summer meant good books

[Zoe Wallerstein-Smythe]

Zoe smiled as Becky agreed that she'd handle things. Yes, yes of course she would. She was actually looking forward to seeing what sort of notes Becky left in the book. You could, after all, see a lot from a person based on their notes. Zoe practically beamed as Becky continued describing the book, her smile growing wider, glee filling her.

It did slide a bit as they headed toward the librarian, mostly because librarians made Zoe feel as if she should be sober. That and she'd had a few close encounters with librarians before, enough to make her somewhat leery of them, at least to the point where she wanted to approach with caution. Becky helped stave off quite a bit of that though, and soon enough Zoe's lips were curling in a bit of a smile.

"Um, we should probably just do that for now," said Zoe, still eying the librarian with some trepidation. "I do have things to do and, well, I would like to meet with you again sometime, if that's okay..." Zoe obviously didn't want to put someone, especially someone as nice as Becky, out or anything, but at the same time, she longed to spend more time with another friend.

[Steinbeck Dunn]

Becky checked out her books, giving the librarian a smile. She had quite a bit of experience with librarians and while she knew that a lot of them could be sticklers for the rules, she always tried to get on their good side. If a librarian decided they liked you, sometimes you'd get some more leniency and stuff like that. And besides, Becky was going to be a spending a lot of time in here and she didn't want to make any enemies.

As soon as she checked out her choices, though, she looked over at Zoe and gave her a reassuring smile. She nodded. "That's great!" Becky promised. She really liked talking to Zoe and it looked like she could use some friends. And Becky was glad to sit around and talk with anyone who wanted to talk about books, especially someone with a passion for the written word like Zoe. "I have your number and I'll text you, okay? So you can have mine. Um. That should work! And then we can get together and exchange books and all of that. Okay?"

[Zoe Wallerstein-Smythe]

The word great made Zoe nearly want to skip or dance. It certainly made her smile and nod, before bringing a hand up to rub against her arm again. Becky sounded quite willing to meet her again, and they did have contact and such.

"Yes, that sounds great!" said Zoe, nodding. "I'm, um, really looking forward to it," she lowered her eyes for a moment, smiling shyly. How lame did that sound? The eighteen year old girl so eager to meet with another just to talk about books. But Zoe hadn't been able to meet many people here, let alone those that she could call friend. She had to treasure each one.

"So, um, until later then?" asked Zoe. she hesitated for a moment before extending a hand. It clearly took quite a bit of effort and energy, and her hand even trembled slightly. Still, a farewell shake felt... right, and everyone kept telling Zoe she needed to make an effort.

[Steinbeck Dunn]

Becky grinned when Zoe agreed with her. It wasn't just good, it was great, and that was, well. Great. Because Becky knew that she could get a little overenthusiastic about books and that could turn some people off of her. But Zoe seemed as excitable as she was and that was a hard thing to find. Sure, a lot of people liked to read, but not many people loved it like Becky did.

"Me too," she said, thinking about the next time she'd see Zoe and they'd exchange books and get to talk about them and everything. She was happy to have made a new friend today. She took Zoe's hand in her own just a little cautiously. She was surprised that Zoe was even offering, as it seemed to make her nervous, but she shook it and gave her a smile. "Until later," she promised, gathering her books underneath her arm.

[Zoe Wallerstein-Smythe]

Zoe tried not to panic as she felt Becky's hand take hers. She'd offered, and she'd meant the offer when she'd extended it too. Zoe gave it a soft squeeze, favoring Becky with a somewhat shaky, but still warm smile. She nodded, repeating the promise: "until later."

Then Zoe held for a few moments, though she released Becky's hand. Her brain seemed unable to process that it had actually gone through with what had just happened. Eventually, something seemed to kick into motion. Zoe nodded, gathered up her own things and turned to go. She felt something warm growing deep within, and it made her close her eyes and sigh. A friend: she'd made another friend, someone who would actually want to be around her, who wanted to befriend her.

Things were certainly looking up.