#like even my laptop doesn't have a place to put in cds and dvds :(

[wavesmp3]

wait are you still doing the fake title thing-

skdkdj if so,,

‘tell me‘ 😼👌

tell me | eric x reader | an unintentional continuation to this drabble | a/n: i tried to make it so that this could be read as a stand alone but i’m not too sure if i was successful in that | requests closed

1. letters

“so,” eric says, setting down two drinks and a plate of snacks next to the dirt-covered shoebox that was buried somewhere in a park just this morning, “where do we start?”

the first thing you pull out from the time capsule are two envelopes. eric immediately knows what it is. 

you shake your head. “not with these.” the letters were written to each other when you made the time capsule in the summer before your freshman year of college. “let’s look at these last.”

eric is more than happy to oblige. 

2. totally awesome no skip summer mix 2011

“oh my god,” you mutter, pulling out the next item in the box. 

“what is it?”

you hold up the old, dusty cd for him to see. “remember this?”

he does. 

he remembers sitting in front of your family’s old computer and carefully selecting which pop songs from that summer to add to the cd. he remembers feeling entirely like a criminal while you found the best website to download the songs and then also how quickly the lawless feeling escaped from him after the act was done. he remembers burning the cd that afternoon. he remembers the entire summer he spent listening to the cd with you. 

“no one even uses cds anymore.” you say with a bit of a laugh. “should we listen to it?” 

eric nods, and the two of you spend the next 20 minutes looking for a way to play it. 

10. baseball jersey

eric pulls out the jersey five songs into the cd mix. “gosh, this takes me back.” the jersey was from when he was young an old jersey you and him decorated together when he switched to a new team. 

you make a face of disgust, pointing to a questionable drawing done around the neckline of the jersey. “who did that?”

“you, probably.”

“no way.”

“look. you even signed it.”

you squint your eyes at the drawing for a long moment. “damn.”

eric just laughs

15. picture from the beach trip

eric is the one who fishes the picture out. the picture which made you dig up the box to begin with. you see it between his hand, before he can tell you he found it. neither of you say anything. you both just stare at the picture, silently. your smiles are big and bright, with the sun casting down over your faces and ocean in the background. you look happy in it. eric does too. he turns away from the picture and stares at you, wondering where did it all go wrong?

23. big fish program

“look at this.” you say pulling out the crumpled program from your high school’s production of big fish. “i forgot i was even in the show.”

“you know how daffodils are a big part of the show?” eric says and you nod, flipping through the program. “i remember spending so long at the show trying to find daffodils for you.”

“but you gave me roses that night.” you say, tossing the program aside.

“yeah. i couldn’t find any.”

“well,” you murmur with a smile falling off your lips, “at least you tried.”

27. birthday card 

“what’s this?” eric mutters pulling out a card that looks new. or at least new in comparison to everything else in the box. 

“what did you-” you freeze when you see the card eric’s holding up. “not that.” you blurt reaching over to grab it from him. eric pulls it out of your reach. you reach for it again, and eric evades you grabbing it as well. it goes on like that for a minute before you finally give up. 

“what is it?” eric asks again, laughing at how hard you’re trying to get it away from him. 

you don’t mirror the laugh. instead you sigh, eyes turning dark. “a year ago, i dug up the time capsule and added that.”

“a year ago.” eric echoes, brows knitting together. “but by then we were...”

“we were broken up.” you finish, shamefully almost. “i wrote it on your birthday. and i don’t even know why i bothered adding it to the box, but i was just so upset at the time. i hadn’t seen you in forever, and i was just so angry at you. at me. at us.”

“i take it it’s not a nice birthday card then.”

“please don’t read it.” you reach for the card again. and this time eric doesn’t stop you from grabbing it. “i don’t mean any of that stuff anymore.”

“but you did?”

“i don’t... i was upset.”

“you were right to end things between us.” eric says then. “it was the best thing for us.”

you’re quiet. then after a long moment, you say, “it was the best thing for us then.”

“what do you mean?”

“i mean,” you frown, folding and unfolding a corner of the card, “don’t you think there’s a way we could make it work again?”

32. letters

 the box is empty now. the only thing left to look at is the letters from the beginning. “here.” you say quietly, handing the one you wrote to him. he hands you his. 

dear eric, i know the letters were my idea but this feels so lame LOL. good luck in college, but i wish we were going to the same one :( thanks for all the laughs and good times. i’m happiest with you.   - love, your bestie (sorry this is so short. i have no idea what to say. i’ve been sitting here and pretending to write since you havent stopped yet) (OMG eric stop writing!!)  (you just pulled out a second sheet of paper. rip. you’re gonna be so disappointed when you read this)

eric finishes the letter, remembering how much thought and care he put into writing his, and how long it ended up being. and that whole time, this was all you had written, the realization only makes him laugh. 

he looks up at you still reading his two page letter. he watches as your eyes skim the page. as you get teary eyed reading it. as you finish, folding the letter back up and saying, “eric i--”

“let’s do it.” 

“what?”

“let’s try again.”

[saxifactumterritum]

[image in reblog by gemtlelarkspur: a quote on a white background that says 'Macmillan publishers new model for library ebook lending will make it difficult for libraries to fulfill our central mission  ensuring access to information for all.' it is attributed to ALA president, Wanda Brown] 

Oh it's back again. I see this post so often and everyone reblogs it and I always write a salty reply then delete it later. So here we go:

YOU MIGHT NOT NEED AUDIBLE BUT I DO IT LITERALLY SAVED MY LIFE.

NAH I'M NOT GONNA EXPLJAN THE INTRICACIES OF MENTAL ILLNESS THAT LEAD TO THAT

I AM PART OF A BOOKCLUB, WE READ AN ECLECTIC COLLECTION OF BOOKS ITS LGBT. IF THE LIBRARY DOESN'T HAVE MY BOOK (IT HAD THE AUDIOBOOK MAYBE 7/10 TIMES) DO I JUST BE LIKE OH NAH I'LL SKIP THIS MONTH THEN?

IF I READ A REVIEW (AGAIN LGBT BOOKS ARE NOT AS WIDELY AVAILABLE IN AUDIO IN THE FIRST PLACE) AND ITS NOT IN MY LIBRARY DO I JUST SAY OK THEN?

I live in the UK my library doesn't have an instant request function. Sure you can request a book but that doesn't mean they'll buy it.

FOR THOSE SAYING AUDIBLE IS OVERPRICED, AUDIOBOOKS CAN BE CHEAP THESE DAYS... BUT USUALLY THEY HIT LIKE £20-£30, OR £10-£20 DEPENDING ON A FEW FACTORS LIKE LENGTH IT SEEMS.

Look, I use a whole bunch of stuff to read, I'll put a list in a minute to be helpful, but I recommend audible. It has the biggest collection, it's not a bad deal, you can pause or cancel the subscription any time. Lots when you press cancel they offer you three months on lower cost. You keep the books even after cancelling. Even unsubscribed you can get three credit for £18 (currently) which is still quite cheap for audiobooks.

Here's the list of how I read my books:

- the library has two catalogues accessed through two apps (they have three apps one is the same catalogue). In the comments it says it America but we have in the UK too. Different libraries have different collections, some are wider than others, funnily it tends to come down to funding so the poorer the area the less options. Funny that

- if you are in the UK and struggle to read due to disability, sign up for listening books. ANY AT ALL. They don't ask for proof, I pay I think £50 a year? Approx? For streaming and they post me cds. I had it for free for years when I couldn't pay, which is an option and is easy. They're super super nice and have lots of options.

- librivox. Listened to paradise lost on here it was amazeballs. Its out of copyright, puplic read books, some are awful some are brill.

- YouTube has a bunch of pirated and librivox audiobooks

- before covid I did trawls of charity shops they tend to have audio cds and tapes. Also one had a thingummy to put tapes on my laptop. A gadget. Idk. Also they usually had hundreds of those old discs you got free with newspapers, music, computer programme or games, dvds, in little cardboard sleeves. Got a bunch of audiobooks out of those and they are usually like 50p!

- edited to add BBC sounds, bbc radio has some good stories and comedy to listen to also

- I have a screen reader so I also use ebooks but I can't lock the screen or do anything else with my phone and its a bit of a faff but I can't always get an audiobook so.

TAKE NOTE PLEASE! ALL OF THAT AND I STILL HAVE TO USE AUDIBLE TO GET THE BOOKS I WANT.

Fuck anyone who tell me audible 'isn't necessary'.

yeah theres no way to stop using amazon completely because they own so many things and many websites use them for hosting, but audible is something we really dont need. amazon is already trying to replace public libraries with “audible amazon libraries” and we cant let that happen. your libraries are already payed for with taxes ((though normally way underfunded because politicians normally dont care enough)) 

use libby or overdrive for audiobooks or ebooks, support libraries and buy from their used books sale (ive scored so many awesome books, and old books! as well as some great cds and movies) , and many libraries also mail out books!! theres so many options and libraries are always changing to make themselves more accessible for everyone, so support them! theyre such an important part of your community.