At The Bookstore
She’s gorgeous, Thomas thought as he scrolled through TikTok. He looked at his friends, Ana and Carol, and asked:
“Do you think I could get a girlfriend like her?”
The two exchanged glances. They’d already come up with a plan to help him, even before he asked.
“To be honest,” Ana began, “you’re pretty good-looking, Thomas.”
“She’s right,” Carol agreed. “If you posted more pictures or went out more often, you might have a chance.”
They’d told him that plenty of times. You should go out more. If you really wanted a girlfriend, you’d at least try. Thomas was tired of hearing the same lectures. It was time to do something about it.
The three of them decided to go to the mall on Saturday to take some good pictures and, with any luck, meet a pretty girl.
On Friday, Carol sent a message in the group chat she and Ana used to help their friend with his love life.
“Thomas, try to dress as nicely as possible tomorrow.”
“Like what?” he replied, followed by a confused question-mark sticker.
Carol sent him pictures of several outfits he could wear. Thomas looked sadly at his wardrobe. All he had were black athletic shirts and equally black shorts. He also owned two pairs of pants: a baggy black pair and a straight-leg blue pair.
“I’ll try,” he typed.
On Saturday, Thomas put on the best clothes he had, following Carol’s advice, and rode his scooter to the mall. Ana and Carol had decided to go together. One would take an Uber and pick up the other on the way. They were all meeting at the food court.
“Thomas!” Carol exclaimed when she saw him. “I didn’t know you could dress like that!”
Thomas laughed and did a little spin to show off his outfit. Both girls clapped, laughing along.
“So, where are we going first?” he asked.
“The bookstore,” Ana replied almost immediately.
According to her, pretty girls were girls who read. So if Thomas wanted to meet one, he needed to put on a convincing performance as a reader and look for girls at the bookstore. Thomas never questioned her logic.
The three headed inside and started browsing the books. Thanks to his friends, Thomas had begun reading fairly often, so the conversation came easily.
They took pictures in every possible pose: Thomas sitting with a book, searching through the shelves, walking away from the camera. The photo session only ended when all three got tired of it.
Before they left, Thomas spotted a girl. She was so pretty that he actually sighed. His friends noticed immediately.
“Like her?” Ana asked.
Thomas just nodded and kept walking, trying to avoid what he knew was coming.
“Let’s go talk to her,” Carol suggested, exchanging a mischievous look with Ana.
“No!” Thomas exclaimed.
The two were always encouraging him to approach girls who caught his eye. It had never led anywhere. In fact, he’d never even managed to talk to any of them.
His friends gently pushed him toward the girl, who was looking at a fantasy novel. She noticed him coming and gave him a small smile. Thomas wasn’t bad-looking; he got plenty of glances. The problem had always been something else.
“Do you like fantasy?” he asked.
The girl closed the book she’d been examining and turned toward him.
“I do,” she replied, brushing a strand of hair out of her eyes. “What about you?”
Thomas swallowed nervously, but kept smiling.
“It’s my favorite genre,” he said with a quick laugh. “Have you read this series?”
Before he came over, she’d been looking at the third volume. At his question, her face lit up, as though she’d been waiting for an excuse to talk about it.
“I have! It’s actually my favorite series. The main character is so cool that he made me want to read the whole thing,” she said excitedly.
“Really? I’ve seen a lot of people talking about him on TikTok. Would you recommend the series?”
She laughed and led him over to another shelf. Crouching down, she picked up a volume and handed it to Thomas.
“This wasn’t the first book published, but I’d recommend starting with it.”
“Why?”
She spent the next minute explaining how the magic system was presented in that volume, how its story took place before the events of the first published book, and why this one was her favorite.
That last part made Thomas laugh.
“What’s so funny?” she asked, laughing too.
“I’m pretty sure you’re only recommending this one because it’s your favorite,” Thomas replied, trying not to laugh again.
“Oh, never mind,” she said.
Her phone buzzed in her pocket. It was a message from her father, telling her it was time to go home.
“Sorry, but my parents are already telling me to leave.”
“Before you go...” Thomas took out his phone. “Can I have your Instagram? That way I can tell you whether I liked the book.”
She unlocked her own phone and showed him her profile.
“If you don’t like it, I’ll come to your house and kill you,” she joked.
Thomas laughed.
“If you say so...”
“Bye, Thomas!” she said, having just seen his name on Instagram.
“See you, Maria!” he replied. He’d only just learned her name from her profile, too.
After Maria left, Thomas was so dazed he could barely find his friends on the second floor of the bookstore. He told them every little detail: what she’d been wearing, how pretty she was, the book she’d recommended, and everything else. He couldn’t stop grinning.
“Look at you, ladies’ man,” Ana teased. “I’m glad you liked her, though!”
“And you even got her Instagram!” Carol added.
Thomas showed them Maria’s profile.
“She really is beautiful,” Carol said, bringing a hand to her mouth.
“I know! I can hardly believe it,” Thomas replied, still wearing that goofy smile.
The three kept chatting about other things until it was time to go home.
When he got home, Thomas looked up the book Maria had recommended so he could download it to his Kindle. He couldn’t get that girl out of his head.
