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Bhodi laughs. “Okay. Wouldn’t dare keep the princess waiting for food.”
He leads me across campus, and I have to wonder if we’re making a stop-off somewhere first because he’s leading us right towards the library. Maybe he needs a book or something for class, though I doubt the library will be open this early.
It’s not one of those twenty-four seven places sadly. The staff decided there was little point in opening around the clock, what with every student having internet access in their room. It makes sense, but nothing beats the feel and smell of actual paper to me. You can learn things in libraries that you can never find online. They’re magical places.
Especially this one.
“You okay?” Bhodi asks me when I give a wistful little sigh.
“Yeah. I just love this place.”
Thankfully, he doesn’t look at me like I’m crazy, but he does chuckle and reply “I know”, before pulling a large antique key from his pocket and unlocking the large wooden doors in front of us.
My eyes widen.
“You have a key to the library?” I hiss, furtively glancing around in case anyone catches us.
“Looks like it.”
“But…why? How? Are we going to get into trouble for breaking in?” I’m freaking out. I can hear the panic in my voice, feel the alarm in my rising body temperature and slick palms.
“Well, it wouldn’t be breaking in now would it, if I had a key?”
Is that true? I mean, I guess he’s not technically breaking in, but if he came by the key using nefarious means, then surely it would be breaking and entering?
Oh my god, I’m B&E too just by being with him. I'm an accomplice! What am I going to do if we get caught? There’s no way my parents will pay my bail.
“Malia, breathe. You just said all that out loud.” Bhodi laughs, but it’s not unkind. “I promise, I didn’t get this key by doing anything nefarious, and we are not breaking and entering, getting caught or going to jail.”
“Who says nefarious?”
“Erm, you did. You’re kinda hilariously cute, you know? Now, calm your overactive doomsday imagination or we’ll be late for breakfast.”
The grin he gives me this time isn’t panty-melting or panty-dropping. It just makes everything combust. I’m basically on fire from the waist down and I don’t know how he doesn’t notice. I gape at him until he chuckles again, gently takes my hand and leads me inside.
This is it. I’m having a stroke. I was traumatised by the advert on TV as a kid, the one where the fire breaks out in the man’s body and spreads…and that’s exactly what Bhodi’s touch is doing to me.
“We’re having breakfast in the library?!” I whisper.
“Yep,” he replies, his voice so loud in the empty foyer that it makes me cringe. He’s too loud. “And you don’t need to whisper. There’s no one here, so no one to disturb.”
“But…but it’s a library!”
I don’t know if I’m protesting the noise level or the eating. I’m going to hell for eating in a library! Doesn’t he know it’s a sacred space, to be revered and respected?
I’m definitely freaking out about both.
Bhodi looks at me like I’m highly entertaining, shakes his head and pulls me through the stacks.
The main lights are off and only the desk lamps are lit, giving the space a cosy, slightly eerie feel. I love it. I follow Bhodi along the rows of old wooden shelves to the back corner of the library, but hesitate when he pushes open a door marked Staff Only.
“Erm, Bhodi? Are we allowed…”
“It’s fine. Follow me.”
I mean, he did have a key and no alarms have gone off, so maybe it is okay.
Stepping inside, I blink to adjust to the change in light. It’s brighter in here, but not harsh.
