Librarian Blues❄Troy Barnes

good times roll - chapter 1

"Bill, how did spray cheese end up in this book?" I asked, staring at the spray cheese leaking from between the pages.

"Uh, I don't know. I didn't have anything to do with that. Maybe someone stole the book before putting it back in my bag," he shrugged.

"I can see a can of spray cheese in your bag with a label that says Bill's Cheese," I stated, pointing at it.

"You didn't see that. That's an invasion of privacy," he yelled, zipping up the bag.

"Uh-huh, either way, you owe me $23.75 for the book. I'll add it to your student account charges," I stated, turning back to my computer.

"Whatever. I'll be talking to the Dean about this," he grumbled, slinging his bag over his shoulder.

"Sounds good, Bill. Don't forget that the recipe book you checked out is due next Tuesday," I replied.

I continued to work on my computer, not having to look up from it for a while. The library wasn't used a lot by anyone but a few study groups. I had no problem with most of them. They usually followed the rules and kept the rooms clean. There was one study group that never did. One time, they even ripped the carpets up. It was unbelievable, but no one ever had the courage to stand up to them.

"Good morning, Miss James!" a familiar voice said, grabbing my attention. I looked up to see Troy Barnes, a member of the study group that never listened.

"Oh, hello! What can I do for you, Mr. Barnes?" I asked.

"Can I sign out Study Room F from 1:00 until 2:00?" he asked.

"Sure! Let me see if it's still available," I said, grabbing the sign-up clipboard. "It looks like it hasn't been signed out yet. Go ahead and put your name down along with anyone else that will be using the room."

He nodded, jotting down the information and handing me back the clipboard.

"Anything else I can do for you?" I asked, putting the clipboard off to the side.

"N-nope! That's all I needed from you! Thanks again, you're a beautiful d-I mean, have a beautiful day!" he stuttered out, walking away quickly after. 

I shook my head and went back to doing my work. I glanced over at the clock to see how long I had before the infamous study group came in for their room. They would be here in about thirty minutes, so I decided to make sure there were no problems in the study room.

One time, the table was moved about a foot to the left, and that group lost it. Pierce Hawthorne yelled at me for an hour straight. 

Because the table had been moved.

Luckily there weren't any issues, so I went back up to my desk and waited for the chaos to arrive. After a while, their loud voices yelling through the library alerted me to their entry. I groaned, already over their existence. I got up and walked over to the room and waited for them.

They came up and stared at me for a moment as I blocked the door. 

"Any reason you're not letting us in?" Jeff Winger scoffed, crossing his arms.
 
"Yes, actually. For the first time since I started working here, one of you finally signed out of the study room. So, thank you!" I started, smiling at them. They all looked around, seemingly pleasantly surprised, before I kept talking. "But you came into my library yelling at the top of your lungs. I'm tired of it. You can follow the rules like everyone else. Next time you're loud in my library, you're out.

"Okay. Sure thing, Deputy. We'll make sure to whisper in your library," Jeff laughed, reaching around me to open the door. Most of the others rolled their eyes and walked into the room.

"I'm sorry. We'll do better," Troy said, smiling as he walked in. His friend nodded and apologized as well. I'm pretty sure his name was Abed. I sighed, walking back to my desk and sitting down. 

I really hope they listened. I would hate to kick them out, mainly because of the problems they would cause. But also because of how sweet Troy and his friend seemed. The others didn't care when I had told them to start following the rules, but they both seemed to listen. It was definitely a welcome change.

When my shift ended, we had second shift come in. As I was getting ready to walk out to my car, Troy ran up and stopped me.

"Uh, hey?" I asked, laughing nervously.

"Hey, I want to apologize again for Jeff. He talks about how hot you are all the time, and I think you sticking up to him, I mean to us, kind of took him off guard. I'm sorry he was rude," he said, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Thanks, I actually really appreciate that. And uh, thanks for telling me Jeff Winger thinks I'm hot?" I laughed.

"You're welcome, but he's wrong," Troy laughed. I felt my smile drop into a frown, and Troy quickly realized what he had said and continued, "That's not what I meant. You are hot, uh, but I mean you're more than that. I'm messing this up, I'll see you around," he said, shaking his head as he walked away.

I looked back and watched him go back into the study room, laughing to myself. Was he trying to hit on me? Because that was cute.