Of All the Bookstores

[Will Spencer]

William wasn't sure what he was doing. He had never outright paid attention to anyone before, but the first moment that he'd seen her in the library, sitting in the library with no one else around her, he knew there had been something. Perhaps it was just seeing a girl reading in her own time that made him want to get to know her, or perhaps it was knowing who her sister was and seeing the differences plain as a day. Something had triggered him to watch her and learn anything he could. Him and the librarians had become acquainted over the years so retrieving information about the books she read had been his way of knowing her.

In his own mind, he could feel how creepy the situation must have seemed and he wasn't sure he ever wanted to talk about it again or tell her exactly what it was that he'd been doing. It was one thing for her to accept him as a decent guy who wasn't always a jerk, but that would be questioned if she found out he was just a creep. To him, there was nothing cute about his side of their story. Just horribly awkward and uncomfortable on his part.

As she handed him the pen, he cleared his throat again and tucked his book under his arm again, "D'you mind?" He asked gently, reaching out for her hand. God, he could feel how corny this whole thing had become. Him writing his number on the palm of a gorgeous girl. It hardly seemed real.

[Cassidy Carstyn]

As he mulled over what he thought was creepy, Cassidy couldn't help picturing Will sitting in the corner of the library just where the sun streamed in, catching his hair and eyes.

The bubble popped as soon as he spoke again and it took her a moment to realise he was asking for her hand. She tried to keep it cool. This scene was straight out of an old romcom. But this was happening to her right then.

She held her hand out for him but didn't look in his direction. It got harder and harder for her to keep a straight face through the whole thing so every time she smiled, she bit down on her bottom lip and ducked her head.

[Will Spencer]

William was doing his best to keep calm. He didn't know what it was about this girl, but she made him nervous. She made him happy and she made him feel a little less sick than he knew he was. Perhaps it was the fact that she claimed to know him and hadn't run away, or it was just the simple fact of their bond over books and the way he'd managed to make her blush. It had been a better day than he had ever prepared for, all because he decided to talk to the girl who seemed a little bit crazy by speaking to herself.

She held out her hand and he smiled faintly as he took it. His thumb brushed her wrist and he cleared his throat before writing down the ten digit number on the palm of her hand. The pen slid across the skin effortlessly and once he finished he lingered before releasing her hand. "If you accidentally wash your hands before having a chance to save it, I'll understand," Will said quietly, not quite looking up to meet her eyes. He wasn't sold on the idea that she was serious about him helping her study. He knew that if Adrianna caught sight of it there would be hell to pay for one of them.

Finally his eyes lifted to hers and he smiled a bit. He didn't want to leave, or walk away yet. Will wasn't sure what would happen when he left, to her or to him. She'd probably find her sister, and he'd probably find a tree to sulk under. Despite his reluctance, he knew that it was likely her sister would be returning and he didn't want to be around when she did. Even still, he wasn't ready to say goodbye.

[Cassidy Carstyn]

Cassidy didn't quite catch Will's nerves. That was probably the crush glasses. All she saw was the smooth talking English boy whose smirk could fuel her cold showers for a week.

But she did notice how his next sentence was a bit on the uncertain and quiet side before she snorted. The act caused her to slap a hand to her mouth and shake her head. "Sorry. That wasn't...I didn't mean to...you weren't the reason...I mean you were but it's not what you think." She stumbled over her words as a blush came on to her cheeks again.

"I think it's going to be a lot more likely that I sweat through it." She said, looking down at the number on her hand. "Actually..."

She grabbed her phone from her pocket, wondering why she didn't think about using her device in the first place. Come to think of it, why didn't he?

Copying the number and saving it, Cassidy took a sneaky picture of Will and put it as her contact's photo. Slipping her phone in her coat pocket, she looked up at Will and gave him a shy smile. "You better be as good as your quotes have been," she teased lightly. Look at her, being all brave and talking to the big bad mountain lion.

[Will Spencer]

Will's eyebrows shot up when she snorted at him and his smirk returned when she attempted to explain herself. And the red returned making him smile wider. It was pleasant that she thought his remark was so laughable or ridiculous. Maybe she actually was serious about their study date. Er. Not date. Just studying. Will swallowed back the idea, wherever it had come from and just watched her instead. She couldn't possibly be related to Adrianna. They had to be adopted. One of them anyway.

When she dug her phone out of her pocket, Will could have face palmed himself to death. Cell phones. Those were a thing now. This wasn't the eighties in some ridiculous romcom. This was the 2010s. What was he thinking? He wasn't, obviously she had rendered him incapable of thinking clearly and it was not his fault that he hadn't thought of the cellphone. In all honesty, it could have just been the fact that he was sort of curious to feel how soft her skin was because it looked really soft. And nice. And what the fuck. William wanted to shake himself to start thinking clearly again. Something was going on, maybe it was the illness rotting his brain.

As his brain flipped and twirled around in his head, he hadn't even realized that she was taking a picture. When she spoke, he met her eyes again and his smile returned, "I'll have you know, I'm much better than my quotes. And there are many more where that came from, luv."

[Cassidy Carstyn]

That smirk again. Could she ask him to just stop that for the course of their study date? Maybe she should try at least. It was distracting and when she wanted to study, she didn't need that distraction.

When he started defending himself, Cassidy couldn't help laughing to herself before nodding. "I don't doubt that." She said quietly, hopefully low enough that he didn't hear. She was way out of her depth right then. Cassidy couldn't believe she was successfully speaking to the boy she had had a crush on since forever.

More importantly, he was reciprocating!

"Well...I uh...I look forward to seeing you. I'll text you." She nodded before catching sight of Adrianna by the entrance. "Oh, there's Aid right there. I should go." She beamed widely and walked around Will, cursing her sister's timing.

She waved at Adrianna and pointed to the cashier, getting in line to pay for her book.

[Will Spencer]

The fact that she had said it so low made him wonder if she even wanted him to hear the comment that she had made, so he chose to ignore it so that he didn't make her spontaneously combust from embarrassment. This girl was something else. Quiet and easily embarrassed, but with some sass hidden behind her nerves. She had called him out several times in the short time he'd spent talking to her and he had only ever experienced that with Gabriel. Cassidy was a bit prettier than Gabe though.

Her hesitation in parting with him made him smile, but the reality was that they couldn't just stand around in the bookstore all day to talk about whatever people talked about in these situations. Especially with the impending doom that she called her twin. As she looked past him with recognition written on her face, William knew that he most definitely had to leave. Adrian was a bomb that would surely set off if she found him lingering around her sister. She'd already be mad enough that he'd so much as been in the same vicinity, never mind the small town with few bookstores.

She walked around him and he stood there for a moment before setting the book back on the shelf that he'd found it on. As he headed towards the exit, he passed by the line and nearly left without a word, but he didn't want to leave on a bad note. So upon walking past the twins, he blatantly ignored the glare from the other Carstyn twin and smiled at Cassie, "It was really nice talking to you, lemme know about studying. See ya around, gorgeous," He winked at her and then finally met the eyes of Adrianna before shoving his hands in his leather jacket pockets and walking out.

[Adrianna Carstyn]

Shopping for cute things that were dusty old books written by dusty old men was definitely better than what her sister had brought her to do. Sure, Adrianna had most definitely offered up to help her sister study in whatever class she needed her to. But English was not Adrianna's thing, especially when it consisted of reading books that weren't on the YA Bestseller's list. Unless there were sexy scenes with sexy men that didn't wear tights and petticoats, she wasn't going to be caught dead reading them. Cassidy was looking for some old guy's book that was just not even slightly entertaining.

So as she came skipping back into the bookstore with a bag in hand, an apology for her twinny for bailing on her within five minutes of being there, she looked around for the short stack with wavy brown hair. The ability connected with hers and she spotted her waving twin's hand just then before heading towards the cashier line. Just as she opened her mouth to apologize to her sister, there was another ability that brushed against hers and when she spotted the aura, she nearly pushed her sister out of the way like he was some kind of bullet or bomb that was about to explode.

William Spencer, the biggest asshole to walk the grounds of Kalispell. She shouldn't have been surprised to find him in the boring bookstore because he was such a book snob. Adrianna rolled her eyes as he approached the exit, "Ew, Will Spencer." She muttered it quietly enough for him not to hear and she was certain that would be that, but then he turned towards them and spoke directly to her sister. As if they were best friends. She'd never seen him talk to anyone so openly and so...flirtatiously. Her blood began to boil and she glared at him until he left.

"What was that about?" She turned to her sister and folded her arms across her chest.

[Cassidy Carstyn]

As Adrianna walked towards her, Cassidy didn't realise that Will was also approaching her but the moment she saw Will, dread washed over the young vet's assistant. She was torn between smiling at the wink and keeping a straight face for Adrianna so her lips just twitched as she waited for an explosion to swallow her whole.

She was still staring at the door after Will was gone and didn't catch that Adrianna was talking to her. Adrianna had to shake Cassidy to get her to concentrate on the present and asked the question again.

Blinking up at her twin, Cassidy had a goofy grin. "Nothing. Books. Boring." She waved her hand dismissively before looking at Adrianna with a scrunched up nose. "Where'd you go?"

[Adrianna Carstyn]

Although her twin didn't seem to pay his little comment much mind, she still did not know how to feel that William Spencer had said anything to her sister without it being rude, condescending or downright douchey. For him to act that way, her mind immediately resorted to thinking it was some ploy, a game he was playing. Either he wanted to get to Cassidy to hurt her or he was doing it to deliberately piss Adrian off. There was no secret, the ill feelings they held towards each other. Where it was rare for Adrian to hate someone so much, he seemed to make a living out of it.

So to see Cassie staring after him, and to have to physically shake her until she could concentrate on what the older twin was saying, it drove her nuts. She was smitten. The smile on her face confirmed it and Adrianna could have taken off after that smug asshole just to kick his ass for toying with her sister. It was not nothing. It was not boring. Perhaps books had been mentioned, but something else had happened and Adrian was not about to let it go. She pushed it to the side to answer her sister's question, holding up the bag from a little boutique across the street, "Found some things that I thought you'd like. As an apology because I can't stand bookstores."

Adrianna's tone was still a little harsher than she had intended, so when she decided to prod for more information, she knew she had to soften it or Cassie would not open up willingly. Tucking a strand of her sister's hair behind her ear absentmindedly, she sighed, "Are you really going to stand there and tell me it's nothing? The look on your face said otherwise, Cas. C'mon, spill."

[Cassidy Carstyn]

Now that Will was way out of earshot, Cassidy found it a lot easier to concentrate on Adrianna, who was holding up a bag. Cassidy's smile lit up her whole face and she made grabby hands in her twin's direction. "Gimme." Her sister's harsh tone didn't even register.

When Adrianna insisted she tell, Cassidy chewed on her bottom lip before deciding to heck with it. Adrianna was going to find out eventually anyway. Cassidy smiled at the hair tuck before sighing.

"I asked him if he could help me with my English assignment. He agreed." Cassidy beamed before placing her book on the counter before rummaging through her bag for the money. She caught sight of the numbers on her palm and giggled to herself.

She handed the money over to the clerk behind the counter and grabbed her purchase, pulling Adrianna out of the bookstore. "What did you get me?" Cassidy asked with as sweet a smile she could muster.

[Adrianna Carstyn]

Adrianna pulled the bag away and shook her head, "No, no, no. Not yet." She swatted at her sister's hands and rolled her eyes, "You are so grabby, damn girl! I bet you would have made those same hands at Will's butt when he was walking away if you weren't worried he'd turn around and see you." Okay, she figured joking and going about this in a calm matter would get the best results. That and embarrassing her sister because she deserved it for liking the horrible dense, crabby and stuck-up Brit.

As Cassidy answered the question, Adrianna tried her best to keep the frown from her face. All she could think was that Will had taken her spot in helping Cassie study. Although perhaps if it was someone else, Adrianna would have been relieved because she most definitely wasn't interested in the subject, the fact that it was Will made her far less relieved and far more worried. In her world, studying meant fooling around. If he thought he was getting her sister naked and having a 'study session' then he was absolutely nuts. Adrian would never let it happen and she believed that despite Cas's infatuation, she wouldn't either.

What could she say though? That wouldn't result in Cassie making her feel guilty for thinking those things. "So he's gonna help you 'study'?" Adrianna asked, waggling her eyebrows. It was all she could do to not sound accusatory that Cassidy was being naive when it came to Will. Perhaps if she pointed it out jokingly, Cassie would allow it to register and she'd cancel on him or never text him. What were the odds that he'd seek her out if she didn't?

Once they were out of the bookstore, Adrianna huffed, "Fiiiiine. Okay so I went to an antique shop with the cutest darn things ever, I'll have you know. I found more wallpaper squares and some awesome fabric squares. Also! I got you the prettiest lace canopy that we can hang over your bed! Forgive me for bailing?"

[Cassidy Carstyn]

Pouting slightly, Cassidy huffed, sending a lock of hair flying up before it settled back in it's original place on her cheek. Adrianna's joke about Will had the girl flaring up once more before she poked her twin in the side. "You are a menace to society, Adrianna Mercedes Carstyn." Cassidy pressed her hands up to her cheeks before pulling her hair tie to let her hair down. All of a sudden, it was cold again.

When Adrianna asked her about studying, wiggling her eyebrows in that manner, Cassidy frowned slightly, shaking her head a little in confusion. "What?" She asked, not knowing what Adrianna was implying. "Yes, what is with the eyebrows?" Cassidy pointed in the general direction of Adrianna's face.

Her confusion slowly turned into delight as Adrianna finally told her what she had. Her hands shot out to grab at Adrianna's and she did a little bounce on the spot. "Hush with the forgive me. Let's go back to my dorm and enjoy your spoils." She beamed up at her twin, oblivious as to Adrianna's inner turmoil.

[Adrianna Carstyn]

Adrianna squeaked and swatted her sister's hand again, "Oi! You're just mad because I'm totally right! You wanna touch his tushi!" Okay so she was trying really hard to forget that they were talking about one of the most hated people in Adrian's life. She was trying to forget that it was William Spencer's butt that her sister wanted to touch. And yet, no matter how hard she tried, all she saw was that smug smirking face and her sister. Together.

"Nope. Nope, can't. Won't. I'm totally not explaining the 'studying' thing to you. Gosh, I forget sometimes that you and I are from very different worlds," Adrian's being filled with things like 'studying' and Cassie's being filled with actual studying. Perhaps her naivety would save her from Will's tactics. Or it would only make things worse. Adrian's blood boiled again at the idea of that asshat taking advantage of her sister's ignorance and innocence.

Adrian snorted and shook her head, "Alright, alright. Cool it, baby doll!" She laughed and looped her arm through her sister's. "You're totally going to love it. I'm telling you, next time we go out shopping, I'm taking you there. It's perfect."

[Cassidy Carstyn]

"Shut up!" Cassidy squeaked, swatting at Adrianna as she insisted on talking about Will's behind. And when Adrianna implied that studying could mean something else other than cracking open books and poring through endless information, Cassidy rolled her eyes and shrugged. "I'm just glad I've got a senior who knows what he's talking about is all."

Finally, the were well on their way to the academy with the promise of more vintage and quaint things in the future.

"Good, good. It's not like my room isn't a museum of lace and antiquities already." Cassidy laughed. "Come to think of it...you were the reason why I even started collecting all those antique things, aren't you."