/u/ and /lit/ - Book Club

Book Club - Lily and Kitty

Lily was on a mission. If there was a God, she had brought her to this very spot. There was a new bookstore in town and she needed some reading material. She had her list, she had her purse, she just needed the bravery to go in.

She had gotten here right before closing so she could be alone while she shopped. Once people knew she was looking for lesbian novels, they looked at her different. Even then, it was hard enough to even find any in stock. The romance sections were always full of straights, and the handful of stores she knew had LGBT sections almost always filled them with cowboys and vampires. This store was new, a blank slate.

The red-brick shop stood alone on the busy street. The next building was a house about 100 yards away. The store looked cozy and warm. The sign was still faded from the previous owner, Bean Me Up. A handmade banner was hung over the entrance

THE DUST COVER

She walked up the steps and opened the door. A little bell rang as she stepped inside

“This place is huge!” Lily loudly whispered to nobody in particular. There were dozens of shelves, and a second-story with even more. The view from the curb did not do this place justice.

“Just a second!” A disembodied voice shouted from somewhere in the back.

Lily walked over to the first bookshelf; it was labeled “Classics.” Each shelf was filled with a healthy mix of authors. Some looked new but there were others that had varying shades of wear. The top shelf only held one book on a metal display stand, Why Read The Classics? by Italo Covino.

“Looking for something specific?” The same voice asked her, now right behind her.

Lily squeaked and froze. She slowly turned around to see a woman behind her. The woman was around the same age as her, but much taller. She was dressed in a blue cardigan, white undershirt, faded jeans, and plain flats. Around her forehead was a massive white bandanna that pulled her shoulder-length hair back. Her face was sharp  Her handmade name badge read ‘Litsea.’

“O-oh I was just looking at the first shelf. I saw you just opened and wanted to look around. It’s so big in here!.”

“Would you believe they’re all mine?” Litsea smiled as she gazed over the shelf.

“Really?” Lily’s eyes got wide. “You must really love books.”
“They’re not, that was supposed to be a joke. Really they belong to the bank that gave me the loan, but one day I’ll have a library like this.”

Lilly giggled at her own gullibility. “My name’s Lily. I live just up the road.” she said to the woman.

“You can call me Kitty. Everyone here does.”

“But there’s nobody else here.”

“And that’s the way I like it.”

“You run this whole place by yourself?”

“Now that is 100% a true statement, promise. I haven’t hired any staff yet. Do you want to take a look around? I’m still shelving some books but if you’re looking for something specific I can probably find it on my inventory sheet.” Kitty held up a massive three-ring binder with many tabs.

“Actually, do you have a romance section?” Lily asked, with a little caution in her voice. This was usually the time when most booksellers lost interest in talking to her.

****

Kitty tried to hide her scowl but she knew it flashed for just a moment. She needed at least one sale today and if it meant getting this woman some trash novel about a shirtless fireman, then that's what she would have to do.

“I haven’t unpacked those boxes yet but I’ll be happy to show you where they are.”

Lilly blushed “Okay.”

‘Great, now she knows I’m judging her. For all I know she’s a reviewer and the Sunday newspaper will have a big story about the dumb bookstore with the snobby owner.’

She was snobby but she was trying her best to turn it down if not off.

As the girls passed each section, Kitty pointed out where everything was, or where everything would be. First floor was fiction, the second floor was non-fiction and special interest. Currently she didn’t have any special interest books but she was willing to stock some if the need arose. She tried to host a little bit of everything. She considered the shop to be an exposition more than anything, a modern display of new and old literature. If a patron wanted a book that she didn’t have, she would buy two and add one to the inventory.

“How many of these books have you read?” asked Lily, still as wide-eyed as when Kitty found her.

“Maybe half? I read a lot while I was getting my master’s in college. Some I remember reading, but not what they were about, if that makes any sense.”

Her master's program was rough. A BA in English at Clover University didn’t prepare her for the workload at Columbia. She dreamed of an MFA in literature but the program was cut a year before she applied and had to settle for an MA. She must have read a dozen books each semester and probably two papers on each. When she walked across the stage, she was ready to read anything other than Tolstoy and Twain.

Over the next 10 years, she slaved away as an editor at a publishing company. She was on track to be the next chief editor when the next big hit was discovered. ‘Twilight, with aliens’ is what her cubemate called it. His name was Chad. The first printing sold eight million copies. He got the promotion. She walked out the door three weeks later and used her savings to get a loan for all this, this paradise. She was ready to rediscover her love for reading art, as opposed to trash. The trash this girl wanted. Fucking Chad.

“Excuse me, Miss Kitty. Are you okay?” Lilly pulled on her sleeve and asked.

“Uh, oh, yeah, why?” She shook away her daydream as she looked at the girl.

“Because you’ve been staring at that copy of Harry Potter for a couple minutes now.”

“Sorry, sorry. I’ll show you to those boxes now.” She must have looked like a total mess.

Past all the shelves they got to a big area in the back. Kitty envisioned it as a reading space, where she could host book clubs or maybe a children’s reading time. For now, there were at least a dozen boxes sealed up with just as many opened. Piles were scattered based on type and author. Kitty briefly scanned the boxes and tore one open that was filled with pink and purple paperbacks.

“This is all I have now. Feel free to dig through as you like. Do you mind if I keep working?”

“Don’t you have to close?”

Kitty shrugged. “Meh, it’s my store, I can make the rules.” She beamed as she was reminded that she owned all of this.

“Oh-okay” Lilly said sheepishly as she walked over to the romance box.

Kitty grabbed a box of new releases and lugged it back to the front of the store. Her plan was to work shelf by shelf and see how much she could get done before midnight. Once the girl left, she would be able to put in her headphones and really get busy.

****
As Kitty walked away, Lily frowned. She didn’t mean to upset her. How could she have known that her request would upset the woman. She tried to shake her sadness away as she pulled books out of the box.

‘Cowboy, fireman, navy seal, viking. Where are the women!’ She was increasingly flustered as she reached the bottom, with nothing close to girl/girl inside. It was then that she started to panic. She could risk asking Kitty about LGBT romance books, but that may set her off even more! Lily pulled out her phone and found the author’s name. She clutched her phone as she looked for Kitty.

Kitty was up front, putting various books in the windows. Hardcovers that would draw customers in, almost like bait.

“Excuse me, Kitty.”

Kitty looked back at her again. Lily could see she was trying to hide a sour look, but it softened when she was there was no book in her hands.

“I’m not finding what I want. If I give you the author’s name, is there a way I could special order it.”

“Yeah, I don’t have my computer set up but let me look on my phone. What’s the author’s name?”

“Last name Brayden, first name Melissa.”

****

Kitty froze. A lightbulb slowly turned on in her head. She’d heard that name before, but where? Google pointed her to an Amazon author page, which brought up a laundry list of books by Brayden. They were all in the same section ‘LGBT Romance’. The lightbulb got brighter. She looked at her phone, then looked at the girl, the back at her phone. She blushed, hard, and realized she had been completely wrong about Lily. The lightbulb got brighter. Well maybe not completely wrong, but at least she wasn’t looking for the standard trash.

The first book she pulled up, she was reminded of where she knew the author from. She had this book at home, Kiss The Girl. Peak brightness.

“Wh-what’s the title?” Her voice was shaking, not out of fear but a mix of shame and embarrassment. Her pretentiousness had betrayed her.

Lilly was back to looking at her phone. Her eyes peeked over it when she muttered the name.

“Kiss The Girl”

The lightbulb exploded. She put her phone away.

“I, uh, I have it, but not here."

Lily looked at her like the girl had a question mark over her head. Kitty paused and gulped as she thought her next statement over. Was she really about to invite this random girl over for a book? Before she could stop herself, she blurted out the question.

"Would you like to stop by my place?”

She froze again, waiting for Lily to say something. She desperately hoped the girl would say yes.