the_garage | Overflow

There, that was better. It was always a safe bet, steering the conversation towards books, any kind, to settle things when it got awkward or uncertain or he just couldn't keep his mouth shut.

"It's just what was more important to fit in the suitcases, mind, and what I've picked up here. My mother's constantly whining - Well, not constantly, that isn't fair - about how many I left for her to store." He leads the way into the living room, to one not very large, obviously inexpensive bookshelf, but it's filled up pretty well. "And of course there's a to read stack I've not even gotten to in my room." Jesus, did that sound like a proposition? "Next time you drop by, I'll try to have been less lazy about putting them where they belong."

She dipped her head at that, smiling to herself. Sybil wouldn't comment on it, but she caught it well enough. "You should have some shipped from home-- if you can. If you need more shelving, I'm sure we could find some up in the attics. Maybe next time you're free, we can go up. No one uses half the furniture up there anyway," she told him. It was just storage. She knew no one in her family would care. If anything her father would probably be glad to know they were being used again. It was just getting a bookcase down three or four flights of steps together without anyone else questioning what exactly she was doing. Carson was more likely to make a stink of it if he heard.

Plus someone was bound to make a comment of how friendly she was getting with him. Clearly she didn't care.

Edited 2018-01-09 15:36 (UTC)

God, she really was something. "That's very sweet," he smiled at her, "But it's not shelving. That one there was cheap enough. At that time, it was a matter of space, and I didn't really know how long I'd be staying. Now it's generally cheaper to get them used than pay to ship them, so."

He shrugged, "And then Mam donates them to the library."

She brightened at that. “That’s sweet. Have you been to London, yet? They’ve some great bookstores,” she told him.

"A couple times. Not enough to really get to properly do the tourist thing, but I got to wander around a bit." He grinned, couldn't help it, when she brightened like that.

“The tourist bits are fun, but I agree. I’d rather walk around, find what I like. Mary likes going out, Edith keeps to herself, and I’m usually the one trying to sneak off on my own,” she told him. Sybil was definitely the adventurous one out of the three of them.

Fingers traced over the spines of some of his, picking one up before reading the back quickly. “There’s an old bookstore that’s one of my favorites.”

"Trying? I'm sure you've succeeded plenty." Leave it to her to decide if that was teasing or not - he meant it as a compliment, but if he started saying those without the potential tone of teasing, God knows where he'd end up.

"What's it called?"

She got his teasing and smiled a bit. "I do have a way of getting what I want," she told him a little proudly. She had been a precocious child, and that had only let to being a headstrong young woman.

"I like Foyles a lot. It's an older place. There's also Gosh! If you like a more modern setting. Depends what you like, what you're looking for-- If you're looking for something in particular. London's the best place to go though if you're a booklover," she told him, putting the book she was looking at back before pointing at another one. "Oh, I read that one last year."

He grinned, at her little brag there, and did not comment. He didn't think he could keep any reply to that from sounding like - Well.

"Clearly, you should've been my tour guide. I'll check them both out, whenever I'm there again. What'd you think of it?"

"It helps when you've some idea of the city," she replied back, but grinned at the idea of being a tour guide. They were the upper class after all, being able to visit and take a part of whatever they wanted when they visited.

"You should. There's others, too. Just let me know."

"Ah, well, it'll be awhile before I take a trip to the city again," he said, sitting on the arm of the couch, "My next trip'll be home, can't really plan one in between."

Edited 2018-01-10 22:51 (UTC)

"Well maybe I can. I'll make sure it's not when you're going home. I'll have to think of something to get my parents to let me take you and the car for a day, but I'm sure I'll think of something. Maybe a charity event or something. Let me work on it, and we can leave here early that day," she offered as she looked from his book collection over to him.

"Well," he smiled, glancing down, "If it would make you happy, I'd like that."

"It should make you happy, too," she said softly with a small smile. She popped up then though.

"I should probably get back to what I was doing, but I'll see what I can work out about a day trip to London or something," Sybil offered, placing one of the books back where she found it on the shelf. She could probably waste a whole afternoon talking to him. He was easy going like that, but she did want to try and make it down to town in a bit to drop off some much needed goods.

"It does."

"Of course -" He nodded, as if he hadn't been too distracted by her presence in her space to actually properly consider that she had other things to do. "It was a pleasure to have you drop in, mi- Friend."

She caught his slip up and grinned back at him. Part of her didn't want to leave now, but she'd already said it. She headed back to his door and smiled at him before pausing in the door way.

"Hope you like the book, Tom," she said as her way of saying goodbye before slipping through.

If he let himself follow her to the door, he had a sneaking suspicion he'd end up following her through it, so somehow he stays put. "I'm sure I will."

He's going to end up reading it now, just to keep the feel of her around longer.

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Fin?