This Girl

Chapter 52: An Unstable Butler

Well, this isn't awkward. 

I'm sitting in the library, sitting in a booth, my head buried in my laptop. 

Alex is sitting in the booth DIRECTLY beside me. DIRECTLY opposite him. It's kind of distracting me. 

Every so often I feel him staring at me, and I look up. He looks down. 

I don't know how I didn't see him. Maybe its because he's not wearing his Ray Bans or leather jacket. But, yeah, I just decided to take the ONLY booth that it would be awkward at. I thought about moving, but then it would be even more obvious that it's awkward.

Anyway, we're both just sitting here, typing on our computers. I'm trying to come up with a conclusion since I've been OK productive (I sat here for a full hour before I saw Alex).

I sigh and get out of my booth. I walk to the front counter and the librarian looks up. She's not an old, glasses kind of librarian. She's young, with brown hair and blue eyes. She smiles up at me. 

"Hey, hun, what would you like?" she asks. 

"Um," I start. "Would you happen to have any books about writing an essay or an application?"

"Actually, row C's got a heap of books with tips and stuff, you can go have a look if you like," she says, giving me a grin before continuing to type on her laptop. I thank her and head to aisle C.

Alex is in there, looking at a series of books, his hand tracing the spines. I'm already halfway into the aisle before he sees me. 

Great. No backing out now.

I mentally sigh/groan, turning my back on him and looking at the titles of large, thick books in front of me. 

They're not of the kind I want. I sigh slightly and move to the side, looking again. I look up and down the row but can't find any of the books I'm looking for. I move to the other side, the side Alex is on. 

He's directly in the middle. I'm on the end. I really, really hope that my book is on this end. I scan the titles of the book and almost say "oh, poop" out loud. But I don't. Instead, I walk around the side of aisle C into aisle D. I walk down the length of it and then come out the other end and swing around the side, back into aisle C.

Alex looks at me curiously and I look away. I physically hear him gulp and look down at the ground. 

I scan the books and find that not one is of the kind I'm looking for. I look over at Alex and bite my lip. He's looking at the books I want. I should probably leave and come back later. But then it would be suspicious. Like, he'd wonder about why I was randomly wandering around, as though I wanted something to happen. What if he takes the book I want, though? Yes. I have to stay. 

I walk over and stand beside him. My heart starts to beat faster when I smell his cologne. I push my lips into my mouth and scan the book's names. 

How to write an essay. 

How to research.

How to develop a claim.

Science reports: Your guide to an A+

English novel templates: Tips, tricks and more

I scan over the names, my fingers touching the spines of each book gingerly. 

I see one that I can't read and lean over to grab it. My shoulder brushes his and sends electrical currents down my arm. 

He looks away and I grab the book, walking away from him to read it. It's not the right one. I sigh and walk back over to Alex, slipping the book back into its slot.