Dog Tags

Chapter 10

Quinn's POV

The guy standing in front of me looks like the same guy I saw talking to Emery at the diner yesterday. He has on a backwards black hat but I can still see his dark brown hair, white sleeveless hoodie with no sides, a pair of old looking jeans with giant holes on them, and white sneakers on his feet. I break the intense stare down that me and this stranger are having "Excuse me, but I had this book first. "My voice betraying me by revealing just how nervous I find myself under the gaze of this handsome stranger. He looks away from his phone in his hand to meet my gaze,"Just because you're holding the book doesn't mean that you own it." He says in an arrogant but calm tone of voice turning his attention back to his phone lightly pulls the book towards him.

"I am not giving up this book up, it is the only copy left in the store." I lightly snap at him pulling the book back towards me. Instead of answering me he chooses to ignore me and pay more attention to his phone. "You are really rude by the way, but can you please let go of the book, I mean you don't seem like the type of guy that would be interested in teen romance books." The guy looks away from his phone again as his ocean blue eyes lock with my light blue eyes, "Haven't you ever heard the old saying of don't judge a book by its cover?And you are calling me rude." He says in the same arrogant but calm tone of voice, and he once again turns his attention away from me and back to his phone.

I start feeling myself getting annoyed and frustrated with the stranger. I let out an annoyed sigh as I find myself drawn to his visible tattoos that I can make out, the king of hearts playing card and the queen of hearts playing card burning on his left bicep, the stunning snarling wolf he has on his left forearm, an infinity symbol with an arrow going through it on his left wrist, and the odd tattoo of a moon with a star in the middle of the moon on his left hand. "Are you done checking me out?" He asks not even looking away from his phone. "I wasn't checking you out, I just want you to let go of my book." I snap at him finally to manage to pull out of his grip.

He looks down at my hands and notices that I am holding not one but two books,"The Catcher in the Rye?" He says smiling as he lightly runs his hand along the cover of the book, "A classic novel that never really ages." I look down at the books in my hand as he his finger lightly touches my hand, "Do you know the meaning of that book?" He asks me making me snap my head up and back into his blue eyes, "It is learning to cope with tragic loss." He smiles a smug smile at me but I just scoff at him cracking a smile of my own, "Actually, the meaning of the book is finding happiness in the small things in life." He inclines his head as he steps closer to me, "I guess we can agree to disagree on that." He backs me up until I am pressed against one of book shelves.

I suddenly feel like I am fell into one of my dreams as the stranger slowly places his arms on either side of the shelve giving me nowhere to go, "This looks like something out a cheesy romance book but the only difference is that I am worse than those kind of guys that you read about." I swallow a large lump as he lowers himself to me, "Some people would say that I much worse." I look into his eyes that have darken a little, but the strange thing is that I am not scared of him, I am starting to think that this unknown guy is the one that has been in my dreams as of late. "People make snap judgement about people that turn out to be the complete opposite of who the person really is." Someone comes around the corner and looks at the scene in front of him with curiosity.

The second stranger looks to be the same height as the guy in front of me, he has a nice muscular body, light brown hair, and the most eye catching green eyes that I have ever seen in my life. "Nick, what are you doing to the poor girl?" He asks as the guy in front of me lets out a soft laugh as he straightens back up and takes a step away from me, "Just having a friendly conversation." Nick says as he keeps his eyes on me rather than look at who I am assuming is a friend of his, "We need to get going if we are going to get everything for the party tonight." Nick nods his head as he places his finger under my chin and tilts my head up to look at him, "Enjoy the book Little Dove." The way he says it sends goosebumps all over my body,

"I heard that the dares are thrilling." He whispers back to me before he walks away with his friend. I stand there in the aisle for a few trying to regain my composer as I try to ignore the attraction that I couldn't help feeling towards Nick, I grip the dog tags in my hand and close my eyes, I open my eyes back up and make my way to the front and pay for the two books. I step out of the store and I look at my phone to see that it almost time to meet up with Chris and Anthony at the fountain. I push the thoughts of Nick out of my mind for now as I think to myself that I would never see him again.