Thanks everyone for the reviews, very nice of you. Here's some more, which I hope you'll all read and review.
The library didn't open again for another few days, mostly because it was weekend, but also because of various repairs that had to be done before the building could be deemed safe. Especially considering the variable length of time some people spent in the library. I didn't know how the girl was, or even who she was. It wasn't my place to know. But when I arrived at the library on the first day it reopened, I couldn't stop my lips curving at the sides. I didn't expect her to be back, not after her brush with death.
'I need to renew these,' she requested, handing a pile of books over. I glanced at the books and was surprised to find I'd read or at least browsed every single book she'd borrowed. I took her library card and gave it a quick once over, long enough to take a mental photograph of her details, not least her picture.
'Emily,' I said, smiling as I handed the card back.
'Look, I won't be charged for not returning them sooner, will I?'
'Of course not,' I assured her, passing the books over. 'After what happened to you, I should think we'll be letting you off any fines you accumulate.'
Emily nodded her head and slung her book bag back over her shoulder, before walking over to a table not far from the desk. I watched her pick up a newspaper and browse the headlines, she didn't seem to settle on any story long enough to read it. I stood staring at her for several minutes, my eyes allowing me to glance under her clothing. No bra, for a change. I licked my bottom lip and chewed lightly on it. Then I refocused my attention to find Emily staring at me.
"Are you perving on me?" she asked, folding the newspaper up and leaving it on the table as she walked back towards the desk.
"No."
"Yes you are."
There came a time in life where I was glad I could read thoughts. I tuned out the background noise, focusing on Emily's mind as she stared at me aghast.
I hope she is.
"Okay, maybe a little," I said honestly.
'First I nearly get poisoned and now I'm being perved on by some librarian?' Emily scoffed. 'Not sure I'll be coming back here again.'
She turned away, a definite smirk on her lips which stayed long after she'd gathered her belongings and headed out the door. I could sense it; I could see it when I looked through the wall to the entrance corridor, where she stood grinning stupidly to herself.
Why wouldn't I come back here?
xxx
The next day Emily was sat on the steps before opening, I arrived in a hurry, with only seconds to spare. A cup of coffee teetered dangerously in the crook of my arm as I unlocked the door and punched in the alarm code. If Emily hadn't been stood behind me, waiting, I'd have done it with my mind like usual. But I couldn't, so I did it the manual way, nearly dropping my coffee all over the floor in the process.
'Thought you weren't coming back here,' I asked, scowling playfully.
'Got too much research to do.'
'So you'd rather risk being perved on just so you can get some work done?'
'Work comes first,' Emily said with a stoic expression on her face.
I'd rather come here and see you every day than go to the library in town with the slimy old bloke.
'Suppose we're better than the town centre library with Steve the sleaze.'
'I was just thinking that,' Emily smiled, placing a book on the counter before I could even get behind it. I looked her up and down, impressed with her yellow knickers with blue spots and the lack of a bra. It was probably immoral of me to perve on the customers, but nobody knew just how much I saw so no harm done.
'Don't you want this book?' I asked, cracking it open and turning to my favourite section.
'Not really, doesn't fit with my subject.'
'What is your subject?'
'Can't say.'
'I love this book, shame,' I smiled, scanning it in and placing it on the trolley to rehome later.
Emily disappeared into the main library room and I used my gift to watch her through the walls. She'd headed straight for the environmental section and had begun browsing books written in the last few years. I watched her avidly which would have been fine, had another customer not come in wanting to ask a question. I saw to their needs before returning my attention back to the wall, which was when I realised how stupid I looked staring at a cream coloured wall as though it was the most interesting thing on Earth. If only they knew.
'Still here?' I asked as Emily exited the room and logged into the computer system to log her internet access.
'It's going to be a long day; I'm behind thanks to the drama the other night. I've been meaning to ask, do you know who it was that raised the alarm? I'd like to thank them.'
'I'm not sure who it was,' I said, trying to ignore the singing thoughts from a man sat nearby. I tuned in to Emily's again, anything to hear the sound of her inner voice which had a softer, sweeter ring to it than her actual one. I didn't want to tell her, couldn't expose myself so easily to her. Nothing in life was easy, especially when you had superhuman gifts to keep hidden.
So it wasn't her, or does she just not want me to know?
"You're perving on me again, aren't you?" Emily finally asked, as my eyes travelled the length and breadth of her body. I had no shame but I wasn't willing to admit it just yet.
"No."
"Yes you are, you're looking at me the same as you did the other day. I bet it was you really, who saved me, you're here all the time."
"I'm not some kind of hero," I assured her, cautious of her persistence. She didn't seem to want to let it go and I couldn't get a read on why. She'd put a shield up; yet let her own pervy thoughts get through.
"Yes, you are."
I shook my head at her and folded my arms across my chest, anything to show her how serious I was. She could never understand what it felt like to know you had powers beyond human perception, beyond the possibilities they'd always known.
"You don't know me," I said, insistently. I stared her in the eye, hoping that I could put some reversal on my thought processing. I wanted her to understand, I wanted her to know that she couldn't ever know me well enough.
"I know it's you who saved me."
"You're wrong," I snapped, more cautious of my gifts coming to light than before. She didn't let it go. Nobody had asked questions up until now, but surely someone was going to wonder why I didn't pass out too? Why we didn't both just die?
"You're still perving on me," Emily noted, finally letting go of the previous suggestion. I watched as she glanced up and down at my body, her mouth slightly agape. I let out a small laugh, she could stare all she wanted, she would never get to see as much as I could of her. Unless we stopped playing around and met on a more personal level.
"Is it any wonder when you're as cute as you are?" I asked, chewing on my lip in a flirtatious manner as I looked up at her from under my eyelids.
Sometimes I hated knowing all that I knew or seeing all that I saw. Sneak previews of a girl's tits was one thing, but realising just how wonderful someone actually was? I didn't really believe in love at first sight, but talking to Emily, I could feel something bubbling up inside of me. What I wouldn't give to fuck her just once, possibly in the quietest most unused room of the library, possibly in her bed. I could feel moisture on my lip, which I wiped away quickly.
"See, I told you!" Emily grinned.
God, I want to kiss her.
"Fuck off," I said, letting loose all of the frustration building up inside. I couldn't let her get to me, I couldn't even let my thoughts (or Emily's for that matter) effect my choices. Something about Emily was special. I could see a long happy future for us, except that would never be possible. Not with all the secrets I would have to keep from her.
"So, are you going to ask me out?"
"No."
She wasn't making my life any easier, fuck, I would have said yes if life had been simple. I would have said yes to talking to baby Chimpanzees about growth spurts if she'd asked and my life hadn't been the complicated shit tip that it was.
"Either ask me out or stop perving."
"I'm sorry,' I shook my head, lifting my gaze away from her hip as the small image that lay there spread across my mind. 'That tattoo is well hot."
"What?"
"I mean, I, well, fucking, sorry' I stumbled over my words, cursing to myself as I made a mess of it. 'I saw it the other day."
"How? It was covered up."
Fuck. Think Naomi, think. Why was my brain so fucking slow when I really liked a girl? Considering more sections of my brain were used than the average human, I'd have thought it would be possible to actually control the fucked up part that says the wrong thing. I guess I was wrong.
"Maybe you told me about it."
"I didn't, we've never really talked before today."
"You did,' I said, adamantly as she subconsciously played with the material by her right hip. 'I remember, you told me it's a symbol that you and your sister both have."
Thank Fuck for being able to read someone's thoughts. At least they came in handy for something, other than saving hot girls lives.
"Don't lie," Emily muttered, but her eyes said something very different. She couldn't believe what I'd said; she actually couldn't believe I knew what it was all about. I allowed my thoughts to curse me for letting something so blatant slip.
"So I'm a perve and a liar?' I rolled my eyes, I needed to get out. Thankfully it was lunchtime and I wasn't working alone, for once. 'You obviously don't want to go on a date with me."
"There's a fine line between love and hate."
'Look, I have to go,' I told her, trying my best to ignore the sad look on her face. I smiled at her in farewell, informed my colleague of my untimely lunch break and left the library.