Dedicated to @asteriaarose for voting!

After Amelia is out of sight and, quite frankly, out of mind, my fingers reach for my book as discreetly as possible. My eyes scan my surroundings in paranoia even though there's no one to be seen.

I even give a quick glance to the security cameras to make sure their pointed away from me. Just in case you're wondering, they are. They always are. I'm just so completely overcome by boredom that it's heightening my anxiety. If I can read this book, then I will be sitting her on this stool with a sore butt for the next five and a half hours.

Not to mention I'm starving to death and Amelia won't let me eat at the book store's coffee shop on credit. Probably because I eat when I'm anxious and I'm anxious about eighty percent of the time.

Feeling pretty certain that I won't get caught, I grasp the spine of the hardcover book and place it on counter in front of me, my finger finding the dead lily I've been using as I a bookmark that my dad got for my on my eighteenth birthday in April. Gently placing the flower aside, I push my glasses up the bridge of my nose and continue where I left off yesterday.

Being close to the end of a book and getting distracted by something else or, in my case, being forced to put it down is one of the most aggravating things to ever occur. I have about fifteen pages left until I find out who poisoned her sister and why. So far, I've been stopped every couple of pages by paranoia of being caught or by literally being caught.

My eyes scan the small print letters greedily and quickly as I try to finish as fast as I can and move on to the next novel. Just as I begin the last chapter, the bell on the door jingles, alerting me of a customer.

Closing my eyes and releasing a breath of brutal frustration, my lips spread in a smile and my lily is placed in its new spot, the book closing hard as I set it aside.

My anger immediately dissipates at the sight of the elderly couple that shuffles in, their arms linked together at the elbow. I smile fondly at them, my heart warming.

"Hello, welcome to Books and Bagels." I chirp my usual mantra, earning a slow lift of their heads, a squint of the eyes, and finally a smile.

"Thank you..." She women peers at my name tag, "Lillian."

"My pleasure. Let me know if there's anything I can help you find." My smile widens in relief when they shake their head in reply, making it clear they don't need help, and thanking me all the same. As soon as they step on the elevator to ascend to another floor of the large store, I open my book hungrily and begin where I left off.

My mouth drops open in shock as I continue, the plot pulling me in as I get closer and closer to the end. The noise of the bell on the door sounds so distant to me that I barely hear it, my mind reeled into the story in front of me.

I lean forward on my stool, on the edge of my seat some would say, just as they are announcing the killer. Just one more paragraph and -

"Uh...excuse me?" A low voice speaks from the other side of the counter, startling me.

My eyes widen from the scare and I visibly jump, loosing my balance on the high stool and tumbling off of it, my elbow catching the nearby counter as I fall. "Ouch!" I exclaim, rubbing at my funny bone with the palm of my hand.

After a few seconds, I see a head pop over the counter, a pair of bright green eyes peering at me curiously. "Hey, are you okay?" He asks me, giving me an odd look; pity mixed with confusion.

I don't reply. Instead I attempt to pull myself up off of the dirty floor that I was probably supposed to sweep, and balance myself on my feet mumbling, "Hi, welcome to Books and Bagels." My voice comes out low and annoyed.

"Thanks...?" He says awkwardly, scratching the back of his head, his forearm grazing the top of his dirty blonde hair.

I stand there, waiting for him to say something else or ask for help but he just seems frozen in place as he blinks at me.

"Do you need help with something?" I ask him slowly, now doing my best to make my tone lighter now that the embarrassment of my fall has slightly worn off.

He doesn't answer me right away, his head moving from side to side as his eyes sweep over our surroundings, looking lost. It's as if he's never been in a book store before. Finally, his eyes land on me again and he replies, "No, I think I can find what I need on my own."

I raise a skeptical brow, pushing my glasses up. "You sure?" I ask him, feeling very unsure about letting this guy cluelessly wonder around three floors of books.

After a moments hesitation, he looks at me and nods once. "Yeah I'm sure. How hard can it be to find a book, right?" He snorts, shoving his hands into the pockets of his dark wash jeans.

I blink at him, my eyes narrowing a little bit. This guy is most definitely going to get lost in here. "Right..."

"Okay well, thanks." He gives me an awkward thumbs up and I give him a short wave as he walks away. I'm not really sure what he's thanking me for so I don't respond to that.

Once he's gone, I release a breath through my cheeks and sit down on my now hazardous stool, my butt already feeling sore after being in the same place for an hour.

After picking up my book and hastily finishing it, I close the hard cover gently and sigh with a bright smile, the ending being far from a disappointment. I savor in the feeling of finishing yet another wonderful and thrilling story.

"What did I tell you about reading while you're on the clock?" Amelia's sharp voice startles me, bringing me out of my happy reverie.

"Uh..." I set the book on the wrack nearest to me. "Not to do it?"

"Lillian." She sighs, walking to stand behind the counter with me and placing her hand on the cart with my finished book on it.

"I'm sorry, Amelia, it's just that I was almost finished and no one was coming in." I try and defend myself, my face feeling warm from the confrontation. I hate feeling like a terrible employee. It makes me feel even more lazy than I already am.

She raises a thin filled in eyebrow at me as she pushes the cart toward the elevator. "So you're saying no customers saw you sitting behind the counter reading and not doing your job?"

I press my lips together as my eyes dart to my shoes in contemplation. "That's exactly what I'm saying." I lie, my mind stuck on the face of the boy who startled me only twenty minutes ago.

"Hm." She hums, the elevator doors opening on que. "Alright I'll take your word for it. Just don't read on the clock, Lillian. I'm serious. I'm leaving early today for Olivia's ballet recital and I need you to put these books in the historical fiction section on the third floor. Can you handle that?" Her exhausted tone tugs at my guilty heart.

"Yes, of course. You don't have to take them up for me, I can do that. You go ahead and get going. You've been talking about that darling granddaughter of yours and this ballet thing all week." I smile brightly, walking forward and taking the cart from her.

This seems to do the trick, her small eyes shrinking further in a smile, her muscles relaxing slightly. "Thank you, Lilly, that would be wonderful. There are a couple other carts I put on the second floor for me to go through tomorrow but if you could start on that, it would be great." Her hopeful expression tugs at my heart yet again. My weakness for cute old people doesn't stop at my manager.

"Of course, no problem." I tell her, placing a hand on her back. "Now you get going, you don't want to be late."

"No I do not." She laughs, taking off her name tag and walking towards the main door. "I'll see you Monday, Lillian. Thanks again."

"See you." I wave with a smile, watching her walk through with glass door, the bell jingling happily behind her.

Once she's gone, I release a sigh, sagging against the cart. "Here we go." I mumble.

I know well enough that every time Amelia says she left "a few" carts of books that need to be organized, that means there's at least five. Five whole two shelved carts of books is a lot more to handle than you might think.

Once the elevator door opens again, I step inside, pulling the rickety metal on squeaky wheels behind me and watching the doors close. Pressing the third floor button, I stand back and lean against the wall.

This is going to be a long shift.