Selected

The sun was hidden behind thick clouds that blanketed the sky. A small chill ran through me and I hugged my jacket tighter. I felt awkward in the jeans and top Hal picked out for me. In Sector 16 girls don’t wear pants. Ever. I had asked Hal if the tight uncomfortable feeling ever went away. She simple laughed and said that I had to tough it out.

Vox’s hand found mine and intertwined our fingers. Vox had insisted that we walked, I had no clue as to why, but decided I could use the exercise.

I looked over at him to find he was already staring at me, I smiled, “What?”

He shook his head, “Nothing. Just admiring you.”

I scoffed, “Admiring me?”

Vox nodded, his gold eyes gleamed in the sunlight. “Yes.”

I could a small smile creep to my face. “Okay.” I rolled my eyes.

“What? Do you not think you are worth being admired?”

I bit my lip and didn’t answer the question. “How much further?”

He tucked his hand into the pocket of his jeans and furrowed his eyebrow, “Not much.” He let go of my hand and wrapped his arm around my shoulders, pulling me close to his side. I tucked my arm around his waist. He kissed me on the top of the head and then whispered in my ear, “You, Emmary Eaton, are beautiful.”

I grinned and looked up at him, “Thank you, Vox.”

The smile he wore reached his eyes. “You are more than welcome.” He stopped walking, “We are here.” He shoved his thumb at the glass doors that opened to a 7 story building.

“You mean, this is it? This building is really real?”

He chuckled, “Yes.”

“It’s just that you kept putting this off, I was beginning to think that it wasn’t a real thing.”

He grinned, “I’m sorry.”

I waved off his apology, “Don’t worry about it.” I looked back at the building, “So this whole thing is the library?”

“The top floor is part of city hall, and then some of the floors have random rooms for meetings and conferences mostly.”

Wow. Six floors of books. I think I might be in heaven. I stared up at the building in awe. I couldn’t process the thought of so many books being in one place.

He grinned down at me, “So are we just going to stare at the building or do you want to go inside?”

“I’m just preparing myself for what I will see. Books on books on books. It’s going to be wonderful.”

Vox laughed, “You are too excited.”

“You would be too if you were in my position. The library back home had 50 books. 50.”

He grinned, "And let me guess, you read them all."

"Multiple times."

“Well, come on, let’s go, lots of books to read, little time to read them.” He reached for my hand before leading me through the automatic doors. Vox smiled at me as we entered.

Inside there were shelves of books to one side and a cluster of tables to the other. In the middle was a desk with different signs pointing toward checkout and drop off and circulation. I tried to take in every inch of the place, but Vox pulled me along quickly, “This is just the children’s floor.” He whispered in a low tone.

I frowned, “Why are you whispering?”

He chuckled and shushed me, “Because you are supposed to be quite in a library.” He stopped in front of a set of doors and pushed a button.

I frowned, “We aren’t using the elevator, are we?”

He glanced over at me, “You don’t like elevators?”

I shook my head, “They kind of freak me out.”

He chuckled and pulled be toward a set of stairs around the corner, “We can take the stairs then. But really, you have to speak quieter.”

I rolled my eyes, “Sorry.”

He opened the third floor door for me, “This is my favorite section. The classics.” Vox’s grin widened, making him look like a little boy in a candy store. “This section is just books from the early years before Selection. They are fantastic. My favorite genre by far.”

My gaze wandered from shelf to shelf, book to book, title to title, trying to take in every detail. Vox gave me a wicked grin and started tugging me gently by the hand, leading me deeper into the shelving until we were nestled in a corner. “Hi.” He grinned.

I smiled back, “Hi.”

His arms snaked around my waist, pulling me closer and closer until there was no room between us. He leaned in and gave me a long and passionate kiss, just like the one from the other night. The intensity of the kiss started to increase as it continued.

I didn’t know if I liked this, sneaking into a dark corner of the library to make out. I actually really wanted to see all the books. Don’t get me wrong, the kissing was great, but we could do that anywhere. I wanted to get to know Vox better. The wedding was just around the corner and I had barley spent anytime with him.

A mysterious beeping noise came from Vox’s waist which caused him to break the kiss. I frowned as he looked down at a small black box hooked onto his belt. “Shit. I’m so sorry, Emmary, but Father just paged me. Apparently there’s another mix up. I have to go.” He gave me another quick kiss, “I’ll send Hal with a car to come get you. Bye.” He took off at a brisk pace, weaving between shelves toward the exit.

Well that sucks. I sighed and made my way out of our hiding spot, touching rows of books as I passed, reading their titles. I glanced over the shelves of books. I wanted to scoop them all in my arms and bring them home with me. I wanted to open each one and uncover what stories they held. But I knew that I couldn’t, so I picked one up that had caught my eye. I opened the front cover and flipped to the first page. Before I knew it, I was completely engrossed in the novel.

“The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde?”

I looked up from the book and was completely baffled, “Mr. Bly.” My words came out more like a statement.

“That is my name.” His voice has an underlying condescending tone to them. I could see him more clearly in the light of day. He looked so much like Vox it scared me. Not only the facial features, but his body’s build was astonishingly similar to that of Vox.

“Right.” I became flustered. I didn’t know what to say to him, the man that said awful things to me a few nights ago. “I was just surprised to see you here.”

He gave a swift nod, “I had a meeting with the Board of Representatives.”

“Okay, well, that would explain why you’re here.”

“Yes it does. I see you are here to pick up a new book. Vox says you love to read.”

I nodded and looked down at the book in my hand, “I do.” Vox talks about me to his father?

He gave me a puzzled look and glanced around. “I thought he was supposed to be here with you.”

“He said that you paged him to go to the office. Something about another mix up.”

Mr. Bly narrowed his eyebrows together, “Apparently Vox is lying to you, I didn’t page him. Now, if you will excuse me, I do have work that needs to be done. Do you need a ride back to the house? I can send for a car.”

I shook my head, “No thank you, Hal is on her way.”

“Okay, goodbye then, Emmary.” He made a move to walk away but stopped himself, “By the way, that is an exceptionally good book, one of my favorites. It has a lot of parallels to the real world. I hope you enjoy it.” With his final statement he turned on his heel and headed toward the elevator.

The conversation with Vox’s dad left me in a whirlwind. First his dad actually had a decent conversation with me. No nasty remarks, no degrading comments. He was actually genuinely decent. Maybe I had just interacted with him on a bad night, after all he did catch Vox and I trespassing, that would send anyone into a fit of rage.

Secondly, Mr. Bly had blatantly told me that Vox was lying to me. He didn’t call Vox into work, Vox had fed me a lie and took off for an unknown reason. How often did Vox lie to me about having to go into work? What was he doing instead?

I stood there and stared off into space for what seemed like ages before someone tapped me on the shoulder. “Emmary?”

I jumped clear out of my skin and saw Hal standing beside me, “Oh, Hal. Hey, sorry. I didn’t see you there.”

She gave me a friendly smile, “Clearly. I’ve been standing here trying to get your attention for like five minutes.”

I gave an awkward laugh, “Sorry.”

Hal gave me a wicked grin, “Are you ready?”

“For what?”

Hal pointed to the book, “To check that book out and go do some shopping.”

“Oh, right, yes. Yes I am.” I followed Hal toward the check out desk and let her deal with all the gizmos and gadgets that were there. When she was done pushing buttons and entering codes she handed me the book, “Here you go. It’s all yours until the 21st.”

“The 21st? That’s a long time to keep a book, isn’t it?” Back home it was only two weeks.

Hal shook her head, blonde curls flying around, “Not really. It’s two weeks away. I know you’re a fast reader and everything, but that’s not that long.”

“Two weeks?” That would make today the 7th. Today was the seventh? Wow, how time flew. I had no idea the date until just then. That meant that the wedding was in a mere eleven days. 11 days. I could feel my eyes starting to bug out just as my palms were getting sweaty.

“Is everything alright, Emmary?” She asked as we got into the car.

I nodded and gulped. “Yeah, everything is peachy.”

She frowned and crossed her arms, “What is it?”

I shook my head, “Nothing.”

Hal rolled her eyes, “Is this about the wedding?”

“Yes.” I nodded. “I’m just so stressed about it being so soon.”

“Everything is going to be fine.” Hal took my hands, “Really. You and Vox are great together.”

I smiled, feeling a little foolish. “I know, it’s just that everything here is so overwhelming already, and then now this wedding is coming faster than I expected. I haven’t started planning anything at all, and I’m about to commit myself to life to a man I barely even know.”

“You know Vox.”

“I’ve known him for like a week. Oh god. I’ve known him for 7 days. How terrifying is that?”

Hal gave me a small smile, “You’re going to be with him for the rest of your life no matter if you get married or not. You’re matched. Be thankful you have a match.”

I gave her a weak smile and a squeeze of the hand, “You’re right.”

Her face then lit up once again, “Why don’t we go dress shopping?”

My smile became genuine at this, “Okay.” I wasn’t entirely thrilled about going to look for a wedding dress, but it made

Hal happy to help me. “Hey Hal?”

She looked up from a gizmo in her hand, “Yeah?”

“Would you mind being my maid of honor?”

She threw her arms around me, “Of course I will. Oh my gosh, Em. This is fantastic.” She giggled and her smile reached her brown eyes. That’s when it clicked. I now knew why Clinson Vaughn was so familiar. Hal looked just like him.