Better Than Dreams

Books, staring, work, and more staring

Just wanted to say sorry for not updating... I've had to write a short story for school and my creative writing class, so I haven't been putting all my time into this book.

Timothy

I watched silently as Sebastian ran his slim fingers along the spines of the adult thriller novels. He had good taste. He stopped at Murder on the Orient Express, his fingers lightly brushing the top of the delicate spine.

"It's a good book." I said quietly.

Sebastian jumped, shoving the book back onto the birch shelf. I raised my hands in surrender and grinned despite myself. Sebastian had always seemed to stoic; it was funny to see him startled like this.

"Yeah. It is." He said briskly. He turned to look back at the bookcase, then after a minute, he sighed as if he'd just lost some internal battle with himself. "What's your favourite book? Or genre?"

He was obviously attempting small talk. It was kind of unnerving, but also somewhat endearing. I gave him a warn reassuring smile and his face went bright red. "Sci-fi probably. I also like some dystopian fantasy now and then." Sebastian crinkled his nose in distaste, then stopped and tried to smile. I laughed. "Not your style?" Sebastian shook his head and gestured to the thriller and horror sections. It was my time to give him a look of mock antipathy. His odd little mask of impassivity fell and he grinned, which made me laugh. Soon enough, we were both laughing together.

"Have you read Sherlock Holmes?" He asked suddenly.

"No, it always seemed a bit boring to me."

Sebastian's oceanic eyes went wide in surprise, then they narrowed and he stalked over to the mystery section, grabbed a book and pressed it lightly into my hands. The tips of his fingers brushed mine, sending a cold chill through my whole body. It wasn't from the temperature. I could feel myself blushing. I looked up at Sebastian's face, only to see that he looked completely normal. God, I was weird. Human contact, so what?

"I'll read it!" I said to Sebastian, genuinely. I was completely committed to reading this book now.

"The Hound of The Baskervilles is my favourite. I think you'll like it." He said shyly. I smiled and we proceeded to whisper about books and authors for the next hour. I'd never been a nerd or a very big reader, but I really enjoyed that conversation. Sebastian had totally let his guard down; his eyes were bright with interest and wonder. He was smiling and talking as if we were old friends. It was... charming. Captivating, even.

"I think I will too." I said with a smile.

I suggested we go back to our dorm, and this time, Sebastian accepted with a soft expression.

Back in the dorm, I fell backward onto the couch, stretching my arms out above my head.

"Thank god school is over." I exhaled tiredly.

"We still have our project to do." Sebastian reminded me and laughed.

"That's not due for another month!" I said, giggling for no apparent reason.

Sebastian stopped laughing and cocked his head to the side. "I like to get things done quick." He shrugged. I looked up at him. I didn't think he was serious. The project had been assigned an hour ago!

"Okay, I guess we can work on part of it." I said, wanting to make Sebastian happy.

Sebastian smiled. We spent the next two hours putting together an extremely elaborate project and did so much research I felt like my head would explode with all that knowledge. Sebastian looked excited, though. He was grabbing books off the piles that had somehow appeared by his bed. He had his laptop sitting off to the side, an online medical almanac opened up on the tab. He really didn't screw around.

He'd started uttering medical terms that didn't really string together in my mind, but he seemed to understand it all.

"Can I help?" I asked, feeling quite guilty that he was doing all the work.

Sebastian looked up from his book and looked confused. "I- I- uh--" He seemed unable to respond, so I just nodded.

"Well, see you tomorrow then." I felt really bad leaving him to the project, but I could see he was uncomfortable. He didn't want to have to explain his thought process to me. I wouldn't understand anyway.

"Alright." Sebastian said. Then, almost too softly for me to hear, "Sorry."

I wanted to ask what for, but his face told me to just drop it. I went to bed.

It took me hours to fall asleep, my head filled with thoughts of the last few hours. Sebastian seemed to be warming up to me. I thought of him in the library, his eyes bright as he scanned the lines of old thriller novels. His posture was perfect. Odd thing to notice, but it was true. He stood tall, his back pin straight. Somehow, it didn't strike me as something someone like him would have, good posture. He was the kind of person that you could find hunched over a book or notepad. I suspected he did a lot more that I didn't know about, like drugs or whatever, but for some reason, I didn't care. I'd made it my personal goal to become this strange person's friend. Sebastian would have to trust me first, though. That would be a tough thing to gain.

I was entirely willing to try.