144 𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬, 𝐡𝐚𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐫

135....

....hours left.

by the time Lake left his house the sky had vinnie yawning. he searched for the moon, floating against the inky black sky. years ago he wouldn't even look at the sky before going to sleep at night. It wasn't until he met Lake that he payed attention to them.

5 YEARS AND 17 DAYS LEFT

The curly headed girl held an "astrology" book against her arm, walking up to the librarians desk. The teacher told them to take out one book for their reading logs. She chose "Moon and Stars: and who we are" it was in a stack full of picture books and boring novels.

Vinnie was embarrassed to have an anime novel in his hands. He looked around at the millions books on shelves, waiting to be read. Moby Dick, it's a book his teacher had been talking about earlier. Yeah smart people read moby dick. He planned to replace the anime for something more advanced.

The librarian naturally frowned behind her grey hairs, "next." Vinnie was next in line. Crap. All his classmates were behind him. Lake was standing patiently waiting to see what he was reading. He put the book out in front of him and sighed.

"Woah is that the new one?!" The girl said with excitement and glee. She pulled the book around to face her on the counter as the librarian pulled in a deep breath.

"Yeah it is..." he said. He couldn't believe that someone else was reading it. Someone else liked the book he liked. She did. The girl with curly hair who seemed way cooler than him by a long shot.

"That's so unfair, I've been looking for this last book." She said, not being rude or passive at all, "Don't spoil it for me, I'm still trying to figure out if the guy is in love with the girl or not." She said laughing as he nodded and checked out the book.

Don't spoil it. That means they'd have to speak again for him to spoil it. She'd probably forget about me anyways so it's fine.

"Next!" The librarian called out as vinnie stepped aside and let the other person pass. The girl moved from the desk and placed the book back on the stack where she found it. Vinnie watched her carefully. Something about her was interesting, he couldn't tell what was going to come next for him.

All he knew was there was this jumble in his stomach. Every time he got further away from her, it tightened. Like if he didn't go after her this force would crush him immediately.

"Why'd you put the book back?" He asked with desperate intrigue. She smiled, that was the first anybody had asked her a question about something she liked. People always insisted on talking about themselves and forcing her to listen.

"She won't let me take it out. I accidentally lost this book I was reading." She rolled her eyes and walked away from the stack, exiting the library. Lake wasn't trying to be rude, it was just a habit of hers to walk away when she was mad. Which was often.

If she didn't walk away she would say what was really on her mind. And she was sure nobody wanted to hear her curse out a librarian. Vinnie ran after her. Running after a girl wasn't something he imagined he would ever do.

That type of thing only happened in the romantic fantasy books he read. But as he watched the curls hang low on her head, he knew it was worth it. "Here." He said handing her the book. She was shocked, she grabbed it regardless.