Secret Santa for PetalsAndThorns

[Pseudosneeze]

Taylor was glad to be back at the library. They’d just re-opened after the winter holidays. She dug around into her pockets, past the tissues until she found the key, and unlocked the door, finally getting away from the cold weather outside. Looking around, inside, she tried to take a deep breath and let her surroundings sink in. Mostly, however, she just cleared out her nose. Inhaling became easier, but that horrible tickle she’d felt all morning suddenly came back. “Ah…aeh…eahh…” She reached back into her pockets and pulled out her tissues. “Ah-choo! Atchoo! Aatshooo!” Her sneezes were wet, but fortunately not messy.

“Gesundheit,” she heard a voice behind her say. She quickly straightened her glasses back onto her pink, pointed nose and turned around. It was her supervisor, Allan, pushing a cart of books out of the back room. She wasn’t really sure why the door was locked if he was already in here, but didn’t delve much into it. “Hi,” she sniffled, taking a moment to brush her long, auburn hair away from her face, “Thanks. Have a nice break?” “Yeah,” he said, “but I’m glad to be back on the job.” “Me too,” said Taylor, twitching her nose and sniffing. “Good,” said Allan, “you can start by helping me reshelf some of these returns.” He dropped a pile of dusty books into her open arms, “Take these encyclopedias back over to non-fiction.” “I’m oah..oaahh.. on it-choo!!” Her sneeze threw her glasses off her nose, landing right on the dusty book in front of her face.

Eyes squinted, and nostrils flared, she made her way to the non-fiction shelves. She was almost there when she had to drop the books and bury her face into her sweater. “Aaachoo! Eeaaachieww! Eeechooo!” Allan watched and walked over to her. “I think you’ll be needing this today,” he handed her a handkerchief out of his own pocket. “Unless, you’d rather go home and rest.” “Oh don’t worry about me,” said Taylor, wiping her nose, “my cold medicine should kick in eventually.” She sniffled and fumbled around for her glasses. Luckily, they were big and easy to get ahold of. “So glad the book didn’t…break…these---Setchoo!” She wiped her glasses off with the handkerchief and put them back on. “Right,” Allan smirked, “just a little cold. Tell you what--” He pulled the book cart over, “you keep putting these away, I’ll start dusting the shelves. And when that’s done, you can take it easy by the check-out counter for the rest of the day. Most people think we’re still closed anyway.” Taylor nodded, and picked herself up, then had to cover mouth for another sneeze, holding onto her glasses with one hand and kerchiefing her mouth with the other. “Ah-choo!!” “Gesundheit,” said Allan. “Thanks,” sniffed Taylor.

[PetalsAndThorns]

I'm so sorry, I must have missed this!

This is really wonderful! Thank you so much! The idea of working in the library like that is especially cute! Once again, thank you for this lovely piece. ^^