ELLIE JONES

After four hours, I finally finish cleaning 5 out of the 8 shelves we have in the store. I decide to clean the remaining shelves over the next few days since mum wouldn't be here to monitor my every move anyways. I climb down the ladder and painstakingly carry it to the back of the store. Business today is slower than usual, so I decide to continue doing my essay. I take my headphones out of my bag and sit down behind the counter to start doing my work.

Before I can even start writing anything, I hear someone walk in. "Hi," The person who I assume to be the delivery man says. "I am here to deliver a new shipment of books?" He tells me. I point to the empty space on the floor in front of the counter and tell him that he can leave them there. He places two tall stacks of books on the floor before leaving. I walk over to where the books are and untie the thin pieces of rope that are wrapped around each stack. I then pick up a copy of the book and read the title. "My Beaux", what an interesting title, I think to myself. Intrigued, my eyes travel down to the bottom of the book where the name of the author is printed. Alfie. I have never heard of him before, which is weird because mum almost never orders books from authors that we didn't know of. She says they don't bring in enough business and weren't worth spending money on. She clearly has not paid enough attention to notice that even with the number of well-known authors here, we rarely have any customers at all.

I turn the book over to read the summary and learn that it's another romance book. It is about a young boy who meets a girl 2 years younger than him. He slowly falls in love with her but is eventually forced to say goodbye and leave the country. He didn't even get the chance to tell her how he felt about her. It also says that he never forgot her even after he left, which I found hard to believe. Nonetheless, it sounds like a beautiful love story, and I hope they find each other again in the end.

After reading the summary of the book, I gather the stacks of books and arrange them in the small display window we had. Not even 15 minutes later, a group of girls walk in, and they each grab a copy of the new book. This is definitely a first. They bring the books to the counter to pay without even a second thought.

"Wow, he must be quite the author," I ask while scanning the books.

"He's amazing, and he is so mysterious," one of the girls says. I raise a brow and continue scanning the remaining books.

"Mysterious?" I ask, my curiosity getting the better of me.

"He is truly one of a kind. It's his first book and no one has seen his face before. But his accent, it is just so incredibly sexy." Another one of them says, completely immersed at the mere thought of this man.

"No one has seen his face?" I ask.

They all nod and one of them proceeds to say that he hates fan signing events. "If that's the case, then how is he already so popular?" I ask while taking the cash from her hands.

"All the teenage girls are just swooning over him; he sounds ridiculously handsome. You should go hear his recent interview, " They tell me. He sounds handsome? My god, teenagers these days will fall for anyone, even a stranger whose face they have never seen before.

"If he never does fan signs, why do you still buy his book?" I ask, still curious.

"I mean, he is bound to do a fan sign one day. We're just buying the book to be prepared for when that day finally comes" The girl with the overwhelming amount of makeup replies.

"Well I hope you enjoy the book girls," I say while handing them the change. They all walk out happily, and I can't help but walk over to the display to pick up a copy for myself.

"It wouldn't hurt to read it right?" I ask myself under my breath.

After the group of girls left, the store was left unvisited, like always. I took that as a sign to close up early and pack away my unfinished schoolwork. I convince myself that I will complete it tomorrow before the class on Tuesday and walk up to the store's tiny attic. We keep a lot of unsold and old copies of books up here. I also keep two thick blankets and a pillow in a clear box in here as it is the best place to be alone, read, and especially helpful for dealing with my feelings and emotions. I lay the first blanket directly under the skylight and place the pillow on top of it. Grabbing the book and the second blanket, I start to read. I have to find out if this author writes as good as he talks.

On the first page is a small, printed note that reads "To my Beaux, I hope that one day when you read this, you will remember what it was like to be Beaux and Alfie again". How sweet, I think to myself.

After reading a couple of chapters, I feel so happy. Not for me, but for the character Beaux. She had this boy running circles in the palm of her hand since the age of 8. She must be one special girl. As I continue reading, I can feel myself completely engrossed and absorbed in their world. It was the most innocent meeting, the most sincere thoughts, and the sweetest exchanges. It was as if the entire world stopped for them and them only.

However, the feeling of happiness and warmth I felt during the first 20 chapters were quickly replaced with sheer sadness and disappointment. He was leaving for the states and didn't have time to tell Beaux goodbye. She was left in London without ever knowing why he left while he was in the states longing and thinking of her every day.

I flip to the next page and read that he had written her a note that read "To my Beaux, I hope you read this and remember what it is like being Beaux and Alfie" and lodged it in between the pages of the book that they had written together when they were younger. Even at the age of 13, this boy was a complete, hopeless, romantic.

I later realise that the note here and the note on the first page is similar but with the beginning being written in the past tense. The contextualized meaning of him wanting her to remember them together even after so many years made the story feel so real. I couldn't help but imagine this to be a true story based on such pure and simple love. A boy who fell in love with a girl when they were children, followed by losing each other in a split second, still looking but never finding each other.

" To my Beaux, if you're reading this, it means you've come to the end of this story. But I hope you know that this isn't the end of our story. I miss you and will never stop looking for you."

The end note had me screaming, crying and begging for more. He still loves her after so many years. I hug the book close to my chest and look at my phone. 2:00 am. I have been reading this book the entire night. I slowly put the book down beside me and stare at the starlit sky above me, thinking about when I would meet my very own Alfie. I know I'll meet the one sooner or later, I just hope that it's sooner.

I fall asleep wishing on every star that I will experience even an ounce of such love in my life.