Steven was pleasantly surprised when Annie agreed to come up to his apartment after only their second date. Maybe tonight I’ll get lucky, he thought. They arrived at Steven’s second floor walk up and he unlocked the door, opened it up, and gestured for her to go in. “It’s cozy,” he warned her.

“Oh, it’s a studio apartment,” Annie said, looking around the single room.

“I told you it was cozy,” Steven said, letting out a nervous chuckle. He noticed a confused look on Annie’s face. “Is there something wrong?” he asked her.

“I’m a little surprised,” she said. “You told me that you’re an avid reader, yet I don’t see any bookshelves in your apartment and there’s not a single book in sight.”

“Yeah, well, when you have a small place, you have to make certain accommodations,” Steven said, a bit defensively. “I obviously don’t have room to store hundreds of books in this small apartment.”

“So do you get your books from the library?” Annie asked.

Steven took out his iPhone, pulled up his home screen, and then handed it to her, pointing out the Kindle app.“I download all of my books to my Kindle app,” he said. “It’s great because I have hundreds of books on the app and they take up no physical space whatsoever. It’s really convenient, you know.”

“It’s not the same,” Annie said. “I like the feel of physical books, the heft, the smell. Reading ebooks on a device like a smartphone or tablet is not the same experience.”

“Are you that much of a purest that it bothers you that my book collection is on my phone instead of on bookshelves in my small apartment?” Steven asked.

“Actually it does,” she said. She picked up her phone, tapped her screen, and said, “I just ordered an Uber. I think we have a compatibility issue.”

“Gee, for someone who thinks that reading on a smartphone is bothersome, I’m surprise you’d use your smartphone to arrange for a ride rather than going out onto the street to hail a taxi the old fashioned way,” Steven sarcastically said.

Annie gave Steven a dirty look and exited his apartment. Well, I guess I’m not going to get lucky tonight, he thought.

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Written for the Mindlovemisery’s Menagerie Tale Weaver prompt.