There’s no way Damien Sawyer took it upon himself to go to the store, buy me a hangover drink, stalk me to my workplace, and give me said hangover drink. I was thinking to myself while slowly putting the returned books back in their proper places. I’m crazy for even thinking about this. Sawyer probably went out and bought it for Zack or Griffin. They’re his friends. There’s no reason for him to do that for me. I sighed making my way to the next section of the store. I spotted Damien sitting on the floor with his back leaning against the shelf. He was reading a book called The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton. I rolled my cart filled with stacks of books down his aisle. Damien glanced over at me for a second before looking back down at his book. 

“That’s a really good book. One of my favorites actually,” I said, organizing my stack of books. Damien looked up at me with a curious look on his face. He has his head slightly tilted making him look like a curious dog. “I used to read it a lot in high school. It made me feel a lot less alone knowing I probably wasn’t the only person in the world being hated and beaten up simply for being different. It was comforting in a sense.” I went quiet getting lost in my thoughts for a bit. A pang of regret hit me when I realized I not only interrupted Damien but also just spilled something sort of personal.

“Sorry Sawyer I-“ I cut myself off, seeing the look on Damien’s face. He looked almost sad.

“Gray,” Damien said, suddenly very serious.

“Yes?” I squeaked.

“I want to apologize for what I put you through in high school. I know just apologizing is hardly enough to make up for it all but I truly am sorry Kayden. I was just…” he paused and sighed, giving up on what he was about to say. “It’s okay if you don’t accept it. I just wanted to let you know.” Damien was staring down at his feet when he finished, a troubled expression on his face. I blinked in disbelief. Damien Sawyer just apologized to me. Is this even Damien? It could be a clone. I’m going insane. What should I say?

“Oh.” You fucking oaf! ‘Oh’?!? That’s it? “I mean um wow. This is…”

“You don’t have to say anything. It’s okay,” Damien assured, still looking down.

I hesitated before talking again. “I forgive you.”

“What?” Damien looked at me, bewildered.

I quirked an eyebrow at him, “did Zack hit you in the head yesterday?” I joked.

Damien let out a soft laugh looking away again.

I sighed, “it’s been ten years. Nothing you say can erase what happened in high school but we can move on from it. So, I forgive you.” 

“Thanks,” Damien said. It was quiet for a while with only the sound of my placing books on the shelf. Until Damien spoke again. “I’ve actually read this book a few times now. Don’t know what else to read. Got any recommendations?”

“Hmmm, are you looking for any specific genre?”

“Fantasy or supernatural maybe. I find them funny.”

“Funny?” I questioned.

“Yeah, sort of,” Damien said, rubbing the back of his neck which I’ve noticed he does whenever he’s nervous.

“How do you feel about vampires?” 

Damien scrunched up his nose. “They’re boring and they’re assholes.”

“You sound like you know a vampire personally.” I laughed.

“Of course not," he laughed, his crinkling at the edges, "just read a lot of books and seen a few movies.” 

I gave Damien a few recommendations, some of which he had already read. We went around the library scouting out the ones he found interesting from the general descriptions I gave him. He followed closely behind me holding each book I tossed to him, quietly listening to me ramble about my favorite books and authors and how I want to open my own bookstore one day, I'd name it Honey Pot Books and have the inside be bee themed because they're cute. We eventually made our way to a table in the library with a handful of fantasy and supernatural books. 

“Ahem,” Aspen's cough sounded behind me. “I don’t pay you to go on dates, Kayden.”

I could feel myself turning red. And Damien chuckled. “I was just helping him find a few books,” I said, standing up from the table. 

“Have you finished putting away the returns?”

“Not yet…” I admitted.

“Okay well get to it! After that, I need you to go around looking for worn-out books so I can make a list to replace them,” Aspen ordered. 

Throughout the rest of my workday, I found myself gravitating back to Damien making small conversation. Sometimes I’d get too caught up and Aspen would get annoyed again. I swear he hates others' happiness sometimes. Damien started to pretend to browse around next to me so I could finish what I was telling him before Aspen interrupted. He was just easy to talk to and the look in his eyes showed you had his undivided attention. It was a comforting feeling knowing someone was interested in what you were saying no matter what you rambled about. He didn’t talk much but it was still nice. Who would have thought we’d get along so well after all these years?