Book Store Series, Part 2

So there was overwhelming support for me to continue on with the book store story. I'm going to make it a Thursday series and try to give you something entertaining. This is very different from releasing a full story all at once, so hopefully it will still flow as a broken apart weekly series. 
Installment one is here: Book Store Series, Part 1
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We wound our way around the maze of shelves on the first floor, our conversation muted by the awe of our surroundings. Thirty minutes passed, and neither of us said a word until we reached the back of that same floor and heaped ourselves onto a huge couch near a freestanding circular fireplace, facing toward the entrance.

"Wow," Sophie said, staring at the expanse ahead of us.

"Wow is right," I replied. I had never seen anything like it, and we had only meandered through one level. 

"It's going to take us a few visits before we get through all of this. We're going to be here a lot. Goodbye social life."

Sophie giggled and nodded her agreement. We sat for a while, watched the hustle and bustle, and strategized how to best explore the store before closing time. We spent several hours wandering the levels-which were deeper than they looked-finding a small coffee stand on one of the floors and a tiny sandwich cart on another, both with very reasonable prices. Gosh, with a little chunk of change, you could get lost here all day and want for nothing. We saw everything from J.K. Rowling, Shakespeare, Dan Brown to Stephen King. They had old editions and newly released novels that I had never heard of before. 

By day's end we had gotten through about half of the store-a few floors-and we were exhausted. We were making our way down to the checkout, and we stopped on the second floor balcony. I leaned over to look at the line so I could calculate how long I would have to wait to purchase my treasures. I grabbed Sophie's sleeve and yanked her back towards me. There, bagging purchases, was a nice looking store employee, about my age with shaggy dark auburn hair and dark eyes. He didn't speak the whole time I watched him, only kept wrapping up purchases. As someone handed him a book to bag up, I finally noticed the cashier. He looked exactly like the bagboy.

Sophie spun and leaned towards me. "Twins!" she whispered, a little too loudly.

"Must be the 'And Sons' from the sign outside. What if they're Trussmans?" I wondered to Sophie.

"I don't know, but I wouldn't mind finding out," she replied.

We stood and watched them for a few minutes, waiting for the long line to wind down. Just as we were about to make our way to the counter, the bagboy stopped and slowly looked around. He returned to bagging, but kept his glance searching. Then his gaze began to move upward, and the skin on my arms started buzzing with a tingly prickle. Finally, his eyes landed directly on mine, and it felt like they were boring into my soul. I stood, numbed and uncomfortable, until I was shaken out of my stupor by Sophie tugging on my arm. 

"Hey! You're making it too easy, play a little hard to get, will ya?"
I blinked at her. "Hm? That was weird. I must have static or something, dragging my feet too much maybe."

She laughed, "Girl, it has been a while, hasn't it? Come on, let's go pay for these and get a name out of those cuties."

As we walked along the railing, I had the distinct feeling that I was being watched, but as I peeked over the side, the twins were back to hustling customers through the line and out the door. A knot formed in my gut as we made our way to the stairs that led to the main floor. We waited in line, and although the line was moving steadily, it felt like a snail’s pace. The knot tightened with every couple of steps we took forward. Something felt wrong.
Finally, the person ahead of us stepped away and revealed the twins behind the counter, staring at us. “Did you find everything okay?” asked the cashier. His Trussman & Sons name tag said ‘Vin’.
“Um, yeah,” I answered. I looked over to the bagboy as I set my stack of books on the counter. He was staring at me, his name tag reading ‘Milo’. “Hi,” I said, as I stared into his brown eyes. Even though he still said nothing, I saw a hint of a smile. The knot in my stomach loosened, but something still felt odd. After I paid for my books, we studied each other the entire time Sophie checked out. We were curious about each other, and this stare-down wasn’t yielding any answers. I’m sure this puzzled look was reflected on both our faces and we must have been a sight to anyone who was watching.

I heard Sophie say, “Okay, we’ll see you guys next weekend then.” And I felt her pulling me towards the door. I broke eye contact and the spell was broken. Sophie spun me around when we got outside, and the icy chill prompted me to bundle up and put my gloves on. “What was that? You didn’t participate in that conversation at all! Please tell me you’ll be more helpful next weekend when we go back….Lily?”

I looked up at her. “Soph, something is strange about that Milo guy. I don’t know what it is, but I need to find out.”

“Lily, please don’t get all weird on me. Let’s just come back next weekend and see if we can get to know them. It’ll be after Christmas, so maybe it’ll be a little quieter and we can actually have a conversation with them.” We started walking back to my apartment.

To take my mind off the book store, and Milo, I changed the subject. “Okay, you’re right. Are you going home for Christmas?”

“Nope. Mom and her new boyfriend are going on a cruise. And dad is in Australia on business. What are you doing?”

“Staying here. I have to work at the office a couple of days. Mom and dad are coming here to see me Christmas Eve and will drive home Saturday.” I hated that the accounting office I worked at didn’t give us much time off. The end of the year through April was always tough and only getting a few days off for five months or so made it pretty exhausting.

“Great! Just in time for us to go hang out at Trussman’s.” As we stopped in front of my apartment building, it started snowing lightly. “Well, I’m headed home. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”

“It’s dark, are you sure you don’t want to stay here tonight?” It was always nice to get some use out of my guest bedroom.

“No thanks,” Sophie replied. “I have a couple of reports to get done before Monday. You know how it is. I’ll be fine. See you later.” She turned and walked away.

 
I stood in front of my building for a few minutes, enjoying the snowfall. Inevitably, my mind started wandering back to what happened at the book store. The snowflakes twinkled in the streetlight, sparkling and shimmering around me. There were multi-colored strands of lights peeking out of windows up and down the street. Decorative wreaths hung on front doors and I could faintly hear Christmas music playing somewhere down the block. This was always my favorite time of year. 

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Working hard to send this story in a good direction. It's REALLY weird and difficult to be on this side of the text for once. I hope you guys like it! 

If you want to move forward to the next installment... Click here.
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