Mina jumped out as soon as the car pulled to a stop. “Thanks for the ride. And sorry. You know, about earlier. I’m sure you’re a nice person.” She gave Brody a fake smile and grabbed her backpack and shut the car door. Brody’s door opened and he shut his door after her. “You don’t have to stay,” she told him. “I’m going to be here for a while.”

“I’ll wait for you. You’re even farther away from home than before, and I’m definitely not letting you walk home alone.”

“I can call for a ride. My mom will be home soon,” Mina said, speaking quickly. This was definitely not a research trip she wanted to share.

Brody looked at her. “Mina, you are not getting rid of me that easily. I’m already here. Let me help you.”

“I don’t need help.”

“Alright. Then let me come and do my own thing. I need to study too, you know.” Brody swung his own bag over his shoulder and walked up the steps through the glass doors. Once again, Mina had no choice but to follow behind.

Mina loved the smell of libraries, loved the smell of old books and the soft hum of the lights. It was probably why she was so out of tune with kids her age. She didn’t watch a lot of TV, and she spent more time reading than socializing, except for hanging out with Nan.

Once she’d shooed away Brody, Mina walked past Mrs. Toole, the head librarian, stopping only long enough to wave, and headed straight for the reference section. Scanning the numbers and stopping at 398.2, Mina began pulling out various collections of tales and individual stories.

“What’s with the fairy tales?” she heard suddenly, and again there was Brody, taking the books from Mina to stack them against his chest.

“Homework,” Mina replied distractedly. “I thought you had some of your own.”

“What classes are you taking that you get to read kids' books?” he said, reading the spines. “Maybe I should take it.”

Mina grinned. “It’s for a project at home, not school. And I can carry them myself.” She grabbed the stack from Brody and made her way to an empty table in the back of the library.

Sitting down, Mina grabbed a book and began searching for clues, while keeping a corner of eye alert for Brody and his habit of sneaking up on her. Within a few minutes she saw him stretching out at a table nearby, reading a small paperback. Mina found it difficult to do any reliable searching with Brody sitting a few feet from her, and he didn’t look uncomfortable at all. She would have thought that he would be antsy and dying to get out of the library.

She found herself unable to stop sneaking glances, enthralled with his lanky posture, the way his blonde hair fell over his eyes as he turned the pages. He seemed content, at peace. Once his eyes met hers and she blushed in embarrassment, hoping he didn’t think she’d been staring at him. After two hours of trying to concentrate, reading as many fairy tale histories as she could, she slammed the latest book closed, feeling fatigued. Brody had barely moved, but looked up at her with a worried expression.

“Come on, let’s get you something to eat.” He took the book from her hand and laid it on the table.

“No, I’m fine…really.” Mina’s heart started to beat faster with worry. If she went to get food with Brody, that would be too close to a real date.

“I’m hungry; I didn’t eat much at lunch today.” Heat rose up the back of her neck when she recalled that he dumped his lunch in the garbage. This time, she didn’t argue.

They left the library and Brody drove toward a small 60’s drive-in, where he ordered hamburgers and fries for them both at the speaker box.

“I didn’t know they still had these,” she said in awe.

“Yup. Isn’t it great? My parents took me here all of the time when I was a kid. I was obsessed with the speaker box, so my parents always let me order for everyone. One time I ordered eight milkshakes, so we drove them back and gave them to our staff.” Brody smirked, his eyes twinkling with mischief.

Mina was stunned by his good looks and completely lost her train of thought. When the food came, they ate and talked about funny stories from their childhood. At one point, she realized Brody was watching her out of the corner of his eye, and secretly smiling.

“What’s wrong? Do I have food on my face?” Mina asked, suddenly nervous.

Brody threw his head back and laughed. “No, but why do you ask?”

“You’ve got a funny look. What’s wrong? You can tell me.”

“I’m smiling because I can’t figure you out. You’re different. You don’t act like other girls.”

“Oh…I see.” She remarked unhappily and put her French fry back into its container. She had lost her appetite.

“No, you don’t see.” He turned in the seat so he could face her. “Look at me.” Mina kept her head down. “Mina, please look at me.” He very gently reached over and with one finger lifted her chin up so that her brown eyes bore into his dark blue. “You are unlike any girl I’ve met. You don’t talk incessantly about hair and makeup. You tell me what you’re feeling, instead of telling me what you think I want to hear. You’re content to sit with me without filling the silence with needless chatter. You eat food, real food, not rabbit food.” He plucked up the fry Mina put back in her container and ate it in one big bite. “And you’re not constantly texting or talking on a cell phone.”

“I don’t own one,” Mina reminded him.

“Exactly, and I like that about you.”

“You like that I don’t own a cell phone? You must be crazy.”

“Maybe I am,” he said with a small smile. “Just being with you has a calming effect on me, do you know that? My life is so … hectic. So many people surrounding me, trying to be my friend, trying to tell me who I should be and what I should become, that I tend to tune out the real world. I spent so long going through the motions just to make the background noise fade, but when I’m near you, it’s gone. The pressure to be something or someone I’m not, is gone.”

“Oh, well,” she started, stunned and unsure what to say. “You’re welcome, I guess. More fries?” Brody laughed, and took her up on her offer. They ate the rest of the meal in comfortable silence, sneaking smiles at each other. Mina had never felt happier. Brody had now spent a few hours in her presence and still seemed to be enjoying her company. She wasn’t sure what this would mean when they got back to school, but for now, it was bliss.

Mina asked to be dropped off a few blocks from home. “If my mom sees you she will flip. She’s not too happy that you destroyed my bike.”

Brody became still. “I understand,” he said quietly, too quietly. He pulled over and watched Mina get out of his car.

“Thanks,” she called to him through the open window and waved. As soon as he was out of sight, she ran home to call Nan.

***

The next morning followed a similar routine. Brody appeared on Mina’s street and picked her up as she was walking to school. To Mina’s great surprise, he sat with her at lunch as well.

She was actually starting to like having Brody as a friend, if she could quit thinking about what revenge Savannah might have planned. So far it was only nasty rumors that Nan, queen of all social media, quickly dismissed. Of course Nan was thrilled to have Brody at their table and talked nonstop the whole lunch hour. Brody would shoot Mina smirks when Nan would on a rant about one of her reality shows. He seemed to enjoy her company as well.