Laura stares. A blank look of someone totally numb to the world, focused on only one thing; the zenith of their existence. The book.
Not a particularly special book to anyone else, but she can't take her eyes off f it. More specifically, she can't take her eyes off the author's name. Kate Argent.
Her ex-girlfriend.
Kate had always said she wanted to write a book -about her, about Laura. About the crazy messed up shit they put each other through....but Laura never thought she'd really do it. Yet, there it was. Sitting in the 'book club' section of her local book store. And probably in every book store across the world. Perfect. Freaking perfect.
Laura picks it up.
It wasn't a long book -only 200 pages or so- but it feels heavy. Laura knows why; it's the weight of her story. Boiled down and bound by the person she hated most.
After a moment, she flips it open.
"Dedicated to Laura."
That bitch.
Laura wants to tear out the page, tear out all the pages. She wants to rip the book apart and set it on fire. She can feel herself shaking from rage. How /dare/ Kate do this? She'd really thought they'd agreed to just let it all go, but hey. What did she know. According to Kate, and the back of this stupid fucking book, she was just 'a dark, heartless she-wolf'. God, Laura can't even breath right she's so angry.
And then a calm settles over her, like the eye of the storm. She puts the book back and takes a deep breath. She just has to avoid it. It shouldn't be that hard -she'd avoided John Green for this long and his books were everywhere. Just...avoid the fantasy section of bookstores for a while, don't watch talk shows that advertise for Kate...don't join any bookclubs....Yeah. She could do this.
Laura let out a deep breath, letting her expression relax as she looked back down at the book in her hands. Her nails had dug into the cover, nearly ripping it. She forced her hands to relax as well. Alright, breath, Laura. It's just a book. It's just a book.
"Oh, are you going to get that one? They're making a movie out of it!"
Breath, Laura. Breath. It's just a movie -you'll be able to avoid it! You just have to stop watching tv, stop looking at billboards, never listen to the radio...basically, you have to become Derek. She shuddered at the thought; her brother was barely human. He was a caveman. He lived in a husk of a house in the middle of the woods, probably hunting squirrels for his dinner. She definitely didn't want to become that. But if Kate's book was made into a movie....well, she wouldn't have much of a choice. She doubted she would survive hearing about her life being bastardized and demonized by the she-devil herself.
Laura carefully set the book back on its shelf, her hands shaking as she said, "A movie? That's um...that's great. Good for Argent, I guess." Just saying her name made Laura feels sick, like she needed to claw all her skin off to feel clean again. Her stomach twisted. Breath. Just breath. She took a deep breath before continuing, "Have you read it?"
The girl nods, her blonde hair bobbing along with the motion. Laura wonders if her hair is naturally that bouncy....she needs to get some kind of product for that, her own hair was rather flat -shiny and silky, but it didn't move like that. "Yeah, we're reading it in our book club this month! You should come by," The girl says, smiling brightly. Her red glossed lips shine in the flourescent lighting of the store, and for a moment, Laura wonders if they're as soft as they look...Snap out of it, Laura. She's got to be barely 20. Easily ten years younger than Laura is.
"Ah...I'm not really into supernatural stuff," She lies. God, what a lie that was. Her whole life is a mess of supernatural. "But maybe next month? Do you know what you guys will be reading then?" As much as she wants to pretend she doesn't, Laura feels a certain attraction to this girl; the need to get to know her, to love her. She hasn't felt that feeling since Kate...it's strange, almost like a foreign language that you learned in high school. Some of the words are still in your brain, but it remains a mystery. Laura wants to be fluent.
The girl shrugs, and pushes her hands into her jacket pockets, "You'll just have to come and find out, yeah? We meet on Fridays at 5pm. Hope to see you there," And she winks. Oh god, Laura swears her heart stops for a moment as a flush of pink rises to her cheeks.
"But if you want to meet before then, I get off work at 7," The girl adds after a moment, "Here's my number. We'll set something up."