Josie needed to clear her head. Things had been a little bit stressful lately and she just needed a break, so she went for a walk. She wandered around town for a while until she ended up at the local library, and decided to pop in, seeing as she hadn't checked it out yet. She never really checked books out of libraries, she preferred to own it. But she liked the feel of libraries, the muffled hush and the smell of paper. It calmed her.

She stepped inside and was met with a wash of air conditioning and the smell of books. The quiet closed in around her as she walked across the squishy carpet towards the stacks. Her flip flops slapped against her heels as she walked, causing her to walk slowly and step carefully, trying to soften the sound.

She ended up in the fiction section. She'd never sought out non-fiction, she didn't read it unless it was recommended to her. She preferred the fantastical stories, with fairies and elves and magic. Why read about real life when you could read about something magical? She prowled the stacks, looking for a title that caught her eye. When she found one, she pulled it down from the shelf and sat on the floor to read.

Reed didn't have many secrets. The things that were secrets, however, embarrassed him. They weren't embarrassing to begin with, but somehow, he felt a little ashamed. No, not ashamed, but slightly bashful about it. The first one involved his past relationships, the second involved the fact that he dropped out of grad school thanks to one of those relationships, and lastly, his hobby. Normally, people didn't hide the fact that they read books. It wasn't a usual thing to keep to yourself, but he did. He was never one that was at peace with his nerd side. Of course, he was completely open about all his video games, but he didn't think that was nerdy. Reed found it insanely awesome that he had an original Nintendo in his bedroom with stacks of games for it that he played regularly. And on top of that, he had an Xbox as well as a PS3. That, he was proud of. The stack of books that involved different lands, fantasy, and war, however, were usually kept in his nightstand or under his bed. Never proudly displayed like his gaming consoles.

Reed was never one to own all the books he read. Unlike his games, once the book was read, it was read. It was done. When he beat a game, he played it again and tried to get all the trophies or beat it in a different way, in a better way. Plus, checking books out was free. With his nose in a book that he might be interested in, he almost hid in the depths of the fiction section. That's when he heard the familiar flip flop of a woman's shoes. It wasn't usual to be in the presence of someone else while in the library for him. Usually the town was small enough and the library so rarely used that he could just stand there and read things almost halfway through before deciding on whether or not to check it out.

Reed felt a little torn. Being the guy he was, he wanted to talk to this stranger. The manager of a bar, he was always behind that bar meeting person after person, becoming a slight socialite, as well as a psychologist when the time called as well. It was amazing how just a simple talk and a beer could cure things sometimes. Reed closed the book in his hand and peered through the shelves to the opposite side. Oh, she was cute. He stepped slowly and carefully around the corner and glanced over at her while he acted as if he were looking for a book around her. Searching the multiple books for nothing, he glanced over at her with a small grin and then stopped and turned slightly towards her. He towered over her, like many of the women in town. "Hi." His voice was soft, but not quite a whisper. He pointed vaguely to the shelf in front of them, "Finding anything good? Any suggestions?" Well that was lame. No wonder he didn't talk to people in libraries. He was out of his element.

Completely engrossed in the book, she didn't realize anyone was in the stacks near her, until someone started looking on the shelves directly near her. She saw out of her peripherals it was a rather tall male. She pretended she had no idea he was there, she was so bad with running into strangers. All she could ever manage was an awkward smile.

"Hi." oh no, he was trying to talk to her. She was simultaneously pleased and unhappy. She was terrible at holding a casual conversation, but she liked that someone was being friendly. She looked up at him from her seat on the floor and closed her book, using her finger as a bookmark and setting it in her lap. "Finding anything good? Any suggestions?" She brushed her hair behind her ear, buying herself some time to think.

"Nothing particularly enthralling so far, but I only just started looking." she smiled slightly, and scrambled to find a way to continue the conversation. So many of her conversations died after a few sentences because she was so bad at conversing. She didn't want to be kicking herself hours later because she'd just thought of something else she could have said, and it would be such a shame to let it die. He seemed really nice. "But if you like fantasy, I could definitely point you towards some good reads."

Now that she was done thinking of things to say for a while, she could look at him better. He was tall and well built, but he wasn't intimidating. Rather, he looked very friendly and open. He seemed somewhat awkward, but at the same time charming. For a moment she wondered if he was in the pools, it happened any time she encountered a guy these days. But she quickly banished the thought and mentally scolded herself. She hated thinking like that, but being set up to marry a random person in the town had set her guy radar on high alert. She couldn't help but mentally evaluate everyone.