It's now Tuesday morning, near the end of my lecture when I remember that I haven't gone back to the book shop to check it out. I don't have any plans that afternoon, so I decide I'll head to town and have a look. Under the desk I write a quick text to Asher,

'Going into town later. Wanna join me?'

I press send and a few minutes later get a reply,

'Sorry, would love to, but I have volleyball practice :( another day?'

I send a quick thumbs up emoji and turn my attention back to the lecture. I know Saffi has work to catch up on, so it looks like I'll be going on my own.

Once three o'clock comes around, I change into my jeans which I tuck my tan jumper into, put on my matching tan trench coat, pop my hair into a claw clip and get my tote bag ready to go.

The walk to town is always beautiful. Past the forest surrounding the school, I've seen that it opens up into a variety of different fields, some grass, some wheat, and they look so full and colourful in the autumn. I can't wait until spring to be able to do this walk when the fields will be full of flowers. In fact, I'll have to walk it every season to decide which will be the best.

Thankfully the bookshop is open today, so I walk through the narrow door, and instantly the most wonderful and intense smell hits my nose. It's woody, almost smoky and precisely what I hoped it would smell like. The lights are dim, creating an antique atmosphere, making everything seem more mysterious and even a little eerie. It isn't just the smell and lighting that enthral me though, it's so quiet and peaceful in here, like entering into a new world. I can't help but smile and touch the first book I see. The cover over the spine is worn away as if someone had loved it so much and read it repeatedly until it was memorised and passed on for someone else to enjoy. Or maybe it had gone from house to house, friends recommending it to friends, reading it in the garden, in bed, or even on a window bench.

Usually, I would head straight to the crime or romance section of a bookstore, but today something pulls me into the poetry section. My eyes scan over the books until I pull out the one that looks the most worn away and faded.

'Selected poems of Ben Jonson', the front title reads. I wonder why I have never heard of this before, it's obviously loved due to its state. I open the book and start to read the first poem I see,

'Drink to me only with thine eyes
And I will pledge with mine.

"But might I of Jove's nectar sup, I would not change for thine." Comes a voice to my right. I look up and see the kind face of a boy with curly sandy-coloured hair and the brightest blue eyes I've ever seen. "Did you realise you'd started reading it out loud?" I stare at him and feel my cheeks start to burn red in embarrassment.

"Oh no... sorry. I guess I just got sucked in for a moment there," I hastily close the book and slot it back into the space on the shelf.
"You know, the first time I ever came into this shop, that was also the first book I picked up."

I can't tell if he was being serious or just trying to start a conversation, but how else would he know the poem?

"So you come here often?" I ask,

"You could say that," he leans against one of the bookshelves, "but I know I've never seen you in here before."

"Oh. Yeah. It's my first year at Spring Hill," I motion my hand behind me as if standing right in front of the building, "are you in university?"

"No, I'm taking my gap year" he takes a book from one shelf and puts it onto another, "can't face another three or four years cooped up in a school straight away."

"So you're going next year? What're you going to study?"

"Well, that's one of the things I have to figure out this year. I enjoy a load of things; I just don't know which one to pick to do for the rest of my life. I'm guessing that's not you, though..." he looks me up and down, "you look like someone who has their life together and knows exactly what they're doing."

I blush for the second time in five minutes and answer, "Kind of, yeah... I'm studying creative writing," I point to the bookshelves, "probably why I'm drawn to places like this."

"Amazing. I expect you'll be coming back here often then?"

"Probably. We have a beautiful library at school, but it's like another world here; the two places probably hold the same books but feel completely different."

He smiles when I say this and then straightens up, "how about this, you let me pick your first book and let me know how you got on with it, yeah?"

I smile and shrug my shoulders, "Yeah, why not?"

He walks along the bookshelves, peering at the books as if he's questioning really hard on which one to give me, but as soon as we reach the till he walks straight behind it and takes a book out from underneath. "This one." He holds it out for me to take.

I reach my hand out slowly and slightly confused, "Wait, do you work here?" the two of us still hold one end of the book each.

"Yeah, family business, my grandpa's shop," he lets go of the book and folds his arms across his chest, "I started working here when I was five, helping him put the new books on the shelves and reading my own little books when he was too busy." I look down at the book in my hands, 'All the light we cannot see,' the title reads. "It's my favourite; I've read it at least twenty times, and seeing we have taste in poetry, we might have the same taste in books too."

"Perfect, and I guess I know where to find you to give you a review," I look up, smiling.

"I guess so, perhaps I could get your number just in case? But also..." he walks out from behind the till and disappeared from behind a bookshelf. He reappears a few seconds later with the copy of 'Ben Jonson's selected poems', "you should take this too. I think it's too much of a coincidence not to have it." I smile and accept the book before turning to my bag to get my purse out. "Hey, no, no, no...This one's a loan and this one's on the house... first-time buyer's deal," he winks as he says this.

"I can't accept that... let me give you something at least."

"I insist." he gives me a stern look but is still smiling.

I give in and put the books into my bag, "well then thank you, I promise not to deprive you of it for too long." I write out my number onto a sticky note, say thank you and goodbye but stop when I get to the door and turn around, "wait, I don't even know your name."

"Seth, and yours?"

"Miyah"

"Miyah..." he says slowly, "See you around, Miyah."

                                                                                                     *

"Hey, what took you so long? Volleyball was over ages ago; I've already read three chapters!" Asher says, hands in the air, one of them holding his current read. I dump my bag on the floor and dump myself on the seat opposite Asher, Saffi, and Holly in the library.

"Sorry, got a little caught up," I say, not meeting his eye,

"Ah, I see; let me guess... you had to look around all the shelves at all the books, found a few and didn't know which one to pick? I know that routine all too well." This was said to try and make me laugh or react but I couldn't look at him. Why?

"Yeah, something like that," I open the book Seth gave me to start reading, but a note falls out and flutters to the ground under the coffee table. Ah yes that's why. I gave another guy my number before I'd even given it to the guy I've been flirting with for weeks.

"Here, let me get that," Asher offers. He picks up the note and reads it out loud, "My number in case you finish, and I'm not around, Seth..." his voice quietened as he got nearer the end. My heart sinks. That really had to happen right now, didn't it...

"Wait, Seth, from the bookshop Seth?" Saffi asks, putting her pen down and staring at me, "as in really cute, blonde curly hair, bluest eyes you've ever seen, Seth?"

"I guess so, yeah," I say, a little taken aback, "how do you know him?"

"I wouldn't say know him as much as just like to look at him when he's working," she looked at Holly next to her, and they both giggle,

"Oh yeah," Holly continues, "he's super cute. How you managed to talk to him, I have no idea. He keeps to himself pretty much; all the girls have tried countless times to talk to him, but he hardly glances at us, let alone gave us his number... you're so lucky, Miyah."

"I... I don't know, really. I was just there, picked up a book, and he started talking to me. Next thing I knew, he was lending me this one."

I look at Asher who's expression is blank, the same blank expression that stays put when he quietly says, "that was nice." A few seconds of awkward silence passed as Holly, Saffi and I look at him in a kind of fearful confused anticipation, "so what book is it then?"

                                                                                                        *

"You don't think Asher was upset earlier, do you?" I ask Saffi as we are getting ready for bed that night.

"Well, even if he was, he shouldn't be, you're not together."

"Yeah, that's what I thought, but I don't want him to be upset about it..." she stops halfway through putting toothpaste on her toothbrush and looks at me through the mirror,

"Miyah, even if he is upset about it, none of it is your fault, he can't blame you. You were innocently talking to someone you met in the bookshop, and he gave you the note without you realising. It's just bad luck that it was Asher who's the one that found it."

"Yeah, I guess so... he doesn't know that Seth gave me the note without me knowing, though."

"Well, tell him then. He'll understand; you know he will."

"Yeah you're right I'll tell him tomorrow."