Page 16 of Wire
“Librarians can be badass. Like that chubby librarian monk from Dr. Strange,” Chewy says. She’s pulled her hair up into a messy bun, and that messy bun is now in Pops’ face as she rests her head on his shoulder.
“Um, no offense, Chewy, but I think I have to agree with Ana on this one. The thing is, I never set out to be a librarian. I just kinda fell into it.”
“You’re gonna have to explain that one, sweetheart. I have no idea how anyone accidentally becomes a librarian.” Pops squints at me, his head tilted at the same angle as Chewy’s. The genes in this family are strong.
“Well, um, when I was younger, I wanted to be so many things, but I kinda froze up when it came to deciding. In the end, I didn’t pursue any of them. Then the library job came up, so I took it because I liked kids and books and introducing them to computers and I wanted to move out of the compound. I figured it would be a good stopgap until I decided which path I wantedto take. I just never thought I’d still be there 10 years later.” I look down into my empty glass, and then tip it up to my lips, trying to get the last drops. Ana takes pity on me and pours me more bubbly goodness.
“Well girl, I think it’s about time you had a think about what you want to be.” Pops nods emphatically.
“LIST!” Chewy screams for no reason and then she’s up, stumbling around, opening and closing drawers. She comes racing back, diving onto the couch, a Hulk notepad and matching pen at the ready. “OK, tell us what you like and we’ll write it all down and then me and Pops will deduce what you should be doing. Aaaaand go!”
I sit and wrack my brain for things that I like. “Well, I like kids. Especially kids who need an adult they can trust. So write that down.”
“Needy kid with crappy parents. Got it. Next.”
I watch Ana roll her eyes at Chewy. I try to hide my chuckle by clearing my throat. “Ummmm, I like computers,”
“Geeky shit. Yup, next.” Chewy now has her tongue sticking out while she scribbles all this down.
Now I’m not sure. Those are the things I like and the things I know I’m good at. I look at the expectant looks on the faces of the people around me and I start feeling a little embarrassed that I can’t think of anything else.
“OK, well, what kind of stuff did you like doing when you were a kid?” Ana helpfully suggests, easing my growing discomfort.
Taking a deep breath, I think back.
“Well, when I was a kid, I just loved hanging out with my dad. He would take me and Sunny along with him to train. We would play on the treadmill and he’d give us little barbells to pump. Afterwards, we would have a protein shake lunch.” The goofy grin I’m sporting makes my eyes squinty.
“Hold up girl. You’re trying to tell me you grew up with a bad bastard MC, pumped weights, downed protein shakes, and you came out like this?” Pops waves a tanned, wrinkled hand my way. I look down at my tee and try to figure out if he’s insulting my weight or not.
“He doesn’t mean your looks Rem, he means you somehow still came out like super fricking nice.” Ana helpfully explains.
“Creepily nice.” Chewy unhelpfully adds.
“Dad drummed it into me. I had to be different from my mother and the other women in the clubhouse. Which pretty much meant no cursing and no nastiness.”
They stare at me for a moment before Chewy consults her list.
“Well, looking at this, I don’t know what to tell you other than your perfect job would be to teach computer geeks with bad backgrounds how to pump iron. Is that an actual job?” Chewy looks at us with a squinty eye before tossing her notepad. “Let’s go blow some stuff up.”
“Oh, thank fuck! I thought you’d never ask!” Pops jumps up surprisingly fast for an older man, offering me a hand up, his bright red painted nails shimmering under the lights. I catch Ana rolling her eyes but also coming to a stand.
“Fine. But no one tell Gus this is what we did. That man is stress on legs. He’s so tightly wound that sometimes he gets this throbby vein in his forehead shaped like a vag.”
A laugh bursts out of me at her description and before I can bring my hand up to cover my mouth, Ana slaps it away.
“Embrace it, Rem! It’ll do you good.” She smiles at me, then throws her arm over my shoulder. This is what I’ve been looking for. Sure, I have women in my life I’m close to. I have Miss Shawna, although she’s more of a mother figure. Sunny is my sister, so she doesn’t really count. But this? Havingactual girlfriends that aren’t in any way related to me? This is something new and exciting.
“I vote Remy be the first to blow shit up!”
OK, well, maybe it’ll take while to get used to.
Chapter Five
Beretta_Penn: I’m so glad you’re back home. Now I can stop worrying that you’re going to get blown up all the time.
St_Margarita: Awwww are you trying to say you’d miss me?
Beretta_Penn: Of course! You’re my bestie. My ride or die.