Chapter 13: Book shop saga

Naomi's POV

Its been a few days since the Amber incident and she hasn't approached me since. I guess the warning Riley gave her worked.

I was still a bit down because I didn't get the books  wanted Saturday. All the book groups are still buzzing about the books, some people even start getting ther books already.

While I had nothing to look forward to. And nothing new to read.

To cheer myself up I decided to go to the bookstore down the road, even its run by an old lady she tries her best to keep up with the latest stories and the most popular one while still having all the classics available.

Since I'm going to walk there I decided to put on sneakers instead of flats, I glance at my hoodie but decides to leave it, it's just the middle of September the evening's not going to be that chilly.

I grab my purse and phone then head downstairs.

"I'm going out for a bit!" I yell as I head trought the door.

"Come back safe!" My uncle yells.

I head down the street with one hand in my pocket and when a slite gust of wind blew I suddenly remember that I didn't tie my hair up before I left.

I hate my curls so much.

"So where are you off to?" A deep voice started me.

"What is wrong with you?" I grit out at the source of said voice.

"I should be asking you that question." He says with a wide grin.

"Go home."

"Don't want to."

"Why are you following me Hero?"

"I'm not technically following you, we just so happens to be going in the same direction."

Knowing I won't get a straight answer out of him I give the interrogation and continue to walk silently.

"I've never seen you wear your hair like that." Hero points out.

"Because I don't like to."

"Ehy."

"Its irritating."

"Hmmm."

"Yeah."

He was quite again for awhile, he got so quiet at one point that I had to check if he was still behind me. Unfortunately, he was. He gave me a weird look when he caught me looking at me.

"So where are we you going?"

"The book the store." I mumble deciding not call him out on saying 'we'. I was fully aware he was following me from the start.

"Good, I'm glad I have my wallet on me."

After that we walked in silence until we reached the bookstore. It was close to dusk so I made a metal note not to stay too long. I plastet a bright smile to greet Mrs. Smith before opening the door.

"Hi, welcome to our bookshop. How can I help you today?" A guy says from behind the counter.

"Hi, I don't mean to be rude but Where's Mrs. Smith?"

"She's not here right now, can I take a message?" He asks politely.

"No, I just came for books. Is she doing okay." I say curiously, I've never seen him here before and I've been coming here for years.

"Oh I see, you're a regular. Don't worry my grandmother's fine, I just wanted her to take a few weeks off so she can rest. I'll be here for the next few weeks." He explains with a smile. "I'm glad she has so many good customers who care about her."

"Yeah, she's the best." Say with a smile when I suddenly hear the clearing of a throat.

I turn the see Hero looking at us with a bored expression.

I roll my eyes at him a walk away. I head straight to the fantasy section to check if there were any new reads.

I haven't read any vampire romance in a really long time so I'll grab few of those. And maybe I should see if there's something good in the teen romance and adult romance sections.

"You don't need to follow me around the store too." I say to Hero who has been in the same isle as me for about ten minutes for.

"How are we sure your not the one following me." He fires back.

"You haven't picked up a single book, I have 3." I tell him gesturing to the books in my hand.

"I just don't see anything I like yet." He lies then walks away.

I stay in this isle for a few more minutes before I head over to the romance section. When I get there I see Mrs. Smith's grandson fixing up some of the books.

"Romance huh. I pegged you as the fantasy type." He says in a friendly tone.

"Ah, I actually am a fantasy type but I like to switch it up sometimes." I reply.

"So I was right." He beams.

"I'm curious, how'd you know what I liked."

"I don't know, maybe it was your'e eyes." He tells me with a broad smile. "I'm Josh by the way." He introduces him self and extends a hand.

"Naomi." I say shaking his hand. His blue eyes were sparking with interest as they met my brown one's.

"Umm so do you like college romance or adult romance." He asks gesturing to the different sections as he spoke. I realized he wasn't just filling in for he gramma but he also knew what he was doing.

"How about both?" I tell him optimistically. "Nothing with too much smut." I add shyly and he chuckles.

"Aye aye captain." He says doing a salute whilst standing at attention, I burst out laughing at his antics and her joins in as he searched for books.

He spared me a few glances and smiles as he searched and I stood there and watched. He had honey blonde curly hair and slightly tanned skin that went perfectly with her bright blue eyes.

"I think these would be perfect for you." He hands me 2 books with a proud smile on his face.

"Thank you." I tell him with a genuine smile on my face. We stood there for awhile as I checked out the books.

"Hey, I wanted to-" he began to speak but was cut off by Hero.

"Hey man, I'm ready to cash." Hero says in a monotone with a blank expression on his face.

"Sorry, I'll be right back." Josh says.

"No need, I just need one more book and them I'm ready to cash too." I hurry past Hero and go to the teen fiction section and grabbed a single book.

It was suggested to me by someone a few weeks ago and I've been to lazy to come get it.

When I got to the register, Josh's smile was gone and Hero was glaring at him for some reason. I look at him raising my eyebrows in askance but he ignores me and went back to glaring.

When Josh was finished cashing and packing Hero's books he carefully handed them to him. "Thank you, please come again soon." Josh says eith a polite smile. Hero rudely takes the bag and goes straight outside without even saying thank you.

"Sorry about him." I tell Josh with a sympathetic smile.

"Is he your boyfriend?" Josh asks while trying to avoid eye contact with me.

"What? I mean no- no he's not my boyfriend. No way. He's just my neighbor." I babble shocked by his conclusion.

"Then why was he glaring at me like that?"

"He just likes messing with people." I explain.

"Are you sure he doesn't like you?" Josh asks not convinced.

I laugh at his works as I remembered how Riley and Mina are currently fighting ove him. "Yeah I'm sure, he's actually into my cousin and she's really into him. So that's a no go zone." I tell him with a smile.

"Good, because I wanted to ask you out for coffee sometime." Josh springs his proposal on me.

I suddenly feel self conscious about my hair and clothes. I wanted to say no but I could see in his eyes that he was genuinely interested.

"Um, sure, yeah." I say accepting his request nervously.

"Great." He says with a bright smile before handing my books, he then writes something on the back of my receipt before handing it to me. "Give me a calm when your free."

"Sure." I say with a smile before waving goodbye then leaving. When I got outside Hero was waiting a little ways away from the store.

He had the same black expression on his face from earlier.

"What's got you smiling like that? Did you finally get -

"Don't even finish that sentence." I tell him with a death glare on my face.

We went the direction we came from and we walked in silence again. When we were about halfway home was he finally spoke up.

"He asked you out didn't he." He said.

"Yeah. How'd you know?"

"I saw how he was looking at you, plus you came out of the shop with a ear to ear grin on your face." He point out.

"I did?" I as stupidly.

"Yeah, since I've met you the only time you smiled like that was the day you were screaming with joy in your room." He points out." Anyways I think you should go."

"I will."

"Good."