❝ i'm jealous of the rain, that falls upon your skin.
it's closer than my hands have been, i'm jealous of the rain. ❞
Laurel had 3 things that she enjoyed doing in her small town. Read, listen to music, and gaze at Nancy Wheeler. Apart from the fa...
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The beauty working at Betty's Books wasn't the pay--even if Betty did pay Laurel a steady income--it was the ability to not be seen. You could be pretending to stock books on the shelf when in reality, you could be admiring Nancy Wheeler. Laurel Byers didn't work at the cash often, but when she did, she would make sure Nancy wasn't there. The thought of stuttering or blushing in front of Nancy made Laurel anxious, so when Mathew Miller insisted on Laurel working at the cash with Nancy Wheeler just a few bookshelves down, Laurel thought she might have had a melt down.
"Wait, Mathew, I...can't work at cash," Laurel pleaded as Mathew quickly put on his jacket.
"Sorry Laurel, but there's an emergency at my house, I have to leave. Tell Betty about me leaving will ya?" He managed to get out before racing out of the door, the familiar bell ringing at the movement of the door.
"I will," the small brunette replied quietly, even though Mathew was long gone. Laurel peeked behind her, noticing Nancy facing away from her, checking out a book on a shelf. The young teen breathed in and out slowly, making her way to the cash. She felt slightly faint, but luckily there was a stool behind the register, so she plopped herself down.
Pulling out her current book, Matilda, she began reading, once in awhile peeking over the the pages to glance at Nancy. She was just the epitome of perfect to Laurel. Nancy had her beautiful frizzy locks trailing down her back, her odd freckles placed upon her cheeks and neck. Her beautiful ocean eyes seemed to be lost in the book she was reading, that was Laurel's favourite look of hers.
When Nancy was really lost in a book, completely concentrated on the story, she would continuously bite her lip, or twirl a tendril of hair between her index and middle finger. Suddenly seeing her move, Laurel quickly looked back at her book, hoping that Nancy wouldn't find her looking at her.
Laurel had been considered to fancy both boys and girls for awhile now, since 7th grade when she confessed to her mother; only her mother and twin brother Jonathan knew. She would tell Will, but she knew the kid would confess to his 3 friends one day, totally ruining the secrecy. If the school found out, her life would be a disaster. Boys in her school have been bullied many times by other kids for liking the same gender, so Laurel knew she couldn't let anybody know; at least till she graduated.
"Hello?" Laurel suddenly heard, her bronze eyes glancing upwards to see a confused Nancy in front of the counter. Laurel froze up, suddenly realizing Nancy must have been asking for her attention, but Laurel always got lost in her train of thought. This was her nightmare! Nancy Wheeler was staring right at Laurel for the first time ever, and she had already made a fool of herself.
"Oh, uh...I'm, so sorry I-I just g-got lost in my..." Laurel blurted out, standing up so quickly the wooden stool behind her toppled over. Nancy bit back a smile, a pinkish colouring flooding Laurel's cheeks. She opened her mouth to finish her sentence, but she was having trouble remembering the word for the object she was holding.
"Book?" Nancy finished for her, "Yeah, I get lost in books too." Laurel nodded quickly, turning on the cash register and plugging in the prices for the books she had put on the counter.
"Twen-I mean...twelve dollars," Laurel chuckled out, the tips of her ear and cheeks growing redder by the minute. Nancy nodded, completely oblivious to Laurel's nervous acts, as she handed over her dollar bills. Laurel collected them from her hand, but the moment she took her cold hand away from Nancy's warm one, she missed it. Placing the money in the cash, she closed it and gave Nancy her receipt (she even almost dropped it).
"Thanks, have a nice day," Nancy spoke while exiting the store, giving one last glance at the starstruck cashier before walking outside. The bell on the door was the last sound Laurel heard before the whole store was pitch quiet, the girl staring blankly at the other end of the store.
Laurel's breathing became raspy, and she grazed her hand over the inhaler in her pocket of her jeans, but soon her breathing became regular again and she let her hand fall. That was the first time in awhile she almost had to use her inhaler for her asthma, since the last time she actually had to was in gym class when they were playing dodgeball last April.
Laurel was glad it was over, but a part of her was thankful that Mathew had that emergency.
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GUESS WHATS BACK BACK BACK BACK AGAIN
ITS THIS FIC (if anyone has followed me for a long time you'll remember this gem)
season 2 is coming out and i wanna finish this fic cause i (maybe) will have ideas for the second season
