Another Dumb Romance Fic || ColeyDoesThings (Barista/Employee)

Chapter Four: Embarrassing Excursion

The girls had just entered the mall together, and there was already conflict.

All three of them were standing in the mall's center, debating on where they should go first. Gigi refused to let them all split up -- that would defeat the whole point -- but none of them seemed to agree with anything the others would suggest. This was especially true for Nikki, who was already frustrated, hungry, and trying to keep from snapping in Bella's face.

"Look, if you just let us go into Hot Topic right now, then we won't have to do it later," the sullen employee began. Bella shook her head in response.

"No, absolutely not."

"What do you have against Hot Topic?" Nikki asked, crossing her arms.

"Nothing!" Bella replied, looking annoyed and a little frantic. "I just want to go to Target, and we get some clothes and candles!"

"You two, please, we just got here," Gigi soothed, trying to keep calm herself. "Why don't we just duck into a store and walk around? There's a lovely glassblowing shop that we can look at!"

The three argued some more, debating and trying to all keep their tempers, until Gigi came up with the brilliant idea to drag them all into the nearest store...which happened to be a local jewelry business. The artist brought in the other two by pulling on their wrists -- Nikki on her right, Bella on her left -- and leading them inside.

The place was certainly modest. The walls of the jewelry shop were a light almond brown, and the lights were a soft glowing yellow. The jewelry was on display, and the whole place was very clean, but it didn't feel so cold and expensive as one would expect a jewelry store to. There were a few black pleather seats and a black pleather couch in one corner, presumably for people to rest and talk about budgeting.

Nikki hummed softly at the sight, immediately eyeing the display cases to see if anything caught her attention. Bella began looking around a different area of the cases, and Gigi hung back to make sure everything was alright and keep an eye on them both. A man, who was blond and polishing the glass, came up to greet her as she watched.

"Hi there, can I help you at all?"

"Oh, no thank you," the artist said in her usual tone with a smile. "I'm here to have fun with my friends, I'm not planning on purchasing anything. They might, though."

The man nodded and went back to cleaning, occasionally looking back up at the trio in anticipation.

Nikki was walking along one particularly long display, resisting the urge to run her hand along the glass, when something snagged her attention. A raven pendant, small and made of dark gemstones on silver, made her stop in her tracks. It was beautiful. It wasn't something she'd wear normally, with how sparkly it was, but she loved it immediately. She checked what it was made of, as well as the price.

It was made of dark-colored sapphires, and it was $249.99.

Nikki's heart sank. If she'd saved up, she'd be able to afford it, but she had nowhere near that amount of money on her. On top of that, rent payment was going to be due soon, and she wouldn't be able to collect all of that money fast enough before someone else bought it. She gave the pendant one last look, then walked away.

What Nikki didn't notice was that both Gigi and Bella saw the way she looked at it. They both saw her reach for her wallet, then stop halfway, then keep walking and looking at the other displays. Bella especially noticed the distressed crease in her forehead.

Realizing that she couldn't afford most things in the store, and what she could wasn't worth it, the distressed employee marched out to wait for her friends. She leaned against the wall and crossed her arms, watching people walk by over the next few minutes. Gigi came out first, empty-handed but making comments about how pretty a certain pair of opal earrings had been. Bella came out a little while later, carrying a small bag. When asked, she said she had purchased "a few things." She didn't elaborate.