Soro-chan: I am finally back! Although I am currently in a tennis boot camp with my fellow members for the next month or so, I decided to write just a little bit. Hope this weird drabble oneshot thingy or whatever makes up for absence! I don't own Shugo Chara.

btw im trying out first pov and im not using italics because im on my phone. cheers

Bookstore

It was at a bookstore.

A small bookstore with a warm, cozy atmosphere that could lull you to sleep by the central fireplace with a book or two in a matter of minutes. Around there were four sofas that many customers sat down on to enjoy a novella or two, myself included. Some of my favorite summers were spent just lying down on their dark red, velvet couch with a healthy, thick book in my face. It was my home.

You can probably tell that I was a plain-as-hell bookworm. So what if I had freaky pink hair and could pass for a punk goth who was supposed to be cool and spicy? I liked books and I was definitely proud of it. Sort of.

I never liked to dress up. A pair of jeans, spiked sneakers, and one of last year's free concert t-shirts worked fine as an everyday outfit for me.

I lived with a family that was just as plain as I was, except for my flashy little sister who was always embarrassed to be seen with us. Well, I was always embarassed to be seen with her. Sheesh.

My house was the average dwelling in a not-so-nice area. Just a dingy old place made of bricks and sweat. No one was ever really home anyways.

My ears weren't pierced and I didn't have any tattoos, which is pretty strange for someone my age in this part of town. It was some kind of teen rebel trend I had no intention of ever taking part in.

My town was a sad town. You could probably call its biggest, not the best, but biggest feature the graffiti wall downtown. It's actually the left side of our city hall, but I'm pretty sure that shit's been abandoned for the past few years because that wall is so colored up that it's practically a rainbow of... well, graffiti.

Not to mention that everything was really crappy too. The people were crappy - them and their spiky, dyed hair and unwashed clothes and piercings in their nose and tattoos coiling around their arms and down their back. Most of the neighborhoods were crappy. The food was crappy too, unless you compared it to mom's cooking. Then it was tolerable.

The only place that you could get away from all that dreariness was the bookstore.

It was my salvation.

If I could live there, I would.

I've read more than a thousand books, give or take. The manager had me write down a list of every book I've read in his store, and boy, I've read a lot. I even memorized a few of my favorites. I even put myself through the Twilight series and 50 Shades of Grey.

It wasn't THAT bad. I mean, it kept me away from my surroundings. So what if the main character's love of their life is a vampire or a sadist. I wouldn't mind being a main character like that. At least their life was interesting.

It was kind of why I loved books. Books made me feel happy. It made me feel like I was the main character, and that it was me doing all those things. I would even sometimes have dreams about that book with me as the focus. It was an indirect experience every time my eyes hit those pages.

And when I'd hit the last page, I would fall into a depression. My experience was over. It was like my life was over.

So the manager, Nagihiko - the sweet, stylish little devil he was, would quickly find me another book. These days, he's got a stack of recommended books waiting for me on the counter by the cash register. There's always more than ten, you know, just in case I finish it all up and go ballistic on him. He's a sweet guy, but his girlfriend keeps him out of my life most of the time. Rima or something, I don't remember and probably won't care to.

But then... then there was him.

The new guy.

I never said this, but NO ONE in town went into the bookstore. Ever. I didn't even know how Nagihiko survived this long without any customers. I for one bought all of the books I've read, but that definitely can't be his savings that's coming from my wallet, not with all the mini discounts he offers every time.

But then HE came. Some weird, tall guy with blue hair and ocean deep eyes that made me fall hook, line, and-

"Sinker."

"Wh-what?" Did he seriously just take the word from my mind like in those cliche little-

"Your book. It's called Sinker. What's it about?"

"Oh. Uhm. Sinker."

"Yes. The book you're reading is Sinker." Sarcastic bastard.

I didn't want to talk to him at all at first. I mean, he was just some random passerby who happened to go into a small, vintage little bookstore in the middle of a ghetto town who was asking me about my book when ten million copies of that same book was on the shelf right beside me. To make my point, I pointed towards the shelf.

"Oh." He smirked sheepishly, I didn't how he did that, but he did, and grabbed a copy for himself.

And planted himself right next to me.

On my favorite velvet sofa.

NEXT TO ME.

For the next couple of months.

Awkward.

And slowly, I got used to his presence. I think he scooted closer as the days passed by, and once, he put his head down on my shoulder and fell asleep on me. I remember blushing like a tomato when Nagihiko gave me a thumbs-up. Somehow I knocked out and when I woke up, he wasn't there anymore. But someone's jacket became my pillow.

I took it home and I think my dad threw it away after I told him it was some guy's.

So of course, I apologized to him the next day. He told me if I really wanted to apologize to him, then I'd take him to out to eat.

"In this town?"

"What's so wrong with that?"

I shook my head. He CLEARLY wasn't from around here. "Where are you even from?"

"The town next to here." Oh, he's a city boy. Typical. What's he doing all the way out here though? "I like this bookstore, so I come here often to get away from my crappy city life."

Crappy city? I've never heard both of those words together before. "How can the city be crappier than this town?"

"You'd be surprised." Already happened. "It's noisy, dirty, and the air is completely polluted."

"Here isn't much better."

"But here, has you."

My eyes widen and I'm pretty sure my face seems as sketchy as his corny pick-up line. "Me."

"You."

"Me."

"You."

His smirk blew me away.

"So are you taking me out to eat?"

I sighed but gave him a smile. "Meet me here tomorrow at six and we'll eat."

"Sounds good."

The next day came and he looked at me, surprised at what he saw. "Why do you have so many bags?" I grinned and asked Nagihiko for a table and some napkins. The day finished up nicely and he told me that his name was Ikuto. Tsukiyomi Ikuto.

"And your name?"

"I'm Amu. Hinamori Amu."

He smirked his trademark smirk with a tagalong wink. "Well, Amu, thanks for 'taking me out to eat'."

It was at a bookstore...

Soro-chan: Hoped you noticed that book called Sinker. It's a oneshot that I'm more than halfway done with. It should be up by next week. Until then, eat up my crappy drabble story and tell me what you thought! It was based on a past experience ^_^

Oh yeah it's also my birthday soon so I'll probably post that oneshot on that day in two days tee hee :)

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