The Library War

by Cecily Wolfe

  Jason and Kaylie had kept up a stream of small talk, bringing Maya and Conner into it as best they could, but at some point they seemed to give up and focus on each other.

  Maya stared at her food, which she couldn’t see all that well anyway, and wondered if this was the sort of restaurant where you could take food home. Her mom would love to have this later when she came home from work. Would it keep in the car for the next few hours? It wasn’t all that hot outside.

  “Oh!”

  Kaylie’s voice rang out, interrupting Maya’s inane musings. The other girl, who was sitting directly across from her, was staring into her lap, her hands up in the air. Conner had his hands in her lap, which did not look good from Maya’s angle.

  “What happened? Are you okay, Kaylie?”

  Jason started laughing beside her, and Conner gave him a thin-lipped look that didn’t quell his laughter at all.

  “He knocked a glass over and the ice fell into her lap. At least it was water, and the water was gone.”

  He lifted his own glass as if offering a toast.

  “To thirsty girls and hopefully the only snag in the evening.”

  A waiter appeared at Conner’s elbow with a handful of cloth napkins, and Conner smiled sheepishly at him.

  “Uh, thanks.”

  Kaylie took the napkins from Conner and patted at her lap. Maya wondered what she had done with the ice, but she didn’t ask. As the next few moments passed by, Jason asked her if there was a problem with her food, and she debated whether or not she should ask about a take-home container, deciding against it.

  Everything would be better once they got to school, and there was plenty of space between her and Conner. Surely if they were on the dance floor with their own dates, they wouldn’t be close enough to each other to feel this tension, would they?

  Thankfully, Jason and Kaylie got their own conversation going again, and they seemed to be having a decent time. Maya kept her eyes away from Conner, wondering if he was doing the same but not taking a chance on glancing over at him. In the car, it was easier, since she was sitting in the front seat with Jason, and he was in the back with Kaylie.

  He was in the back with Kaylie, and she was talking softly to him like she would a wounded animal. Why did she think he needed that kind of attention? Maya sighed, not realizing how loud it was until Jason put his hand on her shoulder.

  “Do you want to talk about it, maybe not now, but sometime? I might be goofy, but I’m a good listener.”

  It was a sweet gesture; one she didn’t deserve.

  “I might, sometime. I’m sorry I’m no fun right now. Maybe once we get to the dance I’ll get more in the mood. I’m warning you though, I’m not that great of a dancer, so you might get a few busted toes.”

  When Jason laughed, Maya noticed that the back seat had grown quiet. What were Conner and Kaylie doing back there?

  She wasn’t going to look. It wasn’t any of her business anyway. Conner could do whatever he wanted.

  When they arrived at the school and the boys opened the doors for them, Maya stepped out after Kaylie so she could steer clear of Conner and his big feet. Jason left the three of them on the sidewalk to park the car, and Maya stared after him.

  What was this summer going to be like without Conner, especially knowing that he would be gone in the fall? Would she see him, in town now and again, and would they eventually start talking again, just to be polite? Could she really just be polite with him?

  “Whatever is going on, you two need to talk about it. You’ve been friends longer than anyone else I know, and I think we all know that there’s something more between you.”

  Kaylie was beside her, speaking softly. Maya didn’t know where Conner was, but she suspected that he wasn’t too far away, otherwise Kaylie wouldn’t be so secretive. She didn’t know how to respond, because she didn’t see a way for them to work it out. She had tried so many times . . .

  “Let’s get this party started!”

  Jason reached out a hand to her as he appeared before the two of them on the sidewalk, his smile bright in the darkness. She took his hand and followed him, determined to go along with Jason and Kaylie and let the night play itself out.

  If she could get her mind off Conner for a little while, great. If not, maybe she wouldn’t wreck the evening for their dates by being sullen and introspective.

  “How’s your dress?” Conner’s voice was low and concerned, and Kaylie laughed lightheartedly.

  Maya didn’t hear what Kaylie said in response, but Conner seemed relieved. Maya was directly behind the pair of them as they walked into the school and the boys offered their tickets to one of the teachers, who was sitting alone at a table with a large hardback book and a paper plate with a half-eaten piece of cake.

  She took the tickets and looked back down at her book.

  The music was loud and if Maya wasn’t mistaken, a song from about 1982. Whatever it was had Jason bouncing back and forth as they walked into the gym. There was nothing romantic about the singing and stomping going on, but everyone looked like they were having a good time, except for a couple who were arguing over by the bleachers, which were pushed back against the far wall.

  A teacher came up and practically pushed the couple back into the crowd, where they stood staring at each other for a moment before moving to the music.

  “May I have this dance?”

  Jason was already dancing when he asked, his smile so genuine and happy that Maya couldn’t help but laugh. She couldn’t keep up with him if she tried, but she swayed and made an attempt at imitating his movements.

  Conner and Kaylie were talking together by the refreshment table, which had a large punch bowl filled with what looked like lemonade, along with plates of cookies. They seemed very cozy, and when Conner leaned down and Kaylie whispered in his ear, Maya felt her face fall into a pout.

  “You two are something else, you know.” Jason yelled over the music.

  She turned her head back to him, realizing that she had stopped dancing. If that was even what it could have been called.

  “What do you mean?”

  He shook his head, his smile a little sad, and Maya worried that she had done something or said something wrong to upset him.

  “I’ve never seen two people so meant for each other, but so good at making each other miserable.”

  She stared at him, unsure how to respond.

  “You guys have been best friends forever, but we all know there’s more to it. Seriously, the girls here have been trying to get his attention for years, and we all know how well that’s worked out.”

  Maya didn’t know if she was horrified at how blunt Jason’s words were, or relieved that her fears over whether or not Conner had romantic feelings towards her seemed unfounded. But did he still? Was that even a possibility, after everything that had happened to damage their friendship?

  Conner and Kaylie were walking over to them, and without even thinking, Maya stepped forward and took Conner by the sleeve of his jacket. He frowned at her, but she didn’t let go as she pulled him back towards the refreshment table.

  When he turned and shifted his weight towards her, she didn’t stop pulling, so he stumbled directly into the punch bowl.

  Even when Maya let him go, it was too late. The lemonade splashed out and onto the guidance counselor, who was standing behind the table holding a napkin full of cookies. She stood silently in the few seconds after her cookies, face, and shirt were covered in the sticky yellow liquid.

  Maya reached out to do something, anything, but as Conner tried to right himself, he pushed off the table and the cookies slid when the lemonade on the tablecloth stuck to his fingers. He pulled the tablecloth with the plates of cookies along with them, and they all crashed to the floor.

  The music continued to play as students began to notice the commotion, and laughter followed gasps of surprise. Maya stared at Mrs. Hamper, guidance counselor, who looked stunned, and then at Conner, who looked confused and, sh
e worried, a little angry.

  The tears rose up behind her eyes and she didn’t bother to stop them when Conner met her gaze, his expression unclear but not amused. If she was going to cry outright, she didn’t need the whole school to watch, so she ran out of the gym and into the hall, as fast as she could run in her crazy stepped-on dress.

  In the haze of everything that had just happened, from Maya’s fingers tugging on his sleeve to the lemonade finding its way all over Mrs. Hamper and onto the cookies that were scattered all over the maple wood floor, the only image he had in his mind was of Maya’s face and the tears that had spilled from her eyes.

  “I’ll be right back,” he reassured the guidance counselor, his hands held up, palms out in a pleading manner. Before she or anyone else could comment, he followed Maya, but not at a pace that would outdistance her.

  If she needed a few seconds to herself before he barreled in on her, he wanted to give her that.

  Heck, he didn’t even know what he was going to say. Those tears were speaking volumes to him, volumes of how wrong he might have been, of how much time they had wasted.

  Of how much she cared about their relationship.

  “Maya!”

  He called out to her as soon as he cleared the doorway, unsure of which direction she went in the dimly lit hallway. The rustle of her dress answered him when she didn’t, and he closed the distance between them, taking in the beauty that she was so unaware she possessed.

  Sure, she looked gorgeous in that dress, which, as Kaylie had promised, looked perfect with her hair color, but Conner had always thought she was beautiful, whether she was wearing jeans and a t-shirt, or an old pair of his basketball shorts when she slept over.

  There was so much more to her than her physical beauty, and he loved all of her.

  This was up to her, though. He knew she was upset, but that didn’t necessarily mean that she loved him the way he loved her. They were face to face now, wordlessly waiting, and he knew he had to take another chance like he had the night she slapped him.

  In the split second before he kissed her, he knew that if she pushed him away now, he would let go forever. Let go and walk back alone to the gym, where the remains of the refreshment table lay in wait for him to clean up.

  Sure, it was partly her fault, but he would rather she stayed away, let him wallow in his misery as he picked up smashed cookies and wiped punch from the floor with the mop he knew was somewhere in the janitor’s closet.

  When Maya grabbed the lapels of his tuxedo jacket and pulled his face down to hers, those thoughts disappeared, and her lips were on his. He felt them both sigh against each other. Was it relief? Sure. Was it attraction? Definitely. Was it love? Absolutely.

  Conner wasn’t sure how long they had been kissing, holding each other close as he pressed a hand to her cheek to stop her tears from falling. Someone cleared his throat behind him, once, twice, and Conner wished he would go away. Maya wasn’t releasing her hold on him, and he never wanted her to.

  “Guys, the principal is headed this way, and he’s not too happy. If he catches you making out, when there’s an actual rule against being alone together in the hallways during prom, it’s going to be worse.”

  A female giggle accompanied Jason’s declaration, and Conner recognized Kaylie’s voice. Maya pulled away from him the smallest bit, her eyes fluttering open and gazing into his own with so much love he leaned back in to close the space between them again.

  Jason pulled at the back of his jacket, stopping Conner just before his lips met hers. Maya’s hands slid from around his waist to his hands, and she rested the top of her head against his chest.

  “No one can say this wasn’t the most entertaining prom this school has seen in a while. Although I don’t know if anyone has ever wrecked the punch bowl and splattered the guidance counselor with lemonade before.”

  Kaylie was smiling, her voice light as she laughed. She and Jason stood close to each other, and Jason had his hand on the small of her back. The picture they made together made him feel a little less guilty.

  “I’m sorry.”

  He and Maya both spoke at the same time, and Conner knew that like him, she was apologizing to both of their dates. Jason and Kaylie glanced at each other quickly, as if they shared a secret, both smiling as they looked back at Conner and Maya.

  “It’s all good,” Kaylie said, waving a hand in the air. “I like hanging with Jason. He’s lighter on his feet than you are, Conner, and if I’m not mistaken, the odds that I will end up with a lap full of ice when we go out to dinner are much less if I’m with him.”

  Maya laughed along with them as she tugged on Conner’s hands. She was close up against him, and his heart thudded so loudly he thought all three of them must be able to hear it.

  “I’m sorry for all the drama, and I was going to say the same for ruining prom, but you both seem like you’re not having a terrible time,” Maya offered, a bit tentatively. Both Kaylie and Jason shook their heads.

  “I don’t think any of us want to get caught out here and get sidelined for graduation. My parents would kill me if I wasn’t allowed to walk across that stage.”

  Jason turned towards the gym doors as he spoke, hinting again that they needed to get moving before any of the adults came looking.

  Conner and Maya followed Jason and Kaylie, a few steps behind the other couple. His hand and Maya’s were tightly clasped, as if they were both afraid to release each other.

  “I’ll help you find a job for the summer. I mean, I would have anyway, even before any of this happened. You know that, right?”

  Conner didn’t look at Maya as he asked, because he didn’t want to get lost in her eyes again, and the two of them would end up where they started out here in the hall, after all the screaming and shouting.

  “Yeah, of course I do. And I’ll help you find something that will look good on your resume for teaching. We’ll figure something out.”

  “We always do.”

  They tried to wander back into the gym like nothing had happened, but the principal and the guidance counselor were waiting, as well as everyone else. The music was playing but the dancing stopped, and after a few beats, they all started to clap. Someone whistled, and a few others joined in. Conner felt Maya cringe beside him, and squeezed her hand.

  Before the principal could open his mouth, Conner bowed his head quickly in what he hoped was a respectful and apologetic gesture.

  “If you show me where to find a mop and bucket, I’ll get started on this floor.”

  The older man looked confused for a moment, frowning, the creases between his eyebrows growing deeper than usual.

  “Right this way, Conner. Don’t think I’m not done with you. The both of you.”

  Conner turned towards Maya, her tearstained face beautiful and open, and wanted nothing more than to hold her close for the rest of the night.

  “I’ll take care of the cookies, so you can use your charm to see if you can get us a lighter punishment from Mr. Dinard,” she suggested with a shy smile.

  He couldn’t help but kiss her quickly, ignoring the clapping as it started once again. When they released their held hands, he didn’t worry for a moment, because they would return to each other again.

  It was just meant to be.

  THE END

  About the Author

  Cecily Wolfe is a librarian in Cleveland, Ohio, where she lives with her two teenage daughters, both of whom are published authors and excellent cooks, which is perfect, since she herself can hardly boil water. They share a home with several cats and more books than they can count.