❛ Oh my god! That was so bad, Gabe, I love it thank you so much, ❜ she laughs freely with no hesitation, more at his attempt of wordplay than the wordplay itself. ❛ No you’re not, but I so appreciate it everytime you try. ❜ Purposely tousling his hair, laughter morphing into a grin.

A giggle escaped her lips as she watched the boy fidget. He was so peculiar and Lavender couldn’t seem to keep her eyes off of him. Something about him was so… innocent, a concept so foreign to her she had trouble remembering the feeling of it. Gabe was like a breath of fresh air in this town and maybe that’s why she had been reading a lot more lately. “But, love, isn’t that yours?” She cocked her head, questioning it, not wanting to take something she couldn’t return in an equal gesture, not with Gabe at least. “I couldn’t.” She paused, rethinking it. “But if it’s so special to you I might just need to see what’s so special about it, maybe get it the quite little head of yours.” She rustled his hair. Realizing how good it looked messy, she rested with a content smile on her face.

“But there’s this poem that I thought you’d like.” Gabe insisted, his baby blues lighting up like a christmas tree. “One of the characters has a head injury from the war, and his best friend tells him for years that his fiancee died in a car crash when she really left him after he hit her, ya know, because he never really recovered completely. And he says this poem about marriage and it’s just really good.” he rambled on, trying to get the words out fast enough. He was shy, but not about books. He could talk for ages about books and characters that lived inside of the pages. It seemed like Lavender just made him worse.

Camila was suddenly waken up from her daydreaming when the blond found the book. She was getting used to his low voice, having him actually exclaim at his discovery startled her. “Well, well well… That was fast. Before I leave, remind me to write you a recommendation letter so you’re the next employee of the month,” she joked.

She taped her chipped, violet nails on the shelf as her eyes scanned the titles, looking for a fresh new pick or a classic she had missed. Her shoulders jerked up just slightly, being startled by the boy’s voice. “Gabe!” She tone peeked in a cheer turning to see the boys face, also pasting a smile on hers. “Well you seem to know my taste in books better than me, so what should I get this time.” 

Gabe hadn’t realized it was Lavender when he approached the girl from behind, and fixed his hair self consciously. He was startled that she was there and even more surprised that she remembered his name. 

“Hey I love books too but I still need my daily dose of TV.”

“I just never really got into anything but old movies. What are your favorite shows? Maybe I should watch them one day and get out from the rock I live under.” he said quietly, with a brisk laugh and a crinkly blue-eyed smile.

“I know, I know.” She laughed. “I was just teasing, promise.”

Camila watched the boy for a moment, noticing how easy it was for him to focus on the task at hand. The girl began humming, still inspecting the shelves in case she saw something she liked. Truth to be told, she had entered the shop to steal, but now that she was surrounded by so many books, she had completely forgotten about it. Books were one of her weaknesses, and now, they had distracted her.

“I swear ––– what is it with all these people not having TVs? What is all your furniture pointed at?”

“You don’t smoke?” Camila licked her lips, raising her eyebrows as she took a step towards the guy. “That’s rare to find nowadays.” She had distracted him, that was very obvious to her. Humming, she watched him finish locking up the store, then glanced towards the store across the street. “I know, but I’m out of cash.” She pouted. “Got a couple bucks you could lend me?”

Camila couldn’t help but chuckle at the tone of surprise. “Should I have dress up as a nerd, with glasses and everything, for you to take me seriously?” She teased. Camila followed him towards the back of the shop, her eyes wandering around the room as she looked at the old books.”I like thrillers.” And romance novels, but again, she wasn’t going to say that. “You know, like Gone Girl? I’v read the book probably… A thousand times at least. But since these are all old books…  Think Catch 22 is in here somewhere?”

The slender teenage boy looked back at her and shook his head solemnly. “No, I take you seriously.” he insisted, scratching the back of his neck.

Charlie let his fingers trail across a row of book spines, coming to a stop and looking up when he heard someone speak to him. Though technically he was just browsing for new books to read, there was one title in particular that he was subconsciously searching for. “Just looking. But, uh, while you’re here, do you know if you’ve got a copy of Watership Down in stock? I kinda misplaced my original and need to replace it. It’s one of those books that I just have to have in my collection, you know?” Technically he hadn’t misplaced it at all, he’d burned it because it had been a gift from his mother, but he wasn’t about to tell someone that.

“What sort of bookstore would this be if we didn’t carry Richard Adams?” Gabe smiled at the other male. He caught himself staring, like he did too often, and went to get the book quickly- almost knocking over a small pile of paperbacks behind him. Blushing and pretending that he hadn’t just tripped over his own feet, Gabriel ran his hand through his messy hair.

“Cinemax is a tv channel, Gabe.”