Books

Next Thursday Brent arrived stepped through the large library door at ten o'clock sharp. It was his first day as an official volunteer having graduating training the Thursday before. Looking around the entry hall Brent didn't see Mary Clark or Georgia and he wasn't sure who he was supposed to report to.

"Hey there," he heard a light female voice call from behind him. Brent turned and spotted his favorite librarian walking towards his with her purse and coat slung around her shoulder. "You're early."

"Uh," Brent said looking at his watch then back up at the big clock hanging above the checkout desks. Crap! he thought idiot! The clocks turned back an hour last night.

"Did you forget to turn back your watch, Brent?" Georgia read his mind. "Hey that's okay, I could always use a little more help."

"Great!" Brent smiled, for some reason he felt giddy and excited when Georgia talked to him and said his name. "Whatever you need." Really I mean it.

Georgia led him to the back room where there were carts of books that needed to be sorted and put back on the shelf. She explained that they usually didn't have volunteers do this because it was a little harder then the average library chore.

"But I think you can handle it," she smiled.

They worked in silence, Brent stealing glanced, observing her soft skin and her slightly pink cheeks and nose from the cold winds outside. She bit her lip every fifth book she sorted, Brent noticed. He thought it was extremely cute. After what seemed like hours of book sorting in silence Georgia put the last book in the pile onto a cart and waited for Brent to do the same.

"So it's almost one o'clock," she bit her lip, "do you want to grab some lunch with me?"

A little surprised, it took Brent a moment to respond.

"It's okay if you don't but I just…" Georgia started again. "I know this really good pizza place a few blocks away."

"No, yeah, I'd love to," Brent recovered quickly, "I love pizza!"

An hour later Brent and Georgia were stuffed having finished a whole pizza between them (Brent ate 4 slices and Georgia had 2.) Georgia called for the check and Brent automatically began to reach for his wallet only to find the check swiped quickly from the waiter hand by Georgia.

"Thanks so much!" She smiled handing the server $12.50. She turned back to a surprised looking Brent and closed her purse. "What?"

"I was uh gonna… pay," he said a little too surprised to form logical sentence. "I was going to take you out," Brent tried again.

"But I asked you to have lunch with me," Georgia shrugged simply. "You know you're reflexes aren't as fast as I thought they would be, I mean you know, since you play hockey."

Brent laughed, "I was just too busy admiring you beautiful blue eyes to grab the check."

Georgia smiled and blushed, turning her head away from Brent. "Thanks," she mumbled.

A few minutes later they headed back to the library in silence again, not that Brent couldn't think of anything to say to her. He wanted to ask about her family, if she had any pets, her favorite hobbies. He wanted to know everything about Georgia but he had a feeling she was too shy and it would just embarrass her. Lost in thought Brent accidentally bumped her hand with his, making them both look up at each other.

"Sorry," Georgia paused and looked down. "Brent, I just wanted to thank you for saving me from an awkward dinner with my parents. Really you made it a lot easier by being my um… boyfriend."

"It's no big deal," He smiled, I would do it again and again for you "I like your folks."

This time Georgia smiled back at him and laughed, "My mom just wants grandkids so bad, you know? I have a younger brother who is 13 but he's just so immature."

"Yeah I know what you mean, my mom is the same way," Brent replied. "I'm only 25, no need to rush things right now."

"Right," Georgia laughed again, to Brent her laugh sounded like bells. "Do you have a girlfriend?"

She surprised him again by this question. "No," Brent replied quickly.

"Oh, well maybe you're parents just want to see you in a committed relationship with someone," Georgia pondered. "I know mine do."

Brent felt half relieved and half disappointed at her answer. He was relieved that she didn't have a boyfriend and that she did care if he was single or not but Brent was disappointed that she didn't care because she wasn't into him like that.

When they returned to the library Brent and Georgia parted ways. Georgia to the help desk and Brent helped set up a display. Around 4:30 the library closed and Brent threw his raincoat on and drove home to nap before going out to eat with some of his team mates.

Two hours later he woke to a pounding on the door and yelling that sounded all to much like Patrick Kane.

"Dude, are you in there?!" he heard his friend yell.

"Kaner, shut up!" the other Patrick (Sharp) probably shoved the younger away from the door. "Brent lives in a complex filled with old people. We don't want to wake them up!"

"Coming," Brent shouted.

The three boys met up with their captain at a sushi bar just a few minutes away form Brent's apartment.