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"i've never seen someone as gorgeous as her."
***
EVELYN NEEDED TO GO TO THE LIBRARY. She had a research paper that she needed to work on.
She had no desire to go to the library. Evelyn didn't like books that had been used for shared in any way. Sure, public libraries were a good way to provide resources to everyone.
But mistreated books were Evelyn's biggest nightmare.
So as she walked up the stairs to enter the college's library, Evelyn felt gloomier than usual.
She carefully opened the door and walked in. The silence was so crisp, Evelyn felt like a nuisance just walking in.
But there was no time for that, she had to get to work.
It had been about three hours and Evelyn was finally finished. She would have to come back to look over the resources again, especially because she didn't want to have library books in her possession.
She reached up to place a book back on the shelf. As soon as she pushed it in, a hand bumped into her own.
"Sorry about that!" someone whispered.
Evelyn looked over to see a boy looking down at her. His eyes were bright green and his hair was a soft blonde color. She instantly noticed that he was taller than Porco, and a bit thinner too.
"S-Sorry! Didn't mean to hit your hand!" he said.
Evelyn shook her head and stepped back for a moment.
"No worries, that's on me. I wasn't paying attention." she replied.
"Wait, you're in my integrated market and econ class. What's your name?" the boy asked.
Evelyn didn't usually have people recognize her. This was an unusual interaction.
"Evelyn." she said.
"Cool! I'm Peter. So you're doing research for that paper?" he asked.
Evelyn nodded.
"Yeah, it's not fun." she said.
"Yeah, I get what you mean. Hey, maybe we can share resources and work on it together! Can I give you my phone number?" Peter asked.
Evelyn was very confused. Nobody had been so enthusiastic around her in this way before.
"Um, okay." Evelyn said.
He gave her his number and the two conversed some more.
"So, um, text me if you want to work together. Um also, I just wanted to tell you..."
There was an uncomfortable silence for a moment.
"I think you're really pretty!" he said. His face was flushed a bright red and he couldn't look Evelyn in the eye.
Her eyes went wide and she became confused. This was definitely out of the ordinary.
"Thank you. I'll be going now." Evelyn said.
She left the library and got into her car quickly.
Sure she had been called pretty before, but only by people who wanted to hook up once and forget about.
Never by someone who was actually nice about it.
When she got home, Evelyn opened the door and walked in.
"Hey, Evelyn." Porco said from the couch.
"Hey." she said, but she was distracted by her phone.
Evelyn:
Hey, I'm willing to work together sometime
She sent the text message and put her phone in her pocket.
"Is something wrong?" Porco asked.
Evelyn shook her head and headed straight to her room.
"No, not at all." she said.
Porco frowned and looked at the ground for a second. She had just gotten home a few seconds ago and he could tell she was acting strange.
Evelyn walked back out and began taking something to eat out of the refrigerator.
"Are you okay?" Porco asked.
"Yes, I'm alright." she said.
He saw Evelyn check her phone again. She didn't do that very often, he was beginning to get suspicious.
"Did you want something specific for dinner? I'm just going to make some pasta really quickly." she said.
"Pasta is fine." Porco replied.
He didn't like this.
He didn't like this one bit.
Evelyn was acting strange, and Porco didn't like it.
"You know, this research paper is such a waste of time." Peter said.
"I guess." Evelyn replied.
The two sat on a coffee shop while working on their research. Peter would begin speaking and Evelyn would offer her one-worded responses.
"So, what do you do for fun? Hobbies?" Peter asked.
Evelyn looked up at him without a smile. Peter seemed to be completely ignorant of the fact that Evelyn was never visibly happy.
"I read. Collect books." Evelyn said.
"That's cool! What genres do you like best?" Peter asked.
"Mystery. Maybe fantasy." she said.
Peter grinned and set down his notebook.
"I like those genres too! You should join the campus book club." Peter said.
"I'm not a club person. Not really my thing." she said.
"Oh, you're not a social person?" Peter asked.
Evelyn couldn't believe this guy. Did she look like a social person? She had two close friends and her roommate. That was it.
"No. I keep to myself." she said.
Evelyn's phone began buzzing on the table. Peter saw it for a brief moment before she picked it up.
The name Porco was displayed with a photo of a man with caramel-colored hair. She quickly answered the phone and pressed it to her ear.
"Hey, Porco." she said.
Peter was taken aback. Her usual dry tone had changed almost in an instant. The greeting she gave this man was actually normal, and somewhat bright.
"No, I don't need anything. Thanks for asking." she said.
Peter could hear the man's voice faintly through the phone.
"Whatever you want, just let me know. I'm at the coffee shop on campus right now, though, so I'll be a while." she said.
After another second, she finally said goodbye and hung up.
"Sorry about that." she said.
"No worries. Friend of yours?" Peter asked.
Evelyn nodded and returned to her work. Peter wasn't sure what to think. Was this guy her boyfriend?
Peter had been keeping an eye on Evelyn for a while. He wasn't some kind of crazy stalker, but he always admired Evelyn from afar whenever they happened to cross paths.
He thought she was beautiful, and wanted to get to know her.
