Yours Unconditionally

Why do you keep falling?

"Hi!" I greeted the nerd, sitting a couple of seats away from me, snapping him out of the concentration of a monk he had been reading his $500 textbook with. With an exasperated look on his handsome face, he looked up to face me. The black-rimmed glasses he had been wearing made him look kinda cute. "You look cute in glasses. I can't say the same for the scowl, though," I said resting both of my elbows on the table, cupping my chin with my hands.

"I thought you'd be done with your shameless flirting by now?" he said with a bored expression before going back to his book. "I thought you'd be done with playing hard to get by now," I said back, and the librarian glared at us for the tenth time in the last ten minutes.

"Doesn't she know it's inappropriate to glare at people?" I wondered aloud. "Don't you know it's inappropriate to talk in a library?" he argued. "Don't you know it's inappropriate to spy on other people's thoughts?" I aimed. "Don't you know it's inappropriate to think that loud?" he aimed back.

"That's it! Both of you, come with me. NOW!!!" the librarian snapped, almost making me jump. I looked at Edmund who was busy rubbing his temples and I let out a heavy sigh, before being led to the farthest rows of the library.

"You will both arrange these books on the shelves before you can leave. The same books stand together, in ascending order of the edition. Understood?" she barked, and I nodded quietly, waiting for her to leave. I turned around to see Edmund with his hands crossed over his chest.

"At least, we can talk," I said optimistically, and he looked a second away from banging his head on one of the walls.

Half an hour had passed and, despite everything I had done to get him alone with me, he hadn't spoken a word to me. It's like he abhors me and I can't understand what I have done to deserve such a kind of treatment. I looked at the Man on Mission, arranging the stacks of books in a line. Is he that eager to leave? I thought to myself.

Maybe I should just complete my share and put him out of his misery.

Holding a stack of books in my hand, I climbed my way up on the stool. With a little stretching, I was able to arrange them in a queue. Almost done. I looked at half the dozen books lying on the floor. Grabbing the edge of the bookshelf, I pulled myself back just when I lost my balance. A loud shriek left my mouth and the sound of metal clanking on the wooden floor reverberated through the building.

I opened my eyes and found myself wrapped in a warm embrace, my head buried against his hard chest, and hands tugging tightly at the fabric of his shirt. Even though my heart was hammering against my chest, the relieved sigh that escaped his lips didn't go unnoticed by me. Up close, I could see how long his lashes were when he looked at me with worry written on his face. And despite everything, I could feel my heart fluttering, because it knows that somewhere deep down, he cares.

"Why do you keep falling?" his breathy voice brought me back to the present. "Why do you keep catching me?" I answered back in the same low voice. "Well, next time, I'm just going to let you fall," he said after a moment and retraced his hands, making me fall to the ground. "Ouch!" I hissed in pain while he just moved over to his bag and hang it around a shoulder. I gaped at him with my mouth open, just a second away from letting out a colorful fountain of British swear words.

"Good luck with the rest of your work, princess," his words stopped me before I could even begin, leaving me with the pool of books as he walked out of there, but not before giving me a smirk. So, in the end, my plan wasn't a total failure.