Choosing You (Will Turner)

29

Placing his the saucer and cup back on the table, Leo looked at the five thick stack of books that Evelyn had placed on the table. Each worn in spin was a deep brown, gold lettering painting titles on each book. Even stacked up, they could easily make out different colors each book was. In order, the colors ranged from light brown, deep navy, emerald green, burgundy red, and dark brown.

Evelyn watched Leo reach out to open the light brown book cover to the title page. His opposite fingers danced across the page, smoothing down the page. He tilted his head to look at Evelyn to the side. "We're going to read all these books?" He raised a brow, deadpanning his question.

Rolling her eyes, she jiggled her head a bit as she reached out to grab the book. "We're going to skim the pages and see what we can find." Slamming the book close, she pulled the item to her chest, feeling her dress swish around her as she turned to grab her cup of tea. "Get cozy, my friend. This may take some time." Holding her book at her hip, she swayed over to her father's emerald, leather chair she had been lounging in earlier. She curled her legs to the side as she snuggled down in the cushion. A thought switched on in her head causing her to look up at Leo. He was getting himself comfortable in Charles' desk chair, eyes glued to the book. The grown up look Leo was giving made Evelyn chuckle. "If you need to take notes or write anything down there is paper in the drawer." She called to him, placing her saucer down on the circular table to her left.

Slouching in the chair, Leo's eyes flickered up over to where Evelyn sat. He rubbed his bottom lip with his middle finger as his index finger massaged his temple. He looked at her in a daze before shaking his head. "What was that?" He blinked, narrowing his eyes slightly.

Evelyn giggled, shaking her head. "Don't fall asleep on me now. I said that there is paper in the drawer if you need to take notes or anything." She tilted her head to give him a sweet but stern look.

Leo blinked rapidly, shaking his head. "I know I'm sorry." He leaned his head back, staring up at the ceiling. "I never did well with reading books."

Puzzled by his statement, Evelyn raised a brow. "You can read can't you?" She questioned. Part of her panicked by his word. She would feel terrible trying to make Leo read the books if he didn't know how too.

As if sensing her panic, Leo sat right up. He extended his hand, shaking it. "No! No! No! I can read don't worry." Evelyn let out a sigh of relief, slouching back into the chair. Leo noticed her actions and let out a little laugh, glancing down at his book for a second. "No I just get bored when I read." He said causally, as if it wasn't a huge deal.

"What? How come? I love to read!" Evelyn closed the book on her lap, looking at him as if he had two heads instead of one. "How do you just not like to read?" She sat up, placing her feet on the floor to talk to Leo properly. Just by her body language, Evelyn was serious about this topic.

Laughing again, Leo gave a shrug. "I don't know, I just was never one to read. I love listening to stories but I don't like to read books and stories myself." Leo rolled his head against the chair to look at Evelyn, a lazy grin on his face due to the sour expression on hers. He blinked slowly as he began to speak again. "If you were to read a book to me I would count that as reading."

Evelyn blinked at him. "But...but that-that's not reading..." She narrowed her eyes, tilting her head at him. She was confused at what he had said, not really knowing what to do with his statement.

"In a way it his." He pointed to her, still grinning.

"Just...just read the damn book." She slowly went to wave him off, moving back into her originally position. Reaching over, Evelyn curled her fingers slightly around the white, glass handle of the tea cup. She lifted it up and brought the cup to her lips, taking a sip of it. She opened the book, looking down at the title. Tales and Myths of the Sea. The title alone sounded captivated and alluring but also sounded like the answer she sought.