Welcome back to another story Blog, this time with a kinda emotional and kinda dramatic but not too much, like the perfect balance. Hope you like it <3
The Bookstore Find
Jumping out of the shower, I wrapped myself in a towel and one around my head.
The music blasting from my phone continued playing on shuffle and Gives You Hell by The All-American Rejects blared out.
Mouthing along to the words, I got dressed and took my hair out of the towel.
"When you hear this song, I hope that it will give you hell." I sang aloud, brushing out my long, wavy, dyed bright red hair.
"Avery, turn that down!" My youngest brother shouted through the bathroom door as the song ended.
I shuddered at him calling me by my real name.
"Who's Avery?" I yelled back with a smug grin on my face.
"I swear to god, Ari, turn down your music." Blake pounded on the door.
"Okay, okay." I sighed, hitting the button as Red Hands by Walk Off the Earth started.
Jamming to my random music for the next half an hour, I finally emerged from the bathroom looking pretty decent.
"Ariel," my second and oldest brother called me by my preferred name, "Can you come here?"
"Ever heard of please?" I laughed, dumping my towels into my laundry basket in my room.
"Please?" Liam's voice softened.
Rolling my eyes, I took my time walking down the hallway to my brother's room.
"What's u-" I stopped mid-sentence, "Liam?" I stared into my brother's room.
Well, what use to be my brother's room.
It looked like a tornado hit.
And then a smaller wind storm.
And then maybe another tornado.
His things were everywhere.
Some of his stuff was still being flung around by a clearly frantic Liam. I saw Blake standing in the corner filming it all.
"Liam's finally lost it." Blake laughed, almost dropping his phone.
"I need to find that stupid book." Liam mumbled to himself.
"Liam?" I called him again, this time getting a response.
"Ari, I need help."
"I'm not helping you clean this up." I crossed my arms across my chest.
"No, that's not it. I can't find this stupid book I borrowed from Kelsey and she wants it back."
"And that's my problem?" I smirked, turning to walk away.
"I'll pay you $5 if you help me look."
In my house, that means business. If Liam or Blake are so frantic to find something they offer to pay me to help, they really need it.
Being the youngest, and the only girl in the household, my dad and brothers often ask me to help with random chores to make some money.
"Only $5?"
"It's all I've got on me." He whipped the 5 dollar bill from his pocket.
"I dunno.." I eyed Blake in the corner. "Why can't he help?"
"I tried asking," Liam shook his head, "The idiot just started filming me the second I started throwing stuff around."
"Blake, seriously?" I gave him my signature 'you've got to be kidding me' look.
I may be the youngest, but Blake and Liam listen to me.
Especially Blake.
I think it's because he's only a year older than me, but looks a year younger.
"Liam never destroys his room like this," Blake shrugged, "Somebody had to capture it."
"Blake..."
"Fine, I'll look for the book in the kitchen." He laughed one last time at the mess before leaving to make himself food.
"You'll help me, right, Ari?" Liam gave me his puppy dog eyes.
I tried hard to say no, but I couldn't.
"Fine." I sighed, "What book is it?"
"I.. I can't remember." He scratched his neck, "But it's blue and black."
Nodding, I told him I'd go look in the rest of the house.
"Shoot." I muttered once in my room.
I had the book.
Well, did have it anyways.
I took it from Liam's room over a month ago because I knew he'd never have time to read it.
I took it to school with me one day to read and when I got home it wasn't in my bag. I realized later that it had fallen out on my bus ride when I dropped my bag and some things spilled out. I just never noticed the book was gone.
I told Liam to clean up his room and I'd keep looking.
What am I gonna do?
I swore a couple of times under my breath.
Dammit.
I debated telling him that I lost the book, but in the end decided against it.
"Hey, Liam." I walked into his half cleaned up room, "Why don't you just buy a new copy?"
"I don't go to bookstores." He snorted.
"Too manly for it?" I hid a giggle.
"Shut up." He sent me a glare.
"Bro, you're gonna have to go if Kelsey wants her book back."
"I know, I know." Liam stood thinking for a few moments. "Hey, Ari..."
"No way."
"You didn't even hear it."
"Don't need to."
"Please?"
"Ask Blake."
"Ariel..."
"I'm not going to the bookstore to buy your girlfriend her book that you lost!" I tried not to look guilty.
"I'll give you the money for it."
"What happened to only having $5 on you?"
"I've got some more somewhere." He looked around his room.
"Forget it," I shook my head, "I'll go."
Muttering things, I snatched my bag from my room and left the house.
I couldn't be totally angry with Liam though, considering I technically lost the book.
At least if Blake had gone, he could have drove.
Being 16, I have my L, but I need someone who has been driving for 10 or more years to ride with me.
Blake's 17. He could have just drove himself and his turkey sandwich downtown to the bookstore.
Or even Liam could have offered me a ride. He's 18. He could have given me a lift for sure.
Stupid brothers.
I frowned, using a fast pace to get there quicker.
Half way to the bookstore I nearly stopped dead in my tracks.
Colton Leviant, my crush for two years, was walking in front of me.
Not wanting to stare at his back, I kept my eyes on the ground. I looked up as he opened the door to a store.
The bookstore I was going too.
Great.
Not only have I been crushing on him for two years, I only talk to him now and then.
It's hopeless really.
Colten isn't popular, which is fine with me. All of my friends don't see why I like him, but hey, he's my crush, not theirs.
He's actually pretty dorky, which explains him casually walking into a bookstore on a Saturday.
Pulling open the door, I walked in and nearly collided with a little girl.
"Mommy, look. It's Ariel." The girl pointed at me. I gained a few stares from other customers.
"It's not nice to point, sweetie." Her mom gave me a sympathetic smile.
"Ariel, can I have a picture?" She bounced with excitement. Her mom looked mortified.
"Uh, sure." I smiled.
Ever since I was little, I've loved The Little Mermaid.
Once I was old enough to realize Avery wasn't a name I liked, my dad agreed to start calling me something else.
I of course picked Ariel. A lot of people still called me Avery though.
When I was in grade 9, I started dying my brunette hair bright red. Everybody loved it and the name Ariel eventually stuck.
"I'm sure Ariel is busy, hun." The girl's mom tried to pull her away.
"But Ariel's my favourite." The girl seemed close to tears.
"I don't mind." I gave the mom a smile.
"Yay!" The girl gave me a giant hug.
"Ready, Gina?" Her mom pulled out her phone.
"Ready." Gina grinned as I bent down lower to be more her height.
People in the store frowned and continued to stare as we took the picture.
"Thanks, Ariel!" Gina gave me one last hug, "You're the best!"
"You're welcome." I gave her another smile before remembering why I was in the bookstore.
An employee pointed and whispered with another worker as I wandered down an aisle. One of them finally came up to me.
"Excuse me," she smiled, "I love your hair. Where do you get it done?"
"I dye it myself." I shrugged, brushing a piece behind my ear.
"Really? It's so pretty! It looks like Ariel's!"
"I get that a lot." I nodded, trying to walk away.
"If you need any help finding anything, I'll be at the counter." She took off after seeing her boss watching.
I coughed to hide my laughter.
I searched the majority of the store before going down the last aisle.
It better be down here.
I turned around the corner to see Colton just leaving the same aisle.
He's still here?
Shaking off my butterflies, I looked up and down the shelves for the stupid book.
"Found it." I said aloud. Grabbing it, I looked it over to be sure it looked the same as the one I lost.
Being to absorbed checking it over, I didn't notice someone else had come down the row.
I also didn't realize they were looking at a book too.
Smashing into the person, I fell onto the floor. They only teetered slightly.
"Sorry." We said together, causing both of us to laugh.
Except my laughter was cut short when I realized who I ran into.
"Oh, Ariel. Hey." Colton grinned, giving me a hand up. "What are the odds of running into you here."
"Was the pun intended?" I felt nervous all over again. Being around Colton knocks any sense right out of me.1
Laughing, Colton made sure I was alright.
"I thought I saw you come in earlier," Colton grabbed a different book from the shelf, "I didn't know you were so keen on having your picture taken." He teased.
"Uh.. I.. She.." I focused on what I was trying to say and not who I was talking too, "The little girl thought I was Ariel and wanted a picture."
"Aren't you Ariel though?" Colton laughed again, sending butterflies all over.
"I guess." I tried to reclaim my calmness.
I noticed him reading the back of a book, so I took it as my chance to leave.
Replaying what just happened over and over again in my head, I paid for the silly book and left the store.
"Ariel!" I stopped walking, "Ariel, wait!" People on the street stared with me at the boy running to catch up.
Colton isn't as in shape as he looks and took a moment to catch his breath once he did reach me.
"You dropped this." He handed me the 5 bucks Liam paid me earlier.
"Oh, thanks." I smiled, "You didn't have to run after me."
"But I did, and let me tell you, I won't be doing that again."
Grinning, I thanked him again.
"Plus you left before I could finish talking with you." Colton fell in step beside me.
"Sorry?" I arched an eyebrow.
"I just wanted to say that I thought it was really cool that you took a picture with the little girl."
I nodded, in complete shock that this was actually happening.
"If you thought that was nice," I looked down at the plastic bag in my hand, "The reason I was at the store is even nicer."
"Not gonna tell?" He chuckled.
"I don't think so." I smirked, "My house is up here and it'll take way too long." I felt my normal personality coming back.
"I guess we'll have to hang out again then." I caught a glimpse of a small blush form on Colton's cheeks. "Not like a date or anything. Unless you want it to be.." He became visibly nervous.1
I swore my heart was pounding out of my chest. My legs felt like jell-o and I wondered how I was still walking- let alone standing.
"Ari, thank god you're back!" Liam shouted from the front door. Colton looked worried as we stopped in front of my house.
"I've gotta go." I looked at Colton, "but I'll definitely take you up on that."
"You'll go on a.. a date?" He looked relieved.
I nodded quickly, smiling the whole time.
"I knew I'd find something.. or someone.. at the bookstore." Colton laughed.
As we waved good-bye, I knew Liam was still watching me from the front door.
"Ooh, Ari's got a boyfriend." Blake teased once I was inside.
"At least I have someone." I shot back, trying not to laugh. Liam laughed so hard he doubled over.
Blake's face was priceless.
"Here's the stupid book, Liam." I handed him the bag.
"You're a lifesaver, Ari. Kelsey's coming over in like 10 minutes."
"You owe me $17 dollars." I stuck out my hand.
After he handed me the money, I shoved it in my wallet before saying;
"Ya know, you never lost the book."
"What do you mean?" Liam froze.
"I borrowed it and lost it on the bus one day." I said the words so quickly, it almost seemed like I hadn't.
"Pretty much what you're saying is that I destroyed my room looking for a book that wasn't even there?"
"Hey, you're the one who didn't notice it was gone." I shrugged. Blake could be heard laughing to himself in the kitchen.
"Avery..." Liam frowned.
I took that as my chance to run and lock myself in my room.
"Avery, I swear you're the reason why I'm going to go grey early!" He pounded on my door.
"But you love me." I chimed back.
"You're even worse-" A smash followed by a 'whoops' could be heard from the kitchen, "You're almost worse than Blake." Liam quieted down and stopped trying to get in to my room.
"That's right." I laughed, "I'm smarter, prettier, and sneakier."
A knock at the front door took Liam away.
"And I've got a date with Colton!" I whispered to myself, feeling giddy. "I've gotta lose books more often."
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