you, for real this time."
"For real real?" I laughed along with him.
"Cmon," He said, moving through the aisles of books. "You May be a science type of gal, but I specialize in anything human rights related at all."
"Really?" I asked him as he scanned the Human Rights books in front of him.
"In fact," he said, pulling a book out of its spot on the shelf. "Justice. A very interesting take on the introduction to human rights and how modern philosophers saw those rights being just, very much recommend."
      "Shh!" The head librarian that helped me earlier said in our direction.
      Adam leaned in closer to me so he could be heard clearly while whispering.
      "How about this," he said to me, pointing to The Intimidation Game cover. "I'll brush up on my Nazi defeating reading, and you check out some of the human rights philosophies, if that interests you, of course."
"No, yeah, I'll definitely check it out," I said, flipping it over to read the back blurb. "Definitely seems interesting to say the least."
"Cool," he smiled. "So uh, you're not from around here, are you?"
"What gave it away, the horrid accent?" I joked.
"I don't find it horrid at all," He said, propping himself up on the bookshelf by his arm. "It's almost like a breath of fresh air from the constant yelling that downtown New Yorker's always do."
"Adam, please," the librarian said to us again. Adam blushed and turned his attention back to me.
"But yeah, I-" He started, but before he could finish, he leaned too forwards and knocked down a whole row of books off of their shelf, then all scattering the floor of the library.        "Oh my gosh, my mistake, really," He said, picking up as many books as he could. "I'm the clumsiest person, trust me. I'm so sorry."
        "It's fine, I've don't worse, trust me," I said, also while picking up the books. We looked up at each other, pausing the commotion for just a second as I looked back into his soft brown eyes.
        I felt something, something odd and foreign to me. I could feel my nerves kicking into gear and taking over the strange feeling that was happening. My body went into fight or flight mode, and quickly it chose flight.
       "Sorry, uh, I should go," I said, getting up from the ground and setting my stack of books on the nearest chair. "Really, it was nice to meet you, Adam."
        "You too," he said from the ground, sounding almost defeat from behind me as I nodded goodbye to the head librarian and out the door empty handed. I left Justice and my library card behind and braves into the cold.
     I felt myself hurrying to the apartment as fast as I could, not caring about the people around me getting mad for trying to hurry down the sidewalk.
      I jumped up the stairs to the apartment complex and hurried up the three flights to apartment 308. I inserted the key and entered the kitchen area, trying to catch my breath.
      "You're back fast," Camryn said as I unlocked the apartment door and trying to head straight to my room. She was about to take a bite of her breakfast. "No books?"
       "No, I really didn't look," I said, quickly taking off my coat and shoes. "Plus with the rain and my grumbling stomach, I figured I should just head home."
       "Well, we've got you a plate," Ryan said, gesturing to the plate on the kitchen table.
       "Thanks," I said, taking the plate in my hands and running to my room, shutting the door behind me.
      I finally felt the nerves calm down in me as I stuffed my face with the banana pancakes that were, to my surprise, really good.
      I sat down on my bed in the silence, chewing on the banana pancakes and trying my hardest to get those eyes out of my head. Those damn eyes.