The Crush Book

Prompt: You work at a library unlike any other, anyone can come in and ask for any book they want, and it'll turn up. One day, a shipment comes in, a single book no one but you can read.

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Finally, Adam passes the book to you. Your pulse speeds up as you open it and you suck in a breath when you see words printed on the pages.

“What? What does it say?” Hye-jin asks.

You skim the table of contents. Instead of chapters, there’s a list of ages.

Age <1…Page 1

Age 1…Page 2

Age 2…Page 3

Some have multiple pages assigned, others are only a single page long. The list ends at Age 24, which is on page 63, although the book is certainly longer than that.

“I…I don’t know,” you tell her. “Hang on, let me flip to a chapter.”

The other librarians gather around you, even though the book is blank to them. As you flip to Age 19, you find not a story, but a list of names, both male and female. Some jump out at you immediately – names of people you had class with, people you worked with, people you knew from extracurriculars. Others are unfamiliar to you.

“It’s just names,” you scoff. “People I know, or used to know.”

“What, like a yearbook with no pictures?” Hye-jin laughs. “Great, put it in ‘reference.’”

“I know what that is,” Florence cuts in, her reedy voice filled with recognition. “It’s a crush book. Why, there hasn’t been one of those here in years.”

“A crush book?” you repeat.

Florence nods gravely.

“It’s a list of everyone who’s ever had a crush on you.”

Your heart stutters. Your fellow librarians chuckle lightly as you flip through the book again, this time perusing the names more closely. Now you notice the name of a girl from your high school calculus class that you thought was cute, the name of one of your TAs, the name of your friend’s older brother.

You flip to the chapter for Age 24, the birthday you celebrated only three months ago, right after you started working here. The list is short. One name jumps out at you immediately:

Adam Napoli.

Slowly, your cheeks burning, you look up at Adam. He stares back at you, his face crimson.

Florence winks.

"I thought so," she chuckles.