The Readers of the Grand Library

Ch.1 - Chatterley and Bronson

Thea was running late. This was not an uncommon occurrence, but today was really, really, not the day that she wanted to be late.

She was up for an internship, a pretty prestigious one at that, and being late to the interview was certainly not going to be the way to get her through to the final round of interviews.

Cursing quietly under her breath, Thea tugged on one boot and then the other, and stared down at her bunching tights under a smart wool-blend dress and sighed. There really was no helping it. She didn't have time for anything more than this. She ran a hurried hand through her sandy blonde hair and tugged it back into some semblance of order before pulling a skull cap over it and sweeping her best blazer and pea coat from the bed and pulling them on in quick succession.

She slammed her apartment door and hurried down the five flights of steps and out onto the busy avenue. There was no time to try the subway, a cab was the only option to give her even a chance of being on time. One hand in the air, she waved at the first free cab she saw, and gratefully slid into the backseat when it rolled to a stop before her.

"Library please."

"What branch?" The Cabbie eyed her through his rear view mirror.

"The Main Branch." Thea sat back and tugged her phone from her purse.

"Sixth is backed up all the way through Chelsea. Construction by Macy's."

Groaning, Thea let her head tilt back against the head rest. "I've got an interview, can you try and go around?"

"It's your money," the cabbie replied. He signaled and turned out into the street, lurching forward and jostling Thea as he began the harried rat race that was the life of a New York City cab driver.

They took a weaving route down side streets and around much of the traffic that clogged the main roads. Thea checked the time on her phone with increasing frequency and sighed in relief. This route, while circuitous and costing her a fortune, would probably get her there right on time.

Thank God.

The cabbie let her off on the sight of one of the most tragic comic book movie murders that Thea could remember. She cut through Bryant Park towards the lower-level entrance and tugged at her jacket one more time before sighing. There was no helping it, she looked harassed and anxious, and she was just barely on time. She had to just go with it and hope that she wasn't the first person who was called in to the interview.

Inside the small conference room that a polite volunteer had directed her to, Thea took stock of her competition. She recognized a few of them from school and various job fairs that she'd been to around the city. They smiled politely at Thea as she shrugged off her coat and folded it neatly over her bag. She took a seat next to the one person in the room she didn't know: a tall guy with tight curls and a comb sticking out of his pocket. He was fiddling with a Nets knit cap, twirling it around and around in his hands, pulling at the beanie on the top of it.

Thea stared at him for a moment, before noticing the white strange of string that was starting to dangerously dip into his curls. She opened her mouth to point it out to him and stopped herself. He was the enemy until this interview was over.

Still, it didn't seem fair to not go in on a level playing field.

"You've got a string." Thea tapped the place on her head where the string was, and he started as if she'd given him a shock.

"What?"

"You've got a string, from your hat." Thea tapped her head. "Right here."

His fingers flew up and felt through the curls, disappearing for a moment before producing the starkly white string. He stared at it between his fingers for a moment before turning away from Thea. "Are there any more?"