After work ended for them, Stanley and Jordan headed out of the market and chatted more.

“Did you see? I told you it’d work out.” Jordan pointed out as he gave Stanley another nudge.

“Yeah, I do, thanks for that.” Stanley complimented.

“Sure thing, however, you owe me a trip to the library today.”

Stanley blinked. “Wait, why is that?”

“You say you’re new to the place, correct?”

“Yeah, I joined not too long ago. Why do you ask?”

“And it seemed like we got what it looked to be a promotion. So, the higher-ups could depend on us more often.”

“Where are you going with this?” Stanley asked, raising an eyebrow.

“I say we go study, cause if we improve our knowledge, then we might gain more praise from the higher-ups!” Jordan glanced over and spotted the trolley driving by. “I think we can get to the library faster if we ride on one of those. Come on, let’s go.” He ran over towards it, prompting Stanley to sigh and follow him.

.-.-.-.

The two soon arrived at The Vision Library. The place was empty save for a select few workers. Stanley and Jordan looked around the color-coded aisles and searched for some excellent books to help them with their work. Jordan walked over to the aisle with shades of red covers while Stanley searched in the aisle with blue ones.

Time passed as the duo picked up some books and laid them down on the white table to read carefully. So far, neither of them made any actual progress. Stanley wished there would be a faster, more efficient way of finding what they needed. He turned to Jordan and was about to ask him something, but Jordan seemed to be out of focus, his mind on something else entirely.

“Hey, Stanley,” Jordan spoke up in a whisper. “Do you think that attendant over there is cute?” He asked while pointing at someone who worked there.

“Will you focus?” Stanley asked, smacking his forehead with his hand.

“I am, I am. Why don’t we ask the lady to give us some tips and advice?”

“Um, I’m not okay with talking to...”

“No worries, I’ll do it for you!” Jordan got up and headed over to where the woman stood.

Stanley wasn’t sure how this would go. He turned away from the scene, covering his ears and shutting his eyes. His body felt queasy, and his head got woozy, prompting him to rush over to the nearest garbage can. He coughed, trying to extract the vomit from his system while white noise occurred in the background.

Stanley couldn’t hear what happened, but eventually, the library grew silent again. He rubbed his eyes to get a clearer vision. He looked around and didn’t find anybody there, not even Jordan, who seemed to have disappeared. A tap hit him on his shoulder as Stanley turned to see a brown-haired woman in a librarian outfit and matching hat approach him.

“Hey sir, are you alright?” She asked with concern.

“Oh, yeah, I think so,” Stanley replied weakly. “Do you know where—?”

“If you’re worried about your friend, he’s outside; we kicked him out.” She pointed out.

“What? Why?”

“Harassment. Also, if you were wondering, I’m in a relationship.”

“I’m sorry...?”

“Don’t worry about it.”

“Oh, can I ask you something?”

“If it’s not anything dirty, then go right ahead,” Stanley whispered something in her ear and then stepped back. “Ah, is that so? Hang on a moment.” The woman left to go to a yellow aisle and picked out two hardcover books with yellow covers on them. She then handed them over to Stanley with a slight smile. “Here, these should help you out.”

“Sweet, thank you so much,” Stanley replied. “I’m sure these will help.”

“Great to hear, those two are on the house!”

Stanley had a feeling that he’d seen the woman from before, but couldn’t quite put his finger on it. He decided not to think about it too hard as he headed out of the library.

.-.-.-.

Jordan sat on the stairs with his hands on his chin as he pouted, when the doors opened from behind him. He turned to find Stanley exiting the place with books in his hands. Jordan was about to get up, but Stanley approached him and sat down beside him.

“I got some books,” Stanley said.

“Hey, superb work.” Jordan complimented.

“Is it true what the librarian said? That you up and harassed her?

“What? No way!” Jordan shook his head. “I just talked to her, but her ‘lover’ didn’t take too kindly to that and threw me out.”

“Is that so?” Stanley glanced back at the books. “But then, why did she tell me that...?”

“Ah, who cares? Let’s go study! My place or your place?”

“I’m not sure what you mean—”

“My place it is. Let’s go!” Jordan was about to head out when Stanley stopped him again.

“Hold up; I didn’t even say a—”

“You know,” Jordan turned to face the man with his hands behind his back. “There’s this little thing you should know about: It’s called speaking your mind.” He tapped his forehead. “You might want to use that more often.”

As he walked past, the words hung in Stanley’s mind, stuck in the back of his mind for quite a while as he begrudgingly followed Jordan to his place.