I'm a reader and I like real books. You can keep your ebooks and such, just give me a hardback or paperback book and I'm happy. So call me a Luddite (Google it), I don't care. I like the feel of a book in my hands. I like having bookshelves that are full of books, some of which I've read once, others many times, and a few which I still plan to read.
I'm Maeve, (one syllable pronounced Mave, rhyming with save), 25 years old working as a contract worker on tech jobs. I like reading all sorts of things, including tackling Chaucer in Middle English. (FWIW Shakespeare is considered modern English, though it seems archaic to many.) I had a volume that had Canterbury Tales in modern English on one side and Middle English on the other.
I'd read a sentence in the Middle English, then in modern English until I got it well enough to stick with Middle English apart from a word here and there. So call me a nerd too, that's fine. I did try tackling James Joyce, but didn't get him at all, so maybe I'm not as nerdy as some. At any rate, I was in a bookstore, one of my favorite places, looking at books.
I noticed they had a new clerk in that store, or at least one I hadn't seen before. She was early 20s, with light brown hair, straight, and not quite reaching her shoulders. Her hair framed her face nicely, and she had a cute face, not gorgeous, more girl next door type, and a warm smile that would not stop. She had a medium build, maybe a touch slim.
I won't say she was the most beautiful woman I had ever seen, but there was something about her which captivated me. Maybe it was the sweet smile, I don't know, but there was something about her which was unlike anyone else I'd seen or dated. Yes, I date women, there's nothing wrong with men, they just don't make me feel warm inside like a woman does.
I found myself staring at this woman, when she turned her head, saw me, then tilted her head slightly to one side and her smile seemed just a little broader. I was shocked, but smiled back, than looked away, embarrassed at being caught staring at her. I resumed browsing at books, but could not help but think about this woman.
I found a book by Stephen Jay Gould that interested me, and another by Joseph Stiglitz, then found an interesting book on Buddhism. As I went to pay for them, I wondered what the new clerk would think of someone buying books on biology, economics, and religion, all at the same time. Should I have tried to get something really erudite to try to impress her? Who knows?
Though they had two cashiers, she was the one to help me, not that I minded at all. She had a name tag with the name Zooey, which is a slightly unusual spelling of that name. She looked at the books I was buying, then looked at me and smiled.
"Are these all for you?"
"I have eclectic reading tastes."
"There's nothing wrong with that."
"Your name is Zooey?"
"My mother loved the book by Salinger, Franny and Zooey."
"I thought in that book, that Zooey was male."
"Yeah but it's close to the female name Zoe, and she didn't want to name me Franny."
"Well there certainly aren't many Zooeys, and even fewer spelt like that."
"Spelt huh? A bit of an Anglophile, maybe?"
"Nothing wrong with that, is there?"
"So you know my name, what's yours?"
"An Irish name, Maeve."
Zooey looked at me, smiled, and leaned forward very slightly. "So are you 'she who intoxicates' or 'she who rules'?"
"I guess that depends on who I'm with."
"So who are you with, if you don't mind my asking?"
"You, at the moment, but no one apart from that."
"That seems a shame."
"But I'm open to possibilities."
"Do tell."
"And who are you with, Zooey? Miss 'life' herself."
"I've had boyfriends and girlfriends in the past, but no one at present."
"So you're a switch hitter?"
"Nothing wrong with that, is there?"
"I suppose 'life' should be open to all possibilities."
"So which way do you bat, Maeve?"
"Let's just say, it was no accident that I was staring at you earlier."
"Well, I see."
'So Zooey, do you have a break anytime soon, or do they not let you consort with customers?"
"I consort with who I wish, but sadly I've had my afternoon break."
"C'est dommage."
"Mais, oui."
"Perhaps after work?"
"After work, my mother is expecting me for dinner, and I don't think she'd welcome a plus one."
"Maybe some other time then. I'm in here regularly."
"Till then."
By then Zooey had rung up my purchases and bagged then, and there were people in line waiting. After I left, it occurred to me that I should have asked her for her phone number. The second clerk had gone to help a customer find something and there were four people waiting to be checked out so I knew I should not slow things down, besides I knew I had to work on my current project.
I was doing some clean up on a project, mostly documentation, though there were some minor fixes as well. I had another project that the client was in a hurry for, so I needed to wrap this up so I could start the new one. I get very focused on my work and the rest of the world just disappears. After a while, my stomach told me that I needed to eat some dinner.
I do a very little bit of real cooking, but mostly keep it simple. I cooked some pasta, then nuked some alfredo sauce with chicken and a few frozen mushrooms and peas. It doesn't take long nor much real work but can be tasty and filling. Plus it's better than constantly getting take-out or eating out by myself. Frankly it's faster than going to get something, and cheaper too, plus probably better for me.
After I ate, I relaxed a bit and found myself thinking about my book store girl, Zooey. She said she was also into women, and managed to keep up with my obscure nonsense, even throwing in a little of her own. Besides, she was pretty clearly flirting with me, much as I was with her. I really regretted not getting her number while I had the chance.
Given my work backlog, it might be a few days before I could get back to the bookstore. I was half afraid she'd either think I was not interested in her, or that I was playing games with her. Neither of those was particularly good for me, not that I thought I was looking at some forever thing anyhow. Still I'd rather not ruin my chances before I ever really got a start.
As I said, I tend to bury myself in my work, but anytime I came up for air, I found myself thinking about Zooey. I like women anyhow, but she really had captured my interest much more than most did. I felt like she was interested in me too, but could not break from work to get to the book store. It was probably three days later before I made myself take a break to go back.
I walked in and looked around and saw two other clerks, but not Zooey. I wondered if maybe she was in back or doing something elsewhere in the store. I spent half an hour wandering around but saw no sign of Zooey. I was tempted to ask one of the clerks when Zooey was scheduled to work, but first that was too much like stalking, and second, they seemed to be busy any time I wandered up that way.
I was disappointed and went back home without buying anything, which may have been the first time I ever left a bookstore without buying a book. I went out and searched social media for Zooey and came up with lots of references to Zooey Deschanel, but not much else, and nothing I could tie to my Zooey. Funny, I was already thinking of her as mine and I'd never done more than flirt with her for a few minutes.
I went home and buried myself in my work again. I wondered if Zooey had tried to find me, though given how popular my name is in Ireland there are a ton of Maeves out there. At any rate I was up to my ears in it for the next few days. I barely had time to begin to read the books I had bought the other day. A few days later, I made myself take a break to go back to the book store.
When I walked in, I looked at the cashiers, and neither one was Zooey. My heart dropped, but I wandered through the store in a depressed daze until I rounded a corner and found myself face to face with her. She gave me a smirky smile before speaking.
"Can I help you find anything, ma'am?"
"I came here looking for something special."
"And what might that be?"
