This is my first ever story. Feel free to critique it.
Clara picked a book up off the ground where someone had apparently tossed it. How could some people be so lazy as to not even put it back on the shelf? She sighed and put it back where it belonged. The young woman had been working at the small used book shop for the past month and it was not as enjoyable as she had hoped. She had loved the little place and couldn’t believe her luck when a help wanted sign went up the day she started searching for a job, but once the excitement had worn off, she had realized that it was an actual job, complete with dealing with obnoxious, lazy people who couldn’t bother putting things back when they were done. Still, it would help pay for Clara’s massive college tuition fees next year… and there was Andy. It could be worse.
She looked up when she heard the sound of the door open. A middle aged man walked into the shop, carrying a large cardboard box. Clara walked over to greet him. She helped him set the box on the counter and smiled. “Hi! Are you looking to sell?”
The man smiled kindly. “Yeah. My mother recently passed away and I was looking to get rid of some old books. No room for them,” he explained, glancing around the shop interestedly. He turned back to Clara.
“Sure, we’ll look at these tonight. You can come back tomorrow and pick up the money and whatever we decide we can’t sell,” she said, pulling out a paper for him to sign.
“No, no,” he said waving his hand, “I don’t want any back. Can you just throw away the rest? I don’t really want to deal with them, you know?”.
Clara shrugged, “Sure. You can come back tomorrow around one for your money though. Just fill this out.”
The man, who wrote his name down as Paul, finished filling out the form. He wandered around the store for a while and bought a couple things before leaving. The rest of the day passed uneventfully and eventually Clara locked the door and turned the sign to closed. She grabbed the box from behind the counter and awkwardly carried it into the back room.
“Here, let me help,” a Andy said, taking the box from her. Andy was the owner of the store, having inherited it from his father a little over six months ago at the age of 30. He had brown hair that always seemed to be a mess and warm, kind eyes framed by rectangular glasses. He had a strong, clean shaven jaw and a handsome face. Andy perpetually had his face in a book and was painfully shy, content to let his employee face the customers while he took inventory and filled out paperwork. Clara found him both devastatingly gorgeous and painfully adorable, but unfortunately for her, he was also gay. She had resigned herself to being his friend, which wasn’t too bad. He was funny and nice, and could also make excellent coffee, which he made in the backroom and shared with her every morning.
After setting the box on a table, Andy opened the box and looked through it curiously. “There’s some cool stuff in here,” he said pulling out an old looking book titled Magic for White Witches. He flipped through it and snorted. “Nevermind, it’s just some new age crap,” he said, showing some decidedly new looking text within it about finding your inner woman. He pulled out a couple more and went to his desk to price them. Clara grabbed some more and looked through it. After sorting through the books in silence for a while, she pulled out a small, unmarked, leather bound book. She opened it and realized it was a notebook. Some pages were ripped out, what was left was blank, lined paper.
“Hey, Andy?” He looked up. “The guy said he didn’t want anything back, can I keep this? It’s a notebook.” Clara held it up.
“Sure,” he said, disinterestedly before returning to his work.
Clara finally left as it got dark, the notebook in her bag as she walked home. Her house was a basic, suburban home that she shared with her father and older brother, Nick, who went to the local community college. Clara’s mom had passed away when she was five, leaving her dad to raise the two siblings. She had had a nice childhood and had just become an adult (according to law) a couple months ago. She had been accepted into a good college and would be moving a couple cities over in the fall. For now, though she was stuck at home.
Her dad glanced up from the couch when she came in. “Hey,” he said in greeting before turning back to the T.V. Clara grabbed some food from the kitchen before running upstairs to her room, peeking into Nick’s room to say hi as she passed. After watching a bit of Netflix on her laptop, she grabbed the notebook. It wasn’t completely unmarked now that she looked at it. It had strange symbols etched into the leather and the inside cover had some words handwritten in pen.
“Write your deepest fantasies here and they may become true.” Clara read it, amused at the words. Clearly, that woman had been into some silly stuff. Still, it would be fun…
Clara grabbed a pen and began to write. When she was finished she read over her handiwork, feeling a bit embarrassed. She reminded herself that she was just doing this for fun and that no one would ever see this. Just in case, she put the book under her mattress. She got ready for sleep and went to bed.
The next day started off the same as any other. She gave fifty bucks to Paul when he came by and sold a couple books. The strange thing happened after they had closed up.
She went into the back room to say goodnight to Andy. He looked agitated, but smiled when he saw her. “I’m gonna get going,” Clara said, grabbing her stuff to go.
“Wait!” He gasped, grabbing her hand as she turned to leave. Clara turned in surprise. “I…” He blushed a deep red.
“What’s going on?” Clara said, looking at him strangely.
“Have I ever told you how beautiful you are?” he asked in a rush, still holding her by the hand.
Confused, Clara tried to find a way to respond. But, before she could, Andy pulled her in and kissed her. Clara gasped against his lips, before relaxing and reaching up to tangle her fingers in his hair. He took a couple steps forward, pushing her up against the wall. He grabbed her leg as they kissed, pulling it up and running his hand up her thigh and under her skirt. Clara made a small noise and pushed him back. Her head spun as she tried to understand the situation. “What are you doing?” she gasped, staring at him.
“I want you,” he said breathlessly. “I love you.”
“What?! Andy,” she said, a bit too loudly, “You’re gay.”
“I just realized today. How much I love you. I want to be with you, forever,” he said fervently. And then he pulled her to him again. He resumed running his hand up her thigh, but this time Clara let him grab her panties and pull them down. He threw them away carelessly. He began to fumble with his pants, not breaking the kiss. He managed to pull his pants down, revealing a surprisingly large cock. Without hesitation, he pushed closer and thrust into her, hard. She gasped and he moved his lips to her throat. He continued pounding into Clara, her back against the wall. She moaned in pleasure at the rough fucking. She had had sex before with a high school boyfriend, but this was nothing like the awkward, five minute encounter. Andy was like an animal, all passion. She felt herself reaching a climax within a couple minutes. Andy let out a grunt of pleasure and put his lips next to her ear. “I love you. I love you so much,” he moaned into her ear. This drove Clara over the edge and she climaxed hard around him, pulling him close to her. The feeling drove Andy over too and he came inside her with a yell.
Clara slumped against the wall, Andy holding her up. He was breathing hard. They stayed like that for a while before Andy took a couple steps back. He was smiling dazedly at her. “Was that good?” he asked.
“I… Yeah, but Andy… why? You’re gay, you have a boyfriend! Why did you do… this… all of a sudden?” Clara felt her confusion coming back again, but an idea was starting to form in her head.
Andy frowned. “My boyfriend. Right… I forgot,” he said looking confused. “I’ll have to break up with him” He looked upset for a second, but then he smiled. “I have you, though. Everything will be okay. I love you,” he said happily.
Clara was starting to become disturbed. This was weird, he sounded like he wasn’t thinking straight. Something was very wrong here and she thought she knew what it was. “I have to go,” she said, glancing at the door.
Andy’s smile vanished and anxiety filled his eyes. “Do you not want me?” he said. “I know I’m older, but I thought you liked me. And I pleased you didn’t I?” He looked on the verge of tears.
Clara became a bit panicked at his reaction. “No! Of course I want you. I just need to leave okay? I’ll see you tomorrow.” Clara backed toward the door. “And don’t break up with John yet! Wait until I see you tomorrow.”
“Oh. Okay. I’ll see you tomorrow,” Andy said, watching her go. He still looked upset at her leaving, but he wasn’t crying.
Clara rushed home, her mind racing. When she got back, she ran up the stairs to her room and pulled the notebook out from under her mattress. She opened it up and stared at the words she had written.
“Andy will fall madly in love with me and fuck me when the store closes.”