Bookishly Ever After (6 page)

“I hate you.”

“Shh, class is about to start.” Grace sat up straight, pen poised over her notebook, and stared at the board like a perfect blonde angel.

I loved new books. The crisp pages, the smell, and the sense of potential as I carefully broke in the spine made getting them one of the best feelings in the world. Getting one at a book launch with the actual author—an even better feeling. Getting one at a book launch with the actual author when the author is a rock star flying around the country to release the third book in her four book series and has a crowd of fans sitting outside the bookstore and waiting for hours to meet her? Electric.

“The final battle outfit. Awesome,” someone said as they passed me. I proudly looked up from my page for a second to smile at the two girls who passed me on their way to the back of the line. They were wearing homemade t-shirts scrawled with all of the best Maeve quotes and clutching fresh copies of
Gilded,
the third book in the
Golden
series.

I tugged at the corset, readjusting the fake leather so it would stop digging into my ribs. The costume might be perfect, but Trixie had built it for looks, not for waiting on line for hours at the mall. At least Maeve wore leggings when she fought. I couldn’t imagine sitting on this floor in a skirt. Semi-comfortable again, I dove back in to the book.
If I read fast enough, I might get a third of the way through before the bookstore let us inside.

A pair of beat-up sneakers stopped right next to me, the Sharpie doodles of skulls and crossbones playing in my peripheral vision. “Phoebe? What are you wearing?”

I groaned when I followed those sneakers up to find Dev looking down at me. Of course he’d pick the one day I was in costume to run into me at the mall. I wanted to melt into the concrete wall behind me.

“I’m here for the launch party.” I followed his eyes back to the corset and puffy shirt I was wearing. “And there’s a costume contest.” Warmth crept over my cheeks and I tilted my head forward so my hair hid my face. Dressing up for a costumed dance was one thing, but I hadn’t expected anyone from school to be at the mall this early.

“You should have worn that green dress. It was pretty epic.”

A little part of me that wasn’t dying of mortification warmed at the thought that he remembered my homecoming dress. Why he hadn’t yet gone away, though, was totally beyond my understanding. “Wrong scene. I’m in Maeve’s battle outfit. You know, like on the cover?” I used my finger as a bookmark and gestured with my new book at the giant version of it on the banner above me.

“Oh. Right.” He shuffled his feet impatiently. “And you have a bow because…”

I protectively hugged my recurve with my free hand. “Because Maeve was the reason I became an archer. I want
the author to sign it.” I dropped my eyes and added, “I know this all sounds incredibly stupid.”

“No, that’s actually really cool. I didn’t know you were an archer.” He poked at my bow. “I didn’t know anyone did that stuff outside of gym class.”

“Hello, it’s an international sport, you know. Not just a chance to almost shoot freshmen who run across our field during gym class.” I shrugged and added with more than a little bit of pride, “I placed second in States at my level. Coach Rentz thinks I’ll make it to Nationals next year. I wouldn’t have had that without Maeve. I really want Niamh—” at his look of confusion, I added, “the author—to know that.”

“Wow.”

“Books are powerful things.” I tried raising one of my eyebrows, like Maeve would at a moment like this, but I had to settle for a twitch that probably made me look like I’d escaped from an insane asylum.

“I’ll take your word for it.” He started backing up and gestured with his thumb towards the escalator. “Uh, I’d love to stay and talk, but I’ve got to go take care of something.”

My heart sunk right into my kneehigh boots, but I just flipped my book back open and tried not to let the disappointment show in my face. I couldn’t have expected him to wait on line with me. “Have fun.”

He stared at me a moment longer. “How long do you have to wait for this?” He wasn’t walking away.

The snarky side of me wanted to point at the poster again, but I didn’t. The girl behind me made an exasperated snorting
sound and I saw her doing it for me. “It starts at one.”

His eyes grew wide. “So you’re going to sit here for two hours?”

The girl behind me was practically going into apoplectic fits. Dev and I tried our best to ignore her. “Four hours. I’ve been on line since the bookstore opened.”

“Are you kidding? Who does that?” I gestured towards the people in front of us and then the line snaking along the mall wall behind me. “Okay, stupid question. What
normal
person does that?”

“What normal person breaks into a Bollywood flash mob at a school dance?”

“Point taken.” He ran his hand through his hair, leaving it standing in dark spikes. “I gotta go. Maybe I’ll swing by later.”

“And buy a book? It’ll be good for you.”

He flashed me a wide grin. “Sure, Dr. Phoebe. I’ll pick up two and call you in the morning?” I laughed and watched as he disappeared into the crowd. I could see what other girls saw in him, especially with the messy hair. That smile nearly killed me.

As I turned back to my book, the girl behind me poked me with her copy of
Gilded.
“Boyfriend isn’t much of a brain trust, is he?”

I ignored her and turned back to my book. A little bit of Maeve and Aedan would take my mind off of the past few minutes.

Maeve doubted any of her teachers or the foreign exchange program organizers would take ‘my homework is late because I had to protect Ireland and the whole world from fairytale creatures last night’ as an excuse. A small part of her was tempted to take up Aedan’s offer to move to the Otherland full time, but—

A milkshake floated in front of my eyes, blocking my view of the page. Condensation dripped off of the plastic cup and I squeaked as a drop hit my page. I scrambled to wipe up the water before looking up at the culprit.

“What the heck—” I stopped short as Dev’s greenish eyes came into focus. “Dev?”

He was clutching a bag and bottle of soda in the hand that wasn’t holding the milkshake. Dev looked apologetic. “Sorry.” He wiggled the milkshake at me again. “Peace offering? It’s mint chocolate chip. Your favorite.”

I carefully marked my place in the book by closing it around my bowstring and took the milkshake from him.

“Let me guess. Em told you.” I took a sip and closed my eyes in pure bliss. There was nothing on the planet as good as that milkshake at that moment.

“Yeah, I texted her. I thought you might be thirsty,” he said, then shook the bag before placing it on the floor in front of me, “and hungry by now. Four hours is a long time.”

I opened the bag to find those tiny soft pretzel bite things. I had a sandwich in my purse, but nudged it behind me. “This is really, really sweet. Thank you, but you really didn’t have to.”

He shrugged. “Someday, I’ll be in a mall line for something and you can pay me back. Until then,” Dev sat down on the floor next to me, folding his tall frame into the small space outlined in yellow tape on the floor, “I’ve got nowhere to be right now. I’ll wait with you for a little bit.” The girl behind me started grumbling and he gave me an amused look before turning around to face her. “Relax. I’m not cutting in line. I’m her illiterate, degenerate friend. I’m not into books about—” he squinted at the book in my hands. “What’s it about?”

“A girl finds out she can see evil fairytale creatures trying to invade the Seelie Court and our world. She partners with a hot leprechaun and uses her skills to tackle these subversive elements. It’s like…CSI meets fairies.” I popped a pretzel into my mouth and chased it with the milkshake. Salty, minty goodness.

“I’m definitely not into books about whatever she said, so your precious space in line is safe.” He then purposely turned his back on the girl and held out his hand to me with an even wider grin. “Annoying book people make me hungry. Pass me a pretzel.”

“Maeve fans are dangerous. We learn how to wield pointy objects,” I told him as I handed him the bag. “You shouldn’t upset them.”

“I’ll take the risk. You’ll defend me, right?” He picked up my bow and I squeaked as he lost my page in the process. Oblivious to my pawing through the book to find where I had left off, he swung the bow around to check out the sight.

“I don’t know,” I said, trying to sound cute and not the least bit relieved about finding my page. “If someone shows up with a bigger bow, you’re on your own.” I gently pried the bow out of his hands

He nearly choked on his soda. “Size-ist,” he managed between coughs and suppressed laughter.

Oh. My. God.
I didn’t need a mirror to know my face had to match the red that still hadn’t completely washed out of my hair. “I didn’t mean—you couldn’t possibly think I meant
that.
” I glanced at the other people in line for support, but except for a few audible snickers, everyone’s heads were buried in their books.

“Who knows what those books are teaching you?”

“Shut up.” I bit my lip. Were you supposed to say shut up to guys who were maybe into you? Unless they were snarky bad boys, but Dev wasn’t one of those. Bad boys didn’t bring you milkshakes and pretzels and risk whatever standing they had in the high school hierarchy by hanging out with geeky girls in costume. But good guys didn’t just pull double entendres on you…did they?

“Hey, you were the one who started talking about bigger bows…”

“
Dev,”
I hissed through my teeth, “there are middle schoolers and parents here.”

“I know. You should have known better.”

I couldn’t help it. I tried to keep my expression serious, but dissolved into a bout of snort-y laughter. “You are so bad.”

“And that’s why you like me.”

That comment stopped me midlaugh and I had to force out a few more giggles to cover it up. What did he mean by ‘like’? Was he trying to figure out how I felt? Was he trying to tell me something? I was going to kill Em for making me read things from his comments that probably weren’t there and confusing me enough that comments like that made me question what my own ‘yes’ might mean. My posture stiffened. Maybe combine a yes with some snark?

“Um, yeah. It has to be the bad-boy vibes. It’s definitely not your sparkling wit.”

His grin quirked up a notch. “I’ve always wanted to be one of those bad boys. But my parents would kill me. Being bad doesn’t get you into ‘top universities.’” He air quoted the last two words with one hand while grabbing a handful of pretzels with the other.

I took a long sip from my milkshake and pasted a mock frown on my face. I narrowed my eyes and pretended to study him. “Let me guess…med school?”

His hazel eyes danced. “Engineering, even though I have the mechanical aptitude of a rock. I think they’re aiming for a stereotypical Indian kid success story.”

I pulled a face. “Try telling your parents you want to review books or own a yarn store. Those went over really well with mine.” I took the lid off of my milkshake and ran a pretzel along the side before popping it in my mouth. “I’m sure your mom and dad won’t be too devastated when you’re, like, starring in impromptu Bollywood flash mobs across the country and becoming an Internet sensation.”

That caught him off-guard and he nearly choked on a pretzel. “You know, I never see you outside of school and band. You’re fun. In an amped-up book lover kind of way.”

I gestured at my outfit. “Comes with the territory.”

“I bet.” His phone rang and he stared at the screen for a second with a frown. “I really have to go now. Sorry I couldn’t stay longer.”

I held up my book. “I think I’ll be fine. Maeve was about to kick some enemy butt when you interrupted me.” I cringed slightly. Why do I say stuff like that?

He didn’t seem to notice my cringe. “Have fun with that.” Something caught his attention and he paused midway through standing up. He leaned in closer and my breath caught in my throat. “That’s incredibly cool,” he said, fingering the silver ‘chainmaille’ hanging off the bottom of my corset.

“I knit it. Out of stainless steel wire,” I forced out. As soon as he let go of my costume and finished standing, I breathed again.

“I didn’t know you could knit this kind of stuff.”

“You’d be surprised what you can do with knitting
needles.” As soon as I said that, I regretted it. It was like every other sentence out of my mouth could be made into an innuendo. What was
wrong
with me?

Thankfully, Dev just raised his eyebrows. “Speaking of, when am I getting those socks?”

I lightly whacked his leg and then regretted it. He just laughed. “See you later, Feebs.”

Just before he stepped on to the escalator, I called out. “Thanks…for the food and entertainment and stuff.”

“I aim to please.” He turned on the escalator to face me and bowed with a flourish as it lowered him out of my sight.

“Your boyfriend is insane,” the girl behind me said as soon as he was out of hearing range.

“He’s not my…” I paused at her look of utter indifference. “Yeah, he’s just weird.”

“That kiss in the scene Niamh just read? Best kiss in the entire series, am I right?” The girl in front of me said, bouncing impatiently as the line inched closer to the signing table. Without waiting for anyone to actually answer, she added, “I need to find me an Aedan of my own. Too bad real boyfriends aren’t as awesome as book boyfriends.”

The kiss had been amazing, with just the right amount of perfect prebattle training and swoonworthy dialogue thrown in.

“At least real boys don’t get brainwashed by the enemy and try to kill you?” I said, trying to play devil’s advocate.

“It wasn’t Aedan’s fault, though. If Carma—”

“Hey, no spoilers!” The girl behind us said, poking her head over my shoulder with a massive scowl.

“But that’s right at the beginning of the book,” I said, my brow furrowing. “Which we were all reading while waiting.”

“Well,
some
of us might actually want to enjoy our books instead of speed reading straight through.”