Chapter Text
Ryland Grace's time at Grover Cleveland Public Library had not been very eventful so far. He started working there a few months ago, with the expectation that he'd be working on the catalogue (it was severely out of date), and yet, all he ever found himself assigned to was sitting on desk helping customers. Yuck. He hated customers. Desk duty was one of those jobs that few people in the industry enjoyed, it involved a lot of sitting around idly, waiting for a customer inquiry.
This Wednesday evening was much of the same. He sat leaned back in his swivel chair, resisting the urge to spin around out of boredom. He repeatedly refreshed the computer's inbox, hoping desperately for an inquiry to fill his time. A research request would be nice. He got lots of those at the university library he used to work at, but he'd even settle for a mundane request about opening hours.
A figure approached the service desk from the corner of his eye, and he straightened in his chair, while simultaneously trying to move his glasses back into place. The woman that approached was fairly nondescript, she had long, wavy auburn hair, and a stern expression on her face. He greeted her as he would any other customer. "Hi! How can I help you?" He put on his best customer service smile, and prayed it didn't appear too forced.
She paid him almost no attention, busy typing furiously on her phone. "Yes, can I get a guest pass to the computers please?" Did she even look up at him as she spoke? No, but Grace couldn't find it in himself to be bothered by it. He went to the correct program on his computer, and printed her a pass.
"Here you go!" He held it out to her between two fingers. She looked up briefly as she took it from his hand, and their fingers brushed slightly at the movement. It sparked something in his chest, but he pushed it deep down (he was a professional after all) and looked up to say 'have a good evening!' or some other catchphrase he had stored in his mental database of "customer 101", but she was already halfway to the computers before he could open his mouth.
Strange lady. A bit standoffish, but definitely far from the weirdest customer he's had. There was still an odd buzzing in his chest, and his heart beat a little faster than usual, but he chalked that up to the general social anxiety he always experienced when dealing with customers.
(He valiantly pushed away the thought that she was kinda pretty.)
Usually, Grace didn't pay much attention to specific customers, they were just endless faces in a sea of ever revolving people. Some he saw frequently, some he only saw once. Her face, however, seemed to stick in his brain.
She didn't come in randomly, like most patrons did. It didn't take him more than a few weeks to figure out her pattern. She came in every Wednesday evening, usually around 5:30pm. The first thing she did when she walked through the doors (always on her phone he noticed) was come up to the desk to ask for a guest pass. Then, she would stay at the computers for about an hour and a half, typing furiously. Then she would log out, and leave, already on her phone again.
He worried for her screen time.
Their conversations were brief, practically nonexistent, and yet he couldn't help but be curious about her. What had her typing so aggressively? He didn't even know her name, but he was so fascinated by her. After the fifth week of surreptitiously watching her at the computers, he vowed to learn her name. She was a frequent customer after all, it was only polite.
He tried to brainstorm ways to ask for it in the least weird way possible, and an obvious solution presented itself. She clearly didn't have a library card, or she'd be signing onto the computers with that instead. She always came up to him for a guest pass. If he could get her to sign up for a library membership, he'd get to learn her name! He was a genius!
Grace vowed that the next time she came to him at the desk, he'd mention it to her.
When next Wednesday came, Grace tried to mentally prepare himself for a real conversation. It was 5:25pm. She'd be here soon, hopefully, and he had to pull himself together. No freaking out over pretty women allowed. His heart almost leaped out of his chest when the doors slid open, and she appeared. He schooled his features into a hopefully semi-normal looking face, and smiled.
"Can I have a guest pass for the computers, please?" She said blandly, looking down at her phone.
Grace cleared his throat. "Of course, but you know you can sign into the computers with a library card, right?" She looked up at him, and he realised that it was probably the first time she'd even looked at him.
"I'm not paying for that." Her voice was mildly impatient, so he rushed to explain.
"It's free actually. Most public library memberships are. You just have to put some information into our system, show some ID, and then it's all yours! You can borrow books with it as well." Grace tried his best to make it sound enticing. It definitely came across as rambling.
She sighed reluctantly. "How long does it take? I have work to do."
"5 minutes, tops." He gestured to an iPad on her right, "This screen should tell you all the information you need. Once you're done, let me know!" Grace watched her make her way to the tablet, and start typing on the screen.
He'd been through this process before, could probably do it in his sleep. He opened the library's software, and when she gave him the 6 digit code, he opened her newly created user profile.
Her name was Eva. Eva Stratt. It suited her, he thought. Her first name was soft, but her last name was strong. Direct, maybe? She certainly seemed like a tough person to him, with her stern expression and no nonsense attitude. Grace didn't allow himself to ponder any further, as he wrote her name on the card, and handed it to her.
"You should be able to just scan the bar-code like you would with the guest pass. Let me know if you have any issues!" He smiled warmly. She just nodded, and headed to the computers like always.
Grace felt slightly proud of himself, he'd made her life a little bit easier, as she didn't have to come up to the counter anymore, AND he'd managed to learn her name in the process.
Wait.
She didn't have to come up to the counter anymore.
He had no excuse to talk to her anymore.
Oh, he was such an idiot.