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The library was quiet at this time of the evening. It was the perfect time for young teenage bibliophiles to sit silently in a cosy corner of the heated building with a made-to-go coffee from the local Gregg’s and a sandwich, lost in the world of fiction. Of course, there was only one such person doing just this in this particular library, and that was the town’s resident bookworm Talia. She loved nothing more than sitting somewhere quiet with a good book, and was rather infamous within her town for almost constantly being in the library. The librarians all knew her well enough to let her eat her meals in there, and would probably let her sleep there too if not for security reasons. That evening, Talia was just reaching the climax of Howard’s End (an old favourite of hers) when she was startled by the sliding doors of the library opening and someone walking in. Normally she wouldn’t have paid it any mind, but something felt... off, about this new arrival. Usually people didn’t go to the library so late.Talia was surprised to see another teenage girl walk through the doors. She had a rather forgettable appearance save for her striking blue eyes, but something about her made Talia blush and look away, trying to hide her face beneath her mousy braids. She attempted to get back into her Forster, but a sudden sensation next to her startled her out of reading.“Hey. Sorry to interrupt, but are you reading Forster right now?” Talia looked up, and of course it was her. How typical. As she so often did around cute girls, Talia felt herself freezing up and breaking a sweat. She anxiously attempted to compose herself enough to shyly nod.“It’s Howard’s End, to be precise. One of my favourites from Forster’s works, although I also love The Longest Journey.” Fortunately, talking about books calmed her down a little. Talia always found solace in the paper-bound texts, no matter how pressing her current situation was. To her surprise, the girl actually smiled a little before cocking her head to one side and frowning.“Hm, really? I’ve always preferred Maurice. Although of course, I’m fairly biased on that front. There was just something about that metaphor used for life throughout which really stuck with me. The feeling of blundering through a shadowy valley in childhood, then finding a beloved to lead you into the light before watching them disappear down a different path... Did you notice that Forster doesn’t mention the metaphor at all after Maurice starts up his relationship with Alec? Turns out none of that meant anything. It was just a superficial construct. But at the same time... it meant everything. With Alec, Maurice left the valley entirely and ran off into the greenwoods to live forever amongst the trees. That’s so romantic, isn’t it?” Talia listened intently to the mystery girl’s rant, astounded at her literary analysis. She never really expected other people to like books the way she did, and it was fascinating to finally find someone else who did.“Well... Although I agree with your analysis, I also think Forster didn’t really handle the whole Maurice/Alec plotline all that well. I read in the terminal note of the Abinger edition that he added an extra chapter for the British Museum thing, but I honestly feel like the blackmail story arc and that chapter weren’t handled all that well. For starters, they were far too rushed to really convince the reader of anything, and although I enjoyed the happy ending I felt it didn’t quite have a lasting impact on me as the reader.” When Talia self-consciously stopped herself from continuing, she was shocked to find the girl’s eyes trained fully on hers, widened in surprise and delight.“You’re pretty passionate about all this, huh?” She asked with a laugh, “Me too. My name’s Grace by the way.” Talia blushed at the way Grace so casually extended a hand to her, but didn’t really mind it.“I’m Talia.” She took Grace’s hand and shook it, hoping that brief touch wouldn’t be the last between them.They sat together until the library closed, talking about everything from ancient classics such as The Inferno to Grace’s current favourite, Call Me By Your Name. She discussed how she actually disliked some parts of the novel, such as the rushed nature of Elio and Oliver’s relationship alongside all the fetishes which didn’t really play a role in the plot, but how Aciman’s beautiful prose and random metaphor for life were what drew her in and led to her crying the moment she closed the book. Talia had never read Call Me By Your Name, but felt she had known it all her life by the time Grace finished her ramble. She also discovered Grace really had a thing for life messages and advice geared towards the reader using the characters.That love of metaphors was probably why her all-time favourite novel was Lord of the Flies, with Animal Farm coming in close second. Talia found they actually had quite different opinions there. She had always loved high fantasy, adventure and romance, none of which were in either of Grace’s novels. Well, according to Grace the last two were most certainly in Lord of the Flies, although the first was an illusion and the second was her own theory about the precise dynamics of Jack and Ralph’s relationship (she also explored these relationship dynamics with several other characters throughout the book- Talia loved her analysis style). When the library finally did close, they exchanged numbers and agreed to meet there again at the doors. It was a promise for friendship, possibly more, and a ridiculous amount of books.She couldn’t wait.