It's been a few days since the unofficial movie date, and my dreams have been infected by him. Last night it was literally me and him again, but it was too much. Bold dream..Like, why would my imagination do that to me…I woke immediately to check my phone to make sure there weren't any threats or that he somehow had seen what I saw.
"Ugh," I whined."What are you upset about?" Jess walked in, I checked the time on my phone, and she's early. Which is very unnatural for her.
"Why are you looking at me like that?" She paused, and I pointed to the time on my phone, raising an eyebrow.
"Oh, Jaci, please, you act like I can't do a little grocery shopping at my own job." She flipped her hair and put her backpack in the locker.
"Yeah, yeah..what did you even buy?" I rest my head on my hand.
"I got some ice cream, marshmallows, graham crackers, and of course, chocolate." She smirked.
"Why did you buy ice-cream..before your shift…It's not gonna melt?"
"My mom is gonna stop by and pick it up. I just bought it so that I won't forget later." …yeah, I keep forgetting that she has a pretty good mom.
"So are you gonna tell me why you're in a mood today?" This again?
"It's nothing," I said, voice flat. She pulled out a chair that was perfectly placed underneath the table and kept scotching it to face me and putting her leg across her other, folding her hands together with a serious sorta expression.
Squinting her eyes, "Tell me the tea, babes." "There is no 'Tea', Jess." I stood up; my break was about over."There's something. Oh yeah, that's right!" she semi-yelled, standing up and following me closer to the door. "Did you and Damien, you know?" I froze when reaching for the door."What?" I asked.
"Go on a date?" Why would she think that??
"I saw you two at the mall the other day, together, and I was like, damn, they didn't invite me, but I forgot y'all could've been on a date. So how was it?" I shook my head. I shrugged, "I don't think he's into guys like that." I opened the door for her to walk through. "But you don't know that. He might be."
"Well, I'm not trying to find out, ya know."
She crossed her arms. "You're just scared."
I nodded, "Indeed, I am." I clocked back in from break, and she clocked on to start.
"What are you scared about? The worst thing he can say is no." I swear, "I'm sure he can do much more to me than just saying no-" Were we that distracted?.. "What are we talking about?" I swear my heart actually stopped…oh my gawd.
Damien was hovering over us! Wait, when does he get there? How much did he hear…"Well, he's afraid of dating." Jess sighed, shrugging her shoulders.
"You are?" He looked at me. My heart dropped, and my lungs went cold for a second because why would she say that???
"Nonono, I am not, Jess is just trying to trick you." I gave her a serious glare, and she rolled her eyes at me as if I was overreacting.
"I am not afraid of dating, okay." I pushed Jess outside of my register, "I just choose not to, okay bye-bye, see you guys later, I need to work."
Shooing them both away and sorta just avoiding all eye contact throughout my shift, even with our customers.
I feel like I've been exposed, but there's no proof, and the way I'm reacting feels like I'm giving myself away.
Well, after two more hours of zoning out and being completely drained, I sat down again in the break room, scrolling through my phone. Stumbling into old photos, sometimes I kinda forget what my family looks like until I go back.
I wonder if they're like secretly proud of me for getting this far on my own…or just staying alive without anyone's help. Would I be happy if my child did that? No…I think I'd be sad if they left to begin with. Especially if we weren't talking, but maybe it's different for my parents and little brother. I don't know, unfortunately. No point in thinking about stuff like that right now, though. Finals are getting closer, and I barely survived midterms, all because I worked instead of studying. In my defense. I needed food so-
I grabbed my backpack, put my scarf across my neck, and headed out, but I had to say bye to Jess first since she works at the customer service department.
I paused right in front of the marble corner, with the sliding doors a few feet away from me, and she was taking her time talking to a customer.
Looks to be one of her regulars. Yeah, we do have favorites.
Once the older guy, I looked at Jess, she looked at me, and we just had this odd staring contest that we randomly just end up doing at least once per shift.
"What are you kids doing?" Ms.Lisa, the assistant manager who was walking in, looking at us, staring at one another, moving her hand in front of our faces.
"Hello?? Stop??" Jess broke first when she started smiling.
I've started half-smiling myself. "I can't with you two." Ms. Lisa shook her head and walked into her office, while we giggled.
No wonder Ms. Lisa never puts us on the same shift anymore, because we mess around a lot.
"You're leaving already?" Jess asked.
"Yeah, I need to go back and study something." She nodded her head and then looked both ways before signaling me to come closer. I stepped a bit closer, yet still waved for me to come near. Once I was closer enough, she whispered."I can set you two up. I could be mistaken, but I do think Damien is into you."
"Girl, Wha-" She covered my mouth, my face falling flat because she's trying to play cupid again."Jess." I moved her hand off my mouth, "One ew, germs if I get sick, I'm hunting you down." I looked both ways and behind her to make sure Ms.Lisa wasn't coming out, making sure everything was clear.
"I said no, Jess, we're friends, and that's all. Leave it alone, drop it". I frowned at her, but she still smiled.
"No." She smiled bigger."If you do something like that, I won't go see Taylor Swift with you." She gasped."How dare you put the Queen in this!"
"I had to." She pouted and crossed her arms."Fine, you win." She rolled her eyes, "Such a thrill killer omgg." I raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, I think you're forgetting that it'd mainly be me who'd be affected by your decision, and I do not wish to be humiliated.?"
I pushed off the corner, turning to head out.
"Cya later, Jess," I waved goodbye.
"Cya later, Jaci," She waved back.
"Yeah, I'll see you later too, but nobody says goodbye to me." Ms. Lisa stepped out of her office."Whoops, I'll see you later, too, Ms.Lisa," I chuckled, waving bye to them both, and they smiled, waving back.
They're the kind of people that make me love this job, the customers …eh, not so much, but I know with them we're always gonna have some fun eventually.
Now, I really need to get home and study.