Chapter 2
Jenna
Boring. The theme for my life, summed up in one small word.
I reached for the door to the library and jerked back as someone flew toward me, almost knocking me over.
"Sorry!" A rail-thin girl with stringy blond hair and glasses lifted her head and waved as she jogged off.
"Right. Sure. No problem." I opened the door and breathed in deeply. The scent of old books left me feeling right at home. My father's study smelled the same, but there was a touch of a cigar in the mix as well.
"Hey. You all right? You look a little flustered." My childhood best friend, Grace Adams, walked across the large foyer at the NYC downtown library. Her dark hair was pulled back into a tight bun and her clothes looked like something my mother would wear to a legal hearing.
"And you look like my grandmother in that shirt." I snorted and followed behind her.
"You didn't answer my question." She glanced over her shoulder, her dark eyes narrowed.
"I'm fine. Someone almost plowed me over when I came in." I shrugged and stopped at the check-in counter as she walked around with a stack of books in her hands. "Why do you insist on wearing clothes from the 1930's? You're the hottest woman in this place."
"I'm the only woman in this place." She turned up her nose at me and set the books down.
She was one of the most beautiful women I'd seen walking around the streets of New York, and yet she was single. Alone. Lonely as hell. We both were.
"That's not true. Nelly is a woman." I glanced over my shoulder as the older woman walked across the foyer, her eyes narrowed on me.
"No one has verified that she's truly female."
"Yeah, well," I turned back to face my best friend, "don't expect anyone to. That's just nasty."
Grace shuddered. "Let's talk about something else."
"Like?" I leaned against the counter and jerked back as Nelly cleared her throat and stopped beside me. Her voice was tight as if anxiety was her go-to emotion at all times.
"You know we're not allowed to have visitors on the clock." Nelly glanced over at me. "Morning, Miss Webb."
"Nelly." I nodded and stepped back from the counter. "I'll be in the porn section. Come find me when you get a chance."
Grace's laugh followed me as I walked toward the reference section. I sat down at one of the small tables and pulled out my phone, letting the silence become my serenity. Nothing was more peaceful than the heart of the library. It bled antiquity. I loved it.
* * *
"Hey, Thomas is having a get together at Kadia this weekend. I want to go, but you know I can't go without you."
I glanced over my shoulder to find Grace pretending as if she were looking for something in a book. Her whisper was a little too loud and gleaned some attention from the folks around us, but that was Grace. The opposite of her name altogether.
"I hate that place," I mumbled and flipped through the missed calls from my brother earlier that morning. He was the last person I wanted to talk to. I was hoping for agoodday. That meant not having a conversation with my older, and intensely pompous brother, Darek. He was an asshole on a good day.
"No you don't." She moved closer and knelt beside me. "It's going to be fun. Come with me. We might actually find someone worth our time."
"In the middle of a club known for sex and drugs? What kind of guy are you looking for?" I lifted my eyebrow and glanced down at her.
The long black skirt she wore pooled around her. 1930's. All the way.
"A bad boy." She pursed her lips and gave me sad eyes. "Please? I really want to live a little before we're out of school."
"College is the end of living, hm?" I tucked my phone in my pocket as it buzzed. My brother again. No doubt.
"You know what I mean." She reached up and gripped my forearm softly. "Please? For me."
