Chapter Three
1288 Words
The bookstore was unusually quiet for a Friday evening.
Lily pushed a trolley between the shelves, returning books that customers had left scattered around the store. Someone had abandoned a cookbook in the travel section. Another had somehow decided a poetry collection belonged with crime novels.
She sighed.
"People really do wake up and choose chaos."
Mark looked up from behind the register.
"Talking to yourself again?"
"I'm talking to the books."
"They don't answer back."
"They would if they could."
"I'd quit."
Lily laughed and slid the cookbook back into its proper place.
"I think you'd lose every argument."
"That's exactly why I'd quit."
Her phone buzzed in the pocket of her apron.
She ignored it.
A few seconds later, it buzzed again.
Mark raised an eyebrow.
"Persistent."
"It's probably Emma."
"You should answer."
"I'll answer when I finish this shelf."
"You've said that for the last ten minutes."
Lily smiled and finally pulled out her phone.
Emma: Are you alive?
Lily laughed under her breath.
Lily: Barely.
The reply came almost immediately.
Emma: Good. Dinner. Seven.
Lily: That wasn't a question.
Emma: Exactly.
Lily shook her head.
Mark watched her over the top of a stack of invoices.
"Good news?"
"My best friend has decided I don't deserve free will."
"I already like her."
"You shouldn't."
"Why not?"
"She enjoys making decisions for me."
"And do her decisions usually work out?"
Lily thought for a moment.
"...Annoyingly, yes."
"There you go."
The bell above the entrance chimed.
A couple wandered in, shaking rain from their umbrellas.
Mark straightened.
"Your people."
"They're customers."
"Same thing."
Lily rolled her eyes and headed toward the front of the store.
The rest of the evening passed the way most evenings did.
Helping a university student find a history textbook.
Recommending a mystery novel to an elderly man who claimed he'd "already read everything worth reading."
Convincing a little girl that she could only leave with one book because her mother had very clearly said so.
By the time they locked the doors, Lily's feet ached.
She slipped off her apron and stretched.
"I think standing all day should count as exercise."
"It does," Mark said.
"So why am I still tired?"
"Life."
"That's deeply unhelpful."
"It's also true."
She picked up her bag.
"See you Monday."
"Have fun."
"Who said I was having fun?"
"You smiled at your phone."
Lily frowned.
"I did not."
"You did."
"I was reading Emma's messages."
"Exactly."
She pointed at him.
"Don't start."
"I'm just saying."
"You're saying nothing."
"I haven't finished yet."
She laughed despite herself.
"Goodnight, Mark."
"Night, Lily."
Emma was already seated when Lily arrived at the little Italian restaurant two streets away.
She waved dramatically the moment she spotted her.
"There you are."
"I said seven."
"It's seven-ten."
"I was working."
"You always have an excuse."
Lily slipped into the chair opposite her.
"And yet you still invite me."
"I'm optimistic."
The waiter appeared with two menus.
Emma closed hers immediately.
"I already know what I'm having."
"Of course you do."
"You?"
"I'll decide in five minutes."
Emma smiled.
"You've been saying that since university."
"I like having options."
"You like overthinking."
"That's a strong word."
"It's an accurate word."
They ordered, talked about work, and laughed over stories neither of them had heard before.
Emma complained about a coworker who replied to emails with nothing but thumbs-up emojis.
Lily admitted someone had tried to pay for a novel with an expired gift card from three years ago.
"I almost felt bad saying no," she said.
"What happened?"
"He asked if books expired."
Emma burst into laughter.
"No."
"I'm serious."
"He actually asked that?"
"I wish I were joking."
Their meals arrived, and for a few minutes they ate in comfortable silence.
Emma looked up first.
"What?"
Lily blinked.
"What what?"
"You're smiling."
"I am not."
"You are."
"I'm eating."
Emma folded her arms.
"Who is he?"
Lily nearly choked on her drink.
"What?"
"There's a man."
"There isn't."
"There always is."
Lily laughed, shaking her head.
"You've created an entire fictional person."
"So deny it properly."
"I am."
"No."
Emma pointed her fork at her.
"You're smiling too much."
"I'm in a good mood."
"Mhm."
"Emma."
"Who is he?"
Lily sighed.
"I met someone."
Emma's face lit up.
"I knew it."
"You didn't know anything."
"I absolutely did."
"It's not... it's not what you're thinking."
"Oh?"
"I've only met him twice."
Emma blinked.
"Twice?"
"Yes."
"And you're talking about him like this?"
"I'm not talking about him."
"You literally just started."
Lily laughed.
"When you put it like that..."
"I always do."
She took another sip of water.
"His name is Sebastian."
Emma smiled.
"That's a nice name."
"It is."
"So..."
"So?"
"Tell me."
Lily thought for a moment.
"There isn't much to tell."
"You've met him twice."
"I know."
"What happened?"
"He came into the bookstore looking for a novel he couldn't remember."
Emma frowned.
"That's... oddly specific."
"I helped him find it."
"And then?"
"We ran into each other at a café a few days later."
Emma stared at her.
"That's adorable."
"It was a coincidence."
"I didn't say it wasn't."
Lily looked down at her plate.
"We talked."
"For how long?"
"I don't know."
"Long enough to forget to exchange numbers?"
Lily froze.
Emma's eyebrows shot up.
"You didn't."
Lily covered her face with one hand.
"We didn't."
Emma laughed so hard she had to set her fork down.
"I'm sorry."
"No, you're not."
"I'm really trying to be."
"You've failed."
"I have."
Lily couldn't help laughing too.
"I don't even know how it happened."
"You had coffee."
"Yes."
"You talked."
"Yes."
"And then you both just... left?"
"...Yes."
Emma shook her head in disbelief.
"That's either incredibly sweet..."
She paused.
"...or the least efficient flirting I've ever witnessed."
"We weren't flirting."
Emma gave her a look.
"Lily."
"What?"
"You wanted the conversation to keep going, didn't you?"
Lily hesitated.
"...Maybe."
"And he?"
"He seemed happy to stay."
Emma smiled knowingly.
"There it is."
Lily rested her chin on her hand.
"I don't even know if I'll see him again."
"Do you want to?"
The question came so gently that Lily couldn't avoid it.
She looked out the window.
People hurried past beneath umbrellas, disappearing into the evening.
Finally, she smiled.
"...I think I do."
Emma reached across the table and squeezed her hand.
"I was wondering when you'd admit it."
Lily laughed softly.
"I barely know him."
"Sometimes that's enough to make you curious."
Their desserts arrived a few minutes later.
As the waiter walked away, Emma suddenly snapped her fingers.
"Oh."
"What?"
"I almost forgot."
She pulled out her phone.
"My office got complimentary tickets to the new art exhibition at the city museum."
Lily raised an eyebrow.
"Since when do you like museums?"
"I don't."
"Then why are you going?"
"Because they're free."
Lily laughed.
"I appreciate the honesty."
Emma grinned.
"Come with me tomorrow."
"I'm not really an art person."
"Neither am I."
"Then what are we supposed to do?"
"We'll walk around."
"Judge expensive paintings?"
"Quietly."
Lily pretended to think about it.
"I suppose I don't have any plans."
Emma smiled.
"So that's a yes?"
"...That's a yes."
"Perfect."
As they left the restaurant, Emma linked her arm through Lily's.
The rain had stopped.
The streets shimmered beneath the glow of the streetlights.
"You know," Emma said, "I have a feeling tomorrow's going to be interesting."
Lily smiled.
"I think it'll just be nice to spend time with my best friend."
Emma laughed.
"We'll see."
Lily laughed too.
She had no reason to think tomorrow would be anything more than a quiet afternoon surrounded by paintings.
Sometimes, the ordinary days changed everything.
- Writer
