"I don't get it," Ethan says when we enter the library. He's said that at least five times since I told him that this is where Dell and Simon were headed. "Why would people come here on a date? This place only has books."

The wonderful world of the printed word is lost on this guy.

Inside the airconditioned building, he takes my hand and purposefully turns to the right and starts to march past rows of bookshelves towards the stairs set to the right of the library's ground floor. He really seems to know where he's going, which is surprising since this is not his kind of hang-out. I'm not sure where he's taking me because I can see Delia and Simon sitting down at one of the tables near the windows, placing a small pile of books between them.

"Where are we going?" I finally ask the boy dragging me along by the hand, and he gives me a look which is clearly questioning my intelligence.

"To the archive section, obviously," comes the baffling reply.

"Why?"

"Nobody ever uses that section, so people go there to be alone and do stuff... with each other," he clarifies when I just continue to blink at him.

"Dell and Simon didn't come to the library to get all gropy with each other," I shake my head. "That's not what libraries are for!"

"It's not?" he really seems to be surprised to hear that.

"No. Besides, Dell and Simon came here because they want to find books to write their reports on." I laugh at Ethan's appalled face. Yes, people coming to the library to find actual books is apparently something he finds highly offensive. "Don't you remember our English assignment? We need to read a book we've never read before and then write a report on it. I'm going to use The Pirate Who Knows Stuff. Which book are you going to use?"

Ethan blinks at me as though I'm speaking in an unknown language.

"The TV Guide," he finally shrugs, making me giggle softly.

"Well, that is going to be a challenge because the plot sucks, and the characters are all the same."

"Maybe," Ethan nods his head, agreeing with me. "But it has a strong mystery element too; I can never figure out when the shows I'm looking for are going to be on."

To my horror, he suddenly drops to the ground and does a weird roll from the end of the long shelf where we're standing to the next shelf.

"What are you doing?" I hiss, following him... on foot... like a normal person.

"What are you doing?" he echoes. "Deli and Simon are over there by the windows. They'll see you if you just walk around like that."

"I know they're there, and there's a much bigger chance of them seeing us if you're going to act like GI Joe!"

Ethan rises from where he is crouching; his grin is a little sheepish while he glances around, nodding his head in apology to the other library visitors giving us baffled looks.

"I hate this place; it is creeping me out."

"You're the only creepy thing here," I scoff. "Unless you count the books in the paranormal section."

We watch Delia leaning into Simon's shoulder, giggling softly about something he'd said, and now I really feel like a stalker. They've each taken a book from their pile and are studying them with care. They are so sweet and natural together; it causes me to smile fondly. I'm vaguely aware of Ethan making strange snorting sounds next to me, clearly not impressed with what he's seeing.

"We should find you a good book too, while we're here," I suggest, surprised to discover that I'm speaking to the empty space beside me. Ethan has vanished. I don't trust that barbarian on the loose in the library, so I walk along the route I suspect that he might have taken, searching along the isles between the shelves until I find him seated on the floor with his back against one of the many columns between shelf-sections. He is surrounded by items that look suspiciously like books but couldn't possibly be books. Ethan doesn't read if he can avoid doing so.

"Are you building a fort?" I ask, sitting down next to him. He really used to do that when we were kids; it drove his father up the wall when he did it in his study.

Ethan gives me an amusingly un-amused look and flings an arm around my neck to pull me closer. I'm not sure if he's trying to cuddle me or wrestle, but I don't really want to do either. Being this close to him is making me feel a little light-headed again. Perhaps I'm simply suffering from a protein deficiency or something explainable like that.

"Comics?" I snort, seeing the type of books he's surrounded himself with.

"It's not comics," he grunts, glaring at me and gestures at the signpost above the section of shelves in front of us, the shelves he raided.

Graphic Novels.

"Oh... what's the difference?" All I see are pages and pages of drawings and speech bubbles; to me, that spells comics.

"Comics don't have large, complicated storylines," Ethan says wisely, and he seems to be completely serious and a little peeved that I'm calling his graphic novels comics.

"And this one does?" I tap the one he is reading, and he hands it to me so that I can have a closer look.

"Yup."

Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead, it says on the back, and I quickly read the description on the front.

"It's really cool," Ethan says when I'm finished reading, and I just love the enthusiasm on his face while he tells me about the book. I usually only see that kind of excitement in his expression when he's making plans to do something crazy with his friends, like skateboarding from their slanted roof into the pool.

"It's about a guy trapped in a zombie apocalypse, and he has a list of things he wants to achieve before he becomes a zombie. It's by Haro Aso, the same guy who wrote that Japanese series we watched and you liked so much, Alice in Borderlands."

"Oh! Yes, I did like that!"

Satisfied that I've given the cover a good study, Ethan takes back the book and opens it again. "Ms Pringle didn't say that we're not allowed to write our report on a graphic novel, right?"

"No," I shrug, giving him a suspicious look. "You cannot possibly be almost done reading it!" He only has a few more pages to go if he really is at the spot in the book where he'd opened it.

"It's a Japanese manga," he explains. "You read it from right to left, so... back to front."

"That's not Japanese; it's English."

"It's translated," he says, giving me the kind of look I'm always giving him when he's being obtuse. "They kept the Japanese look and feel of it. Come on, I'll restart, and you can read it with me."

That is really sweet! I'm touched that he is willing to read a book with me, even if most of the writing is done in speech bubbles.

"I hope you don't mean the way we used to when we were little," I grin, loving the memory. The three of us often read books together out loud, each having a set of voices to do. That was the only way Dell and I could get Ethan to read the books for school.

"We're in a library, Kicks. We have to be quiet. Don't you know anything?" he says in his best teacher's voice, letting out a yelp when I pinch him. I make myself comfortable next to him and scoot in close to be able to see the pages clearly.

"Hey, you two!"

We're both deeply engrossed in the story of Akira and his bucket list, giggling and gasping together as the narrative constantly fluctuates between humour and suspense and are completely caught off-guard by Delia's sudden appearance next to us. Her greeting startles us into looking up to find her and Simon grinning down at us. She has her phone in her hand, and I do suspect that she'd taken a picture to blackmail me with later. I didn't realise, until now, that I'm nestling rather intimately into Ethan's shoulder, and the side of his head is resting on the top of mine.

We're almost done with volume one, and Ethan is right; it is really cool; I certainly enjoyed reading it with him, revelling in his warmth and his fragrance. I never realised just how good Ethan smells. I'm feeling content and at peace and am not really open to the idea of being dragged back into reality right now.

"H-hi," I say, awkwardly peeling myself from Ethan's side.

"You guys are the worst stalkers ever," Delia informs us, and I make a rather feeble attempt to deny that we were stalking them. Not much point in doing that now. We really are the worst stalkers. First, we were too obvious about it, then we lost them, and now we've completely forgotten why we came here in the first place.

"Yeah, well, you guys are the worst dating example ever," Ethan says. "Seriously boring! Deli, have you learned nothing from me?"

"If I learned from you, Ethe, I would've been called rude names. Besides, this is not a date."

"We're going to grab some dinner; would you like to join us?" Simon asks, wrapping an arm around Delia from behind.

"I can eat," Ethan tells me, and I think there's a question in there somewhere, but I'm choosing to ignore it because I can.

"I know, I've seen you demonstrate your ability for 12 years now... Ow!" I giggle when Ethan wraps an arm around my head, pulls me towards him and rubs his knuckles on the top of my head. He's been using this technique to torture me since the third day after I met him.

"Hm," Delia grunts, shaking her head at her brother. "I can see that you need all the good examples you can get."

"We'll meet you out front; we're just going to check out these books," Simon says.

"I've already let Mum know that she has to feed your dad, Kiki," Delia smiles at me and off she goes with Simon and a canvas bag with books. We're going to have to share their bag. I gather as many of the volumes of the series as we'll be allowed to take at one time and help Ethan shove the rest back onto the shelf. Or rather, I sort the books he just loads up willy-nilly.

"I'm checking these out," I tell him, and he nods his head in approval.

"You're not reading them without me!" he says sternly, taking the books from my arms, and we leave our reading nook to go join the others at the counter.

"Wouldn't dream of it," I grin at him, suddenly feeling stupidly happy.

♂♀