Synopsis: It was meant to be a chance meeting. Just a boy in detention and a girl volunteering in a library. And that was it. They weren't meant to interact again. But what if one of them takes fate into their own hands. And maybe their second meeting isn't all that much to do with chance at all.

Genre: Friendship, Romance, Humour

Ending: Pre-Game

Rating: K+

The Library

The Day We Met. Again.

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.

Ashley glances up from the pages of the book she has stolen – temporarily, of course - from the shelves of the library. She smiles whimsically, feeling the comfortable blankets of her favourite novel wrap around her again. The characters of Elizabeth Bennett and Fitzwilliam Darcy, Jane Bennett and Charles Bingley surround her again, tittering in her ears, retelling their stories over and over.

The world swirls around her in the colours of endless tales all wrapped in the bindings of books. Mr Darcy sweeps her up into a dance, weaving her in between library shelves, her giggling as he passes her onto a daring Peter Pan who fights pirates with her and flies her through the air with pixie dust. And then he drops her down into a rabbit hole where she drinks tea with a mad hatter and plays croquet with flamingos and-

Her feet trip over themselves, her eyes flying up from her book. She hisses, the book almost cluttering out of her hands. Her fingers grab for it. She lets out a long, relieved breath as she catches it, clutching it to her chest. Internally apologising to it. She'd been trying to keep a low profile – what with her supposed to be working instead of reading – and had been lurking around the dusty parts at the back of the library.

It had been a great idea at first when she'd first approached the school about volunteering at their library during her free period. It would give her extra credit and would look great on her resume – especially when applying to college. Plus, she'd be surrounded by things she loved.

But, at the time, she hadn't realised that the things she loved would be such a distraction for her.

She shouldn't have been surprised. Compared to the large expansing adventures of her books, Ashley's life was nowhere near as exciting.

Sighing wistfully, Ashley turns the corner into the next isle.

And stops short.

He's here.

Mister "I stole your heart" guy. He'd been here yesterday, looking about as familiar with books as a fish is with climbing a tree. Which is kind of appropriate. Since books are pieces of trees.

He's currently staring quizzically at the blurb on the back of a copy of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. Ashley giggles quietly at the creases of confusion across his forehead.

Which is clearly not quiet enough. Because he instantly glances up, catching sight of her.

For a moment, she thinks he's going to call her out for – possibly, maybe – watching him, and accuse her of stalking. But then he just holds the book up in the air with an incredulous look on his face. "This is a book?" He gawks at her across the space between them, eyes narrowing, confused. "I thought this was just a movie." He glances at the book in his hand as if he's just discovered a national secret and he doesn't know what to do with it.

Ashley sniggers. Her feet take a few steps forward, keeping him in her sights. "And," she pitches it, feeling smug. Feeling brave, "Did you know that Frankenstein is actually the name of the doctor, not the monster?"

His eyes widen behind his black rimmed glasses. "No way," his jaw practically falls off. Ashley laughs at his exaggeration. He notices, smirking behind his shock. "Then- what's the name of the monster?"

Ashley shrugs. As if it's one of the world's most unanswerable questions. How did the universe begin? What is the meaning of life? Did Frankenstein's monster have a name?

"Nobody knows," she whispers mysteriously, waving her hand in the air.

His eyebrows raise and he snickers. Before turning back to the book. "Poor guy," he mutters under his breath, consoling the book through his eyes. He pats it comfortingly with his hand before sliding it back onto the shelf.

Ashley isn't sure what it is that pulls her towards him. Maybe it's because of how friendly he seems. Or maybe because, unlike a lot of guys, he's not intimidating. He's not one of the jocks. Or maybe it's because, for a brief moment, she feels smarter than him.

"I don't think," she starts, feeling a teasing smile creep up her lips. Which is totally not like her. What is he doing to her? "He should be the one we should be worried about."

Mr. Glasses Guy just raises his eyebrows, curiously tugging them up. 'Oh yeah?' his eyes question.

Her lips flutter with a smile and he almost looks worried.

"What are you doing here?" she probes him.

"What?" he splutters, glancing around as if to find someone to defend him. But the isles are as empty as the school building at the beginning of Summer. And Ashley's pretty sure the Librarian is already asleep. "A library? In a school I go to? Totally normal."

Ashley coughs. "In the middle of class?" she raises her eyebrows knowingly. Her eyes catch him fumbling with his words and she can't help but giggle.

"Fine," he mutters under his breath, shoulders drooping with a sigh. "I got detention again. Accidentally." He pauses, daring to glance up at her. His smile is sheepish. "On purpose."

Ashley's lips are caught mid-word. She was about to tease this nameless student on how he was making a habit of getting into detention, and what he could possibly be doing to get there, when she'd heard his words.

She retracts, suddenly aware of the proximity of her and this complete and utter stranger. She completely forgot that she didn't even know him. For a few minutes, she felt like they had been friends since they were children. "Oh," she breathes out quietly, her lips hovering around the sound for a few brief seconds.

The smile on his lips slackens. And suddenly everything seems so quiet.

She shoots an abrupt laughs into the air. It's too loud and sharp. Ashley swears at herself. "You must like the library a heck of a lot," Ashley chuckles, though she hears her voice crack. What the heck is she doing?

"Yeah," the guy smiles, a mix between a scoff and a laugh. Though his eyes have faded with an unsure, tentative look. "The library..."

Suddenly the space between the two of them feels like an aching cavern. In an instant, she's acutely aware of how little they know about each other. And how easy she felt around him.

Seriously, Ashley, he could have been a serial killer. You don't know!

Ashley inhales, stepping away. "Anyway," she gestures vaguely to somewhere behind her. "I should be getting back to... what I was doing..."

He nods, an aware smile on his lips. "Right," he nods. "Your volunteering stuff."

Her feet keep stumbling back, step by step away from him. "Keep up with the," Ashley waves her hand in his general direction, cringing at the way she's fumbling, "dusting. Good job."

He grins, half snorting as he waves his duster at her. "You got it," he assures her. And she can't be sure because of the lens of his glasses but she's pretty sure he just winked at her.

Ashley takes that as a cue to spin around, instantly hiding her face in her hands. What the hell was that?She is completely and utterly convinced that her cheeks are flaming. Her voice consistently curses at herself. Embarrassing much?

"Hey," a voice calls out behind her.

Crap.

Ashley sheepishly turns back around, seeing him still watching her. She tries to smile. She tries to not act like an idiot.

"I," he tries his words out, looking hopeful, a smile balancing on his lips, "didn't catch your name?"

She almost lets out a sigh of relief. Thank goodness it's an easy question to answer. She isn't exactly prepared to deal with anything along the lines of, What's the meaning of life? Did Frankenstein's monster have a name? Why are you blushing like an idiot?

Ashley lets herself smile, her gaze lingering on his. And maybe, for once, her life isn't as unexciting as she first thought.

"I'm Ashley."

Okay. So maybe he'd gotten detention again on purpose.

Besides, mathematics deserves to be debated so fervently in class that he just had to use curse words. Josh had stared at Chris like he'd just transformed into another person when Chris had shot up in class and started reeling off the words like they were oxygen. Chris doesn't think his teacher has ever heard Pythagoras' Theorem been described with the F word before and afterwords. And filtered in multiple times throughout.

Needless to say, Chris was instantly sent to detention. Sure, it had taken a lot out of him to convince the faculty adviser to let him serve his detention in the library. Again. She had looked at him very suspiciously but, in the end, had agreed.

And so Chris had swept into the library, grabbing the duster and polish from the librarian before she could object, and had weaved his way through the shelves, his eyes constantly looking out for her.

He'd been hoping that when she said she volunteered here, that meant she was here on a regular basis. But more importantly, on the same day, at the same time Chris was here. After he had put so much effort in.

He hadn't been wrong. She'd turned up, half hiding at the end of the isle, watching him with those green eyes of hers. Not in a creepy way. It was rather cute, to be honest.

He'd become completely distracted from his cleaning.

"I'm Ashley," she finally tells him her name, a smile dusting her lips like icing sugar.

He instantly smiles back.

Like Ashley from Mass Effect.

Like one half of the Olsen twins.

Like that one actress from High School Musical.

What? Hannah and Beth had forced both him and Josh to watch it with them ages ago. And by ages ago, he means last week.

It takes Chris a totally of one minute to realise that he's actually supposed to introduce himself around about now.

"Chris," he finally says, gesturing to himself and laughing under his breath. And he watches as Ashley relaxes. He can almost read her mind. Okay, Chris is a normal name. Chris is good. I'm okay with Chris. "Nice to meet you."

She giggles and, okay, that's adorable. Has anyone told her that's adorable? She slips away not long after that. Something about needing to do her work. Which is fine. Because he now has a name to a face.

Which means he can now stalk her on facebook.

Or you know, not seem like a total creep when he speaks to her next.

With one of those inevitable smiles on his face, he returns to his punishment of cleaning. But the bookshelves of the library suddenly seem a lot more alive and interesting to him now that he associates them with her.

He wonders how many secret facts she knows about each one. About how many she's read and re-read.

He chuckles to himself, sliding Frankenstein back out of it's slot on the shelf. Maybe he should actually read this some time. Instead of just watching the movie.

She'd probably laugh at all the inconsistencies and throw popcorn at the screen and-

Hey. That's not such a bad idea.

Doesn't Josh have a copy of the movie hidden around somewhere?

Okay, he's convinced. Grinning like an idiot, he turns and heads towards the librarian's desk, book clutched in hand.

Christopher.

You are a genius.