Ficlet in response to the AU prompt "found their phone number in a library book" chosen by my dear Sam, mystarsandmyocean on tumblr as part of the AU fic meme I'm doing to celebrate hitting the 1K followers mark :)
Hope you guys like it!
CALL ME
It starts as an ordinary Saturday morning, a walk through Starling city's public library in search of a story to keep her company for the following week; and a story she finds in the form of a handwritten phone number scribbled right on the corner of the first page of an old edition of Les Misérables.
Her first reaction is annoyance at whoever defaced a perfectly fine, albeit worn-down, piece of writing. Victor Hugo would be rolling in his grave at the thought of teenage hormones and the unspoken -or unwritten really- sign of 'call me' tainting his tale of redemption.
A second thought pushes forward as she begins re-reading the familiar words over a cup of coffee an hour later, her mind reeling back to that whisper on the first page.
What if instead of a horny teen it's from a fan of the book itself, possibly a comrade I can share passages with?
The notion fades away with a shake of her head, the frail decision to leave the matter aside being made.
Yet as the hours tick by her thoughts fall down that path again, eyes straying to the inked enigma.
Ten digits stare back at her like a dare begging to be taken.
By the end of the day her penchant for solving mysteries beats any apprehension over taking the unspoken challenge.
Nervous hands snatch the phone from it's base, fingers hastily dialing one number after another before she can talk herself out of it.
The tone sounds against her ear once…
This is a bad idea.
… twice…
The number's probably not in service anymore; the writing did seem kind of old.
… thrice.
"Yeah," a deep voice streams from the other side.
Ok, not a teenager.
"Hello?" This time the question in his voice sounds stronger, making her feel better about her choice of having a blocked number.
"Hi," she lets out, suddenly becoming aware she has been holding her breath ever since the decision to give it a try had been made.
"I'm sorry, who is this?"
She takes a moment phrasing her answer to avoid sounding like a total weirdo.
"Les Mis," she finally blurts out, sounding awfully shy and surely incredibly weird to the man on the line without any context whatsoever.
After a moment of silence, in which she mentally scolds herself for having the worst brain-to-mouth filter ever, the stranger actually chuckles. Once his voice is heard again she notices that now it's tainted with amusement and a dash of curiosity.
"Is this the version of 'have you found God' for french literature?"
The corners of her lips rise at the comment, his take on the possibilities surrounding this riddle being far more out there than hers. That thought puts her at ease, a joke passing back without hesitation.
"No, but that doesn't sound half bad."
"Maybe," the man concedes as her tight grip on the phone lessens to a normal hold, "but assuming that's not your name then, who are you?"
"A girl," she offers trying to be vague -because how safe can one be telling a stranger on the phone your identity?-. Still her itch to know more and the man's silence urging her on charm more words out of her mouth.
"One that found your phone number on said book and couldn't fight her thirst for answers. I mean, I could've traced it online, but thought that giving it a try the old fashioned way and just ring you up would be less stalker-y… but now you probably think I'm a stalker, picking numbers up from public library books. Great."
Her ramble dies down to leave place to his answer, again in the form of a chortle coupled with a question.
"Les mis?"
She nods, humming in agreement once she remembers he's not actually there with her. His gleeful laughter resonates again once it becomes clear.
"Senior year. We had to read it in high school and though we had a copy at home I kept going there because I liked the librarian."
"Cliché, but could be worse," she adds with laugher of her own at the image being told.
"Yeah, didn't work so well though. She kept turning me down; writing my phone number on the book when returning it was my last shot."
"And did it work?"
Her voice is soft yet not cautious anymore, strangely feeling at peace and actually enjoying the man on the phone; that feeling multiplying with the next words that leave his lips.
"It's taken seven years, but I got my phone call now."
Not even distance can muffle their smiles.
"I never actually finished that book," he shares, extending a hand.
"Maybe I can give you the cliff notes," she offers, fully taking it.
As he coerces her name with the promise of a coffee date and a better attention span he had in his younger years, Felicity's smile widens.
Sometimes the ghost of a story on a page can change everything.
Thanks for reading!
Comments and Favorites alerts are greatly appreciated and encouraged :) Just a minute of your time to let me know what you liked, what line stood up, what could be improved, or simply expressing that you enjoyed it (if you did) means the world to me and fuels the desire to keep writing and especially sharing what I do.
More to come soon :) And if you want me to fulfil and AU for you check my tumblr (/releaseurinhibitions/tagged/1kaus) to know how.
xo,
Lucy