Rising Shards

Alix was coming over to my place. I wasn't really worried, just excited. I kept my home pretty clean, but the night before I made sure to dust off my little pastel elephant statues a few extra times, and give my rugs an extra pass on the ol' vacuum. OK, maybe I was a little nervous but it mainly came out in me cleaning.

I could barely focus at work, it was a slow day so I pretty much had to just sit in the office by myself for long stretches, imagining how the day would go. After we finished our shifts, we were going to see a movie, then my place. Alix let me pick the movie, so I went with a new indie horror film that I heard a lot of good buzz for.

On my break, I thought about trying to find Alix because I longed for her so badly it was like we'd been apart for years, but a part of me also felt superstitious that it'd be bad luck, like this random nice date was a wedding and I couldn't see my bride beforehand. So I went to the library to bug Stella. She was at the front desk, keeping her cool as a student got a bit heated about a due date.

"There aren't late fees here, as long as you bring the book back it'll go away," Stella said. "If you want, I can check the book in now and back out to you if there aren't any holds on it."

The girl shook her head. "I don't want to go against the due date that's already set, I just think it's rude to even put due dates onto the students. And sure, you say no late fees but what about damage fees?"

"You just had me take a look at the book, it's not damaged," Stella said. "I can just change the due date in the system, would that work?"

"That feels dishonest, though." The girl said.

I think me standing near this girl rushed her along a little, that kind of pressure from being behind someone in line. Stella waited until the girl was gone before sighing.

"Thanks, Pips," Stella said. "That was exhausting."

"No problem! All I had to do was loom near her, I guess," I said.

"So what's up?" Stella said, then remembered. "Oh, duh, date night tonight. How are you feeling?"

"I wouldn't say nervous, just kinda...restless about it?" I said. "Kinda wish I just took the day off."

"Then you'd probably be pacing around at home all day," Stella said.

"True, but it'd probably be less boring!" I said. "I've had like, zero tickets today."

"How about we trade our patrons for the day, I get your nobody and you get my...eccentric students," Stella said. "I could use a boredom day."

"I'm good, thanks," I said. "Say, this might sound dumb, but do you have any advice for the date?"

"Just have fun," Stella said. "Sorry, that's so basic. Really, you don't need my advice. I can barely comprehend Corinani's personality type, but you seem to get her way more. So just keep being on that same wavelength and I think you'll have a good time."

Talking to Stella always helped me when I was off my game. Again, I wasn't really worried, just excited to the point that it felt like worry. So I probably needed some grounding from my bestie before this date.

"OK, so the thing I'm really worried about, I checked out a book from here and I don't know if I like the due date you gave me," I said.

"Nope!" Stella laughed. "Nuh uh!"

I was able to distract myself from date woes as both of us got some much needed work vent time in until another student interrupted us, bringing a completely mangled book to the desk that they swore they didn't wreck. As I left, Stella called out to me.

"Wait, I do have one more bit of advice!" Stella said. "Put your elephant statues up, they're gonna get broken if you keep them where you usually do. Call it a gut feeling."

"Sure, sure," I said, waving as I went back to work. Alix wouldn't break my stuff on purpose, but...she might accidentally do so, so I made a mental note to fix that as soon as I got home.

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