I Hate Love Stories Because I'm Never in One.

On my snail-paced walk that was headed literally nowhere, I received an unwanted text message from Kat.

' Hey babe, U alright? U looked sad when I left U.'

I let out an irritated sigh and turned off my phone, shoving it roughly into my pocket as I began an anger induced stride through the streets.

Oh, how observant of her. It had taken her approximately three months, two weeks and five days to figure out that something was up with me. The three months, two weeks and five days were of course the amount of time that she'd been seeing Dean for.

Don't get me wrong, Dean was a nice kid...probably a little bit too nice for his own good. But ever since he'd materialised out of thin air, all Kat could talk about was him. It was like she lived and breathed the damn boy and I was getting tired of seeing their bloody love sick expressions whenever they were around each other.

It just made me realise how alone I actually was. I just wanted to be like them and every other person who had found pure joy in a single person. Sure, it made me feel nauseated watching the loved-up couples...but I was positive I wouldn't feel as bitter any more if I actually managed to find someone to love too.

I squeezed my eyes shut to force back the tears that had been threatening to break free and run riot down my cheeks, breathing slowly to calm myself down.

When I managed to control my damn hormones, I found that I was stood outside the best place to be in the whole world when you were feeling down. This place alone drove away all my worries and issues about my non existent love life, it conjured up a few 'come back later' signs to the problems in my life and warded them away until I was ready.

It was the book store.

Yes, as corny as it sounds, the book store was probably my only escape and distraction from the almost ever-present pressure to find love.

I know it doesn't make much sense, with all the romance stories that tried to hurl themselves at me there but for every love story, there was a horror, there was an adventure or a thriller. It allowed me to run from L-O-V-E for as long as I could.

Drifting through the shop door, I smiled politely to the man behind the till. He greeted me back as he ripped the tape from a cardboard box, no doubt containing heaps of newly made books.

Finally, I was starting to relax. It was incredible, all I had to do was walk through the doorway and I was instantly peaceful. I could practically hear the ear-splitting cheers inside my head for this place.

This was my world, my own bubble of tranquility. At least, it would have been if some moron carrying a huge pile of books hadn't just knocked head first into me. My bubble of calm burst as my butt hit the floor.

'What the hell do you think you're doing?' I demanded, trying to keep my voice down as books showered over my head.

'Well sor-ry for trying to get past a girl who was clearly not in this universe, let alone the planet.' replied a silky, male voice. He actually pronounced sorry like that too, like he was some teenage girl or something.

'Well sor-ry for minding my own business!' I hissed back, trying to imitate his voice as I shoved a book off my lap.

I smoothed back my hair from out my eyes to glare up at him...but the glare turned into a gawk.

He was a giant...well, okay. Maybe not a giant but he was still tall enough to probably have to stoop through the doorway at least. That wasn't the reason I was staring though. He was just stunning, like...his features were actually striking.

My eyes grazed across his face and over his black, wavy hair that swept stylishly across his forehead...it stopped just above his sharp, sapphire eyes. His lips were pulled up at the side, in a sort of half amused smile.

Then he held his hand out. To me.

I stared at it with wide eyes.

'Maybe you'd like to take it?' he asked.

'W-what was that?' I stuttered, looking from his hand and back up to his face.

'Take my hand...that is, unless you'd prefer to sit on the floor all day?'

My face flushed red. 'Oh, yeah. Sure.'

I grabbed onto his huge hand with my tiny one, surprise surging through me as he lifted me up quickly. As soon as I was up, he dropped my hand and bent down to scoop up the books that were strewn across the floor. I focused on them, wondering where they'd came from.

I'd actually forgotten where I was.

'Book store' I told myself. 'You're in the book store.'

'I guess I deserve not getting help with these.' he said, holding up a random book before he placed it carefully on the stack he had begun to make. 'I did almost crush you with them.'

'uh? Oh...no. I'm fine, see?' I grinned, waving a hand about myself to prove my unharmed body.

The boy finished piling up the books and cautiously lifted them up with both of his hands. He gave me a quick smile as he walked past me.

'It was nice bumping into you.' he called over his shoulder.

I just stood there, immobile. Only when the shop door swung shut did I realise that I hadn't replied to him, that I had just watched him pay for the books and leave.

And as he left, so did my wits.