[lena] books, words, stories.

[ALEX JAMES MURPHY]

It wasn’t a known fact that Alex James Murphy enjoyed reading. In fact, he would rather keep the idea that he was a secret bookworm away from most of his friends or any people that knew him in general. But slipping into a library on a nice Sunday afternoon, browsing through several shelves and skimming through books he had read a countless number of times was something that he didn’t mind spending his time doing. Being the type of person to live life in the fast lane—Alex had felt that reading books, sitting down and quietly watching a story unfold was a sort of balance in his life, something that kept him grounded, kept him from moving too fast, too crazily.

Stepping into the quiet library, he waved to the librarian who he had gotten to known over the years, and headed promptly over to the fiction section of the library. His literature class in college had required him to get a few books from the library, though mostly, he was just looking for something new to read. As he was browsing, he came across one of his favorites, A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens. A smile came across his face as he reached out to it and pulled it smoothly out of its slot. He had remembered reading this novel in high school – truly an underrated book by his standard, as he stood in front of the shelf and flipped freely through the pages, reminiscing the time he had read this.

He hadn’t realized how long he had been standing there, reading through the lines and tracing the words with his fingers as he read. From an outsider’s look, he might’ve looked positively mental, as Alex had grinned while he was reading, maybe chuckled a little bit, and seemed thoroughly engrossed in the words that seemed the float off the page and paint a wonderful picture in his mind. He was always, always a visualizer. Facts, figures, numbers – no, not his thing.

“A wonderful fact to reflect upon, that every human creature is constituted to be that profound secret and mystery to every other,” Alex quoted to himself quietly, his voice in wonder. He enjoyed studying the dynamics of people – maybe that was why he liked reading so much. Maybe not so much for the story – but for the characters. It was definitely an understatement to say that Alex Murphy was a people person.

[/font][/size]

[LENA CALLISTA SANCHEZ]

For once, the pencil in Lena's hand was writing words and not sketching things around her. She sat quietly in the library, her dark, wavy curls spilling over her shoulders as she wrote. Her lower lip was caught between her teeth as her hand glided over the paper. Her bright blue eyes only occasionally darted to the textbook to her left, but for the most part, stayed on the paper. Lena paused finally and re-read her essay; satisfied, she placed it safely in her notebook and placed her notebook and textbook into her dark blue and pale grey tote bag. Pulling it up her shoulder, she began to browse through the library.

Like her mother's bookstore in the heart of Cresting Grove, the books here in the library had an unique scent to them. It was as each book absorbed a little something from everyone that had ever read its pages. Every once in a while upon seeing a book, Lena would pause to pull it out and read a little bit of it. Just when Lena was sure she had read every book in the place, a title she did not recognize would catch her attention. She was reading one of those such books in one aisle when an amused chuckle caught her attention.

She peered through the bookshelf curiously, leaning on its metal shelves, and was rewarded with the view of a man reading a worn copy of A Tale of Two Cities. It was, oddly enough, a classic that Lena herself had not read; nevertheless, she took great delight out of watching his facial expression flit as he read different passages to himself. To her surprise, he then began reading out loud.

The quote provoked a deep emotion within Lena, something past wonder which she couldn't quite put into words. Lena heard a small creak, but she didn't have time to react as the metal bookshelf went crashing down in front of the man. Fortunately, it didn't hit another bookshelf to cause a chain reaction, but many books fell on top of her, several striking her in the head.

[ALEX JAMES MURPHY]

His fingers nimbly flipped through the pages, his eyes skimming effortlessly over the words. It was true – what they said, that reading a book twice made you appreciate more and comprehend it on levels that you wouldn’t be able to the first time around. Alex fully recognized the character of Lucie Manette, the dazzling traits of Charles Darnay, and even the lethargic ways of the one and only Sydney Carton. Was it odd that he wished to be like the men in the story? Gentleman like, completely devoted, strong. Certainly not someone like his father, he thought, very bitterly. But before he could get too angry, he ceased himself of thinking of the man and forced himself to continue reading.

He detected movement immediately, the loud noises of books falling quickly onto the ground, the crash as a metal bookshelf as it hit the tile only inches away from him. Shocked, his eyes were widened and his mouth opened slightly as he inspected the scene. Books splayed everywhere on the ground, a bookshelf nearly in pieces on the ground, and a pretty girl that seemed a bit flustered that had been getting hit by books as they fell. Alex blinked a few times, before shaking away his speechless disposition and heading towards the girl immediately.

“Oh my god, are you alright?” he asked, his voice concerned. He walked over the books to the girl to glance at her. Maybe a few bruises from the books falling, but she seemed to be okay from the looks of it – just a little bit surprised. Alex began to kneel down in an attempt to hoist the bookshelf right side up again, though he had underestimated how heavy it really was. “What happened?” he asked, curiously, though he couldn’t conceal a laugh. Alex began to pick up a few books off the ground, his eyebrows raised in amusement.

It was actually kind of funny to him, seeing a girl that didn’t seem too big knock a bookshelf completely over – it would’ve been a disaster if it had reached another bookshelf and created a domino effect. Thank goodness it had not, otherwise that would’ve caused a lot of trouble to clean up and fix. Alex glanced at the girl again, a smile on his face. “That was actually kind of scary,” he commented, closing a book that laid open on the floor. He couldn’t imagine standing just a feet in front of him, and actually being crushed by the bookshelf. He shuddered at the idea.

[/font][/size]

[LENA CALLISTA SANCHEZ]

Lena could hardly wrap her mind about what was happening as she fell through the air and crashed into the metal bookshelf below her. Several heavy books smacked her in the head, causing her vision to go fuzzy and nearly black as she attempted to get off the bookshelf and instead succeeding in falling onto the floor next to it. Hesitantly, Lena lifted her hand to her temple, her various bracelets jingling musically. His concerned question didn't quite register in her mind, so she only replied with a blank stare as the man attempted to hoist the bookshelf back up.

“What happened?”

That question seemed to stir Lena back to the present, and she shook her head as if to clear it. Her cheeks were flushed vermilion, a great contrast against her mostly pale skin, "Ummm....I think the bookshelf fell over," she replied, though it came out as more of a mutter as she kept her eyes focused on anywhere but him. Once she had come to, Lena found that she knew the guy. How could she not, in such a small town? His name was Alex Murphy, and he had practically been in her classes since elementary school. It would have had been hard not to notice him; he had been popular and athletic, known to most the school. Lena, on the other hand, had been a loner her entire life, watching and sketching what she saw from the sidelines.

“That was actually kind of scary,”

Her eyebrows raised at that statement; at least he hadn't been the one free falling through space to their certain doom... Lena shook her head again at her internal theatrics, and forced herself into a sitting position so she didn't look quite so pathetic. That motion made the room go dizzy again, and she placed her other hand on her other temple as if to steady herself.

[ALEX JAMES MURPHY]

He watched her cautiously as he picked up books from the ground, concerned to notice that she still seemed a little out of it. She seemed a little familiar to him, not only in her looks, but in her aura and her presence in the room. He scrunched his eyebrows together, trying to rack his brain to figure out who she truly was. Something about the light skin, the dark hair, the light eyes struck him as a girl that he had known. Alex was sure he had seen this girl around before, though, because he was absolutely terrible with names, he couldn’t put an identity on her pretty face.

Her cheeks were flushed with a brilliant red, a complete contrast over her light skin and he couldn’t help but find this almost-stranger-to-him pretty adorable as she was. He smiled to himself, almost certain that he looked like a little boy as he was quietly putting books on the shelf and waiting for her to respond to his question he had asked only a few moments earlier. Though, luckily, his patience seemed to do him good as she seemed to snap out of her shock and began to form some coherent sentences.

“Umm… I think the book shelf fell over,” she had replied to his earlier question, her voice wavering and quiet. She seemed to focus her vision everywhere around the library, but him. She seemed not to want to meet her eyes, and he was almost intrigued by her reluctance and her seemingly timid nature. Her comment seemed rather funny to him, however, it had been clearly obvious that the book shelf had fallen over, what he had meant to ask was what had caused the bookshelf to fall over, certainly it could not have fallen over on its own, had it?

He couldn’t help chuckling at her words, smiling in amusement. “I think I’m quite aware that the bookshelf fell over,” he answered, his voice light and friendly as he spoke to her. Alex glanced around at the still many books splayed across the ground, though he had picked up quite a few already. Ordering by alphabetical order would definitely be the hardest part that he’d have to deal with later. “Isn’t it funny, though? The very books that are supposed to stimulate your mind could’ve possibly given you a concussion! Oh, the irony.”

Alex looked up immediately after his comment, pausing. “You don’t have a concussion, right? Because I would hate to joke about that and realize that you actually do have one. That would be positively awful,” he began to talk, going off on a tangent again as he usually did. He began to get a little bit closer to the girl a little closer, not too close to invade her personal space, but to look outwardly to see if she had any bruises or had any apparent cuts on her skin. “In which case, do you need like an ice pack or anything? Oh gosh, I must seem insensitive to you, don’t I?”

He stopped himself from talking for a moment. He offered his hand out for a handshake, a charismatic smile on his face. “I’m Alex, by the way.”

[/font][/size]

[LENA CALLISTA SANCHEZ]

At his chuckle, Lena could feel the scarlet tinge on her cheeks deepen even more. 'There is no way I am going to tell him I was leaning on that bookshelf so I could watch him more easily...., she thought to herself, cringing at how incredibly stalker-ish it sounded to her ears. She watched as he picked up a few more books and set them on the shelf in silence. Lena knew she should help him--after all, she was the one to cause the damned thing to fall over--but she was too mortified to do much at all.

When he mentioned a concussion, however, his expression seemed to change from bright and cheerful to concerned and worried. He moved closer to her, which under normal circumstances would have nearly terrified Lena, but now only added to a startling emotion within her--amusement. It was even hard for her to suppress herself from giggling as he continued to ramble on, not giving her a chance to respond at all; this was not typical Lena behavior at all. Maybe she did have a concussion.

He put out his hand, but Lena could only stare at it for a moment, still containing her laughter, until he said his name. Her brilliant blue eyes looked back up at his face, and she couldn't help but return a smile, however timid. It was infectious, "I know you are," Lena replied quickly, placing her hand in his nervously, her eyes growing wide as she realized what she had said, "I mean, um, I'm Lena," she had to pause as she swallowed down her nerves, "I-I don't...don't think I have a concussion..."

[ALEX JAMES MURPHY]

She didn’t seem to like to talk that much, either that or she was very shy. He found the distinction between both very important – one would be that she was a girl with many thoughts in that pretty head of hers that she just would rather not share, the other was that she was just afraid of meeting and engaging with new people. Either way, Alex found it interesting, found her interesting, and decided that he would try to get to know this girl, if she allowed him to. He raised his eyebrows at her silence, her hesitation, reluctance, the small smile on her face that she seemed to not be comfortable with. It certainly wasn’t a full smile – he recognized. He wondered what her full smile looked like.

“I know you are,” the girl had replied quickly, almost as if she hadn’t been thinking when she had said so. He raised his eyebrows, truly wondering how she could’ve known him and he would’ve not known her. Alex was the type to get around, meet lots of different people, and in a little town like Cresting Grove, he knew he had to have met her somewhere. Her eyes were wide, her blue eyes projecting a nervous, shocked emotion in her eyes as she took his handshake. Her hand was small, her shake wasn’t excessively firm – so she certainly wasn’t someone who was arrogant or had a big ego, he could tell. She seemed to backtrack as she introduced herself as Lena, stuttering and swallowing as she explained that she probably didn’t have a concussion.

“I’m truly, truly glad you don’t have a concussion,” he told her honestly, his eyes lighting up, the worried look on his face almost gone now. He paused for a moment, a smile coming to his face before continuing to speak. He was the type of person who did a lot of the talking, that allowed conversation to flow, even if a person didn’t necessarily want to talk to him. Perhaps he should work on that, he mused, he could get a little annoying, if he thought about. Alex leaned against the bookshelf lightly, because god forbid that the darned thing knock over again, as he spoke to her. “Lena…” he murmured, as if testing out the waters just by saying her name. He smiled, as he liked the way her name sounded on his tongue. “That’s a cute name,” he complimented, a charming smile on his face.

“It actually reminds me of a character in this book I read over the summer – Raisin in the Sun, have you heard of it? Lena’s a very down-to-earth, hardworking character, and I’d put my money on it to say that maybe you would be too,” Alex commented, though not sure where the relevance was to his statement – heck, they were in a library, her name was Lena, it made sense – at least to Alex. He laughed. “Though, if we were to relate all people to characters in history, I would be Alexander the Great, and that’s a bit pompous, even for myself.”

He picked up a few books and placed them on the bookshelf again, aligning them neatly in last name order, as much as he could handle. He met her eyes again, deciding to ask her yet another question, though he was sure he was probably scaring her away more than anything. “You’re certainly not one of those girls that can’t shut up, aren’t you?” he laughed quietly. “Though I suppose I’m one of those boys that can’t seem to shut up either.”

[/font][/size]

[LENA CALLISTA SANCHEZ]

[People make fun of me about how much I can write, and then I RP with you and I'm like "HOW DID SHE COME UP WITH ALL THAT STUFF D:"]

Lena watched as the concern drained from his face to be replaced instead by sincere happiness and relief. It was strange to her that he would feel that way, considering she was sorta in the middle of all that. He didn't know her. Why should he care? Her thoughts were curious, and she tilted her head as he spoke, studying him. There was a sparkle in his eye once he knew she was okay, and it was somewhat captivating. Lena was quiet and shy, and she was fairly certain people rarely gave her a second look over. But Alex? How could anyone not be drawn to him at first sight? He radiated life.

“Lena...That’s a cute name,”

At his flattering words, her gaze darted away. She doubted her cheeks were any redder than before--either they were pushed past capacity or merely tired. Alex explained what her name reminded him off--a character in The Raisin in the Sun. Lena she nodded when he asked if she had heard of it; she had read the play for it once when she was younger. The copy of the play wasn't actually hers; it belonged to her older sister, Ceres. Ceres had always been an aspiring actress and was currently out in Hollywood, trying to make her dream come true. Needless to say, Ceres had always had copies of scripts and plays in her room. Lena managed to..."borrow"...some on occasion.

As he explained what his name reminded him of, the smile that disappeared at the thought of her sister reemerged again. Lena loved history, and she had always thought Alexander the Great to be one of the more interesting historical figures she had read about. The ones she was most interested in, however, weren't often written about in the books, as they were women. There was the notable exception of Cleopatra, but so much had been written about her, that people could not longer decipher what was true and what was merely the stuff of legend.

“You’re certainly not one of those girls that can’t shut up, aren’t you? Though I suppose I’m one of those boys that can’t seem to shut up either.”

"Your name reminds me of RoboCop," Lena said quietly after a moment of thought, her voice hesitant as if she wasn't exactly sure if it was okay for her to speak up. Her eyes darted to him, "You know, the, um, movie. 1987. It's a-about a cop named Alex Murphy who is...is gruesomally murdered," She frowned as she said this last part, realizing it wasn't exactly as complimentary as what he said, so she struggle to finish, "But he was turned into a robotic cop."

[ALEX JAMES MURPHY]

Oh, she was definitely a listener. He could tell the minute he started talking to her that she was, though now she had confirmed it. He could almost see her processing all his words through her head, her mind at work, her thoughts running and going over the words that she would probably never voice out loud. But she was an avid listener, good at it, more than most average people were. Alex admired people like her, there were never enough people who would just listen anymore, too many people that just heard but never listened. Lena, she was a listener.

Alex studied her, almost like a book, trying to read her actions, her movements, her eyes, her mood as he talked to her. There was some distinct art of body language that seemed to draw him to her, that he urged to figure out. He looked away suddenly, turning to put just more books on the shelf. How interesting it was to engage in a conversation that didn’t immediately speak without thinking. It was refreshing in a way, after being around so many shallow, egocentric people. It gave him hope in humanity, hope in people.

"Your name reminds me of RoboCop," Lena had said quietly, her voice hesitant, as if he was going to condemn her from speaking of some sort. He raised his eyebrows, her words not exactly what he was expecting – though he hadn’t known what he was expecting, really. RoboCop? He had been confused, though she seemed to go on to explain herself well. “You know, the, um, movie. 1987. It's a-about a cop named Alex Murphy who is...is gruesomally murdered. But he was turned into a robotic cop.”

That… was definitely far from what he was expecting, but he couldn’t help but laugh. “That sounds absolutely pleasant,” Alex commented, another laugh escaping him. Perhaps he should stop by a video rental store or something to pick up the movie, because someone with his name being brutally slaughtered seemed like the exact type of movie he would watch. He laughed again. “So I’m a robotic cop who ends up getting killed, I think that’s entirely plausible, isn’t it?”

He tapped his chin, pausing to think about it. “Who comes up with these things, anyway? I mean, a robotic cop? Definitely someone with a good imagination,” Alex mused. “That aside, what brings yourself to this great, wonderful library today?”

ooc: I… actually don’t know how I come up with this stuff, honestly. Don’t worry though, I’m mostly a rambler. I should work on that. Hahahhaa.[/font][/size]

[LENA CALLISTA SANCHEZ]

"Well, actually, it's a human who is a cop named Alex Murphy who gets killed," she explained quietly, cautiously, as she picked up books from the ground and placed them on the shelf. Lena was surprised that a librarian hadn't heard the noise and hadn't ran over to scream at them for making a mess. Her hands picked up each novel with a small smile, her fingers running over the stickers and the worn coverings. The books in this library had so much character, "It's only after he's dead that he is recreated as RoboCop."

“That aside, what brings yourself to this great, wonderful library today?”

Lena glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. It was a question that had been in the back of her mind since she saw him reading, as she had never really though Alex Murphy was the kind of person to like books. 'Maybe it's just that book,' she thought to herself, shrugging inwardly. Outloud, she replied, "I, um, had to write an essay. It's....quieter here. Here than at home, that, um, is." She cringed at how not eloquent that sounded and let out an inaudible sigh. Since her brother had moved back to Cresting Grove, it was never quiet in the Sanchez household. 'Not like it was ever quiet before...'

[ALEX JAMES MURPHY]

An unusual conversation, definitely, but talking to Alex meant going through topics quickly, which was exactly the way he liked it – never a dull moment. Life would truly be boring if people talked about all the same things, were completely usual and unoriginal. He raised his eyebrows as she corrected him on the movie, apparently it was a human who was killed and recreated as a RoboCop. Either way, the concept was intriguing – in a weird kind of way. He laughed, lightly slapping himself in the forehead as he glanced at her. “I suppose that makes more sense,” he replied, politely. “I wonder how it would be to be a robot, though I don’t think it’d be very enjoyable. You know, 1984 by George Orwell, how practically everyone was Robot-like in that novel.” He shivers at the idea.

Something always important to Alex was individuality, character, liveliness. The idea of a homogenous society where everyone was the same – Alex couldn’t imagine. He loved the different aspects of people that made them who they were and like how everyone had their own interesting quirks about them. “I, um, had to write an essay. It’s… quieter here. Here than at home, that, um, is.” She had stuttered in her words, her sentence not flowing as if she was comfortable talking to him, or that she was not good at speaking freely in general. She chose her words carefully, it was as if she had things to say, but that she just couldn’t execute it character – that’s what Alex observed.

He raised his eyebrows as he studied her. Alex refused to prod Lena, ask her about her home-life, because that was always a touchy subject for him. “Well clearly this bookshelf isn’t going to be organized any time soon, I’m going to see if there’s anyone in the backroom that could help us with this,” Alex told her, a smile on his face as he went to ask a librarian about the bookshelf, who had then told him that she would get some of the volunteers to spend the day fixing up the books. Alex peered over at Lena, walked back and then promptly decided that he would become friends with her – eventually.

“Ms. Bell said that she’d get this taken care of,” Alex explained to her, his voice kind. His eyes went to the books splayed on the ground and sighed in relief as he realized that he didn’t have to organize it all – now that would take forever, just the two of them. He looked up at Lena again curiously, meeting her blue eyes. “Since this is taken care of, I’m about to head out, would you like to grab some coffee with me this afternoon?” He gave her a fully charming grin, his tone of voice encouraging her to go, the invitation welcome.

[/size][/font]

[LENA CALLISTA SANCHEZ]

LENA CALLISTA SANCHEZ IN "books, words, stories."
ALSO STARRING alex james murphy

Lena nodded hesitantly at his mention of the novel 1984 by George Orwell; she had read both it and Animal Farm and had found them both to be interesting and slightly haunting reads. Inwardly, she disagreed with Alex about the people in 1984 to be robotic, though she wouldn't repeat it outloud. While they were all the same, they still were human. A frown creased her lips; perhaps she was taking the word "robot-like" much too literally.

She wondered if people thought she was a robot. Lena was certainly very quiet and shy; when forced to talk to people, she normally managed to flatly utter one or two word answers before fleeing the scene. She remembered the words that Jess had used to describe what people might see in her. 'I think people see fear. And intimidation. Uncertainty. And every now and then, perhaps a glimse of passion, and knowledge, and curiousity,' he had said to her. Lena wasn't so sure why the word 'passion' stuck out most in her mind; perhaps it was because it was never a word she had ever used to describe herself, except maybe in her art.

As Alex explained that he was going to go find someone to clean up the mess and left, she nodded again. She watched him walk away and instantly felt stupid. 'I should have offered to do that! I could leave right after informing them....,' she thought, shaking her head. Despite the thought, she still felt a pang of guilt in her gut. Lena had spent a lot of time in the library in the past, and she hoped to spend more time there in the future; she felt guilty about knocking over the bookshelf and causing such a mess. That didn't reflect well on her at all.

' “Ms. Bell said that she’d get this taken care of,”

Lena turned her head as she heard Alex approach back. So the librarian had gotten the situation under control now, Lena supposed. She felt a strange twinge of regret; had Lena actually been looking forward to cleaning up and organizing the books with Alex? She let her blue eyes study his face for only a moment, a hint of a blush on her cheeks. He was fairly handso--Lena stopped the line of thought. She didn't date because boys didn't actually notice her.

She was about to figure out how to formulate a good-bye to him when he suddenly gave her a captivating grin and asked if she would be interested in going to get coffee with him, "Okay," she said, the word coming to her lips before she had a chance to really think about it. The moment she spoke it, the only thought she could think of was 'Oh god, please don't go to my mother's coffee shop.'

LYRICS by the googoo dolls, "iris"
TEMPLATE by Laurysa
WC 470 words