Waterbottle | Number 5 x Reader

Talking to Yourself

"Do you think I'm going crazy?"

Yes, because you're talking to the children's section stuffed animals. Leon the stuffed Lion, if he were real, would agree. You are in fact going crazy.

"Like the guy just disappeared! Boom! Gone! Not a trace left behind, but me on the floor and my books scattered around."

You shelved Goodnight Moon into the elementary section. Goodbye and goodnight to your afternoon siesta. Shelving books would eat up all your afternoon, regardless if this was a part-time job or not.

"I don't know, it was weird." You sighed, your arms were sore from carrying books. "It was super odd. Like he looked straight at me and then—"

Enter a new voice.

"Talking to Leon the Lion again?"

It was Tyler. You turned to him with a smile.

The Blonde haired blue-eyed boy wonder. Ty must have clocked in early. He was your best friend slash coworker here, always an open ear, especially when it came to boys. What could he say, boys will like boys.

"Yeah, somethin' strange happened earlier, and well...no one was nearby so I just sorta... started talking," you laughed off the awkwardness.

Tyler didn't mind, in fact, he was more than intrigued. The eerie always found a way to you, and that's what made you partly interesting to Tyler. You were fun to be around.

"Hit me. Teeeell me all about it." His hands gestured to your books.

You handed half the stack to him, along with your troubles.

"I had this encounter earlier, some private school guy."

"Guy?" Tyler's voice raised a bit higher from his familiar baritone.

"Yeah, guy. Black hair, blue eyes. He was wearing a sweater vest—do private schools even wear those anymore?—and had on shorts. Oh! Also, knee-high socks," you shelved another book and moved down to different section.

"You're describing the guy, which He sounds cute, but not what happened, tell me the deeds!"

"Okay, so like, I was carrying the book Ms. Nelson told me, and you know, since it was taller than me—"

"You didn't use the cart??" Tyler injected as he reached to set a book on a top shelf.

"Broken wheel."

"Oh. Hm. Carry on," He smiled blissfully as his hands hurried to place books where they needed.

"Anyways, because the stack was so tall, I couldn't see the guy, right? Boom! We collided! Books on the floor, my knees burning and everything!"

The pair of you stroll to the back of kids section where the bean-bags and play tables were. Most of your books were Lower level, so you crouched on the floor to shelve them.

"Then what?"

You took a deep breath, calling back on your memory for the rest of the event.

"I apologized but went for the books first. My paycheck was on the line if any of those suckers were ruined! While I was picking them up, the guy sounded pissed, and I mean pissed."

You shiver from the tone of voice he used. The memory played like a loop as you retold Tyler.

"Like entitled white mom pissed? Or bratty rich kid pissed?"

Spill the tea, Tyler. You giggled at his response but rolled your eyes. The interaction with the private-school kid was limited, but something was there. Something. You just couldn't place your tongue on it.

"I dunno, he almost said "you better watch where you're going" soooo..."

"Definitely bratty rich kid."

You laughed and Tyler shook his head.

After finishing the books, you pat your hands together, "but he didn't complete the statement though."

Pondering, your face grimaces like you had a mystery meatloaf.

He altogether stopped talking. All he did was stare at me, and well, I stared back too, but I was confused. Why did he stop? Had he recognized me before? Did I have something on my face? Am I that ugly???

There was also no way private-kid knew you (cause you've never seen him before), or that something on your face—you remember going to the restroom and checking. So that's out the window.

Tyler soon finished his stack of books, and he guided you to the kiddy bean bags. You slumped over a red one, and he plopped into the blue, his favorite.

"uGH. Why did I have to run into him?? This job is stressful enough." You slapped your face.

That whole meeting gave you cold jitters. Something was weird.

"What do you mean 'ugh'?"

"I mean 'ugh' because he straight up disappeared." You turned to Ty with wide eyes. "Mid-sentence, I was apologizing mid-sentence and POOF. He wasn't there anymore."

For effect, you flicked your fingers and imitated the sound.

"No. No way!" Tyler whispered over to you, "he Matrix jumped you?"

"I guess he did...but that's fictional Ty! Normal people don't just vanish into thin air!"

You were freaking out bad. Ty could see it on your face; he held your hands to calm your nerves but that wasn't enough.

His voice was faint, "maybe he's not normal...?"

With a groan, you shove your face into the beanbag, "yeah, like he's a super or whatever."

Your watch started beeping, momentarily breaking the conversation. Lunch time.

"Ugh, I'm tired and it's my lunch break. I'll see you later Ty." Raising your head, you give Ty a tired gaze.

Ty squeezes your shoulder as you get up to leave. You show a ghost of a smile, then trudge to the break room.

It's cold and damp back there, and you're positive mold is growing in the corner by the humidifier. Your luck pack sits promptly in the mini-fridge. Today it was macaroni and cheese with a fruit salad, but your stomach didn't feel up for it.

I can't stop thinking about that guy...You push the lunch pack back into the fridge and close it shut. GOD, (Y/N), STOP IT. STOP. Think about something else!

Pinching the bridge of your nose, you opt out of lunch and decide to get some water.

Water. Water will help. The baby blue bottle awaits on the break table. Grasping the cool metal, you find it empty.

Great. Now I have to fill it. I drank it all on the bus ride here. You sway what little is left in the bottle then stalk off for the water machine.

You stand by the machine alone. The only sound is water running into your bottle. It's serene, it's peaceful, and you finally got private-kid out of your head. Thank God. However, you are blissfully unaware that tomorrow the guy would be back.

Goodluck.