A/N: Over 100 reviews! *squeals* That always makes me excited :P
Emma was left dumbfounded by Will's kiss, and it took a minute for her to regain her composure once he had left. Emma sighed, looking around the empty apartment, feeling lonelier than she had in ages. Being perfectly honest, Emma missed her job, and not just because it allowed her to see Will. Her job had become her life. Emma had virtually no friends outside of her acquaintances from the McKinley High staff. Resigning from her old position had really opened her eyes to what a pathetic life she led. She could only be grateful that she now had Will to spend time with her in the evenings.
This was the only thing that had Emma motivated to look for a job. She did not currently need the money. Emma had always been one to save, and she knew that she had more than enough savings stashed away to last her for quite a while. And Will had insisted on paying for half the expense of groceries and her apartment rent, persisting that it was only fair considering the circumstances.
But Emma was picky, no matter how lonely and bored she was. She now realized how much she loved her old job, and nothing else seemed worth the effort to suffer through day after day.
She looked at her agenda for the day, pleased to see that her library books were due. A trip to the public library was a good excuse to get out of the house.
Emma was a reader, or at least she had become one in recent years. She loved romance novels from any era that took her away from her drab lifestyle to the wonderful love stories of characters she idolized. In the beginning of her obsession with the books that told stories of what she believed her own life could never become, Emma had bought them online and had them delivered, crisp and new and hardly ever touched. But as her cravings for the stories grew, she realized how ridiculous it was, even for her, to buy a new novel every time she wished to read one. So she had dared to face the gruesome interior of the public library to fixate her obsession. Some of the books, she realized, were not terribly disgusting, while others she could hardly bear to look at because of all the stains that lined the pages. She took care to always where gloves while handling any of these books, and she always carried them back and forth to the library in a bag she had designated specifically for library books. She had grown to love the library, and though it was anything but the cleanest place, it gave her a certain comfort to be surrounded by the rows and rows of books.
Emma carefully took her stack—six books total—and placed them into her bag. She realized that she still had one unfinished novel, which hardly ever happened, and it made her smile that she was not relying on the books so much anymore. She was beginning to live her own romantic story which was so much greater than what any book could offer.
The library was close, only a ten minute drive, so she arrived there shortly, carefully carrying her bag through the door. The book drop was in the back of the library, which Emma could never figure out the exact reason why, and she had to make her way through the kids' section to reach it. Emma found kids to be adorable, but she liked them much better from a distance. Children were easily the dirtiest and snottiest people she knew, and it made her skin crawl just to think about all the infections their tiny hands could be harboring. She tried not to look at the kids drooling and wiping their noses all over the books and toys provided in the play area as she quickly passed through, practically squeezing her eyes shut as she did.
She was so distracted that she did not notice the girl, muttering to herself as she sifted through a stack of papers, standing in front of her. Emma crashed head long into her and dropping her bag of books in the process.
"I'm so sorry!" the girl, a young Asian woman, spoke before Emma could utter a word. "Clumsy me—I'm still just learning my way around here, and I should've been paying more attention. You see, I'm new at all of this and I was just sorting through these papers—there I think I'm finished!" She placed the papers down in a messy pile on the desk beside her.
Emma had meant to apologize because in all fairness, it was her fault and not the girl's, but the words of the girl interested her. "You work here?" Emma knew that it would probably only be volunteer work, but the thought of getting out of the house for a couple hours a week to one of the public places she could handle being in for an extended period of time seemed like it might be the perfect pastime until she could find a suitable job.
"Well, I guess you could say that, but it's not really a job because we don't actually get paid. It's just volunteer work. You see, I just graduated from Ohio State—I majored in Political Science, and I'm still searching for a job. I'm not exactly sure what I want to do yet, which isn't really helping. And still I'm living with my parents, and they don't want me just sitting around all day so I got this volunteer job until I can find a job…" she trailed off, smiling a little too widely.
Emma stared at her, a bit dumbfounded that someone could say so much so quickly. She opened her mouth to speak, but the girl promptly interrupted her. "I'm sorry. I talk a lot, I know, and it freaks people out a little, and now I'm rambling…I should probably just go now…"
"No, don't go just yet," Emma smiled at her genuinely. It was obvious that this girl was insecure with herself, and the guidance counselor in Emma was beginning to kick in. "I think it's great that you're so outgoing. You probably make a lot of friends that way."
"Well, sometimes. But as I said, it really does freak some people out. Like this one time when I met this kid—"
Emma cut her off, anticipating a long, drawn out story that would probably end up not even being completely relevant to her point. "So you volunteer here. How would I go about, you know, volunteering myself?"
"Oh, so you have some free time? Because we're actually short on volunteers so we need people to take longer shifts, but if you can't, it's probably okay because we need people regardless," the girl answered in a rush.
"I'm sort of between jobs right now, so I have more than enough free time, and I am looking for an excuse to get out of the house," Emma told her, shifting the pile of books in her hands.
"Okay, I'll take you to the reference desk right away, and Sadie can get you started. Sadie's the one who's in charge of the volunteer program here. She's such a sweet lady, really. She's always telling stories about her grandchildren and cats. I love stories. I love it when people tell them to me, and I also love telling them, though I'm not sure which I like more. Maybe I like them equally—Oh, we should probably return your books before we head upstairs. Why are you wearing plastic gloves, anyway, if you don't mind me asking? Because if you do, then don't answer, because I don't want to pry if it's personal. I don't mean to make people uncomfortable but sometimes I do when I don't mean to, so just tell me if it's making you uncomfortable, and I'll drop it," here the girl paused to take a breath and Emma quickly answered before she could proceed.
"No, its fine that you asked. I mean, it's not really that normal to wear plastic gloves in a library, so it's only fair that you ask." Emma didn't like telling people about her mysophobia when she first met them. They tended to write her off as a freak as soon as they found out that she was morbidly afraid of anything remotely messy. But on the other hand, it was something so prevalent and part of Emma's life that it was almost impossible to meet someone new and not have them find out about her obsessive tendencies. And this girl seemed like a sweet, genuine girl behind her annoying jabbering, and she had been honest with Emma, so Emma felt that is was only right to be honest in return. "I have a problem with germs. I guess you could kind of call me a germaphobe, and library books aren't always the cleanest things, so I have to take precautions when touching them."
Of course, the girl answered right away."I can understand. Sort of, at least. Not that I'm a germaphobe, but still I have my own quirks and fears, so I do know kind of what its like. And I don't think its weird or anything, just so you know…" she trailed off a bit awkwardly, and Emma could tell that she hoped she had not hurt her feelings. They had now reached the book drop, and the girl helped Emma deposit her pile into the book return.
"Thanks, um…" Emma realized that she still didn't know the girls name, and she trailed off awkwardly.
"Holly. I'm Holly Wu," she reached her hand out to shake Emma's. "Oh, if you're uncomfortable shaking hands then I won't be offended or anything."
Emma still had the glove on her hand, so she reached out to graciously accept the gesture. "I'm Emma Pillsbury. It's nice to meet you, Holly."
Holly smiled. "Come on. I'll take you upstairs to the reference desk, and then you can get started right away. I'm really excited that you'll be helping out here. I mean, not that I know you well or anything, but I like you already. You're a good listener. And you didn't write me off like a lot of people do, and I really appreciate that."
Emma's heart ached for the girl as she said the words. "Well, I can only say the same about you. My fear of germs tends to turn people away pretty quickly, so I do know how you feel."
Holly smiled again, leading Emma up the steps. "I'm glad we met. I think we were destined to. Do believe in stuff like fate and predestination? I've always been torn about stuff like that—like are our lives really predetermined? Or is it just coincidence that we run into the people and situations we do everyday? It's all so complicated that I don't know what to believe!"
Emma thought of Will as Holly said the words. It couldn't have just been a mere coincidence that the only man who could calm her, the one man who she could touch without thinking about the million of germs that were transferred to her skin, the only man that made her heart melt every time her eyes locked with his, had now moved in with her. "I think I believe in fate to a certain extent," she finally told Holly.
"I think that's how I am, too. I mean, seriously, some things just turn out way to perfectly for it to be a coincidence. Here we are." Holly motioned toward the reference desk where an elderly lady sat stamping books. "Hi, Sadie. This is Emma Pillsbury. She's interested in volunteering."
"How lovely," Sadie answered, looking up with a warm smile. Emma could feel the grandmotherly love radiating from her and couldn't help but to smile in return. "It's nice to meet you, Emma. I'm Sadie McKay."
"It's nice to meet you, Mrs. McKay," Emma extended her gloved hand and was relieved when Sadie made no comment.
"Oh, please, call me Sadie. Everyone does," she told Emma. She rummaged through the papers in the filing cabinet behind her, pulling a sheet and handing it to Emma. "Here you go. Just fill this out, and then we'll be good to go. And here's a pen."
"Oh, um, no thanks," Emma muttered, pulling her own pen out of her purse. "I have my own pen, thank you."
Holly smiled sympathetically at her as she began to fill out the volunteer questionnaire. Holly was oddly silent as Emma answered each question, until she reached the question that asked what days of the week she was free.
"Oh, I volunteer on Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays," Holly blurted. "Just so you know. You don't have to pick those days or anything. Especially just because I do those days. I can totally understand if those days won't work, or if you just don't want to volunteer on those days for some reason…" she trailed off as Emma circled Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, and Holly looked quite pleased.
When she finished the form, she handed it back to Sadie. "Thank you, dear. I see you included your email address, so I will email you as soon as I review this and see what hours would be best for you to work. Have a nice day, Emma. And you too, Holly."
Emma mumbled a quick thank you and goodbye as she and Holly turned to head back down the steps.
"This is fantastic!" Holly exclaimed. "I'm so excited for you to start—it should be pretty soon. Sadie is so good about getting the applications read over pretty quickly. Oh, do you want me to renew that for you?" She noticed the book that still remained in Emma's bag.
"That'd be great, Holly. Thanks," Emma told her, handing her the book.
She followed Holly to the circulation desk, and Holly quickly checked out the book for her. "Even though I'm pretty new myself, maybe Sadie will let me be your mentor to show you how things work. That would be great, wouldn't it Emma?"
"I would like that a lot, Holly," Emma told her, smiling at the girl. She knew that Holly was going to be handful, but she was already beginning to see beyond Holly's annoying exterior to the sweet girl she truly was on the inside. Plus, it had been years since Emma had had a proper friend, and she was already beginning to like the feel of it. "Thanks for everything, Holly. Hopefully I'll be seeing you soon."
"Bye, Emma. It was so nice meeting you!" Holly waved as Emma headed out the door.
And as Emma headed to her car, she decided it had been a fairly successful day.
A/N: Pictures of Holly and Sadie are on my profile, right under my beta victims as always.
So what do you think of Holly? As far as I can figure, you're either going to love her or hate her :P
And I promise, Holly is just not an excuse for me to come up with more original characters. This whole library plot with Holly will be quite relevant to future events in the story.