Love In The Stacks: a short story/ a mini chick lit

into myhand. “Some guy named Ben asked me to give this to you.”
“Thanks,” I replied, blatantly ogling her.This experience was akin to a close encounter with the thirdkind.
In a blink on an eye, Granola Gal spun aroundand floated away, in her gray knit socks and Keen hikingsandals. Ah, the footwear has changed with the times.
Slightly dazed, I glanced down and read thenote.
Meet me at the College Library,
You’ll find me here:
823.914
B848p
Love, Ben
OK. Ben wanted me to do the Dewey. I wasgame.
Immediately, I went about dissecting thenumbers:
8 = Literature
2 = English literature
3 = English fiction
9 = 1900
1 = 20th century
4 = after 1945
B = my guess was “Beauvoir,” for the simplefact that Simone de Beauvoir was my favorite author, philosopherand social theorist. I mean, how could I not love Simone when shewas the one who coined the phrase, “One is not born, but ratherbecomes, a woman.”
I was right. I found Ben on the second floor,in the back row, leaning heavily against the shelf stacked withbooks written by Simone de Beauvoir. As Ben watched me advance onhim, the lazy sweep of his brown eyes made my skin prickle. Evenafter years of dating, he still brought butterflies to mystomach.
With long and quick strides, I was soonbeside him. “Hey.” I smiled.
“Hey.” He smiled back. “You found me.”
“I found you.”
Ben straightened himself, shifted his weightand cleared his throat. “I’ve got something for you.”
I nibbled my bottom lip. “You do?”
“I do.” He raked his fingers through his darkhair and paused, as if struggling to find the right words. “Whenyou realize that you want to spend the rest of your life withsomeone, you want the rest of your life to start as soon aspossible.”
I laughed in spite of myself. “Isn’t thatfrom When Harry Met Sally?”
“Nope.” He gave a lopsided grin. “It’s fromWhen Ben Met Liv. And I’ve been wanting to do this for awhile . . .” Reaching into his coat pocket, he pulled out a rubberstamp. Taking my left hand, his voice caught in a husky rasp as hewhispered, “Marry me.” Then he pressed the rubber stamp across mywrists.
My gaze shifted down to my hands and Iexamined those three words:
NOT FOR CIRCULATION
On impulse, I flung my arms around him, and I didn’tever want to let go. The sweetness of his gesture nearly undid me.“You know I’ve been ‘checked out’ of the library since the day I’dmet you.”
Buried in his strong forearms, he murmured inmy hair, “That was long overdue.”
After we reluctantly peeled apart, Iwhispered in his ear, “I’ve got a surprise for you at home.”
“Well, I look forward to it.” He pressed akiss on top of my forehead. “I’ve got to go back to work now, butI’ll be home by six.”
TWO
It was pitch-black in my apartment. I’dturned off all the lights and draped myself seductively across thedamask duvet. Sexy music played softly in the background and I’dscattered rose petals everywhere. Taking a deep breath, I fluffedmy hair and waited, jittery with anticipation. Then I heard the keyturn in the lock and immediately I panicked. On impulse, I jumpedout of bed and sprinted to the bathroom. As I rounded a corner, Iran smack dab into a wall, knocking myself out in the process.
When I’d regained consciousness, Ben was inmy face. “Are you OK, Liv?” he asked, and I could hear the concernin his voice.
“Nurrrggggh,” I grunted.
“Shhhhhh.” Ben pressed a finger to his lips.“Don’t talk babe. You’ve lost your front tooth.”
“I have?” I asked, licking my bloody lip.
He nodded gravely. “I’m afraid you might havesustained a concussion too. You were out cold for severalminutes.”
I groaned and rubbed my temples. “My headfeels like it’s about to explode.”
Ben helped me to my feet. “I think it’s bestyou get it checked out. I’ll pull the car around while you put onsome clothes.” He dragged his eyes upward toward my face and gave aplayful wink. “Your body looks absolutely sinful in thatcontraption.”
I could feel a blush rising in my cheeks, inmy ears and in my throat. I wanted to crawl into the Tora Bora caveand DIE. Ben handed me a towel, which I gratefully accepted.
After Ben had left the room, I quickly threwon a pair of jeans and a plain white tee. Then I grabbed my bag,hoisted it over my shoulder and hurried out the front door.
The ride to the ER was awkward to say theleast. Eventually, Ben broke the silence. “Um, so where did you getthose unmentionables?”
I giggled. “Unmentionables?”
Ben’s lips curled at one corner. “That’s whatmy grandma calls them.”
I sank into the leather seat. “I bought thelingerie today, at Victoria’s Secret.” I quickly added, “It wasJenny’s idea. She thought I needed to spice things up forValentine’s Day and be sexy and all that.”
Ben reached over and squeezed my knee. “Liv,you don’t need lingerie to make you sexy.” At the stop light, hecast me a sidelong glance, increasing the pressure on my knee. “Ifind you sexy because you have no idea how sexually appealing youare. You seduce me when you’re wearing my boxer shorts, reading abook in bed. You seduce me when you’re looking intently at yourlaptop, indulging yourself in celebrity gossip. You seduce me inthe morning, when you tumble out of bed, your hair mussed fromsleep.”
The light turned green and Ben eased the gearshift, keeping his eyes on the road.
I smiled inwardly.
Valentines. Schamalentines. That wasbetter than chocolates and roses.
We arrived at the ER shortly after. Thedoctor introduced himself as Dr. Reed and he asked me how I’dsustained my head injury.
I clammed up like a Razor clam.
Ben stepped in and explained, “Liz ran into awall and passed out.”
Dr. Reed stroked his chin. “If you’d lostconsciousness, that would mean you’ve sustained a grade threeconcussion, which is pretty severe. Now, I’m going to ask you somesimple questions. Are you ready?”
I folded my hands across my lap. “I’mready.”
“Where do you live?”
“I live in America.”
“I need something more specific, Miss Munn,like your address.”
“Oh.”