Karl Jacobs x Reader
(they/them pronouns)
-unedited-
I hate his job. I really do. I mean don't get me wrong- it always smells nice in here. Plus I get discounts on all the products, so all my shit smells nice too. I've got candles in every room of my apartment, a surplus of air fresheners for my car- you name it.
But everything else about this job? I despise it. First of all, the clientele at this bath and body works sucks. It was never like this back in my hometown. But here, the only people who come in the store are annoying Karen's and bitchy middle schoolers.
And my co-workers don't make things any better. First off, my manager barely even does their job. When they do show up, they just hang in the back and don't do any work. And the other employees are just not easy to get along with. Sarah, for instance, got mad at me on my first day when I needed her help with a customer because I didn't know where the Japanese Cherry Blossom hand soap was. Now she's convinced I'm an idiot and has decided to tell every other worker here.
At least there's Jordyn. Jordyn's kinda cool. We don't have too much in common, but that's okay. They're the only person here who doesn't act terrible. Whenever I work a shift with Jordyn, things are okay. Unfortunately, that doesn't happen often.
So there I was. Another horrible day at work. I was working alone in the White Barn candle section today, and this person Taylor was manning the soap area. So at least I didn't have to interact with the other employees. Plus the candle section was always quieter.
We'd just gotten a new shipment of the honeysuckle scented candles. They were my favorite- we had honeysuckles growing in the yard growing up. My older sister used to show me how you could pluck the flower off and taste their nectar. It was my favorite part of early summer.
So the smell of the candles always brought back pleasant memories. I set one of the candles aside for myself and then went to stock the rest on the shelves.
I arranged a good third of them on the empty space on the display table until there was no more room. Then I knelt down on the ground to store the extra underneath the display.
My head was under the shelves, trying to see what I was doing, when I heard a customer walk in. I figured they could wait a second until I was done. But a voice behind me asked "Um, excuse me, sorry to interrupt but could I have some help when you get a minute?"
But what surprised me was the tone of the voice. It wasn't snarky or demanding like I usually expected from customers. It was polite and almost hesitant.
And of fucking course, I found a way to make a fool of myself. In my shock, I bumped my head on the shelf as I went to get up.
"Oh gosh, are you okay?" The person asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine! Really, it's-" my words got caught in my throat when I spun around to face the boy behind me. He didn't look much older than me. He had this fluffy brown hair and a tan collared shirt with a sweater over top of it. His cheeks were already flushed pink, but when we made eye contact, his whole face grew red. He was smiling and playing with his hands- holy shit this dude was cute.
"Uh, er.. I'm fine, don't worry," I squeaked out, attempting to finish my sentence despite my flustered state.
"I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to startle you," he repeated, looking kinda embarassed.
"No, really. Trust me, I'm a clutz, it happens all the time. No worries."
He let out a small giggle and his bright smile returned.
