Starting In The Middle-Ch 3

After a long night of tossing and turning, we finally woke up and dragged ourselves out of bed around noon. Paige grabbed her bag and went to change in the bathroom down the hall while I picked up the trash that we had been surrounded by the whole night. She came down a few moments later, bag in hand, and waited for me as I put the last of the food away in the kitchen. We said our goodbyes and promised to call each other later. I watched her walk out the door and went back upstairs to my room. I had absolutely no idea what I was going to do with a whole week and a half to myself but I knew I wasn't going to spend it sitting around the house watching lame TV.

I took a shower and got dressed, put on my Converse and grabbing my keys off the hall table before I even knew where I was going. A half hour of aimless driving later I finally decided to go down to Barnes and Noble to stock up for the summer. I never went anywhere else for books because I knew no other store's selection would ever compare to the growing empire that B&N held. My father always complained about my hatred for other book stores, saying that the books were cheaper at Half Price Books and it wouldn't cost him a fortune to keep me well read if I went there. I always argued back that the reason Half Price Books are cheaper is because they are mainly books that people sold back, used books, and there was no way I was going to buy and love books that were abandoned, especially when you had no idea what those people did with the book before they sold it. Plus, used books just didn't have the same smell that new books did.

Walking into the store, you could always tell who the big book readers were as you passed them in the aisle. They were the ones that not only chose the book based on which was in the best shape, but right before they went off to purchase their new find, they opened the book slowly and brought it up to their nose to get a whiff of the virgin print. Some people checked to make sure there was no one around to witness this, while others, like myself, didn't care who was watching. To me, buying a book was as much of a journey as reading the book itself. It took time and thought to pick out which books would be interesting and just right for me and more often than not I spent hours in the store just to walk out with only one or two books. For this reason alone I normally didn't take anybody with me when I went to go shop for the perfect book; I didn't want to bore people with my process but I also never wanted to feel rushed during my quest.

As I wandered around the store looking at books I noticed the same guy ending up in many of the sections I was looking through. He looked about my age with dark brown hair that came down past his eyes and clothes that fit his slim muscular frame nicely. Each time I passed him he was always deep in thought, staring at the same selves for long minutes at a time. I don't know why, out of all the customers, he stuck out in my mind as I paced up and down the aisles.

Finally as I settled on the general fiction section I began my pursuit and completely forgot about everything else going on around me. I looked up and down the shelf in search of a title that spiked my attention. After picking up and quickly putting back book after book, I arrived at a title that I remembered from my senior English class, Atlas Shrugged. We had never had to read it, but I always remembered passing it on the shelves in the back of the class when I was looking for my assigned book. I picked it up and turned it over to read over the summary. I had heard many good things about the author and knew that there had been talk of people getting a scholarship for reading the series of books. I knew I could use the money and getting to read something interesting would just be a nice plus.

"That's a really good book."

I jumped in shock at the voice that came from beside me. I looked up to see the same guy leaning up against the shelf with a book in his hand, watching me as I caught my breath and recomposed myself.

After seeing that I wasn't going to run away, but still hadn't responded he spoke again, "I haven't read it all the way through yet, but it's really good so far." I continued to stare at him, wondering what I was supposed to say. I looked back down at the book I surprisingly still held in my hand.

"Yeah, it seems like it would be pretty interesting." I said back finally. He smiled and i couldn't help but smile back. I wasn't used to people coming up to me in the book store, especially cute guys. I wanted to keep the conversation going, but just as before, I had no idea what to say. The concept was new to me since I usually didn't have the same problem talking to guys as most girls my age did. I finally kicked myself and did what I always did when I didn't know the right thing to say, I kept talking until it came out on accident.

"I thought about reading it a few years ago when my teacher was talking about it but I never actually went to get it from her. Plus it's such a big book, I didn't know if I would have the time to be able to get through it. But now that I'm not in high school anymore I figured I had time to read it; especially with my family gone on vacation for the next few weeks. I'm not lame or anything, I just like to read a lot."

He laughed when I finally slowed down and took a breath. I blushed and began to apologize. "I'm sorry; I'm not usually this talkative or annoying."

"It's no problem, I think it's cute."

My face turned a deeper shade of red with the compliment. I looked down at the book again and held it forward for him, "so tell me what you think of it. Is it worth it to buy?" I asked.

He began explaining the book to me as we walked up to the cash register, telling me his favorite characters so far but at the same time careful not to tell me that might ruin the story for me. The conversation quickly changed to books in general, which ones we liked, which ones we hated, the ones we read in high school, and the ones we were supposed to read but never did. Without even realizing it, we had paid for our books and ended up outside the store sitting at one of the tables set off to the side.

The weather outside was nice and sunny, the perfect temperature to sit outside and read. The conversation slowly began to die down as I finished what I had been saying and he looked down at his now blinking cell phone. I pulled my own out of my pocket and looked down at the time, realizing we had been talking for over an hour. I put it back in place and glanced up to see him staring at me. I smiled and picked up my books from off the table.

"Well I have kept you long enough and it looks like I have to go." I said lamely getting up from the table. I didn't have anywhere else to be but I was sure I had already taken up too much of his time, and by the look at his cell phone his attention was clearly wanted elsewhere.

"It was nice talking to you…I'm sorry, I didn't ask your name." he said with a chuckle.

"Emilia." I replied.

"Nathan." He smiled and held his hand out. I wrapped my hand in his, seeing how his enveloped mine in a delicate and flawless embrace. I felt my checks begin to get red again as we let go.

"I know this is kind of forward, but I would love to get your number to hear your thoughts on the book." He said suddenly as if he were afraid that I was about to disappear. I laughed and took my waitressing pen that I always carried around out of my back pocket. I wrote my number down on his arm and put the pen back into place. He looked down at his hand and smiled again as if he couldn't believe that it had actually worked.

Without a second thought I stood on my tip toes and kissed him on the check before turning around to walk back to my car. Luckily I had gotten a spot up front so I was able to turn and see his face and I got into the car. He stood with his arms crossed, bag draped around his left wrist, and the same adorable smile plastered on his face as he watched me drive away.