Not Scared Anymore

Chapter 22 - Kevin

By the time Saturday afternoon rolled around, Kevin was nervous. He played Dungeons and Dragons with his guild the night before. They had tried the new healer and it seemed to go pretty well. It was always fun making his friends play with random low-level characters. They always got so frustrated about their limitations, and Kevin loved to mess with them.

The new healer they tried though, was a woman. This wasn't a problem at all, she was actually quite good at it, and worked well with their party. Unfortunately for Kevin, all he could think about was how awesome it would be if Stephanie was into games like this. Then she could join them too, or they could make a new party. It was quite distracting, and the other guys noticed his head was elsewhere and teased him for it.

He and Stephanie hadn't talked again since she told him where to meet her. He wasn't sure if it was a date, or if they were just friends. Not knowing what else to do to kill time, Kevin headed to the bookstore early. He figured he could wander around for a little while, he had already thought of some titles, but he felt the pressure of what she asked and knew he couldn't let her down with his first recommendation. He wanted to refresh his mind on some of the better titles he had read in the past year.

When he approached the front door, he saw she was also approaching from the opposite direction, and waved. She caught his eye and waited for him outside the main entrance.

"I see we both like spending time in bookstores and like to be early," she said with a smile. "Shall we?" she gestured to the door. Kevin wasted no time and opened it for her. He liked that this store didn't have automatic doors. They were so uncomfortable in the winter if you were browsing the books near them. Bookstores should be cozy.

"So, how was the rest of your week?" she inquired.

"Not bad, it's been busy, but my big deadline was Thursday. It took me almost a month to get all the bugs out of one guy's code."

"Oh wow. That seems like a lot. I wish I knew how to code, but I never learned. Now I just have no idea when I would use it, so like, why bother right?"

"It's still a valuable skill to have these days. At least a basic level. Not everyone needs a degree in it like me."

"I don't even know how I would learn though. Like, where could I take classes?"

"There's lots of instructional videos online. Or I probably know some guys who might be able to teach you."

"Are you one of those guys?"

"Why, yes I am! But seriously, if you want to learn, I could try to teach you some basics."

"Well, we will see how you do with books first before we go that far." She tossed a grin over her shoulder and headed off to the fiction area. Kevin shook his head to clear it, and followed after her.

"So, what type of fiction are you thinking? Is there a specific style you like? Authors? You need to give me something if I am going to be of any help."

"Okay, well, let's start with the fact that Harry Potter was my favourite book growing up, which turned into Spellmasters more recently, but I haven't read much fantasy lately."

"Are you looking for a series, or stand alone?"

"Either."

"Well then follow me, I know just the place to start!" he turned into the stacks and forced Stephanie to follow him.

*

An hour and a half later they were sitting in the best comfy chairs, comparing books and their screen adaptations, when Kevin's stomach growled. Loudly. Stephanie looked at him with wide eyes and then laughed. Kevin could feel the heat rising up his neck. He had been too nervous to eat more than a small snack for lunch, and now he really wanted an early dinner.