At that moment, she heard a book fall down in the adjacent row of books and she got startled, dropping a book of her own, which created an even louder sound.
“Shit!” she hissed to herself, then bit her tongue, hoping no one had heard her.
“You okay?”
A head popped up between the rows of books, and of all the features, she noticed only the eyes. They were the strangest, full colored green she had ever seen. They were the color of freshly cut grass, of palm trees swaying in the wind.
“Earth to clumsy?”
The voice repeated and Eva frowned a little.
“Someone else dropped a book before me. I was just startled. So, technically, that person is the clumsy one,” she repeated, not really upset.
“Then, you’re calling me clumsy?”
“No, you called me clumsy first, I just… replied… that…” she realized that her tongue had gotten tied up again and she had no idea where she was going with this.
The head disappeared suddenly, but a second later, it appeared again, this time attached to a whole body. A good looking body, too.
“Fair enough,” he laughed. “How about we call each other by name instead?”
“That’s better,” she smiled back. “I’m Eva.”
“That’s a lovely name, Eva,” he repeated it, and she immediately blushed. “I’m Sebastian.”
“Nice to meet you, Sebastian,” she did the same, and his name sounded equally sweet on her lips.
She extended her hand.
“Oh, we’re being all formal about it? Okay,” he chuckled, offering her his hand.
He was wearing a white shirt, part of their school dress code, which Eva didn’t particularly enjoy, but she also wasn’t all that upset about it. It was easier just to go with the flow and not think about it - not that she wanted to dress up for school anyway. Plus, makeup was never her thing.
As he shook her hand, his sleeve raised up a little, and she could see glimpses of a tattoo. Actually, they were glimpses of several tattoos.
“Are you allowed to have those?” she asked, only then realizing how stupid that must have sounded.
“Allowed?” he repeated, laughing. “The only people who think they can forbid me from doing anything are my parents. And seeing they dropped me off at this God forsaken place, and I do mean that literally, they kinda lost that privilege, don’t you think?”
“I guess,” she smiled, “but, I meant, does the school allow it?”
“As long as they don’t see them, they don’t care,” he shrugged his shoulders. “It’s like everything in life. It’s not a problem, unless it starts poking someone in the eye.”
Eva thought about it. He was totally right. In a fun way, too.
“So, what is the first woman doing here, all by herself?” he asked, pulling his hand away and, for some inexplicable reason, she immediately felt an emptiness there, she didn’t like.
“History project,” she explained. “Looking for books on witches.”
“Witches?” he whistled. “Nice. Who did you have in mind?”
“Marie Laveau.”
“I think she should be somewhere over here, come on.”
Without a word, she followed. He took her through several rows of dusty books, which smelled like they had been there for centuries. For some, Eva knew, that was true. Finally, they stopped in the far end of this part of the library. Sebastian’s arm stretched high up towards a shelf Eva knew she wouldn’t have been able to reach on her own. He grabbed a book, and checked whether that was what he was looking for, then handed it to her.
“Here,” he smiled.