Vol. 7, Chapter XIII — From Quietude to Utter Chaos

The library really is the place for me. Well, the library, and home, but that only occurs to me a bit later as I put back in their place the books people left on the trolley.

This time, I was completely alone, Abby having gone home ahead of me to go to the gym, Tony having stuff to do, and the other members of the Library Committee were also out there doing their own thing. I didn’t mind at all, however, even if it meant that I had a bit more work to do and that it could feel a bit lonely. The place was quiet, warm enough, and after Abby having been a menace all day, it felt like a bit of a cooldown. Apparently, I said or did something really good yesterday, but I can’t for the life of me remember what it was due to how sleepy and out of it I was throughout the whole day, so Abby was in an incredibly sweet mood. I guess it just goes to show just how important it really is for a couple to spend some time apart, even if they are attached to the hip as we are.

This was the final task of the day, so once the trolley was empty and the shelves restocked, I headed back to the desk to do a final check on the system and then turn off the pc. Standing by the desk, however, was none other than Vanessa. She was in her tracksuit, so I figured she had club activities and could only stop by the library now.

“Oh, erm, hey there, Violet,” she greeted me, still a bit awkwardly. Still, not as awkward as before, she has been getting better about it, which in turn made me be less awkward in turn too. It was a self-sustaining cycle, really. “Sorry for coming right at the closing time, but…”

“You need something?” I asked as I got behind the desk.

“Yeah, erm, do you think I could take home that reference book Miss Maple talked about?”

I asked her to give me a second to check if we still had any of those as she wasn’t the first one of our class who came by for it. As luck would have it, there were still two available, so I told her I’d go grab it for her.

As I walked, I noticed my feet were squeaking, but once I stopped walking to check them, I still heard another squeak. For some reason, Vanessa had tagged along and it was her shoes that were making that noise.

“Sorry, they are noisy on wooden floors for some reason.”

“I thought it were mine making the noise,” I chuckled as I resumed walking, trying to keep the mood light. “You could have waited for me at the desk, by the way.”

“I thought it’d be faster for you if I tagged along and went home the moment you give me the book.”

“Erm, thanks, but… I need your student ID card to register the borrowing of it.”

She turned red as she apologized, saying that she knew that but since she never borrowed a book before, her friends did, she forgot.

Since her idea wasn’t that bad at all, I offered her the possibility of leaving her card with me and I’d hand it back tomorrow before first period. A bit surprisingly, she was fine with it, but still decided to hang on to it, not wanting to make me her errand girl. Like Abby said when she told me that it had been Vanessa who wrote those nasty things on my desk with a pencil, and that I suspected from all the bad interactions we had, she can be petty, but she also has a really hard time acting upon it or causing trouble in general.

“All right, here you go,” I told her as I handed her the book and the card after I finished registering them on the PC. “You can have it for the next seven days. That’s counting the weekend too, not just workdays.”

“R-right, thanks, Violet,” she said, looking around for a bit, simply standing there, holding the book and her card. “Erm, are you alone today?”

“Yeah, Abby had gym plans, and everyone else is busy today, so it’s just me.”

“…It’s quite dark outside already.”

I couldn’t help but let out an amused chuckle. Seeing Vanessa express worry about me was truly unexpected.

Just as I was going to tell her that I’d just call someone to come pick me up or take the bus, someone else stepped in, this time Mathew. He approached us and told me that Abby had asked him if he could watch over me since he lived closer to the school. Checking my phone, I saw that she had texted me about it, asking if I’d be ok with that. Since her text when unseen, she went ahead and did it anyway.

With that, Vanessa said she’d be going now and that we’d be seeing each other tomorrow. I asked her how she’d be getting home and she told me that her Dad or Mum was picking her up. It was a good thing that Mathew appeared then, as sharing a car ride with the girl that used to bully me… “bully” me, and one of her parents sounded like an absolute hell. “Oh! Is that a new friend?” they’d likely ask her, so I’m not saying this just thinking about myself, I meant for Vanessa too. Then again, I could have refused either way, but… for some reason, I’m sure I’d feel guilty about it if I did.

Turning my attention to Mathew, I apologised for Abby having pushed this task on him, but he said it was fine. He was kinda shifty and apparently in a good mood. I was going to ask him why he looked like that when, from behind me, the door to the library office opened and the school’s Head Librarian stepped out. She wasn’t surprised to see me there but still asked about it, and I explained to her why I was still sat at the PC.

“I see,” she hummed as she began a smile. “By the way, I heard from Miss Maple that you plan on becoming a librarian after graduating?”

“Y-yeah! Erm, just as a part-time though, or at least that’s the plan,” I stammered. “I… I don’t want it interfering with being a housewife for Abby, and erm… I do like it, but— I like it a lot! It’s just that I’ll be juggling at least three things after graduating, you see?”

“I’m afraid I don’t,” she laughed. “Anyway, since you do such a good job, and apparently like it so much, how about I write you a recommendation letter?”

“Y-you’d do that!?”

“Why, yes! I don’t know how much of an impact it can have in your future hiring, but it’s worth a try for something that only costs me a few minutes and a bit of ink and paper.”

I thanked her profusely as I said that it would likely be a huge help and even offered taking more shifts, but to the latter she just told me to not go ignoring my studies just because I have my future as a librarian a bit more secure.

“Good for you, huh?” Mathew chuckled as he bumped his shoulder on me once we were out of the library.

“Fufu, yeah! Ah! Before I forget, you also seem to be in a good mood.”

“D-do I?”

“You do! Did something happen?”

He seemed to sulk, but that was just him thinking about whether he should tell me what was up or not. I told him that, if he was worried it was something embarrassing for Mathilda to know, then I’d keep it a secret from her. At most, I’d tell Abby since she is my wife, but Abby would never tell Mathilda if I asked her not to, so his secret would be safe anyway.

“Well… ok,” he said.

He told me that, before he met me in the library, he had a bit of a chat with Miss Maple where she gave him some cool ideas for his game. The rope the player uses having physics was a big one, hard for him to implement, but he genuinely feels like it’d make the game way more interesting as the navigation right now with the hook shot was pretty much a point-and-click affair. I kinda got what he meant as I had seen Mathilda play a version of his game recently and could understand that adding a bit more challenge in how the player navigates the world could make it more interesting.

He then told me that she had also been very supportive of his dream and even gave him high praise in front of his parents about his studies and about his plans of becoming a game developer and the game he is working on while keeping his grades. He told me that he feels like his parents have changed a bit in how they treat him after that, although he can’t quite explain how exactly.

By this point, we were at the bus stop. I took a seat and invited him to sit by me, but he chose to stand.

He then got all serious, arms crossed as he pressed his back against one of the stop walls.

“Do you… don’t you think it’s kinda creepy that thing Mathilda said about me becoming a game developer and coming back to try date Miss Maple?”

I was again feeling surprised, as Mathew really wasn’t the type of guy to talk about romance. Stephen? Yeah, he would and did.

“Hmm… personally, I think that’s pretty much up for Miss Maple’s interpretation, isn’t it?”

“I don’t know! That’s why I’m asking!”

“Right, right. Hmm… then… Ok, speaking from experience, depending on who is asking, who is being asked, how it is being asked, and when it is being asked are what makes something be creepy or not, at least most of the times, perhaps. What Mathilda suggested could be seen as romantic too. You, going to study and do your best, coming back years later, earning some sort of income, just to ask your crush out to date her, that certainly can have its romantic appeal for sure.”

“Sure, if you’re reading a romance novel or watching a movie you girls seem to like so much,” he scoffed. “…It can also come off as creepy because it can be seen as me being obsessed, can’t it?”

“I mean, yeah, it can. It can also show that you’re dedicated and hardworking, so, again, it is all something that only she could decide when or if that time comes.”

“So… it’s a gamble, huh?” he sighed as he leaned his head back, bumping the wall with a dull thud, his mood seemingly having taken a plunge.

“Yeah. Although,” I snickered, deciding to take a page from Abby’s book. “With how much of a pushover she can be, I can see her accepting going out on a date with you only to realise what she has done years later while breastfeeding a baby and being in love with you by then.”

“Come on!” he chortled. “You make her sound worse than she actually is!”

I don’t think it would be that easy. I also didn’t think that it was completely out of the realm of reality for him to come back at the age of twenty-one or twenty-two, well groomed, with some income that promises stability and an honest eagerness to be a good partner to Miss Maple and having her so flabbergasted by his boldness that she’d whimper an “ok” after he asks her out on a date. There’s the age thing, him currently being close to turning eighteen and Miss Maple… she’s likely the same age as Sophie, so about twenty-four? Whatever the case, seeing how things seem to be headed between my Dad and Sophie, I don’t see how a six-year age gap would be much of an issue.

Although… In Mathew’s case, it’s the guy who is the younger one…?

By then, he’ll be twenty-one or two, like I said before, while she’ll be around twenty-eight. Will she still be single then? Would she be ok with dating an old student of hers? Is she even someone open to dating someone younger?

Poor guy didn’t have it easy, maybe the hardest scenario I’ve seen so far even when compared with Dad-Sophie, but I hope he succeeds if he ever goes through with it.

“By the way, what did you mean when you said that you spoke from experience? Did you have creeps hitting on you or something?”

“Oh, erm, well,” I stammered, realising that I spoke without thinking. Luckily, that was a hole I could easily climb out of. “You see, for example, if Abby had asked me to wear the shirt I currently have on because it smells like me back when we were just getting to know each other, it’d have been kinda creepy, but now, it’s just feels normal and endearing, even if objectively, it is still a weird thing to ask and say.”

“Ah, I see,” he nodded. “Yeah, not gonna lie, if I arrived home and had a girlfriend or wife asking me for that, I think I’d be pretty stoked and find it be very cute. I guess that it’s also kinda funny in your case, seeing that Abby is so short.”

“Fufu! It really is. Although, despite our difference in height, our torsos are similar in size, so it’s mostly the sleeves that are oversized. Still, it’s very cute seeing her little hands half-hidden by the sleeves.”

“Man, that sounds so nice!” he grumbled.

Arriving home after a short walk from the bus stop was met with Sophie stepping out of my house right then. She smiled as she greeted me warmly and asked how my day at school had been. I told her it was a bit tiring but good, Sophie giggling that she can see that and asked if her sister was the source of it. I admitted that she was, explaining that Abby was in a super good mood all because I did or said something yesterday that I still couldn’t remember. Sophie’s cheeks lit up a bit, making it clear to me that either Abby told her, or that she was present when it happened. Frankly? I didn’t care to ask, nor could I ask since she cupped my cold face with her always-warm hands, just like Abby’s, feeling like they were scalding my skin due to how cold it was.

“Just as I suspected, you’re freezing,” she softly told me. “I have to go to work now and you, you go inside and warm yourself before you catch a cold, ok?”

Her warmth, not just physical but… aural. It made my chest feel a bit tight again. Seeing her acting towards me like I imagined and had been told my Mum would act… even though, as far as I’ve been told, my Mum was like me, always cold to the touch… it was messing with me.

Maybe because I was still tired from the weekend trip to Jo’s university for the shoot, and now from the day I had, I found myself hugging her.

“V-Violet!? Is… Is everything ok with you?”

“Yeah, it’s just,” I stammered into the crook of her neck, struggling to find words. “It’s just that I… I really, really like… I love you… N-not like Abby! I mean, kinda, but…”

“Pfft, hehe! What’s this?” she giggled and cooed, sounding a lot like my wife as she returned my hug. She was also doing that bobbing side-to-side thing that Abby does when happy, although Sophie’s was less noticeable. “Aww, aren’t you being the sweetest thing right now? I love you too a lot, Violet, you silly, silly girl!”

Opening my eyes, I saw Abby through the window. She was standing by it in her PJs, smiling devilishly as she watched. She was also holding Oliver in her arms, using one of his paws to wave at me. I knew then that I’d likely die from all the teasing I was about to receive once I stepped through that door.

“I really, really need to go now though,” Sophie said, still giggling. She smooched my forehead and told me to go inside and warm myself again, even though I felt like I was about to combust.

“Abby, please…” I moaned first thing after stepping inside.

“Hehe! I’ll just say this: it’s super nice seeing you two getting along, especially with how poorly you two started and how awkward you two were around each other.”

“I guess,” I mumbled as I used Abby’s shoulder for support while taking my shoes off. “And please, try to restrain yourself. I’m tired, and you’ve been a pest all day. I even thought about tying you up or something.”

Abby got strangely quiet as she stared at me with a serious face. It was clear her gears were turning, but unlike her, I couldn’t read past that. In the meantime, I was petting our furball as she held him. Oliver was another person… living being, that didn’t seem to mind my hands being perpetually icicles, as long as I scratched his silly head.

I mean, Abby doesn’t just tolerate them, she has told me many times that she loves my cold hands… and body.

I also couldn’t resist pinching his fluffy cheeks and rub them, Oliver looking me with slitted eyes once I was done, as if asking who gave me permission to stop petting him.

Then, my wife grabbed me by my uniform tie and pulled my head down until our foreheads touched one another, her expression again completely devilish.

“You’d like that, wouldn’t you?” she purred. “Tying me, your cute little wife up, maybe even blindfold her too? Maybe with the ties of our school uniforms?”

I don’t think my eyes could go any wider nor my face any redder than what they already were. I also couldn’t utter a single world as my mind conjured up a very vivid picture of what she just said.

Then, just as suddenly as it had become wicked, Abby’s smile went back to its usual, cheery, innocent self as she let go of me and scampered away, letting out a crystalline giggle behind her while I stood there, fuming and wondering if she was just toying with me, or if that was a possibility in the future.

Would… Would she even be ok with it?

“I would!” she chimed, her smiling face, still as innocent as before, being the only thing visible. “I get that you’re worried since… you know, my Mum and all, but if it’s with you, it sounds super fun and not scary at all.”

“Fun…? Is… is that so?”

“Yup, that so, and being dead serious about it,” she said, now stepping closer to me, still cradling Oliver. “Wanna give it a try tonight? And speaking of being dead serious, what should we do about dinner?”

“I, erm… wait… let me cool down a bit and relax before I answer all that,” I told her as I fanned myself.

“Sure thing, babe!” she chirped, tiptoeing to give my jaw a smooch before scampering off again. “I’ll be on the couch when you feel ready to talk! Hehe! Love you to bits!”

Seriously, what did I say or do for her to be like this today?