The rapping came at her door sooner than Clara expected. She stood up, smoothed out her dress, and quickly walked to answer he door. Alex stood there with a smile plastered on his face and a single rose in his hand.

"My lady." He bowed ever so slightly to give her the flower. He was dressed in a suit and looked much nicer than she had ever seen.

"If you'll just take my hand, I'll take you to our date this evening" he said as he offered his hand. Clara took it and was whisked out of her apartment. They were soon on the street, taking random turns and back alleys until they were in front of a shop Clara had never seen before.

"What is this?" Clara's heels were hurting her feet, and she was really hungry. She appreciated the romantic flair Alex was trying to exude but she just wanted to rest and eat some pasta or something.

"Okay, here's the part where you close your eyes and trust me not to let you fall." Clara sighed, but obliged.

"Okay, take a small step up, now walk ten paces. STOP! Okay, turn to your left and walk four more paces. You can look upon our date this evening." Clara opened her eyes and gasped. Books and candles surrounded her. The books were old and the candles were new. In the middle of the vast bookshelves, there was a small table with a red checkerboard tablecloth. It looked like it was straight out of Lady and the Tramp.

"Have a seat please." Alex smiled as he pulled a chair out for her. As she sat down she asked, "What is this place?"

"This is a bookstore I own. We specialize in rare and antique books." A short man appeared at the table and placed two water glasses down. "That's Emilio. He's normally the cashier, but tonight he's our waiter. Thanks, Emilio!" Emilio nodded and disappeared into the shadows again.

"I don't know what to say, this place is beautiful. How did you find all of these splendid books?" Clara couldn't tear her eyes away from the towering bookshelves filled to the brim with gorgeous, decaying books.

"I used to go to a lot of garage sales, estate sales, thrift shops and I would find a lot of old books, so I thought I could make a business out of it." Alex was also looking around, taking pride in his hard work. Emilio showed up with a basket of bread. Clara tore into it while Alex asked her questions about 101 Places to See.

"So what are the 101 places to see?" He asked leaning towards her.

"Mostly cities in Europe, but then the book fills most of the spots with places within those cities that are important." She dipped her bread in some olive oil.

"Which cities?" Alex asked, doing the same as Clara with his bread.

"Typical ones you would expect like Paris and London. Almost all of the cities are big and heavy in historical influence. Germany, England, France, Spain, Ireland, The Netherlands. I want to go to all of them, but I just don't think that's going to happen."

"Yeah, I wanted to backpack through all of those places when I graduated, but no, I had to get a job." Alex shrugged and took a piece of bread.

"Your dad again?" Clara asked.

"Yeah, but it's okay. I love my psychology job and my little bookstore. I can go anywhere I want just by opening one of these books." He pulled one off the shelf. "Robinson Crusoe, one of my favorites as a child. What are you favorite books, Clara?" He wiped at the dusty cover of the ancient book in his hand.

"I like a lot of Shakespeare's comedies, not the tragedies though. I really love books by George Orwell. A few other favorites are Brave New World and…" Alex's lips cut her off. She dug and tangled her fingers in his hair. When they broke away she stared at him and asked him, "What was that for?"

"That was for being the most interesting girls I've ever met. You're deep and complicated and I can't wait to figure you out." Clara felt her cheeks redden.

"Stop, don't lie to me." She playfully smacked his hand.

"I swear to you, I'm not! You're the most beautiful, intriguing person I have ever had the privilege of meeting." Alex reached over the table to stroke her hair. "Emilio! I won't need you anymore tonight. Thank you for your service and see you tomorrow morning."

Alex waited for the back door to slam, notifying the pair of Emilio's departure, before kissing Clara again. He started off light and gentle, but became more passionate as time went on. They had left the table and moved to a large armchair. Clara sat on Alex's lap and their hands explored each other. Alex pulled away after untying Clara's dress.

"Maybe we should go somewhere more comfortable?" He suggested.

"No." She looked around again at the bookshelves. "Right here is just fine."