Tavros was greeted by the familiar musty smell of the bookstore. He let out a long sigh and felt like sinking to the floor and just looking around the familiar shop. He didn't though, he came here to work. Not to slump around.
He straightened up and limped to the old computer that sat on the checkout counter. He pressed a random key on the keyboard bellow it, waking the computer up from hibernation. He clocked in and turned the monitor off like he always did. Tavros turned away from the computer and smiled, looking up at the tall, calm looking woman. Her short black hair was neatly combed and her kind green eyes stared down at Tavros," you're a little late today Tavros."
"Um…sorry Rosa…I had a rough night…" Tavros said as he quickly slid past her and to a cart of books," um want me to organize and re-shelve these?" He asked, trying to change the subject at all costs.
"That would be nice sweetie. Though do it after you tell me why you're all messed up today. You're hardly ever late." She said as she traveled to behind the counter. She kept her smile and soft gaze on him as she organized behind the counter. The book store always seemed to be a mess. Rosa was a very neat woman too, she was always clean and she always seemed to be cleaning the book store, to no avail.
Tavros let out a long sigh and started organizing the books regardless," um….just got….into a fight…I'm ok…" He mumbled as he picked up a very old book," Rosa why is one of our illuminated manuscripts out here with the normal books?"
Rosa stood and hurried over, taking the book from Tavros, she flipped it open and looked over the reds, golds and greens that sparkled up at her from the pages," ah I was re-reading this one last night and I forgot to put it back. You know how caught up I get in re-reading." She smiled fondly at the book and shut it, taking it back behind the counter.
Tavros smiled, he couldn't think of any book Rosa hadn't read, in fact, she lived above the book store, so most of her spare time was reading her vast library. Whenever she sold a book she would always tell the buyer how special it was to buy a book. She looked at it as if you were adopting a child. The book held so many hidden secrets, and you have to read it to the end, and may be twice over to know everything about it, and it would still surprise you.
The kind woman thought the same about children too; because of the accident she had years ago she was unable to bear one of her own. This had made her shun most everyone from her life, except for a select few.
Tavros remembered when it happened. In fact he had to run the book store for a week and a half while she had her surgery, and he still had to mostly take care of things for another month while she recovered mentally. The only reason she didn't shun Tavros, was because she basically thought of Tavros as her own. She would have adopted him if she didn't know how much he enjoyed living alone.
She even had brought the subject up a few times with Tavros over the years, but every time she did, Tavros simply smiled at her and said he'd rather just partially live in the book store. They would share a laugh and the subject would quickly get dropped.
Though on lonely, quiet nights, Tavros really thought about having parents again. The warmth, the happiness…hmm….his thought process was brought back again to reality when he hear Rosa let out a long sigh," Tavros are you ignoring me again? Or did you just space out as you usually do?"
Tavros chuckled and brought a stack of books over to her that didn't have price tags," sorry Rosa…I was…um just thinking."
"You have such a wonderful mind. I wouldn't want to halt that thought process but I really would like you to answer my question. What happened?" Rose asked, taking the books from the small teen.
Tavros looked down and shuffled his feet," um…you remember…uh…Gamzee?" He asked, he winced a little when he heard Rosa let out an exasperated sigh.
"That horrible little boy that bothers you about nothing perpetually? You know how I feel about him Tavros; I just want you to be safe." She said as she put the books, one by one, back onto the counter for Tavros to put away," if he had anything to do with this…." She trailed off and sighed," what happened?" She repeated again after a short moment of silence.
"Uh well….he was trying to be nice so…uh…he gave me his jacket….I don't know why….he just did…..and um…well….his jackets kinda the symbol for his gang….and uh…..some of the members beat me up because of it….but…um…he rescued me….he made them stop….so I guess…yeah…" Tavros mumbled the last bit, not making eye contact with Rosa as he pulled the books from the counter into his arms as she set them on the counter.
Rosa stopped pressing tags to the books and reached her long slender arm and hand out to rest on Tavros' shoulder," well that was very nice of him. Something tells me he doesn't really understand what he did. You should give him the coat back and tell him to leave you alone. If you needed a coat you know you could've asked me for one. I'd help you in a second."
Tavros nodded and looked up at her," I know…I just…I want to take care of myself…I can do it…I don't want to bother anyone…" He practically whispered.
"Speak up honey. I can hardly hear you." Rosa said, pulling her hand from his shoulder and went back to labeling the books," do you not want to tell him to go away?"
"I do…..but I don't….its…complicated…" Tavros said taking the rest of the books from the tall woman once she was done. He went back to the cart and started organizing them.
"Do you need time to think? Do you not want to talk about it anymore?" She asked as she watched him organize the books.
"I kinda don't…I want to see what happens…." He said smiling at Rosa as he picked up a small stack of books and headed to the "A" section.
Rosa nodded and continued to tidy the counter, her head raised after a few minutes to the tinkling of the bell on the door," oh good morning Sollux."
"Hi Rotha. How are you today?" The tall, skinny, blond boy asked as he strode over to the counter. He handed a book to Rosa and smiled at her, adjusting his glasses once the book was out of his hands," that one wath really interethting. Do you have any more on old technology? Cuth that one wath jutht what I wath looking for." He said as his dual colored eyes traveled over the books that lined the walls, as if he was already looking for the book he was interested in.
Rosa smiled at the lisping teen," yes Sollux I picked one out for you when you left last time. I know you read fast so I made sure I got this one ready for you so you wouldn't have to wait like you did last time." She said standing and walking around the counter. She walked over to the cart and picked up an old book," this one here talks about, in depth, the first circuit board, including the formulas behind its creation." She said turning to him.
Tavros walked back from the "A" section and smiled a little at Sollux. The nerdy teen was a regular at the book store. The two had never really spoken, they were both incredibly antisocial and socially awkward, but they knew each other's names at least.
Sollux nodded at Tavros and smiled a little," thup. Anywayth thankth Rotha. I'll return it to you when I'm done." He said flipping through the book," oh man thith lookth great!" He grinned and shut the book. He then turned on his heels, his white and black shoes scuffing on the floor as he walked out, waving a little as he left. Sollux had rented books from the store almost as long as Tavros had been working there, so Rosa just let him take the books, he read them all in a day and brought them back in almost better condition than he took them out, so there was no point in charging him at all. It wasn't like she let everyone borrow books, just Sollux and Tavros.
Tavros watched him leave, his eyes going from the door to Rosa," his lisp is annoying."
"Tavros! Be nice! Jeez you of all people should not be judging him! I'm surprised!" Rosa said turning and wagging her finger at him," it's just because you can't understand him half the time isn't it?" She asked, putting her hands on her hips.
Tavros looked down and nodded," thorry Rotha." He said with a mischievous grin on his face.
Rosa rolled her eyes and walked over to him, smacking his arm lightly," go back to work!" She said, but she couldn't help but grin back at him as she walked back behind the counter.
Tavros giggled and went back to work. He loved working at the book store. He had worked there since the middle of his freshman year. Rosa was kind enough to give him a job after his parents disappeared. He tried to stay in their house as long as possible until the state realized the bills weren't being paid and they repossessed it, the state had tried to get Tavros into foster care, but Tavros swore he could support himself and it took some begging and a trip to court to prove to them that he'd be ok. They gave Tavros three weeks to find a job and a cheap apartment.
After extensive searching and many sleepless nights in a motel, Tavros was swept under the wing of Rosa. She promised him that he could work at the book store and that she would make the down payment on the apartment for him if he promised to run her store on the weekends and to come after school every day until he worked it off. Tavros quickly agreed to it and Rosa didn't even complain when Tavros had shaved his hair into a mohawk and pierced himself up. She thought it was cute. The agreement seemed perfect.
Everything worked out until Rosa had her incident. The second month of Tavros' employment Rosa had gotten diagnosed with an acute form of uterine cancer. She had to be rushed to the hospital and she had to have an immediate hysterectomy. She didn't want the procedure, but unless she wanted to die, she had to have it done.
She begged Tavros that he didn't have to pay her back for the apartment deposit, and instead she begged him to take off time from school to run her store while she was hospitalized. Tavros had agreed and she had written up a big letter to the school explaining the situation. The school understood and each teacher, for as long as Tavros had to miss, wrote up a packet of homework for him every week so he could stay up to date with everything.
In doing so, he was able to pass all his classes, with flying colors, and he didn't have to deal with High school drama while he tried to get over and stop worrying and dwelling over his parents disappearances. Ever since the exchange the two had had, they had been thick as thieves. He watched the store whenever she needed, on leave from the school by a note from Rosa, saying she was having a minor mental breakdown and she needed the boy to work for her.
In exchange of running the store whenever she needed him to, Tavros, whenever he was having an especially rough patch with the kids in school, he would ask Rosa to write him up a leave of absence and he was able to skip and just do all his studies in the book store. He'd much rather work than deal with every ones spying and judging eyes.
Tavros finished organizing the books, the rest of the day; he tidied the store, helped people find books and helped them check out once they had found what they were looking for. Rosa loved having him in the store, she was able to concentrate on her passion, which was re-illuminating and refurbishing ancient manuscripts. She could read Latin, French, German, Italian, Gaelic, and Old English fluently, so she was usually found in the back of the store in the old illuminated text sections, a pen in her hand, fixing up the ancient books from all over the world.
The work day gathered to a close and Tavros helped Rosa close shop, putting the last few books away, he finally gave her a hug and went to the computer, clocking out. He gave her one last smile then turned, she put her hand on his shoulder and handed him one of her coats. It was old, smelled like ink and was obviously made for a girl, but as Tavros put it on, a smile broke out on his face, it was really, really warm," thank you Rosa." He said as he turned and headed out into the cold to wait for Gamzee to walk him home.