from Conversations with Friends, part two, chapter 24 (Sally Rooney)

The next day, I received an email from Melissa.  I was sitting in the library, typing up a page of notes, when her email arrived.  I decided that before reading it I would take a walk around the library desks.  Slowly I arose from my seat and began my walk.  Inside, everything was very brown.  Out of the windows I could see a rattle of wind making its way through the trees.  On the cricket green a woman in shorts was running with her elbows working up and down like small pistons.  I cast a glance back at my own library desk to ensure my laptop was still there.  It sat glowing ominously into the nothingness.  I walked halfway around the room before looping back to my own seat, as if this circuit around the library desks was actually a physical endurance test of some kind.  Then I opened the email.