Chapter 5 Shelved Feelings

The heavy doors of Page Turners Library swung open with their usual creak as Zola stepped inside. The smell of old books and lemon cleaning spray hit her nose, a smell she loved. Mr. Clarke, the owner and her dad's old friend, looked up from his desk and smiled.

Mr. Clarke: "Zola! Perfect timing. New books just came in, three big boxes. Think you can handle them?"

Zola (grinning): "You know I live for this stuff."

She tied her hair up, ready to get to work, when a loud BANG came from the back of the library.

Josh (muffled): "Oh, come on...seriously?!"

Zola rushed over to find Josh buried under a pile of books that had just fallen off the shelf. His dark curly hair was messy, and his glasses were crooked.

Zola (laughing): "Wow. Did the books attack you, or did you lose a fight with the shelf?"

Josh looked up, embarrassed but smiling.

Josh: "I was totally winning until Pride and Prejudice jumped me."

Zola reached down to help him up.

Zola: "Classic. Even books don't like being organized."

Josh (dusting himself off): "I swear, these shelves have it out for me. Last week, Moby Dick almost took my head off."

Zola (fake gasp): "A book that big? That's attempted murder."

They both laughed.

Later, during their lunch break, they sat in the small staff room. Zola unwrapped her sandwich while Josh struggled to open a bag of chips.

Zola: "Need help with that, or are you gonna wrestle it like you did with the books?"

Josh (grinning): "Nah, I got it. I have a very specific chip-opening technique." He dramatically tore the bag and chips flew everywhere.

Zola (laughing): "Wow. Masterful."

Josh sighed, picking up a chip from the floor. "Five-second rule."

Zola: "Disgusting. I love it."

They ate in comfortable silence for a minute before Josh spoke again.

Josh: "So, besides saving books from evil shelves, what do you do for fun?"

Zola: "I write weird stories in my diary. And I binge-watch terrible reality TV. Like, so bad it's good."

Josh (nodding): "Okay, but have you seen Dating on Mars? It's about people 'falling in love' in zero gravity. It's painfully fake."

Zola (grinning): "YES! The guy who 'cried' in space? Those were obviously eye drops!"

They both cracked up.

Josh: "Okay, my turn. I collect weird mugs. Like, the uglier the better. My favorite one has a frog wearing sunglasses."

Zola: "That's amazing. I need proof."

Josh pulled out his phone and showed her a picture. The mug was hideous.

Zola (laughing): "That's the greatest thing I've ever seen."

Josh (smug): "I knew you'd appreciate my terrible taste."

Zola shook her head, still smiling. "You're ridiculous."

Josh: "And yet, here you are, laughing at my dumb jokes."

She rolled her eyes, but her face felt warm.

After lunch, Zola had to go back to the front desk to help customers. Josh was left to finish shelving books with Emily, the other part-time worker.

Josh (grumbling): "Great. Now I have to listen to Emily talk about her pet snail for an hour."

Zola (smirking): "Aw, don't be mean. Gary the Snail is fascinating."

Josh (fake horror): "She named it?!"

Zola laughed as she walked away.

From the front desk, she kept glancing over at Josh, who kept sighing dramatically every time Emily said something. At one point, he caught Zola looking and made a face like "Save me."

She bit her lip to keep from laughing.

As Zola helped Mrs. Henderson check out her stack of gardening books, her eyes kept drifting to the back of the library. Josh and Emily were shelving books together, laughing about something.

Mrs. Henderson (following her gaze): "Young love. How sweet."

Zola (choking): "What? No! I was just...uh...making sure they're not mis-shelving the gardening section!"

Mrs. Henderson gave her a knowing smile and left.

Zola pretended to reorganize the pens at the desk, stealing another glance. Emily tossed her hair over her shoulder, giggling at something Josh said. Ugh. Why did Emily have to be so... glowy?

Zola's Inner Monologue:

"Okay, so she's got perfect curls and knows way too much about snails. Big deal. Josh literally laughed at my 'brooding bookshelf' joke earlier. That counts for something, right?"

She aggressively stamped a due date on a book.

"Unless... he was just being polite. Maybe he actually likes girls who talk about mollusks for fun. Maybe..."

Mr. Clarke (leaning over the counter): "Zola, you just stamped War and Peace as 'due yesterday.'"

Zola (horrified): "I what?! Oh no! I'm sorry.

Diary Entry: March 20th (Evening)

"Dear Diary,

Today was fun. Josh is way funnier than I thought. We talked about terrible TV shows and his ugly mug collection (which I weirdly love?). He actually gets my dumb jokes. Nobody gets my dumb jokes.

But now my brain won't shut up. What if he was just being nice? What were they laughing about? Maybe he actually likes Emily? I mean she is gorgeous, I wouldn't blame him...What if the whole 'dropping books' thing was an act? (No, that's stupid. Nobody would willingly humiliate themselves that hard.)

Ugh. See? Overthinking. Again.

Then I had to leave him with Emily, who would not stop talking about her snail. He looked so miserable. But what if he was actually relieved I left? What if he thinks I'm annoying?

...I hate my brain sometimes.

P.S. Mr. Clarke totally knows. He gave me the look again. Great. Now I'm overthinking that too.

Yours always,

Zola (the girl who ruins nice moments by imagining worst-case scenarios)"

She snapped the diary shut, flopped onto her bed, and groaned into her pillow. Why couldn't she just enjoy things?

Outside, an owl hooted.

"Even the owl judges me," she muttered.