The last thing Nigel ever expected to see at 8 in the morning was a short, white-collared librarian. Hell, after his previous night with Darko he would have been less surprised to see the police at his door. The little man looked affronted, like he had smelled something bad. Which made sense, since the first thing Nigel did was light a cigarette once he walked outside.
"Who the fuck are you?"
"Oh, um, is there" Adam looked down at his papers as Nigel leaned against the doorway, "a Gabriella Ibanescu that lives at this address?"
There was something off about this kid. His eyes kept twitching from his door to his papers, like he couldn't bare to look at his gorgeous mug. Well he could fuck off, wait what was this about- "Gab? The fuck do you want with that bitch? Did she screw you in her spare time too? Look kid, I don't have time for this bullshit. For all I care, you can find her in a dumpster choking on some guys dick. Now get out of my face before I-"
"Um, Gabriella Ibanescu has rented an "Orbital Motion" by A. E. Roy and I am here to ask for its immediate return and subsequent late fee charge"
"...Excuse me?" Nigel blinked a few times at that. This kid had some balls. Or maybe he just wanted to get his face bashed in.
"I'm sorry, was my speaking inaudible? I have come here to-"
"No, I heard you pretty fucking clearly. Why the fuck are you still standing here?"
"Um, I'm sorry?" The kid started to fidget. Now that's beginning to look more familiar. Usually Nigel could have a guy pissing his pants by just looking at him. Nigel went to take a drag from his cigarette. "Look kid, it's 8 in the fucking morning and you're standing here asking about my whore wife and for some late fee shit? She's not here and I don't expect to fucking see her anytime soon. Now, piss off" Nigel waved his hand, shooing him to fuck off to somewhere else. Nigel went to squash out his cigarette and close the door in the kid's face.
"Bu-But I-I" Nigel stopped and sighed. Damn this kid was persistent. He turned around and looked at the kid again, his eyes finally coming into contact. Fuck those were some baby blues. Nigel had always been a sucker for fierce eyes...and maybe some fierce tits too but that was neither here nor there, not with his track record. Ah, Fuck. He sighed again. "Look, Baby blue, maybe I can take a look for you to see if she left that Orbits whatever here but..."
"It's Orbital Motion by A. E. Roy and my name is Adam not-"
"Yeah, Yeah, whatever. I'll take a look around but for the late fee, I'm not paying for that shit"
"Oh, um, well you wouldn't need to pay for it. If you could tell me her address I can send a bill there to charge her for the-"
"Don't know that either, kid. Sorry. You see, she kind of sucked one of my, uh, employee's off in my fucking living room. So as you can see, I don't know where the bitch is so..." Baby Blue's head turned a bit to the side. Fuck, he looked like a fucking lost puppy. "I'm not sure what that has to do with you knowing her state of living address"
"It means, I don't want to know the cunt's fucking 'state of living address'. So I can't tell you it. Got it? Now, I said I'll look for your fucking book but that's all I can fucking do. Ok?" The kid's face practically lit up. "Oh, um, Yes sir. Thank you for your assistance"
"Yeah, sure. Whatever" He went to close the door again. "One second please" Baby Blue started rummaging through his bag. He pulled out a card and handed it to Nigel. "This is my business card with the location of my shop. Please give us a call or visit within our business hours if you have time".
Nigel looked at the card. "So...Adam Raki?" The kid nodded and held out his hand. Nigel really did not understand this kid, he looked like a damn robot. "Hello, my name is Adam Raki. It is a pleasure to meet you" Nigel chuckled, "Yeah, I'm sure". He met Baby Blue's hand and shook it. "My name is Nigel". The kid nodded his head again.
Afterwards, Nigel was finally able to lean against his closed door. He lit another cigarette.
Three days later, Nigel found himself standing in front of 'Liber Nebulae'. What kind of fucking pretentious name was that anyway?
He kept telling himself that he was only here to clean out his apartment of anything Gabi. But he didn't want to think too deeply about it. And besides, it was true that he couldn't stand the thought of keeping something of Her's in His home. He had too much self respect to act that much of a cuck.
So here he was, hearing a bell softly clang as he walked into a cozy hole in the wall bookstore. Nigel wasn't sure when he had last ever been in a place like this, but the lack of human presence was a bit discerning. He wasn't sure there was anybody in the store until he saw a tuft of hair hidden behind a counter. "Hello, is anyone back there?"
Once again, Nigel was up by 8 am today. The store opened at 9 am, so he guessed it made sense why the kid had shown up so early in the fucking morning. Doesn't make it any less a pain in the ass though. Shit, he was already aching for a cigarette.
"Hello?" he called out again. "Yeah, I hear you". The scruffy hair raised over the counter. He looked so much like Baby Blue Nigel had to blink a few times. The more he looked at him, the more it seemed eye contact was an issue that ran in the family.
"Please no loud noises, how can I help you?" Although, this one didn't have an issue with staring him down. "I'm here to give back this book. Where's Adam?" The scruff continued to eye him suspiciously. "I can take care of it. Give it here"
"I'd rather wait to give it to Adam"
"Who are you?" Nigel furrowed his brows. In his line of work, questions like that would get people in trouble.
"Is Adam here or not? I have shit to do today" Nigel had nothing to do until 6 pm. "He's in the backroom. Just give it to me, Adam doesn't like to deal with customers".
"Well, maybe I'm more than just a fucking customer"
"Excuse me?" The man immediately stopped what he was doing and looked at him again. Nigel was not ready for measuring contest at 8 in the fucking morning. "Look, I just want to give this to him personally and-"
"How do you know Adam?" He walked out from behind his counter with his finger wagging. "My brother isn't going to be your casual lay".
"How do you know what I want? You don't even know anything about me, Scruff"
"Oh, I know enough. You're not the type that belongs in a place like this. I've doubt you've seen a book, much less held one since before you dropped from high school" His eyes looked him up and down. "Although, I doubt you made it that far"
"Get your finger out of my face before I break it" The scruff backed down. At least this one understood a proper threat. "I'm calling 911" Shit. Nigel drew his fingers through his hair. He did not need this today. "Oh, come on. I-"
"Nigel!" Adam appeared from behind a book case like a fucking angel come to save him. "I didn't know you would come here today. There was no call previous to your appearance. Most people call before coming in"
"Why hello, beauti-"
"And you brought the book!" Nigel looked down to the book in his hand. He had almost forgotten he was holding it. "Of course, Baby Blue. It seemed important to you" Adam's eyes lit up as he walked over take it.
"I'm glad you found it, this one is my personal copy. We don't usually rent books but the book was out of stock because it was placed on a required reading list for college students at the community college down the street and a customer needed it so I lent her my own book and I really like this one because its about analytical methods of classical celestial mechanics and recent numerical experiments on the orbital evolution of...oh, um, Will is shaking his head at me so I'm talking too much now"
After Adam said that Nigel heard Will facepalm behind him. "No big deal, darling. I would love to hear you talk about this kind of stuff more" A big, bright smile lightened up Adam's face and Nigel was speechless for a second. Now he wasn't sure if the scruff's comments from earlier had spiked his contrarian side or if he genuinely liked this kid, but it only seemed natural for him to leave Adam his number before saying farewell.
"See you later, darling. And you too, short stack" The scruff's face fired up like a tomato, "What the fuck-Short Stack!?" Nigel walked out the door and into the street. He had to get some sleep before 6 and maybe some new aftershave.