The day had been interminably long. A last-minute donation of several boxes of archives from a local historical society had arrived just as Lyra was about to close up. The head librarian, thrilled by the new acquisition, had asked if she wouldn't mind staying just a little longer to begin the initial sorting. Lyra, ever the dedicated professional, had agreed, though a knot of disappointment had tightened in her stomach. She had been looking forward to the quiet of her apartment, to maybe finally texting Selene about the awkwardness with Eliza.
Hours later, the moon was high in the inky sky, and the library was steeped in a profound silence, broken only by the soft hum of the climate control system. Her back ached from bending over cardboard boxes, and a fine layer of dust coated her fingers. Finally, she switched off the main lights, plunging the vast reading room into darkness save for the single warm pool of light at her desk. She gathered her things, shrugged on her jacket, and headed for the main doors, her footsteps echoing in the empty hall.
She pushed the heavy door open, expecting nothing but the cool night air and the distant sound of traffic. Instead, her breath caught in her throat.
There, perched on the low stone wall that bordered the library's front garden, was Lyra.
She was bathed in the soft glow of a streetlamp, looking for all the world like a night-blooming flower. She had a book open in her lap, but she wasn't reading. She was watching the door, and when Lyra emerged, a wide, slightly goofy grin spread across her face.
Lyra stopped dead, her keys clutched in her hand. "Selene?" she asked, her voice laced with pure disbelief. "What... what are you still doing here? The library closed hours ago."
Selene hopped off the wall with a playful bounce, snapping her book shut with a definitive thwack. She adopted an expression of exaggerated nonchalance, shrugging one shoulder.
"Oh, you know," she said, her tone overly casual. "Just... enjoying the ambiance. The library has such great vibes at night. Very... architectural. I was doing some... late night... exterior studies." She gestured vaguely at the building's facade.
Lyra just stared at her, one eyebrow slowly raising. Selene's cheeks were pink, and she was practically vibrating with poorly contained energy. Her attempt at being sly was utterly transparent and completely endearing.
"Exterior studies," Lyra repeated, her lips twitching against her will. "At ten o'clock at night."
"The best time for it!" Selene insisted, nodding earnestly. "The moon casts such interesting shadows on the Corinthian pilasters. A person could get totally lost out here. Good thing you came out, actually. I might have been trapped by the... uh... historical masonry. Forever."
She ended her ridiculous explanation with another wide grin, her eyes sparkling with mischief. The act was so silly, so blatantly a cover, that Lyra couldn't help but laugh, the sound soft in the quiet night.
"Right. The historical masonry is notoriously sneaky," Lyra played along, taking a few steps closer. "It's a good thing I happened along to rescue you."
"The best thing," Selene agreed, her voice dropping its playful edge and becoming softer, more genuine. She hugged her book to her chest. "So... long day?"
"The longest," Lyra sighed, the weariness from the overtime finally seeping into her voice. "An unexpected donation. Boxes and boxes of dusty papers."
"I figured it was something like that," Selene said. "I saw the light was still on in your section a while ago." She looked down at her shoes for a moment, her earlier bravado fading into a shy honesty. "I waited."
Those two words hung in the air between them, simple and profound. All the goofy pretense fell away, leaving the raw truth. She had waited. For her.
Lyra's heart did a slow, heavy somersault in her chest. The awkwardness from the other night, the worry that she had messed everything up, evaporated under the sheer, unexpected brightness of Selene's presence here, now.
"You waited," Lyra whispered, the words filled with wonder.
Selene looked up, meeting her gaze. "I wanted to make sure you got home okay. And... I wanted to see you. Without any... unexpected literary enthusiasts around."
The reference to Eliza was subtle, but it was there. An acknowledgment, an apology, and a promise all at once.
Lyra felt a smile bloom on her face, one that reached her eyes and made the long, dusty hours completely worth it. "Well," she said, her voice warm. "Now that I've been rescued from my archival prison and you've been saved from the clutches of the masonry... would you like to walk with me?"
Selene's answering smile was brilliant, putting the streetlamp to shame. "I thought you'd never ask."
As they fell into step together, their shoulders brushing lightly in the dark, Lyra realized that the best parts of the day, the parts that truly mattered, had all happened after clocking out. All because a certain goofy, sneaky archaeologist had decided to wait for her under the moonlight.