Charlie

Charlie whistled softly to the music streaming from his iPod. The cart of books squeaked as he pushed it along the waxed floor. He turned down an aisle and shelved a book back in its proper place. He glanced back at the cart; only three rows left. He grimaced and pushed the cart onward.

A shadow turned around a shelf and met Charlie face to face.

"Oh, excuse me."

"I'm sorry," Charlie said.

The shadow, now in full form, smiled shyly. Her dark brown hair fell around her plump face as she looked down for a moment. She raked it back and peered up into Charlie's face.

"You work here, right?" She asked.

Charlie noticed her blue eyes next. Blue like...like the ocean or the sky or something like that. "Yeah," he finally said.

"Um, this is a little random but--"

Charlie's breath stopped two inches short of his lungs. He cracked his mouth ope to let air in, but closed it quickly.

The girl giggled a little. "There's a woman...praying in the reading room. She's being kinda loud and we're all trying to study...

His lips set into a line. He sighed inside. "Okay. I'll see what I can do."

He followed her swift stride to the reading room. Students, eyebrows furrowed and lips curled, sat at tables scattered around the room. Books and papers lay strewn in front of them, but their attention lay in the back corner. Charlie walked slowly to the kneeling woman. He ducted at times, dodging her rapidfire Arabic.

"Um, excuse me...ma'am?"

She continued her prayer, ignoring Charlie, or just unable to hear him.

Charlie looked around. The cute girl's eyes nudged him. He took a deep breath.

"I'm sorry but--" He yelled, just as the woman stopped. She sat up and rolled up her mat. She tucked it into her totebag by her table. She sat down at her open notes and resumed reading where she'd apparently left off.

Charlie looked around the room again. Everyone resumed reading. The cute girl shrugged and returned to her table, where both her notes and her boyfriend sat.

Charlie just blinked and left.