Disclaimer: Not mine, not mine, not mine. Even the basic plot isn't mine. It's based of a musical titled "Mary Lou" (only in Israel ;)), with a change of some things to suit the plot and characters better.

A/N: This is an AU (Alternate Universe) story. Some characters are not where they are supposed to be or not how they're supposed to be or not in the place you're used to see them at. You'll see.

2001

It was less hot than it was in any other day this week. Less hot than it was supposed to be in the middle of the summer in New York City.

The dim light didn't cause him feel like he's melting. Actually, it made the place feel warmer. And not only the temperature.

The store was like a home to him. A second home. Actually, it was more of a home to him than his house was. Ever since his mother, Liz, died six years ago. Ever since his father, Jimmy, was rushed into a hospital after having a heart attack a couple of weeks before.

His house felt different. Colder. Like it wasn't even his anymore. It was... Hers.

Sasha. His stepmother. The two-faced monster whom his father married almost four years ago. Right from the moment she worked her dark charms on his surprisingly naive dad, everything that formerly belonged to his family became her property. Not officially, no, but she made it seem like it was.

She had a daughter. She wasn't as nauseating and horrible as her mom was, but she had her moments. Lily. She was about his age, maybe a year or so younger. She was too bound in her mom's constant brainwash to care about anything else.

His dad owned a store. A bookstore. It was quite big. It was heaven for him. It was a haven for him. It inspired his passion for writing, for creating a scenario in his head and expressing it on paper.

Ever since he was a young boy, his dad brought him there. First it was to hang out as he worked, while his mom was trying to catch up with all the college years she missed to have and raise him. Then, when he got older, he unofficially hired him to help him around, especially when Jimmy needed support not only in business matters.

Now, he had to cover for his dad as the owner of the store as he was at the hospital. He barely even had the time to visit him, since Jimmy insisted that the store and its profits of the store are more important than little visits.

Honestly, he didn't love it the way he did before. Before people were so hooked on anything that included not much brainwork and hot chicks in thongs. Not that he didn't appreciate chicks in thongs. As a guy, he had to appreciate chicks in thongs.

But it just... It disturbed him. He missed the days when the kids that went in the store bought something else besides Harry Potter books. He didn't care about the money loss the store would suffer if they stopped selling them. He just wanted people to read real literature every once in a while. Not only the kind that they've previously seen in the movie theater.

The sound of a young kid's voice interrupted his trail of thoughts. He tore himself away from his book, which he was barely into anyway, and turned his attention to the figure, which was holding - How surprisingly - a Harry Potter book.

He sighed as he reached to grab it, shoving it inside the plain "Mariano's" bag as the kid placed the money on the counter. He sighed again as he organized the money in the cash register.

These poor kids, he thought to himself, wasting all their money on this month's 'Big Thing'. They'll probably read it once and hurl it out the window when the time will come. He could've recommended them two much better books in the same price. Same outraged price.

The kid thanked him as he left the store with a big grin of his lips. Jess replied quietly with a small smile that faded as soon as the door closed behind him.

He reached back for the book and tried to open it with help from the bookmark that he placed in there. But it turned out that he didn't. He opened the book impatiently, silently cursing himself for not paying attention for last page he read, or even the last words he paid attention to. He passed and scanned through page after page after page, without any luck.

He slammed the book to the counter with frustration, then reached his hand to search underneath the counter, hoping he left something good in there, or that his father left him some worthy reading material like he usually did.

But there was nothing there. He bended down, letting his eyes shift to every dark place he might possibly find a book in.

He was engrossed in searching. So engrossed, that he didn't hear the door open and shut once again.

"Is anyone in there?" A feminine voice called, and he jumped up, saying "Hi".

She jumped, startled, as he popped out from behind the counter. She laughed nervously as she saw him and raised her hands, holding them to her heart, taking a deep breath. "Oh. Hi."

"Hi." He echoed, straightening his blouse. "Sorry." He apologized with a half-smile, seeing how scared she seemed for a moment.

"It's okay." She replied, still laughing, nodding her head to the sound of her own voice.

"I... Didn't know there was anyone in here." He tried to justify himself, matching her nervous laugh with his own nervous laugh.

"It's okay," She repeated, "Neither did I."

"Good." He replied, trying to catch his breath after wasting most of it on the laughter he forced.

"Yeah." She looked at him and said coyly, folding her arms.

He coughed, not knowing really what to do, as she tried to release herself from her embarrassing behavior by looking around.

He followed her slim figure with his hazel eyes, hoping the girl's choices wouldn't be as expected as he feared.

"You need any help?" He asked, tilting himself to the side in order to get a closer look at the pile of books she was bending to search through.

"No thanks." She smiled while reading the back cover of a book that caught her eye, not taking her eyes off of it.

"Don't need directions to the Harry Potter shelf, do you?" He asked humorly but with a hint of seriousness, raising an eyebrow.

She rested the book back in its place as she cast a confused, narrow-eyed glance at him. "Harry Potter?"

"For yourself, for the kids, for the nieces and nephews?" He continued, now raising both of his eyebrows.

She chuckled in reply. "If I had any," She emphasized, "I think I'd prefer if they read something that got where it is now because of a movie." She took another book, turning it to examine its back cover.

"Something low-profile?" He asked as a smile creeped to his lips.

"Yeah." She agreed, moving to check another shelf.

He nodded in agreement, expressing his similar opinion with a sole motion. He kept watching her as she browsed through the store, collecting some items in her now busy hands.

She eventually walked up to the counter, resting her heavy book baggage on it. He enjoyably skimmed through the books she picked, recalling the points in his life when he got to read them. He found it awkward to believe how young he was when he read some of them and how surprisingly easy they were for him to analyze. He blindly remembered the notes he wrote in the margins, his thoughts, his feelings. It was the easiest thing in the world. His mind always roamed when it came to literature. And he was glad it did.

"Thank you." He pleasantly greeted as he handed her the bags - Not one, not two, not three - bags, "Come again soon." He added with a smile.

She took the bag in her hand and smiled back. "I'll try." She said, her tone of voice reflecting how she wholeheartedly meant what she said.

He kept watching her as she slowly turned around and walked away from the store, into the street.

Just as she did, someone else came it. But he was too floating to notice, even as his head was turned to the direction of the door. His mind was someone else. His mind was inside one of the bags he handed her, with her.

"Jess?"

He was confused. That girl made him confused. He had no idea why, but she tied him up. To himself, to her clearly unintentional charms. Maybe it was the fact that she was the only person in the last week that bought something else than Hairy Plotter books. Maybe it was just her. She was pretty. She was more than pretty. She had these amazing blue eyes that... It was like...

"Whoohoo! Jesse boy!"

An ocean. An ocean. And he felt like drowning inside of it. He was pretty sure it was the first time he didn't remember a girl because of her boobs. He wasn't attracted to her. At least, not in his usual way.

He also hated assisting. But assisting her was...

"Your hair is on fire!"

He snapped out of his thought trail at the mention of his hair on fire. Stupidly reaching to check it, he narrowed her eyes, then threw his hand down with a sigh. "Lane." He should have known.

"Seems that way." She nodded, walking towards the counter, leaning over it.

He grinned at her. "What are you doing?" He asked as she shifted her weight to her arms, trying to lift herself off the ground.

"What are you doing?" She echoed, looking at him as she kept doing her best to fly.

He crossed his arms and leaned them over that same counter, looking in her narrowed eyes. "What am I doing?" He asked, snapping out of his previous daydream.

"Being a guy." She reasoned, jumping up.

He chuckled at her. Lane Kim. That girl had been his best friend since he remembered himself. She was always there. When he was getting ready for his very first date, when his mom died, when he needed to rant about Satasha, when he needed to just talk, when his dad had his heart attack. She was always there, refusing to let go of him. Never agreeing to walk away until he got everything out, until he felt better. He loved her for it. She was more a sister to him than the Lily girl ever was.

"Did you see her?" He dreamingly asked Lane, his voice smaller, calmer than it was before. He watched the curb which she previously walked in with a smile.

"The... Curb?" She raised an eyebrow in confusion. "When did the two of you get buddy-buddy?"

He playfully smacked her on the shoulder, causing her to lose her balance, and her feet to touch the floor. "The girl."

She was glaring at him from the moment he caused her to fall. "I've seen a lot of girls." She replied nonchalantly, trying to pretend like she didn't know what he was talking about.

"You're mocking me." He announced. Not asking, not ordering. Just saying.

"I might be doing just that." She nodded, looking down at her hands as she did her best to repeat her previous deed.

He took the paperback book he was previously trying to read in his hand and hit her on the head hit it, causing her, again, to lose her balance and fall.

"You're being cranky." She motioned at his face and pouted, lightly touching his nose. "I'll go." She stabled herself on the floor and drew her hands away from the counter.

"Nah, stay." He smirked, leaning off the counter as well. "Keep me company."

She shook her head, looking into her bag. "I will not do such thing." She announced as she took something out of her bag.

"Besides, I have to go to my mother's weekly bible reading in half an hour."

He clapped his hands together and pasted a visibly fake grin on his lips. "Oh, joy!" He joked, his voice higher than usual.

"Kid again and I shall repeat the terrible punk-in-bible-camp slaughter of 1999." She said indifferently with a nod. He slapped his hand on his eyes at the memories of that particular time, when Lane dragged him to bible camp with her, telling him nothing but that it's a place where they read a lot.

"Right. Right." He nodded, waving his hand through his hair.

"Just wanted to give you this." She placed a small black bag on the counter, nodding her head at its direction.

He looked at her, suspiciously, as he moved to open it. His eyes lit up as he saw its content. "You're a god." He said, taking a portable CD player out of the case, along with a CD-holding booklet.

"Was born and raised to be one." She said, cracking a small smile.

He smirked as he chose to place a Pavement CD in the player. "You aren't trying to get me to join you in bible camp again, aren't you?" He glanced at her as he placed the headphones on his head.

"I wouldn't dream of it." She said dismissingly, zipping her bag."Glad to hear." He grinned, pushing the 'Play' button.

She flung the bag on her shoulder as she prepared to leave. "Enjoy me while you can."

He waggled his eyebrows at her. "Be here at eight."

She gave him a peck on the cheek before she left. Left through the same door, which Ocean previously left from. Ocean. That was a nice name.

He hated it.

She must have a real name, he figured.

He'll get it somehow.