Stacks of books

Stacks of books lay everywhere. There were paperbacks and hardbacks, new books and secondhands. They were on the coffee table, on the floor, and of course on the bookshelf, piled up taking all the free space. Soft warm light from the fireplace made the letters on the covers sparkle. Ria stretched on the sofa and pulled the blanket back up. She had been laying in there for hours reading a book. Sam shifted from his place on the other side of the couch. Ria put her book down and stared at him. He was reading another book, himself, his legs crossed over a pillow. She poked him with her foot and he glared at her.

"I'm hungry." She said.

"There's nothing in the fridge." Sam replied leaving the book open face down on the coffee table and tucking some stray locks of his long dark hair behind his ears. "Someone went to the bookstore instead of to the grocery store."

"Hey! You read these books too!"

Sam pulled his tongue at her and pushed her out of the couch.

"Call the pizza place and get some delivery." he told her.

"Why me?" Ria protested.

"Because you're the one who didn't buy any food." he replied picking up his book again.

Ria rolled her eyes and grudgingly left the room, the light of the fire playing with the skin of her bare tan legs. She returned after five minutes and took back her place on the couch. Sam didn't even look up.

"Sam,..." She called out with a small voice, he stared at her raising an eyebrow. "Do you ever think about the tons of books you will never be able to read?"

"Well, you can't read EVERYTHING, Ria." He said, exasperated.

"But just think about it, there are so many books we haven't read, books we will never have time to read, books that are not translated into any language we can actually read, books that have been lost for centuries. And, then, there's the books that are going to be written after we have died, we will never be able to read those, we will never know what the future of literature looks like."

"That's the nature of life. There's nothing you can do about it."

"It scares me; knowing there will be things I won't be able to live." Ria confesed pulling the blankets to her chest.

Sam said nothing and pushed himself closer to her. He huged her.

"It doesn't matter, it will be okay. Let's live our own lives." he whispered into her ear.

She burrowed her face into his chest and said nothing, still frightened, but knowing it would be okay.