Page 8 of I Met Him At The Library

Looking at Emily, this was likely my only chance to finally talk to her. I’d already disturbed her with my coughing. Fuck it. It was time to strike up a conversation. Except, what came out of my mouth was not the type of opening to a conversation I actually wanted to have.

“Excuse me, is penis enlargement a real thing?”

As soon as the words came out of my mouth, my blood drained out of my body and she stared at me with wide horrified eyes. What the actual fuck, Ryan?

“No! That’s not. Um. Shit.” I stumbled over the words.

I pleaded with the universe to open a sinkhole under me so I’d disappear forever. Maybe there was a whole village of awkward as fuck people living down there - hidden away from society where we wouldn’t blurt out penis enlargement questions to beautiful women who came to the library to work in peace.

“Did you say penis enlargement?” She croaked the question with a horrified stare.

Not that I could blame her. At best, I was a weirdo and she’d ignore me forever. At worst, I was a pervert and she would need to alert the town. As my cheeks heated with embarrassment, my mouth opened and shut several times, before finally my brain and voice made some sort of connection, and I could form an explanation.

“I heard you say something about making a cock larger, and it not fitting in a ‘Tabitha?’”

Her expression morphed as the blood drained from her face and her eyes went wide before she whispered, “Oh no. I didn’t say that out loud, did I?”

“Yeah, you did. I thought maybe you worked for a doctor’s office. But someone said you write for websites or something.”

“I wish I worked for a doctor’s office right about now, because that would be a much better explanation than what the reality is.” She covered her reddening face with her hands.

“What’s the reality?” I asked standing up straighter and giving her what I hoped came off as a curious expression.

However, based on the grimace she gave me, she seemed mortified. Which she really shouldn’t be. I was the one who somehow thought penis enlargement questions were a great conversation starter.

“I’m… I write… ro-- romance books.”

My eyebrows lifted, and I smiled as I said, “Well that’s a perfectly good explanation.”

“Uh huh,” She nodded with a slightly awkward smile, but there was tension in her shoulders like she was waiting for something.

My eyes narrowed a bit as what she meant by writing romance books sank in and questions formed in my brain as I said, “But…”

Her shoulders dropped and I paused. She closed her eyes with a sigh before she leaned forward, setting her forearms on the table. She stared at me with a slightly worried expression.

“Okay, I can see all the questions running through your mind so I’ll get the embarrassment of it all done with. I write alien romance, which is exactly what it sounds like - with explicit sex scenes and all. As you can imagine it takes a bit of creativity to come up with a whole new species with every single detail being explained, including the size of the characters … ahem. To rub in my shame a bit more, the characters sort of talk to each other like they are in a movie in my head, and sometimes they talk to me as the director or, well … writer. And every now and then I argue with them … out loud.”

She gave me a straight lipped smile and a dimple popped on her cheek. It was the most adorable expression. The urge to kiss that dimple came over me, but when her smile faltered a little, I realized I’d been staring at her like a love sick pup.

“Well you are a lot more creative than I am,” I complimented and she exhaled a small laugh.

“I won’t be offended if you walk away quickly. I’ll, uh, try to find another quiet place to go to every day or possibly move to avoid the awkwardness that will follow all of this.”

“No!” I shouted, much louder than I should have in the library.

My eyes darted around the space after committing the cardinal sin. Thankfully, no one was located nearby, and I breathed out a sigh of relief.

“No?” She questioned.

“I mean, please don’t feel like you need to go somewhere else to work. I wouldn’t dream of walking away quickly. I’m actually intrigued by your, uh, profession.”

Her eyes brightened slightly as she studied me from her seated position, likely looking for the lie and not finding it. Not wanting to be intimidating, I pulled out the chair next to her and sat down.

“You’re interested in alien romance?” She asked in disbelief.

“Yes. So, tell me about it.”

Chapter 6

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