Regina sat in the library waiting for Alan to show up. She figured she would go there early to see the books they had there. She saw a lot of Jane Austen books she had read a dozen times, but wanted to read again. Of course the librarian looked at Regina strangely as she walked down the aisles. Regina rolled her eyes as when she caught the gray-haired woman staring at her with a suspicious look while she pretended to straighten up books on the shelf.

“Hey Regina.” Alan whispered as he walked up to her and the librarian almost dropped the book she was holding as she saw him talking to Regina.

“Hi. Alan, I know you wanted to study here, but can we go somewhere else?” she said nodding towards the nosy librarian, but he wasn’t getting the hint.

“Um…sure. Where do you want to go?” he said as they started walking to the doors.

“I don’t know. Do you know a place that’s quiet, yet comfortable? I still don’t know this place all that well, and I don’t want to get lost.”

“How comfortable are you with studying outdoors?” he asked with a smile.

“Outdoors? Like woods and forest and stuff? Uh…I guess. Yeah, okay.” she said wondering if she should go with him to secluded forest with no one around. She was starting to wonder if his nice guy to blacks thing was an act.

“Great. I’ll drive you.” he said as they walked to his car. He opened the passenger side for her as she climbed in placing her books on the floor. He got in and started the car. She almost cringed hearing a country music station on the radio. She felt like she was in hell, listening to what she considered torture. “You don’t like country, do you?” he asked after about ten minutes of no talking between them.

“No…I’m sorry if I’m not sparing your feelings, but I can’t stand it. I’d rather walk on glass.” she said and he let out a boisterous laugh.

“Okay, I’ll change it.” he said as he changed it to a soul station and left it there. She thought he was just keeping it there to please her and she would have to sit there in guilt for making him change his music to suit her needs. But, that changed when she saw him nodding his head a little. She stared at him in shock. “What?” he said as he noticed her stare.

“You like soul music?” she asked in disbelief as he nodded. “Okay, how did you get into soul music. I have to know, because you don’t look like the type to dig it.”

“Well, the guys at camp got me into it. I still listen to country, but I listen to soul every now and then.” he said as he stopped the car and she saw that they had stopped near a small pond.

“We’re studying here?” she asked with caution in her tone.

“Yeah. It’s quiet and comfortable. I come here all the time to think, so I figured we could come here to study since we have to think. We can stay in the car, we don’t have to get out unless you wanted to get to know nature.” he joked.

“We could stay in the car…today.” she said as she bent down and picked up her copy of The Raven. “Okay, this is one of my favorites by Poe.”

“I started reading it, and I have to be honest…I hated it.”

“Well, Poe isn’t for everyone. Why do you hate it?” she asked feeling genuinely curious.

“I don’t know…I don’t get why he’s talking to a bird.”

“The bird isn’t a literal bird. Ravens are symbolic for death and sadness. The guy is asking the bird, and that could also be his conscious, about his future with his lost loved one and the response nevermore, could be the realization that his lover is dead. Do you understand?”

“Yeah…I’m starting to.” he said as he stared at her.

“Good. Now, personally, I think this is Poe’s way of getting us to fully realize the presence of death. No matter how invincible we think we are…death awaits us all. What do you think?” she asked not realizing that she was going over his head. He gave a look and she let out an embarrassed chuckle. “Sorry. I sort of get caught up sometimes. We’ll take it slow.”

“You really love English, don’t you?” he asked in amazement that she would love it so much. She nodded and let out a chuckle. “What?”

“I found out why I love it so much. I used to read all the time when I was younger. It was my comfort, I guess. My dad told me that my first word was book, but I think he’s lying about that. How about you? Why do you play football? What’s the attraction to it?”

“Well, my dad got me to play football. He said that I loved it since the day I saw one of my cousins playing it. I think he was lying about that, too.” he said with a chuckle. “I love the feeling of winning and the rush I feel when ever I play.”

“It sounds a lot more fun and losing yourself in a book like I do.” she joked and they both laughed. As the laughter died down, she couldn’t stop staring at his blue eyes. Moving her gaze lower to his lips. His bottom lip looked delicious enough to suckle.

“Is everything alright?” Alan asked after a few moments of silence. She didn’t know how long the moments were, but they were long enough for him to notice.

“Yeah…so, lets move on to another work from Poe.” she said as she stared down at the book with a collection of his works.

Hours later they were ready to leave. They had covered the three works they were required to read for class Monday, so they decided to leave. They made small talk about how much she was adjusting to the South. She even made a joke that spending the day in nature wasn’t as bad as she thought it was…even if her day was spent from the inside of a car. They listened to soul music as he drove back to the library.

“You can just drop me off here. I’ll just walk home. It’s not far.” she said as he drove stopped in the parking lot of the library.

“I’ll take you home, if you want. It’s pretty dark out.”

“Alan, I know you’re trying to be nice and all, but I walked all the time in New York. This is nothing compared to the distance I used to walk…in much more dangerous looking neighborhoods than this. I’ll be fine.”

“Are you sure you’re okay to walk by yourself? Maybe I could go with you.”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea, but thanks anyway. Well, I’ll see you in class Monday. Goodbye.” she said as she got out of his car and started walking towards her house. She knew her dad didn’t care that he was white, but she knew Alan’s dad would care that she was black. Hell, she figured them talking in the library probably got back to him. She reached her house and went inside finding her dad on the couch watching TV.

“How did the study session go, sweet pea?” Reggie asked as she sat down next to him. She had been spending a lot of time with him lately since she barely saw her mom because of her late nights working at the hospital as a nurse.

“It was okay. We went through a few of Poe’s pieces for the discussion we’re having Monday. Nothing much beyond that. He didn’t like The Raven much.”

“And I know you lectured him on why he should like it, didn’t you?”

“You know me so well, dad…” she said as she leaned against him. “I’m going to bed. Goodnight.” she said as she went to her room.