fandomhigh | Lunch - Monday 9/10

Without really thinking about it, Lee stood up and brought the tray and book over towards the area she was sitting in.

Before sitting, though, he asked, "Think I could join you?"

...Well, that conundrum was put to rest easily. Closing her eyes for a moment with an attempt to get over how ridiculous she was sometimes, Adah shook her head and tried to square herself toward Lee a little. The body followed, but her head didn't, eyes still looking down even as she nodded a little. Her left hand darted behind her neck slowly, rubbing it as if to encourage the muscles to work a little better toward her intended means. She managed to coax it into tilting toward the Eel and give a small, tilted smile. She held out her hand, so that she could have the book.

"Thanks," he said before setting his tray down and dropping into a seat. He turned the book over, cover up, and passed it towards her.

Absently, Adah slid her tray aside so that the book could take the foremost area in front of her. First, she inspected the spine of it critically before thunking it down on the spine. She meticulously danced her finger over the pages until she found the exact center of the book, and opened it up, letting the even halves of it fall open as she peered through the words at very middle of a book. And then she found the first page; read the first line. The back page, read the last, put the two together, backwards forwards, and then she carefully flipped to the very front of the book, to see when it was first published. Her finger hovered over the date. 1960. It was published while she was in Africa. A sudden surge to covet the book for herself was strong, but she'd noticed the markings that indicated it was a book belonging to the library, so she didn't try. Maybe they had another copy she could covet on Wednesday. This book, as well as 45 years...forty-five!...of literature to catch up on...

He watched her movements quietly, food forgotten, because he'd never seen anyone examine books like she did. It was fascinating in a way, unfamiliar in another way and he could only watch.

"I got it from the library," he told her quietly. "There are lots of books there. And I have no idea what anyone of them are like. I tried reading this one out loud yesterday."

Adah grinned, looking over at the Eel with amused eyes through her hair as her head remained down, amused at both his first statement of the obvious and the fact that he'd attempted more reading outloud. She felt a little regretful that she hadn't been there to listen. Already, she had building up in her head a list of books to recommend to him and, after a moment of thought, she close the book, sliding it slowly across the table back toward Lee, and she reached instead for her school bag, putting out a notebook. Her placement of the notebook, opening it up, carefully tearing out a sheet, was almost as meticulous as her observation of the book, and then she set the notebook back before arching over, left arm twisted and bent as she wrote something down. She folded it carefully, very deftly for just one hand, and slid that toward him in the same manner as the book.

Written on the paper was a title (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strange_Case_of_Dr_Jekyll_and_Mr_Hyde) and a note and a quote. Quote, note.

"One of my favorites."

"'It was neither diabolical nor divine; it but shook the doors of the prison house of my disposition; and like the captives of Philippi, that which stood ran forth'."

He reached out, touched just the edges of the paper with his fingertips while he read bot the recommendation and the quote. He smiled and reached into his bag for something to write it.

"Thank you. I'll try and stop by the library sometime this week and pick it up. My room's going to be filled with books from the library at this rate. My roommate will have to put up with me reading things out loud."

Adah's head tilted as she leaned in to read the Eel's reply, smiling ruefully. Damn some of these people; she wasn't used to actually wanting to respond when she passed notes like this, so her notebook made another appearance, being pulled out of her bag, more likely to stay this time.

"I will be there Wednesday," she offered, in oh-so-subtle suggestion. "If the books in the library aren't enough, you're welcome to my room; I have a feeling that in not too long, my roommate and I will have amassed enough for a library of our own. And I hope your roommate is appriciative of the free entertainment."

He read the note twice, smile turning soft when he'd finished it for the second time.

"Wednesday." He paused for a brief moment. "I'll come by the library on Wednesday. I'd like to come by on Wednesday. And thank you for the room invite. I'm in 315 but I've only got one boring book from my home. I could bring it by if you'd like to see it."

315, Adah read. 513. Five plus one plus three is nine, still one floor up and one floor she'd rather not climb, but a single book, boring or not, intrigued her. Must be important if he'd brought it with him, and important books often were boring. Just look at the Bible...

"218," she wrote. "That's where you'll find me most of the time. I would love to see the book you have."

He found himself nodding before he realized that really wasn't answering anything.

"218. One floor down. I can bring it by the library on Wednesday," he wrote carefully. "Or to your room, if you'd prefer."

Adah ducked her head to hid a smile; she was losing her ability, she feared, to be able to laugh on the inside without even showing anything on the outside.

"Either way; whatever works best for you."

"If I had two books, I could do both." Writing that surprised him but he didn't take it back. Not that he could but he didn't want to. "Either way, okay. And you're welcome to come by my room. If you'd like."

"Stairs are difficult," Adah explained, pausing a bit to look at the words before she hesitantly added, "but the practice might be good for me. Also, even just one book is two books. One book forwards, another book backwards. Perhaps on one day it can be one, and on the other the next."

He'd never thought to look at books that way before.

"One day, one book, the next day, the other book," he wrote. "Wednesday, I'll bring my book to the library for you. And check out the one you recommended. And one day after that, I'll bring you another book and read some of it out loud while I'm there."

Adah smiled lightly at the words on the paper.

"I'd like that a lot," she wrote back, sitting back a little with her head ducked shyly as she slowly slid her tray of food in front of her. She couldn't imagine having anything more to say; she didn't trust herself to be able to maintain the general sort of pleasant feeling that came with it if she kept trying, so she figured it was time to quietly eat now.

Lee tapped the paper filled with writing with his fingers a few times before returning to his own tray of food.

He didn't move back to his original seat.

Lunch - Monday 9/10

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