Zac grinned and slid another quarter into the slot of the parking meter. He stuck his ear to the cold metal and shoved another quarter in.
"Ok, Zac," Carter laughed. "That's about 4 hours worth now. I think that's enough."
Zac giggled in a frightening, almost sexual manner, and popped in another quarter. Carter grabbed his arm and pulled him away.
"Alright now, stop violating the parking meter."
Zac wimpered as Carter shoved her car keys into her red, canvas messenger bag, and pulled him into the door of the library. "But, But, IT'S TICKING!"
"Yeah. Yeah." She laughed. "They all tick."
"So," Zac began, yawning. Carter had dragged him out of bed before noon to go to the library. The fourth floor was their favorite place to be. "What book are you...." He stopped and laughed.
"What?"
"I just got it. Violating the parking meter... that was really good."
Carter smiled and walked down the aisle of Stephen King books to find some she hadn't read. The was a man in the aisle, she assumed he was her age, maybe older. He was wearing black from head to toe, with long, shiny, well kept black hair that fell onto his shoulders. His eyes were very intense and he had a look of peacefulness in his eyes. "Excuse me," She whispered. She couldn't help but notice the books he had in his hand. Two were science fiction/fantasy, and one was a book on psychology. Carter really admired a brilliant mind.
He turned almost completely to the side and put his hand out to let her go by. He seemed so polite, with such a pleasant demeanor. Carter smiled and left the aisle with "The Green Mile" in hand.
Zac stared at Carter as they walked up the stairs to the fourth floor. Carter glanced over at him, worried. "What? Why are you looking at me like that."
"He totally checked you out."
"Huh? He did not!"
"Yes, he did." Zac laughed. "When you walked by him and he put his hand out, all gentleman like, he smiled and looked you up and down."
"No shit." She shook her head. "He just liked my jacket." She grinned and looked down, running her fingers along her shiny black coat. It was new, made of polyeurothane.
"I think he liked more than your jacket."
"Yeah well, it's actually kinda hot." She sighed and pulled her jacket off, revealing a white tanktop underneathe.
"Yeah, that will make him not check you out." He muttered under his breath.
"What?"
"What?" He looked at her, pretending to be clueless.
Carter laughed. Finally, they made their way to the fourth floor. "I love it up here." She smiled and tried to decide exactly where on the floor she was going to sit. She always sat on the floor.
Zac, on the other hand, was glancing around, trying to see if anybody else was up there. Usually, the fourth floor was completely deserted, composed of poetry, british literature, plays, books of quotations, and other non-fiction that most people don't read unless they're doing a report for school. He grinned when he noticed that nobody seemed to be around.
"What? You're doing it again. You're looking at me funny and you're creeping me out."
Zac grabbed hold of Carter's hands and lightly pushed her against a row of books on atomic and nuclear bombs. Then, he wrapped his arms around her waist and pressed his lips against hers.
Carter smiled and returned the kiss, mumbling something that Zac couldn't quite here.
"You know what's really funny?"
Carter gasped and looked over Zac's shoulder to see a pair of eyes peeping out between the books and the top of the shelf. "I was afraid of this from the beginning. Zac, with all of his 'Carter this and Carter that and, oooh Carter is soooo wonderful'. But I actually thought he'd have the nerve to dump my ass before he started making out with you in the library."
Zac stepped back slowly and turned around to see Justine. She had now walked around the shelf and was in the same aisle as them. "Hi." She smiled with her hands on her hips. "So, I guess this means you're breaking up with me."
Zac blushed, feeling genuinely horrible. "I... I was going to... I didn't know how too..."
Carter looked down at her shoes. "I'm sorry Justine, I shouldn't have..."
Zac shook his head. "It's not your fault, Car. Don't take the blame."
"I'm gonna go downstairs. I'll... be back when... Yeah." She sighed and went quickly down the stairs. She dropped her book when she ran right into the guy in black. "Oh, I'm sorry." She almost whispered when she bent down to pick up the book.
He smiled and watched her, his eyes piercing her own. "That's ok. I was just going to go upstairs to find a book on Albert Camus... I didn't see you. You came by kinda fast."
"Sorry." Carter blinked. "Camus. Wow."
"He's great."
She nodded. "I've read a few of his books." She looked nervously behind her, hoping to find Zac, or Justine, smiling as if everything was ok. She hated that she had probably just hurt somebody very badly.
"What's your name." He asked, bluntly.
Carter almost admired his curiousity, but at the moment it seemed like a burden. "Carter..."
"I'm Jesse." He reached out his hand to shake hers.
Carter shook it nervously.
"That person you were with... is he... your boyfriend."
"Yes. Kind of..." Carter paused. "I don't know."
"Oh."
Carter flinched as she heard Justine yelling from just a few feet over. There were only five steps separating the fourth floor from the third. "I have to go downstairs. Way downstairs."
"Oh, well, I'll come with you. I don't think I want to go up there right now. Sounds like somebody is arguing."
"Sounds like it." She nodded and walked with Jesse downstairs to the second floor balcony where he had found his science fiction books. She grabbed a book by Brian Jacques. "Ooh. Redwall. These books are good."
Jesse smiled and held up one of the books he had in his hands. Mossflower. The second in the edition. "So Justine walked in on something she shouldn't have, right?"
Carter blinked. "What? How'd you know that?"
"I saw her going up there."
"No, I mean, How did you know her name?"
Jesse smiled his mysterious smiled. "I know her sister."
"Great."
"Yeah, Gabi's a real bitch. We go to school together. Justine wanted a ride to the library, so I gave her one. She saw you guys come in together and she followed you upstairs. She took the elevator so shed get there first."
Carter s eyes widened. "She saw us come in?"
"Yeah. When you walked by me, she was in the next aisle. She said something like, 'I knew it'. And she ran to the elevator." He paused and looked worried for a minute. "Dammit, I probably just got myself into trouble didn't I?"
Carter sighed and shook her head. She felt even worse now. "No. I probably would have done the same thing if I were Justine. Dammit, I never should have told Zac..."
Jesse nodded. "You guys are great friends. I've heard a lot about you. That's why I seemed like such a stalker when you saw me at first. I'm glad I finally got to meet the infamous Carter Porter."
Carter winced at the sound of her own name. She hated herself so much now, it was a horrible name. "You've heard a lot about me?"
"From all different perspectives. Gabi, who thinks you are the devil incarnate. Justine, who thinks you're beautiful, and a threat. And your sister."
"Meli?"
"She used to hang out with Gabi."
"What has my sister said about me?"
"That you're her idol. She looks up to you and thinks you're wonderful."
Carter didn't know what to say.
"I somehow knew who you were the minute you came in the door with Zac. Justine didn't even have to tell me. The way you carried yourself almost melodically over to the Stephen King books, and then the way Justine looked at you... and the way Zac never took his eyes off of you for a second. You were somehow everything everybody has ever told me about you. Minus the devil incarnate."
"I... uhm..." Carter was left speechless. Jesse intrigued her even before he had spoken, but she never would have imagined how much she intrigued him. She'd never been so flattered by a stranger before.
Zac appeared out of nowhere at Carter's side. Normally he would have smiled and said something quirky, but he didn't have it in him to smile at the moment. "Justine is upstairs. She told me to go find Jesse to take her home... but I don't know who that is."
Jesse sighed. "That would be me." He nodded at Carter, silently telling her he'd see her again. He never had to say it, though.
"Is she ok?"
Zac nodded. "I never thought anybody would be that hurt over losing me."
"Anybody with sanity."
Zac almost smiled.
"Zac, I'm sorry all this happened. If I'd have known..."
Zac shook his head and put his arms around her in a hug. "Don't ever be sorry. I'm so glad you told me."
Carter hugged him back. "Me too. I don't want Justine to be hurt either."
Zac seemed to be fighting back tears. "I'm really tired. Can we go home?"
Carter nodded and set her copy of "The Green Mile" back on the shelf. She'd have to borrow it some other time.
This chapter is somewhat inspired by actual events. The brilliant parking meter story happened to Heather and I. The violation remark coming from Heather. lol. And "Jesse" is inspired from somebody in the library I couldn't take my eyes off of. If he's out there somehow reading this. I want him to know, he intrigued me beyond belief.