Page 8 of Demure
“At least it's not waiting tables,” she said under her breath, as she arrived at the campus and entered the library. Sierra had waited tables all through her undergrad, and she still hadnightmares about the fast-casual restaurant she had worked at in Dallas. A shudder went through her at the thought alone, as she crossed through the library and headed toward the employee area.
She tucked her stuff in the employee room and grabbed a cart to go pick up returned books until she noticed something odd. Aodhan was standing in the staff room and looking like he was lost. He was wearing his typical black woolen beanie, fitted jeans, and a green polo shirt, which made his eyes look extra green as they bore into hers. With his arms crossed, she could see his biceps bulging from beneath the short sleeves. She felt her heart drop to her stomach and let go of her cart to confront him.
“What are you doing here?” she snapped as she marched up to him, stopping when her feet were just a few inches from his. “Library visitors can’t be back here.”
Aodhan glared down at her stoically, his facial features unchanging. “I work here now.”
“You—What?” Sierra sputtered as his words sank in, and something in her chest tightened.
Aodhan shrugged. “I was hired yesterday. So, pardon me.” He pushed past her and headed for the cart she had just abandoned. Sierra looked around to see if the manager, Mona, was around, but, of course, she wasn’t.
Seething, Sierra marched up to Aodhan once again. “If you were hired yesterday, you’re going to need training. You can’t just start putting books on shelves.”
“I know that,” he snapped, his green eyes focused on her. “Mona said you would train me. Lead the way.” He motioned to the cart.
Sierra narrowed her eyes. She was inclined to believe he was just messing with her. In fact, she was so sure there was no way Aodhan could have been hired to work at the library that she started laughing. “Ha, ha, you got me, Tyler!” She called out, looking around the staff area for him. “Very funny!” Another employee, Sheila, looked up from her cubby in the staff room, glancing around confused.
Aodhan simply crossed his arms over his chest. Apparently this was his signature pose, and Sierra did agree that it suited his brooding personality. “I don’t know what you think is funny.”
“There is no possible way you got a job here just to follow me around!” Sierra nearly screeched. She couldn’t believe the nerve of this guy.
Aodhan arched one of his eyebrows, his jaw clenched. “I didn’t. My job here is purely a coincidence.”
“Like I believe that,” Sierra snapped. It felt like something was crawling beneath her skin, and she felt the sudden urge to scratch her arm.
The room quieted as Shelia passed their little stare down and made her way out into the library. Sierra bit her lip, waiting and praying to a God she no longer believed in that this was some sort of joke.
Aodhan just looked around expectantly, his lips pressed in a firm line. “Well, if this is what you do all day, then this is the easiest job I’ve ever had.” He brushed imaginary dust off his shoulder in a move that was reminiscent of the boys who used to bully Sierra in high school.
Shocked at the sudden flashback, Sierra continued to stare at him for another moment before realizing that it probably wasn’t a joke, and since that was the case, she really did have to help train him.
“Ugh, fine,” she grumbled, grabbing the cart, and choking down the words she wished she could say to him. “Follow me.” She pushed the cart out to the main library and began gathering books that were left on tables or near the checkout at the front. “First thing you should do when you get here is collect any books lying around. Most of them are for library use only, but people don’t know how to put them away in the right spot, so we do it.”
Aodhan nodded, his jaw still clenched, and began collecting the books and stacking them on the cart.
“Exam weeks are worse, but usually, there aren’t too many leftout. If there aren’t any, or just a few, you can go grab a cart from the returns section and start reshelving those.”
“And how do we know where they go?”
Sierra nearly dropped the books she was collecting. “Are you serious?”
His expressionless face gave her the answer.
“I can’t believe they hired you, and you don’t even know about library shelving systems.” Sierra turned her attention back to the books she was stacking. The irony of the fact that she also hadn’t known the shelving system was not lost on Sierra, but she didn’t voice that small fact, resolving to hold on to her anger at Aodhan instead.
“Where I’m from, libraries are organized based on preference.”
“Preference?” Sierra picked up her stack and placed it on the cart. “Who organizes a library based on preference, and how do you know whose preference to follow?”
Aodhan shrugged. “All libraries are privately owned. The owner picks, but if it changes hands, I guess the new owner can change where books are shelved if he wants.”
Sierra’s brows furrowed as she tried to think of his Tinder profile and whether it said where he was from. When she couldn’t find the answer, she asked, “Where are you from again?”
Aodhan placed his books on the cart and, seeing the table empty, went to get ready to push it. “Somewhere up north, you don’t know it.”
Sierra was trying to be nice, she really was, but this man infuriated her. She took a deep breath before she answered to control her volume. “Up north, where? This is Ireland, Aodhan, there isn’t much else north besides more Ireland.”
Aodhan began pushing the cart with one of his arms, waving her off with the other. “Never mind. Like I said, you wouldn’t know it.”
