The week passes uneventfully. I go to school, come home, eat dinner with everyone then go to sleep. Wake up the next morning and repeat. Also, unfortunately for me, the past week didn't include Nick. He seemed to disappear, to blend back into the background. The only thing that made me think he was actually at school were the glimpses I caught of him or the sound of the shocked whispers that were still circulating about him.
Throughout the week, I alternated who I sat with. One day I would sit with Brennan and Logan, then the next I would sit with Taylor and Keegan who introduced me to their friends. First there was Peyton and Spencer, who I had already met from my previous lessons. Then there was Max McKinney, an average height, toned, blond boy I recognized from my Spanish class. I never actually talked to him, he sat in the back of the class shouting out jokes and making people laugh, but he seemed nice enough.
So, now its seven thirty on a Saturday morning and I'm getting dressed, preparing myself for the upcoming day. I've decided to go into town to have a look around and I want to look for a job, the Clarks don't have a problem with money but I don't want to be totally dependent on them. Happy with my appearance I walk down to the kitchen to make myself a quick breakfast. I butter my toast and start pouring myself some orange juice, when I see Ella on the side porch. Picking up my breakfast I walk out into the warm morning air, the view is simply picture perfect.
"Good Morning." Ella looks a little startled as she turns to see me sitting beside her.
"Oh, good morning Evie. I thought I'd be the only one up this early."
"Yeah, well, I wanted to go into town today and look around. Maybe see if there's any available jobs." I reply tearing at my toast.
"You know Evie, Edward and I would happily provide you with anything you need."
"I know, I think it'll just give me something to do. You know, get out of the house. Plus I want to do something productive."
"Well okay, as long as you don't feel like you have to." She raises her warm, brown eyes to meet mine, before I quickly reassure her. After I finish my breakfast, I go back to my room to get my bag and when I go back down, Ella offers to let me take the family car. A sleek, black Mercedes-Benz S550. Even I wouldn't say no to that.
#
Oakridge is no different than I thought it would be. Small town where small family businesses are run from small unique buildings. Not to say I didn't like it, I mean it was different to Boston, but it was a good different. Refreshing, in a way. It was nice to not be caught up in a crowd of people, pushing and rushing everywhere. It was nice to have a leisurely walk, breathing the fresh, woodsy air, just soaking up the atmosphere.
So far the job hunt hadn't been great. There was quite a few places willing to have me work there, but none of them felt quite right, none of them really stood out to me. So here I was twelve o'clock in the afternoon, strolling around Oakridge, looking for anything to interest me.
I had nearly reached end of the road, where the town finished and the forests began. I was just about to turn around when something caught my eye.
McCarty's
Book Nook
The name was painted on a small sign hanging over the pavement. McCarty's. The name sounded slightly familiar. As I got closer, I saw that it was a small, two story wood and brick building, with huge floor to ceiling windows on the upper floor. I pushed open the old, wooden door and stepped inside. I hear the soft tinkling of the bell above the door, I can see tiny dust motes floating in the sunlight. From the outside the building looked like a two story, but it only had the one floor it just had extremely an extremely high ceiling. To my right is a counter adorned with a mess of papers and a cash register, a small room with wooden archway entry is next to it and seems to go to the back of the building. Almost every wall is completely covered with bookcases, each one towering over me, each one filled with books. Bookcases filled the middle of the room, jutting out from the walls, creating a maze within the small building. As I walk further in I see the back left corner occupied by mismatched seating, sectioned off by a collection of more bookcases. Making my way to the counter I realize that in the back right corner there is a sort of balcony reaching out to the center of the room, but I don't see any way to get up there. I ring the gold bell and wait as the ding resonates through the room, almost immediately I hear a slight crash from inside the small room and turn just in time to see a man coming towards the counter. He's tall, very tall, his height might have intimidated me if it wasn't for the huge grin on his face. A mess of dark blonde hair covered his head and went down his sideburns into a slight beard, his eyes were a deep brown and held an assortment of emotions. Happiness, excitement, shock and oddly, a slight hint of suspicion.
"Hello, what can I do for you today?"
"Hi, I'm looking for the owner." The man held his hands out to his sides as if he was presenting himself.
"You're looking at him. Luke McCarty at your service."
"Well in that case, I was wondering if you have any job openings?" I watch as the smile slips from his face slightly.
"Yeah we got a few. Why? You interested?"
"I am." Luke straightens out, folding his arms across his chest. This makes him seem taller, if that was even possible.
"Is this some kind of joke?" I'm not sure what threw me more, the question or his exasperated tone.
"What? No. Why-" he cuts me off with an irritated sigh.
"Look, it's not every day I get people in here. And it's even less likely to have someone come in asking for a job. And on those few rare occasions, it doesn't turn out well. So I'll ask you again, is this a joke?" Unfortunately I find myself getting more and more frustrated as well.
"No. It isn't. And to be perfectly honest I think getting a job at a bookstore is a pretty lame joke." He just stands there for a moment, obviously trying to decide if I'm telling the truth or not. Eventually he lets out a defeated sigh and retreats back into the small room.
"I haven't seen you in town before." He says as he goes.
"Yeah well, I'm new." He comes back holding some papers, he still seems tense but he smiles slightly when I say this.
"Ah, so you're the kid staying with the Clarks."
"That's me." He slides the pile of papers towards me and I see it's an application form.
"Look I'm sorry about before and I believe that you're telling the truth, but I don't want you giving any trouble to my other employees."
"Of course not I would never-" I'm cut off once again but this time it's by the doorbell. A sound that is quickly followed by a rushed sentence.
"Sorry I'm late Luke. I had to drop Amelia off at her friend's house." The person turns and stops talking when he sees me. Then suddenly everything made sense. Luke's suspicion, the odd questions, the whole working here as a joke thing. It all made sense, because one of the employees Luke was talking about was Nick.
#
I began working straight away. The job wasn't complicated at all. If a customer came in, offer them help, if they wanted to buy something, check them out. If a customer doesn't come in, straighten out the books and sit around reading or drinking coffee. I was currently inspecting the books looking for one to read, I skimmed over the titles until one caught my eye, The Great Gatsby. I smirk to myself and reach up to grab the book. Unfortunately, due to my lacking in height, I couldn't actually reach the book, I stood right on my tiptoes, jumped, and even tried to climb up the bookcase a little. Still nowhere near it.
So that's why I am presently balanced on the second shelf of the bookcase, desperately trying to a) reach the book, and b) not fall on my butt. I stand on my tiptoes and reach as far as I can, making my fingertips just brush the shelf where my desired book sits. I push myself a little bit further, my fingers touch the bottom of the book, just a little fur-
"Almost got it?" the voice startles me and I whip around just in time to see Nicks amused smirk before my foot slips and I start to fall forward. Obviously realizing this, Nick surges forward to catch me, which he did but he loses his footing and continues onwards, with me in his arms, until my back hits the bookcase. Hence my current position of being sandwiched between the bookcase and Nick. I'm dazed for a moment, one minute I'm reaching for a book, the next I'm pressed against a bookcase by a guy. I guess it doesn't help my mental state, that the guy is the same guy that I've been racking my brains over for the past week. Which is probably why I'm stood here gawking at him whilst try to form a coherent sentence, something that I'm not particularly succeeding at in this moment.
Fortunately for me he's looking slightly shocked himself. We just stand there for a minute, just staring at each other. I look into his eyes, still the enticing light brown colour with tiny specks of gold, except now I don't see that barrier. The cold, hard wall that was there the first time I had saw him was gone. I mean, the pain and loneliness are still there but that's different, those are real raw emotions, not a façade he puts on for other people.
Still in this trance, I notice his mouth moving.
"What?" he shakes his head slightly before reaching up, easily grabbing The Great Gatsby, which I had totally forgotten about.
"I said, you know there's a ladder right?" he smirks pointing to the front desk, and sure enough right next to it is a wooden step ladder. He laughs at my lack of a response and steps away, handing me the book as he does. I let out a breath I didn't even know I was holding and I began to yearn for the lost contact.
"You sure are something Evie, I'll give you that." He says over his shoulder as he walks away. Bewildered I quickly follow him.
"What is that supposed to mean?"
"Nothing."
"Seriously why are you so incapable of holding a conversation?"
"I can hold a conversation." He says simply, stopping abruptly and turning to skim the shelves.
"Really? Because this right now isn't what most people would call holding a conversation." I fold my arms across my chest, waiting for an answer. He stops looking at the book in his hand and turns to me.
"I thought we'd already established you're not 'most people'." I stand there for a few minutes, slightly infuriated, just staring at him, trying to quell my anger.
"I give up." And with that I turn and walk away.
#
A few hours later, I'm still at the store. About an hour ago Luke said that he was heading out and that Nick would lock up. The store hadn't been anything close to busy, I think about 3 people came in throughout the course of the day. Anyway I passed on having a break, seeing as I had done very little work anyway, but Nick had shouted up to me 20 minutes ago that he was going out for his. You see in the hours of wondering around the store I ventured up to the balcony area, up there was an array of couches and armchairs all clustered around a fireplace. Luke had told me earlier that few customers ever went up there, probably because the spiral staircase was hidden within a cluster of bookcases.
I check my watch and see its half past 4. That's nearly 4 straight hours of reading and I've barely even gotten into my book. My thoughts are disrupted by the noise of someone walking up the staircase, looking up from where I'm curled up on an armchair, I see Nick walking towards me holding a paper bag and two paper cups with the logo of the café down the street on them. Placing the bag and one of the cups on the coffee table, he holds the other cup out to me. I just look at him for a few seconds, unsure where we stand after out earlier discussion.
"You didn't take your break, but you need something in your system so just take the coffee." He sighs. I comply after I put my book down.
"Thank you." He busies himself with emptying out the contents of the paper, he takes out two sandwiches, one he places in front of himself, and the other he slides to me on a napkin. I simply smile in return. After a few moments of comfortable silence, Nick clears his throat.
"I, err, I wanted to apologize. You know, about earlier." His eyes keep switching between me and his shoes as he rubs the back of his neck. It's almost as if he's nervous.
"I should be the one apologising. It's your life, you can do what you want. I mean I've only been here I week, I'm in no position to judge you. I don't even know you."
"Do you want to?"
"Want to what?" I ask confused.
"Know me." This throws me completely. Nick the closed off mysterious kid, who shuts everybody out, is asking if I want to know him.
"Of course." I answer as soon as I can. Only afterwards realising how embarrassingly eager it sounded.
"Well," He smirks slightly, "what do you want to know?" He's looking at me with amused eyes, waiting for my question. I know what I want to ask, I want to ask why everyone avoids him, why he's always isolated, but part of me feels the story behind it is just too personal. So I decide to start off slow.
"How old are you?"
"17."
"So you're a senior?" I already know the answer is yes.
"Yeah."
"What's your favourite colour?" he quickly responds with a chuckle.
"You know Evie, you don't have to ask such mundane questions. If I wasn't prepare to get personal questions then I wouldn't have offered." I nod for a moment, re-thinking my next question. Then I remember something he said when he first walked in.
"Who's Amelia?" he smirks slightly again, something he seems to be doing a lot of lately.
"Amelia's my little sister. She's eight." I see a bit of pride adoration in his expression, almost like a father talking about his only daughter.
"Oh." He gets up and walks to the rail, looking down of the sea of books below before turning and leaning against it.
"I'll make you deal." He crosses his arms over his chest before he continues, "You can ask any question you want, no matter how personal, if I can ask you the same."
"Okay."
"But just so you know," he adds, "I'll answer your question. I just might not be able to do it in great detail. Not yet." I simply nod in response. "So what do you want to know?"