The Size of a Friend

e2626

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I just realized that my last post was kind of a downer.

So here are some quick positive points to put everything in perspective: (1.) I'm having a blast writing "The Size of a Friend", (2.) it seems as if many people are enjoying reading it (this especially makes me happy since I originally had no plans to share this story with anyone), (3.) everyone has been pretty supportive about me taking so long between chapters, and (4.) I am incredibly excited about moving the story along.

Believe me when I say that I am excited as many of you to progress the story along. As I said before: I'm emotionally invested at this point and want to see this story reach its conclusion.

Thank you, everyone!
 

youngboner19

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I just realized that my last post was kind of a downer.

So here are some quick positive points to put everything in perspective: (1.) I'm having a blast writing "The Size of a Friend", (2.) it seems as if many people are enjoying reading it (this especially makes me happy since I originally had no plans to share this story with anyone), (3.) everyone has been pretty supportive about me taking so long between chapters, and (4.) I am incredibly excited about moving the story along.

Believe me when I say that I am excited as many of you to progress the story along. As I said before: I'm emotionally invested at this point and want to see this story reach its conclusion.

Thank you, everyone!

Lurker here,

But I wanted to express my appreciation for your contributions, its easy to get impatient but good writing doesn't just poof out of thin air. Its awesome to know that you're still working on it, and as long as that's the case I'll still log in to check on it every couple days. Awesome work, really.
 

submarine

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aaaarghh why didn't I look at the last page first! lol
really enjoyed this so far.
for all I want it to bound to "the good bits" i'm grateful you have much more reserve than I! lol keep it up.
ahem.
 

e2626

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I don't usually post segments of chapters, but because it has been so long since my last post I figured that I should post the first half of chapter 12. Thanks for those of you that have been checking this page consistently, I especially liked the post of "I still believe". Very funny stuff.

Since a few months have past, I feel that to avoid possible confusion I should give you a heads up that this chapter introduces a new character. Enjoy.
 
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e2626

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Chapter 12
Diana​
“Excuse me miss. Are, uh… are you busy?”

Diana looked up from her book and saw an older man smiling at her from behind a pair of oversized spectacles. She quickly stashed her book under the desk and returned his smile.

“Oh, no. I’m not busy at all.”

She glanced around the room, checking to see if any supervisors were nearby, and leaned forward.

“Technically, I’m not supposed to be reading on the job,” she whispered. She gave him a quick wink, as if to ensure that he would keep her secret. He turned a dark shade of red and let out a small chuckle. Apparently, he hadn’t been winked at by a woman in a very long time.

He looked over his shoulder at an older woman browsing in the paperback section, probably checking that his wife wasn’t watching him, and gave Diana a quick wink of his own.

“No reading in a library? That’s absurd.” He gave her a sweet smile. “Don’t worry. Your secret is safe with me.”

Diana straightened herself in her chair and cleared her throat. It was time to be professional.

“And how can I help you today, sir.”

“My wife is looking for a book… and she needs some help finding it.”

“Okay, is she looking for a specific book or a book on a certain topic?” Her hands were poised above her keyboard, ready to type at a moment’s notice.

“Well… you see, she read the first book in a series, but she doesn’t know what the next book is called.”

“That’s okay, that why I’m here. And I have to tell you that I love a good challenge. So, does she remember what that first book was called or who it was by?”

“She didn’t, ah… tell me. She… well she liked it a lot, but…”

She noticed that as he talked he was shuffling from foot to foot was as if he were nervous about something. Diana had witnessed this before; as a librarian she often encountered patrons that needed help finding information or books that they were embarrassed about. It was a big part of the job, and one that she considered to be one of the most important aspects of working at a public library. It usually occurred with teenagers wanting to find information that they were too self-conscious to ask their parents about. Being discreet and respectful when helping patrons was important because there was little point to having information available if people were too uncomfortable to ask for it in the first place. Looking over his shoulder, Diana noticed that the woman by the paperbacks, the one that was presumably his wife, was slyly watching them from behind a harlequin novel. It was pretty clear that she had sent her husband to ask for something that she was embarrassed to ask for herself.

Noticing this, Diana lowered her voice by a few octaves. She wasn’t whispering, like she was earlier, but she was speaking in a tone that would afford them some measure of privacy. This was a practiced move, one that was meant to let the patrons know that she was being discreet without having to resort to the awkwardness that could result from whispering in a public setting.

“Does she remember anything about the book? Any information about the story could help me figure out what the next book is titled.”

“She told me that it involved a businessman who meets a young lady. He was a billionaire and she was a college student. I think her name was Anastasia… something.”

As he spoke Diana was furiously typing away using Boolean logic to link the terms “billionaire”, “college student” and “Anastasia” together in a way that would most effectively limit the search results. She didn’t have much to go on, but she genuinely did like a challenge. Unfortunately, this particular challenge looked like it wasn’t going to be cracked easily: her first search yielded over two dozen results.

She noticed that a few of them were written by Janet Evanovich. Diana figured that it was probably simply because she was such a prolific author, and not because she had written this woman’s mystery book, but Diana decided to take a stab in the dark anyway.

“Do you know if it was written by Janet Evanovich? Does that name sound familiar?”

“I don’t think that was it…”

“Can you tell me anything else about the book?”

He licked his lips a few times and leaned in closer.

“Well… it involved… a red room.”

Even though his voice had dropped to almost a whisper, judging from the way his wife almost fell out of her chair, Diana was guessing that she could clearly hear their conversation. Her first guess would have been The Shining by Steven King, but judging from how nervous this poor couple was, she was pretty sure she had figured out what book they were after.

“She has already read the first book and now needs the second, correct?”

“Yes, mamn.”

“Please. Call me Diana and I think I know what book we need….” A few keyboard clicks later, “and it looks like we have it on our shelves. I’ll be right back!”

As she walked across the library towards the adult fiction shelves a young man started quickly walking in her direction. The way he had started to head towards Diana the second she left the reference desk made it pretty obvious that he had been waiting for her to be free. Behind him, near the graphic novels, a group of his friends intently watched him as he made his way over. Clearly he had just told them to watch as he made his move. He may have even told them to take notes. Diana rolled her eyes, dreading what was about to happen.

He approached her from behind as she knelt down in front of the JAN-JON shelf. Before speaking he cleared his throat, as if to make sure she was 100% aware of his presence.

“Busy day?”

Diana hated small talk, especially when it was coming in the form of a lame attempt to pick her up. A lifetime of dealing with boys, and then later men, who were only interested in her body, had given her an amazing bullshit detector. It wasn’t necessarily what he was saying; that was innocent enough. It was the way he said it, as if he were talking to some puppy that needed to hear his soothing voice.

Even though she was pretty sure this guy didn’t really need her assistance as a librarian, she decided to keep it professional. Sometimes it was hard, especially with some of the library’s “stalkier” patrons, but she always did her best to be completely professional.

“It’s been a little busy. Can I help you find something?”

Diana was still bent down as she spoke to him. It made her feel vulnerable, having him standing over her like that as she bent down. She hated that she could practically feel his eyes groping her, but she wanted for find this book quickly for this sweet couple.

“Nah, I just have never seen you around here before. You new?”

It was true, she had just recently moved back into town. She had grown up in the area, moved away for college for a few years, worked there for a few years, and had just moved back to her home town. Diana had been working as a librarian for several years now, but she had only been working at the Charlesburg County library system for the past month. Of course she wasn’t going to tell him any of this.

“Yes, I’m new.”

She decided that she would keep her answers short and professional. She learned that sometimes men would just walk away if they realized that you were bored with them.

“Oh, cool. Well, welcome to sunny Charlesburg County. My name’s Zach. I’m in here pretty often.”

Apparently, this wasn’t one of those cases. Where was this book hiding!?
She was about to give up when she finally found it. It had fallen behind the books on the shelf and was effectively hidden from view. When she didn’t find it at first glance she should have checked to see if it had fallen. It was a rookie move and one that Diana secretly chided herself for. Holding the book with one hand, she stood up and dusted off her pleated skirt. Zach was still standing there giving what she assumed was his best “come hither” look. It wasn’t working.
He was a few years younger than herself, with her being twenty-seven, that would probably make him about twenty-four, twenty-five. He wore a college letter jacket, which judging from his build she was assuming was for his work on a football field. She knew the type. Big ego, small dick.

Zach was about to say something undoubtedly “charming” when he noticed the book she had in her hand.

“Someone wanted to read that trash? Tell me that’s not for you!”

Diana’s temper flared, but she kept it contained beneath a fake, candy sweet, smile. She hated when people judged others for what they read. One book may be trash to one person, and be a completely inspiring read to another. No one had the right to judge anyone for what they chose to enjoy in their free time.

“Every book has its reader, you know.” It was one of her favorite quotes from S. R. Ranganathan’s Five Laws of Library Science. She had learned about them while pursuing her MLS and it had always stuck with her.

Zach had a look of superiority on his face, one that Diana desperately wanted to remove. Although she had only shared a few lines of conversation with this guy, she knew that he was a scumbag. Sometimes you didn’t really need much evidence to know that a person was an awful human being; first impressions are powerful things.

“Not that book,” he said with a sly smile. “That book belongs in a bonfire.”

Clearly this guy didn’t know much about librarians because if he did he would know that joking about burning books around a librarian was never a good idea. It was becoming increasingly difficult to maintain her professional smile, and for a second it broke.

“I don’t believe any book deserves to be destroyed.” She said it as if she was sentencing him to death; deadly serious without a hint of warmth. It wasn’t professional; it was cold, and mean, and she was pretty sure, more than a little scary.

His smile faltered and he took a small step back.

Sensing that she may have crossed a small line she reapplied her fake smile and asked, “well, what was the last book you read?”

Zach’s smug look returned to his face as quickly as it had vanished. He leaned against the nearest bookshelf.

“I don’t read much.”

What absolutely killed Diana was the way he said it, as if he were proud! As if not reading was some kind of a badge of honor to be celebrated!

It was time to end this conversation, that couple was waiting for their book. Without a word she walked past him towards the reference desk. As she rounded the corner she turned towards him and said: “you know what? That doesn’t really surprise me.”
 
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e2626

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As she walked away she could see his group of friends over by the graphic novels silently laughing at his failure. Although, she was sure that that wasn’t the last time he was going to approach her, she hoped that she had at least humbled him a bit.

When Diana returned to the reference desk the older man was standing patiently right where she had left him. His wife was no longer sitting near the paperbacks.

“Sorry for the long wait, I had some trouble finding it.”

“Did that young man give you trouble?”

He had watched, and probably heard that awkward exchange from the desk. It was a pretty small library after all; it wasn’t hard to overhear what was being said from across the room.

“No, I’m pretty used to it. Men trying to hit on me at work, I mean.”

“Like what I’m trying to do?” the old man asked with a playful smile.

This guy was pretty funny. It was true though, Diana had gotten used to men approaching her almost every time she went out, and it no longer fazed her to coldly shut down their advances. If she didn’t, she simply wouldn’t have enough time in the day to finish her work, you know, the work of actually helping patrons find relevant information.

Diana often felt bad when she vented about how annoying it was to be constantly approached by men because not all of her girlfriends had the same problem. They would say things like “well, it’s because you’re so gorgeous, you should be flattered!” Diana wasn’t conceited in the slightest sense, but she was very much aware of her own beauty. During her years at college, she had spent a year abroad in Europe and during that time she had actually worked as a professional model. Okay, so it was one magazine ad about some weird energy drink, but it was enough to officially label her as a model to her friends. It was annoying at first, but she was ashamed to admit that she got used to it fast. You can only refuse people’s compliments about your beauty for so long, but once you begin to literally earn money because of your looks you start to quickly accept your attractiveness.

She had been interning at a small library located about an hour south of Paris, in an area called Île-de-France, when she was approached by a short man in a bright green sweater vest. At first she had assumed that he was a patron and needed help finding something. Even though she wasn’t fluent in French, she knew enough to be able to carry small conversations and since names and titles are usually very similar sounding in any language, Diana could help the patrons with what they needed. And if it got too difficult she could always differ to one of the seasoned librarians that she worked with.

Diana had been halfway up a book ladder with a small pile of books in her hands when he approached, talking excitedly and way too quickly for her to understand. He seemed happy about something, but his meaning simply wasn’t reaching her ears. After a few moments of floundering he reached into his pocket and handed her a small business card, stepping onto his tip toes to reach up to her. It had a contact number and above that it read: “M. Maxon Duval : modèle / agent de talent.” He was a model agent, and he was clearly asking is she wanted to be a model; this was the stuff of dreams for just about every hot blooded American! Ironically it wasn’t necessarily Diana’s dream, she had always wanted to be a librarian, but if she could make some extra money it was something that she was all for it. As long as it wasn’t too skeezy she was interested; she was a poor college student after all.

Before she contacted Monsieur Duval, Diana had played it safe and asked about it from her French classmates and friends that she had made. Almost everyone had heard of him, some of the girls shooting steaks of anger at her all the time, and for all intents and purposes he seemed completely legit. She still remembered looking at herself in the bathroom mirror, that night after being approached by Duval, and seeing the dust covered (because, little known fact, French libraries are unfathomably dusty places) cardigan and skirt that she wore, and wondered what this man had seen in her. At the end of the day all of Duval’s talk amounted to one photoshoot and a check for 800 euros, but it was still enough to give her girlfriends a bad case of the jealies for years.

Diana had always known that she was cute, but after literally being approached by a model agent she had no choice to accept that, whether she liked it or not, to most men she was drop dead gorgeous. That was almost six years ago, back when she was in her early twenties, but she knew that her looks hadn’t changed much since. For the shoot she wore a skimpy bikini on the beach (because, you know, that’s where all Europeans love to drink their energy drinks, apparently), but nowadays she had a much more sensible wardrobe. Today she was wearing a simple grey pleated skirt with a dark green cardigan; it was what she liked to call her classic librarian look. Instead of her long brown hair being styled in some amazingly absurd way, while at work she typically had it pulled back in a ponytail. To complete the look she was wearing a pair of wire thin glasses, classic librarian. Diana may not have invented the look, but she was pretty proud at having perfected it.


Judging from the way this older gentleman was eyeing her, Diana was pretty sure that he wasn’t oblivious to her beauty either. Normally she didn’t like being eye groped by strange old men, but this guy seemed harmless.

She passed him the book his wife needed: a copy of “Fifty Shades Darker” by E.L. James. His face immediately flushed with embarrassment.

“Thank you for all your help.” He almost whispered it.

The poor guy; all worked up over nothing. He and his wife were so nervous about finding the next fifty shades book, it was adorable.

“You know, there is nothing to be embarrassed about, right?”

He just stood there; a small awkward smile on his lips.

“I mean, I’ve read it too. The whole trilogy, in fact. The important thing is that you guys enjoy what you’re reading. Do you both like it?”

She had taken a guess that the book wasn’t just for his wife. The way he had squirmed throughout their conversation made it seem as if he had some interest in the book as well.

“Well…” he started. “Well, yes. We like it a lot.”

This was too adorable! This was one of those moments where she felt extremely proud to be a librarian, here helping the elderly get their first taste of BDSM. It almost brought tears to her eyes.

“Are you excited about the movie coming out later this year?”

“Oh, yes.” He gave her a genuine smile, one of the first not filled with anxiety. “We want to make a date night out of it.”

She was just thinking about how sweet it was that this couple was discovering something new together, when she had a thought.

“You know what? I think we might have a movie that you two might enjoy. I’ll be right back.”

With that she headed straight over to the DVD section, not even checking the catalog for its availability, and shortly returned with a movie in her hand.

“This movie is called “The Secretary”. I think you two might enjoy it. It has some of the same stuff in it as Fifty Shades.” She wanted to give him a knowing wink, but decided that that would probably be too much. She handed it to him and sat down behind her desk. “Just read the back cover and see if you two might want to check it out, if not, you can put it on any the carts at the end of the aisles and we’ll put it away for you.”

He quietly thanked her again, and started to head over to the circulation desk. As he walked away he peered at the back cover and a small smile spread across his face.

Diana watched him check out his two items and begin to walk out the door. As he approached the lobby, his wife appeared from behind a cart of children’s DVDs and began frantically whispering with him. He showed her the book and movie that he had just checked out, and began to whisper in return. As he talked, she began to get a sneaky smile on her face, a smile that was all too familiar to Diana. She knew what that meant; that man was getting lucky tonight! They left the library hand in hand, in a display that absolutely melted Diana’s heart.

Diana released a sigh of content and surveyed the rest of the library.

It had been a relatively quiet day so far. A few days ago with April 15th approaching, also known as the dreaded tax day, or as Diana liked to call it “everyone procrastinates day”, everyday had been an absolute mad house. This year it had seemed as if everyone felt like waiting until the last minute to file their taxes, which meant that there were many people that were shockingly surprised to learn that they were out of tax forms. Of course they shouldn’t have been surprised, after all many of them did wait until the literal very last day, but she couldn’t tell them that. Diana could still print forms out for them at 20 cents a page, but even after explaining that it was difficult working with so many patrons that were functioning at a high level of hysteria.

Diana released a small sigh, but stopped once she saw a familiar face walk into the library. She had a curvy body wrapped in attitude, and a demeanor that dared world to try to fuck with her. It may have been years since Diana last saw her, but there was no denying it: this was her old friend Monica.

* * *​