AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“You know it. We can pick it up on the way to my place.”
“Sounds like a date!” Amelia declares.
“No, it’s just a normal Friday night. Besties, Booze, and Books,” I say pointedly, hoping she’ll take the hint and shut up.
“Actually, it’s not a normal Friday night,” Cam says. “I just finished the first draft of… a big report for work. So we’re celebrating. I even picked up some of that fancy bubbly you like.”
“The one with the extra large cork? That’s my favorite!” I wonder if he remembers why and hope to gently nudge his memory when I say, “Merci, monsieur.”
Cam laughs. “You are so adorably weird, Tabs.”
“I aim to please,” I say before thinking it through and have to turn away since I feel my face flush. “Oh, look, Jane’s here!”
Our coworker enters through the sliding glass doors with her husband, Bryan. Their fingers are interlinked, and he leans down to whisper something in her ear while his other hand moves to her giant baby bump. Jane shushes but stares up at him like he holds the key to the universe, while he looks at her like she’s the center or his.
I can’t help feeling a little jealous. I wish someone would look at me that way, instead of frowning the way my last blind date did. Apparently, I didn’t dress like the slutty librarian stereotype he’d signed up for.
Amelia lets out a dreamy sigh. “If I wasn’t so happy for her, I’d definitely be more upset that she’s late.”
We watch Bryan pull Jane into his arms and plant a kiss on her lips, not seeming to care that this is a library and she works here.
“Should I say something?” Amelia asks, even though we both know that she won’t. She may be our boss, but she’s also our friend—and nine times out of ten, friend wins.
Jane leans up on tiptoe and whispers something in Bryan’s ear. He smacks her butt playfully, which makes me think of Cam’s butt, and I’m blushing again.
They hold hands as she waddles her way to the reference desk with a huge smile on her face.
I jump to my feet so she can claim the chair. “Oh, Jane, you’re glowing!”
“If by ‘glowing’ you mean I look like a piece of coal before it crumbles into dust, I can’t argue with that,” Jane complains, placing her hands on her belly as she slowly settles at the reference desk.
“She had a rough night,” Bryan says to no one and everyone. Then he takes Jane’s hand again. “Are you sure you don’t want me to stay? I can read a book, or work on Byron’s coding. You won’t even know I’m here.”
I look from the sweet romance love scene playing out to Cam. He winks and gives a slight head tilt. Just normal, friend short-hand for, “Let’s get out of here!”
CAM
I have to admit, it hurt when Tabs said our Friday nights were “just” Besties, Booze, and Books. Even though we see each other virtually every day, Friday nights are the highlight of my week. Nothing “just” about them.
I follow her up the two flights of stairs to my apartment. Although I’m the one on the lease and I live alone, it feels like our place. Tabs decorated it, and it’s filled with the funky, book-obsessed gifts she’s given me over the years. I love every single one of them.
The most recent was a huge surprise—an author clock that, instead of telling time with numbers, shows a quote taken from a book for every single minute of the day and night. It’s always the first thing I look at when I get home. But I like it even better when she comes in with me since Tabs is so competitive about how well-read she is, she’s turned the clock into a game. It’s one of the many things I love about her.
“Time?” she asks after I close the door behind us.
I read, “When he arrived it was nearly six o'clock, and the sun was setting full and warm, and the red light streamed in through the window and gave more color to the pale cheeks.”
“Easy!” she says, her blue eyes twinkling beneath her red, cat-eye glasses. “I vant to suck your blood! Dracula. Bram Stoker.”
“Nice. That’s twelve in a row, now?” I ask as I set the takeout in the kitchen.
“Thirteen, thank you very much! Hey, do you have a preference for your dinner plate tonight? You feel like sharing your meal with The Great Gatsby, Catch-22, or maybe Slaughterhouse-Five?”
Another literary gift from Tabs, plates with images of the original covers of six classic books. There isn’t a single room in my apartment that doesn’t have her touch. Not sure why it stands out for me so much tonight, but it’s like she’s intentionally trying not to notice that the relationship we have is so much more than friendship. Or, at least, that it has the potential to be.
“Um, actually, give me The Invisible Man,” I say, knowing that if she wants to get the hint, she’ll understand.
“Oh, good choice!” she says, completely missing the point. “I’ll take… Little Women.” Tabs plates all the different ingredients for our “assemble ourselves” tacos and chatters away, not paying attention to whether or not I’m listening. She’s done that for as long as I’ve known her, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
