I Lose Myself in A Fantasy World

Books.

Since the time she started to read, Amy Richards had always been able to take solace in the fact that no matter how bad her personal life was she could lose that self in books. When she read Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island she was a female member of the crew on the ship that Jim Hawkins and Long John Silver were on. When she read A Midsummer Night's Dream by Shakespeare, she was a fairy in the court of King Oberon observing all that had happened.

Her absolute favorite, however, were comic books. Every time she picked up an issue of Superman or X-Men or Hellboy, she found herself inside their worlds. Not that she would ever tell anyone. No, she kept her nerdy side hidden from everyone. It was something that, she was almost certain, would lose her friends if they knew about it.

Not that she had many friends to begin with. She was shy and an introvert so other than people who visited the library where she worked, she didn't have much interaction. Usually she kept to herself in her home, only leaving to go shopping or to pick up a new book.

Today was no different. She was at work, the library, her red hair done up in a loose bun held in the back by chopsticks that she had gotten when she and her aunt had gone to China for vacation one year, and wearing a green sundress. Her nose was buried in The Grapes of Wrath, by John Steinbeck, as she put other books back in their places on the shelves. She wasn't paying attention as she walked, knowing the layout of the library back to front.

Now only if no one got in her way...

Mikey Chase was a geek, there was no doubt about that, he’d even tell you himself; he even worked in the video game section in one of the local stores. Though he read proper books, he preferred reading comics and playing video games as a way of distracting himself from the real world.
The issues he had at home with his family were the main reason he turned to such things and spent more time reading and playing games than he did actually talking to people. They were also the reason he’d gone to the library instead of going straight home after work, knowing that even if his father wasn’t home yet, his older brother would be.

With a tired sigh, Mikey headed straight for the fiction section of the library; why would he want to read something non-fiction when it was the real world he was trying to avoid? He absent-mindedly grabbed three books off the shelves, the same amount he’d always pick, glancing at the covers before putting two back and looked for more interesting looking ones; searching until he was satisfied with the three he had.

Turning to go find somewhere to sit down for a bit, Mikey opened one of the books he had, already starting to read it as he walked, only to end up tripping and falling after crashing into someone, dropping his books, his natural clumsiness not helping at all.

Straightening his glasses as he moved to get up, reaching for one of his books with his free hand, Mikey tried his best not to look embarrassed.

“Oh my gosh, I-I’m so sorry…” He apologised nervously as he picked up the books.

Amy never saw the other man coming, crashing into him and falling backwords, dropping some of the books she was putting away. "Oh no, no, no, I was reading when I should have been paying attention to where I was going! I didn't hurt you did I?"

As she gathered her books, she looked at the young man. She had seen him around at the video store in town before, when she was getting games for her X-Box. Not that she ever let anyone know it was her. She always had the hood of a hoodie over her head and her sunglasses on.

She didn't know why she was so embarrassed of the things she did but it felt to Amy like she would die if other people knew how much of a nerd she was. She helped the young man pick his books up, looking at the titles of the books. They were ones she had read before and as she handed them back she grinned.

"These are really good, I've read them," Amy smiled, "I think you'll enjoy them. But be warned, these aren't books that just anyone can read. You have to be pretty intelligent to understand all the themes going on here. Plus there's the fact that there are so many characters coupled with the dynamics of the actual plot and..."

She blushed as she pushed up her own glasses, "I'm talking to much. I'm Amy."

"Wha- Oh, no! I-I'm fine..." Mikey said nervously as he got to his feet, often shy around people he didn't know so well. "I wasn't exactly paying attention either."

He looked down at his books as she handed them to him, smiling and nodding before chuckling at the way she introduced herself. He didn't recognise her as one of the people who usually visited the store where he worked thanks to the way she dressed while shopping there.

"Don't worry, I'm pretty sure I'll be able to understand them just fine," Mikey said as he glanced back down at the books in his hands, his shyness causing him to look away from her as he spoke.

"Oh...and I'm Mikey by the way..." He added as if he'd almost forgotten he hadn't introduced himself yet.

Amy smiled at the shyness, he was rather cute for a nerd. Not that she had any right to be talking about what was cute for a nerd or not, considering she was one of the biggest nerds in the history of nerdom.

When he spoke about being able to understand the books, a blush was brought to her cheeks. "Oh! I didn't mean to imply you were dumb or anything because you don't look dumb you look pretty smart. I mean, a lot smarter than some of the people who come to town and try to read some of the books in here and..." she stammered off, realizing that she was rambling on yet again.

"Nice to meet you Mikey. You from Amethyst Lake or are you visiting?"

Hearing Amy rambling on as she tried to explain, Mikey couldn't help but laugh and shake his head at her. "Don't worry, I know you didn't mean that," He smiled, using his free hand to brush off his shirt, though it was unnecessary, doing it more out of habit. "I guess it is true though that there are some around here who just wouldn't get them at all though." He added glancing down at the books he held in one arm.

He was quiet for a bit afterwards, almost forgetting she'd asked a question as he stared down at the cover of the book that sat on top of the other two he had, quickly looking back up at Amy when he remembered she'd actually asked something.

"O-Oh um...I live in town, I guess." He answered, mumbling slightly. "Just closer to the edge of town than most people do..." He added with a frown.

"Ah, so your like me and live close enough to town to know the goings on but far enough from town that you aren't in them," Amy smiled as she adjusted the glasses that she wore to work only. Wearing them out in public meant that people could form an opinion about her based solely on those. There were few things in life that Amy had left, her reputation was one of them.

"So do you come to the library oft..." her statement was cut off by the way he mumbled and frowned, "I'm sorry if you don't want to talk. I should really be working anyways I guess..."

She turned around to start putting things back in shelves, the blush forming across her cheeks the same color as her hair.

"I guess so, yeah." Mikey nodded, a small smile on his face, glad to actually have something in common with someone, though he quickly frowned when he realised she thought he didn't want to talk and let out a small sigh as she turned away.

"I'm sorry..." He said quietly. "It's not that I don't want to talk, I'm just...awkward I guess around most other people. If you're busy working though I can just go..." He added, trying not to sound disappointed, worrying she was just another person who'd rather not speak to a 'nerd'.

Amy turned around and shook her head, having felt bad for making him feel like she didn't want to talk to him. Amy had been through that enough, having gone through it when she was in high school. In fact, it was part of the reason she had dropped out. Being a woman of lots of brains and very little wanting to do what other girls her age were interested in made her feel as if she was the problem.

"I'm not busy," Amy smiled, "in fact, I'm just about to check out here. Wanna grab a cup of joe? I mean, coffee. Not many people call it a cup of joe anymore. Did you know that the term a cup of joe got it's name from the secretary of defense during world war I?"

She blushed, "Sorry useless knowledge..."

"It's okay, I know what you meant," Mikey said with a smile, adjusting his glasses again out of habit. "I actually didn't know that's where that term came from though..."

He glanced over at the desk where people lined up to check out books, glad to see there weren't too many people there, a small smile on his face as he turned back to look at Amy.

"We can go get a coffee though if you have nothing else planned, I mostly just came here to waste time anyway."

Amy smiled and adjusted her own glasses, looking at him, "I'm a well of useless knowledge. It's kinda fun to know things that other people don't know. At least I think that."

She looked over at the desk and slightly cursed, "I have to check these guys out before I go anywhere. I would really like to go get a coffee with you though. I don't hang out with many people outside of work."

“So I’m not the only one who likes bugging people with useless knowledge about things?” Mikey asked, chuckling.

He shrugged his shoulders at her reaction to the line at the desk, gesturing to the books he had in one arm.

“It’s alright, I don’t mind waiting.” He told her. “I mean, I have to get these anyway. I don’t really hang out with many others either. I used to though, before leaving school…”

"I don't really like annoying people with it," Amy shrugged as she walked with him up to the check out counter, "I just like knowing things. A party is never complete without the people who annoy the others though, right?"

She smiled and walked to behind the desk, checking people out with a bit of chit chat here and there. When it was Mikey's turn to check out she gave him a smile, "Would you like to do this? I mean, I can make you a library assitant and then you can check out your own books when ever you want. Plus library assitants get say in what comes into the library."

"Leaving the annoying people to me then are you?" Mikey chuckled as they walked. "It's fun...if you know who not to do it to..." He added before going to line up behind those already waiting at the desk.

When he reached the front of the line, Mikey smiled at Amy before laughing nervously at what she asked. "As much as I love reading, working here probably wouldn't be the best of things for me to do..." He said as he glanced over at the shelves, looking worried for a second before hiding it.

"Why wouldn't it be? If you love books and you want to get to know more people, the library is the best place. You get to see the inner workings of the town. You won't believe how many people gossip about others here," Amy shrugged as she checked him out.

"I understand if you don't want to help out here though. It's a tough job to constantly have to listen to other people. And when the little girls check out Twilight?"

She gave a fake shudder and vomit, showing Mikey what she thought of the book series.

"Oh...it's not that I don't want to work here. It just probably wouldn't be such a good idea," Mikey replied, lowering his voice before continuing, slowly taking his books once she'd checked them out.

"I...I have OCD..." He mumbled, looking almost ashamed of himself as he said it. "If I worked here you'd never get me away from those shelfs until they were all perfectly ordered..."

At the mention of Twilight though, Mikey couldn't help but smile, chuckling a little at Amy's opinion of it. "Yeah, I imagine that part being painful to get through..." He said, nodding.

Amy smiled and nodded, "OCD ain't to bad and it's not anything that you should be ashamed of. I mean, it's normal. I have bouts of OCD, that's why I work here. I can organize things the way I think they should be organized."

"Most of the time I don't check people out," shrugged Amy, "Most of the time I spend time with my shelves. And Twilight, ugh, don't get me started."

"It can be bad though," Mikey said, frowning. "When mine does show it just causes problems..."

He trailed off, but smiled before speaking again. "Yeah it's better to not get anyone started on Twilight really, especially not its fans." He said, shuddering at the thought.

"One of the girls I work with is sadly one of those people. I did at one point think she was one of the okay people of the world, but no...she's been lost to the terrifying world of sparkly pale rock people." Mikey added afterwards, letting out a dramatic sigh before shaking his head.

Amy smiled at him as she put the closed sign on her side of the check out desk, grabbing her female super hero decorated purse. It had Batgirl, Supergirl, and Wonder Woman on it and read "Girls Do It Better". She smiled and nodded at Mikey, "It's not the rock part that I mind. Lost Boys pulled off rock vampire so very well, so did Vampire Lestat. What I minded was the fact that the female hero couldn't do anything to herself."

"Yeah that is the worst part of it," Mikey agreed, nodding. "It still bothers me though that suddenly vampires sparkle instead of burning or something, it just doesn't seem...right I guess."

Now that his books were checked out, Mikey slid them into his orange and white Portal themed messenger bag that hung over one shoulder before he looked back at Amy. "...so where was it you suggested we go?" He asked, having forgotten already, side-tracked by their conversation.

"Well in the modern mythologies vampires didn't burn. Sometimes they turned to stone or other times they just lost all of the powers that made them vampires," shrugged Amy as she fixed the bottom of her shirt.

"You're bag's pretty cool, I'm a fan of the Portal games," she smiled as she looked him over. "I thought we could go grab a cup of coffee unless you don't like coffee."

"True..." Mikey said, nodding in response, smiling at her. He looked down again afterwards, making sure he had all his things before closing his bag again. "Oh, you are? No one else I know has ever even played the games. The people I used to hang around with aren't really gamers at all unfortunately."

He shifted slightly, more out of habit than because he was uncomfortable, he had problems talking to people who didn't play games or read books and comics like he did, so he was glad to find someone who actually knew what he was talking about.

"Why would I not like coffee?" He asked her, chuckling. "I never understand why people don't. My frie- ...well my old friend's brother refuses to touch it for some crazy reason..." He told her, shaking his head at the idea.

Amy realized she let slip that she was a fan of video games. And then realized something.

The world didn't fall in around her, he didn't think that she was weird. He accepted her for liking something so nerdy, so weird. Feeling accepted, she smiled at him again and nodded.

"Some people don't drink it because they don't like the way that it makes them feel," shrugged Amy, "I always feel great when I drink coffee, like I'm a new and better person."

"It really does help," Mikey said, nodding. "I don't think I'd survive without it, too many long nights."

He didn't bother explaining, deciding to let her make her own assumptions. He wasn't going to complain if she thought it was because he stayed up playing videogames. It was partly true anyway, just not the only thing that made him stay up so long.

"So, um...coffee?" He said after a pause hoping to change the subject.

"I know what you mean," Amy chuckled, twirling a piece of her hair. It was a bad habit to break but she had started it to make people think she was a lot more stupid than she was. "If I hadn't of had coffee when I was playing Skyrim, I would have died. Lack of sleep would have legit killed me."

She liked the fact that she could be herself around this guy, he was seemingly sweet and a lot different than some of the other guys in town. She had tried to strike up a conversation with a man the other day she had heard was a cop in New York but he had ignored her as if she was just another annoying hanger on.

"Yeah coffee," Amy smiled, "We could hit up the local coffee shop or Starbucks, pick your poison."