Lost In The Books | J.M.R.F. (On Hold)

Chapter 1

"Ari"

"Ari"

"Ella"

"Ariella"

"Babes"

"Hoe"

"Love"

"Bitch"

"Hoe ass bitch better wake your ass up"

I felt something hit my back making me groan and throw whatever it was right back. I heard a squeal and opened my eyes to see Alethea glaring at me.

"Did I hit you?" I ask groggily rubbing my eyes.

"Almost"

"Dammit throw it back and let me try again" I stick my arms out to catch the pillow but Alethea just stands there staring at me unamused.

"We have to go to work Ari. Mrs. Jones won't be there this morning and we're the only ones that work there besides her" she groans throwing herself onto my back. I grunt from all of the extra weight that was just put on me and I roll to the side making her fall onto the floor.

"If you don't get up Ariella I wi-"

"You will what? Your a five foot three inch bitch what you gonna do? I can literally step on you" I ask laughing at the short girl standing in front of me.

"You know what fine. There's gonna be a cute boy walking into the store today and you won't be there. I can feel it" she states confidently walking out of the room with her head held high. I just laugh at her and slowly get out of the comfort of my bed.

"I'll be back later" I pout looking down at it.

I make my bed, and by make I mean straighten out the comforter since I'm too lazy to actually make the bed, and I go to my closet picking out a pair of black shorts and a white shirt that came off of mine and Alethea's merch line.

It had the emoji of a brain with an X on the front right side of the shirt and on the back, it said Brainless B***h with the numbers 99 under it.

When I walk out of my room I see that Alethea was wearing the same thing and I just laughed a bit. You will really only see us wear our merch about 90 percent of the time.

"I don't feel like driving and I don't trust you so I ordered an Uber" the short girl states handing me a water bottle. I just stick my tongue out at her as I tie the black converse hightops onto my feet.

Alethea grabs both of our backpacks and hands mine to me as we walk out of the door. I make sure the door is locked before following the short girl into the elevator.

"Are you gonna put books up today or am I?" I ask looking over at my best friend.

"Did you hide the step stool again?" She asks looking at me in the eyes. She knows when I'm lying. I don't know how but she does.

"ARIELLA" she yells. I just start laughing at her expression and throw my hands up in defense as we walk off the elevator and to our Uber.

"It's funny come on," I say trying to get her to laugh. She just shook her head and gave the driver the location of the bookstore.

Once we arrive I pay the driver and get out of the car so I can unlock the door. As we enter the little bell rings throughout the small building and we both head behind the counter where we leave our bags.

The whole front of the store was glass with the words "The Book Nook" written in big white letters. Occasionally Alethea and I will take window markers and draw on the window to add more design to it whenever there is a special occasion or it's a holiday.

With it being summer we had drawn a sun shining down on the beach with little waves in the ocean. It will soon have to change to leaves though considering it's September.

That's another cool thing about working here. There's a perfect view of the ocean. Which is great for Alethea and I because we practically have saltwater in our veins. We're always surfing and our parents were convinced we lived in the ocean.

But the view also hurts.

"Ari you're staring again," the brunette girl said looking at me with a worried look.

"I'm fine"

"You keep saying that but do you really mean it?" She asks looking between my eyes. Her small hand reaches out and rests on top of mine. I just nod my head and bite my lip.

She doesn't seem convinced but she drops the subject. That's what I love about her. She doesn't push me to talk and she respects my boundaries. We grew up together and when I say we grew up together we actually did.

Alethea Grace was born on August 16, 1999, at 11:59 pm.

I was born on August 17, 1999, at 12:00 am.

Our moms and dads were best friends throughout high school and had mine and Alethea's lives planned out when our moms were pregnant with us.

I was broken out of my thoughts by the bell above the door ringing and I snapped my attention from the window to the customer who just walked in.

"Hello welcome to The Book Nook what can I do for you?" I ask nicely.

Alethea came behind the counter and started working on the computer while I talked to the customer. He was a boy that looked around my age with brown hair and green-blue eyes. Not gonna lie... he's cute.

"Do you have any Harry Potter books on the shelves?" He asks pointing to a random bookshelf in the store. I look over at Alethea knowing that she would have the answer and she did.

"We should. Any specific one?" She asks resting her chin in the palm of her hand.

"The first one" Alethea types in the books name and found that there were two on the shelves and she had the boy follow her.  She comes back a minute later with another unamused look on her face.

"Where is it?" She asks crossing her arms.

"Whatever so do you mean?" I ask innocently.

"You know what I mean Ari. Where's the step stool?" The boy behind her starts laughing and tries to hide it by covering his mouth with his hand. I walk around the short girl and reach above one of the shelves and pull it down.

"You mean the midget lifter" I smirk holding it up by the handle with my index finger. This made the brunette boy crack up some more.

"Haha. Just give it to me" she says taking it from my hand as she goes to get the book. She hands it to the boy and points him over in my direction as I walk back behind the counter.

"Take that back over to Ariella and she'll take care of it from there"

The boy just walks back over to me and hands me the book so I can scan it and take the card from the front of it out.

"How long will you have this book?" I ask looking up at him.

"Maybe a week at most" he shrugs.

"A week? At most? Have you read this before?" I ask tilting my head to the side.

"Yeah I have. Three times actually"

"Well okay then. Have it back here on or before September sixteenth and we won't have to fine you" I say stamping the card and placing it back into the front of the book.

"Thank you"

"Have a nice day sir" I say going to work on the computer.

"Jonah"

"What?" I ask confused.

"My name. It's Jonah" he explains smiling at me.

"Alright well have a nice day... Jonah" I give him a single nod and watch as he places his hand on the door.

"You too... Ariella" then he leaves. I watch him as his figure walks around the corner and out of my view.

"Alethea I fucking hate you"