Helen walked through the many shelves of books. She ran her fingers along the binding, and looked curiously for no particular book, but a good read. She looked through the classical literature, things that would have been around, and new in her day and age. Then, she found it: The Hunchback of Notre Dame.

She smirked, and pulled it off the shelf. She remembered her first encounter of this book. Only to be interupted by a curious man, called Nafalen. She cracked it open gently, reading the first couple of pages, and remebering one of her favorite tales. She replaced it, and kept on looking.

She found one of her recent reads, The Invisible Man. A Qrotesque Romance. He reminded her so much of herself, and pulled it off the shelf. She clutched the small hard back binding to her chest, and looked for a small chair to entertain herself with this particular book. She had begun reading it a couple years ago. But never found herself finishing it.

There was a small chair near a window, looking out onto the lighted Demiatre at night. She looked outside for a brief moment, looked out onto the sparadic people who had decided to occupy themselves at the library right after sundown.

Josh looked angry. Well, you would be too if you had to lug around a bulging backpack of books and papers on a Friday night. University was so not what he was looking forward to. He imagined parties. He imagined girls. He imagined fun. And this? He did not imagine work.

Quietly, he fumed into the room and glanced around for a seat. He moved to the back of the library to the tables, only to be disappointed by how full they were. It was Friday night! Why the hell were people here? Had he known that the library would be so stuffed, he'd have stayed on campus.

Now increasingly angry, he started towards the doors. If Helen hadn't cut him off and made for the tables by the front, he wouldn't have thought to stay. As it were, he watched her walk towards the windows and sit. Those tables were far less full. Joshua appraised them critically--a habit he had picked up from Colton--before appraising her. With a slight blush, he looked down.

Finally, with a bit of caution, he followed Helen to her table. His demeanor had quickly dissolved from upset to shy as he set his stuff down on the opposite end of her table. He avoided looking at her as he pulled a pen, paper, and book out of his bag. He flipped open his book and stole a quick glance over to her. The Invisible Man. He hadn't read the book. He turned through a few pages, glancing up every now and again before sticking his pen to the paper.

Though he would never admit it, Josh was secretly beaming at himself for having the nerve to sit at the same table as a pretty girl.

As Helen scimmed through the first couple of chapters, the ones she had remembered reading, she noticed a young man, sit near her. She glanced up, about the time he did, and smirked.

She looked back down at her book, her eyes running over the page, soaking in the story of the Invisible Man, and his curious struggles and his experiments. Along with the poor Bed&Breakfast maid who hears him screaming in the night, confused by his unknown turmoils. She slunk in her chair, becoming more involved with the book than the events happening outside the written pages.

She felt the young man's gaze go to her, and from her in sporadic moments. She almost smiled to herself. Apparently he was interested. She didn't mind so much though, she was reading a good book.

Helen brought a cold hand to her pale face, and moved some hair that had fallen out of her loose ponytail back behind her ear. It was getting in her face, and clouding her vision. Hair could be more annoying than a hungry bird at times. She glanced up at the young man, obviously working on some homework.

She remembered the chapters of studying her grandmother tudored her in. Not something she enjoyed doing, but learned a lot from both her grandmother and private tudors. Her grandmother had something against the schools. She mentally shrugged it off, and looked back down at her book.

Josh buried his nose deep into his Economics homework, keeping his eyes on the graphs representing quarterly, yearly, and continuously compounded interests. He highlighted terms and wrote down definitions. Slowly, he worked through a worksheet on investing and banking, certificates of deposit, savings accounts... It was dense.

It wasn't that Joshua was interested, per say. Josh has about as much confidence as an ant. He doesn't let himself become interested, because interest just leads to disappointment. He knows. He's been there. He's not the most attractive guy. He's not the funniest guy. Not the smartest, not the most motivated, not outgoing in the least. He's not completely moral, but no where near rebel bad ass. The only word that accurately describes Josh is average. And, average doesn't mix well with pretty girls.

That didn't mean he couldn't be proud. Look at him, sitting at a table with her! No, he wouldn't speak. He wouldn't move closer. He wouldn't do anything, save his investing exercise.

And, with a few very casual and rare glances up, that's all he did. Slowly, all the answers filled in, blue ink taking over the photocopied sheet and spilling into additional notes on binder paper. He wasn't doing anything but work. Or, so he told himself.

Helen ignored the young lad, for she was too into her book. Helen had that probelm: Her reading sometimes got a bit too intense. She would lose herself with the pages of literature printed before her eyes. Perhaps it was because of the years of loneliness that the books were her only friends. Night by night she would sneak into libraries and read the mounds of literature at her disposal. For a decade she did this, until she moved to another library, another decade passed by and another library... It was quite the eventful life, indeed.

Helen could feel the figgeting and uneasiness coming from across the table. She raised an eyebrow, obviosuly it was enough to stir her from her book. Slowly, she lowered her book, folded the page which she had stopped at, and closed the book. Her big blue eyes stared at the young boy, and she tilted her head.

A smile crept across her face, and both eyebrows lifted. "Are you going to keep twitching all night, or are you going to get some work done?"

Josh froze.

Just as she had a bad habit of getting lost in books, Joshua had a bad habit of getting lost in his fantasies. He had been planning the perfect conversation, just as he did with every pretty girl he met. It had been pathetically tame and childish. He had envisioned that they were sitting, just as they were now, when she'd start the conversation. She'd start, he'd say something, she'd say something, and somewhere down the line, he'd get her name and number and a promise for coffee, or drinks, or something. They'd have a great time, make for another date, and sooner or later, he'd be able to brag about having a girlfriend.

Really, the she in this scenario could have been anyone. He was desperate for some kind of female favour, be it a date or a girlfriend or just a kiss. He was desperate; he was pathetic.

He was frozen.

Slowly, he glanced up to her, halting mid-word in his note-taking. With the fear of a deer caught in headlights, he stammered out a response. "I... I am working?" In question form, because Josh is never sure of anything.

"I... I am working?"

Helen rolled her eyes. He seemed like a nervous sort of mortal, and she wondered if it was just his demeanor, or if he knew she was a vampire. Probably the first. She nodded slowly, and raised an eyebrow. "Well, that's what I assume you are doing. One usually doesn't just study Economics for fun. Unless you like that kind of stuff?" Helen crinkled her nose at the thought of busying herself with economics. It sounded dreadfully boring.

She would much rather go back into her own tales of dragons, forbidden romance, mysteries, self-discovery, and betrayal. They were much more enjoyable, and interesting. Frankly, she would have rather gone back into her book, but the young man sitting away from her was too distracting for her to do so. She could feel his eyes on her and it made her want to gouge them out. Of course she wouldn't, because they were in a library, and if she was expelled from the library... Oh, she didn't even want to think about that.