The Primordial Bride

CH. 2 The Wind of Change

"Thank you for shopping with us, ladies," I smiled. Once they were out of sight, I collapsed into the chair. "Ugh, my feet are killing me," I groaned. Just one more hour and I'll be out.

"Marissa owes us," Hailey grumbles. She was messaging her lower back.

"I got some medicine for that, you want some?" I offered.

"Please."

I pulled out an Advil from my purse and passed the bottle to her.

"I started early," she whined.

"Don't tell me that!" I covered my ears. "Then, you'll trigger mine."

"Good. I won't suffer alone."

"Save that for Marissa."

"Oh, I will." She pops the pills into her mouth.

Unfortunately for us, Marissa couldn't make it to work because she's still in San Antonio. She was supposed to be back yesterday, but an "emergency" came up. How convenient. So now Hailey and I are filling in. With summer around the corner and businesses opening back up, people are shopping like crazy. I haven't worked this much since the holidays.

"Hey, Meleda," calls my boss.

Ugh, I know what that means. I watch in dread as my boss made her way towards me. A güera with dirty blonde hair and pink skin. She wore a flowery, summer dress that accentuated her voluptuous figure.

I cracked my best employee smile. "Yeah, Lauren?"

"I need you to fix up the jewelry section and, when you're done, I need you to go around and clean up any mess you come across. I don't know what it is about today, but mommas think we're a toy store for their kids to play in. Also, the summer inventory just came in, so I need you to move last seasons into the discount section."

"Sure, jefa." (boss)

Oh, yeah, Marissa is gonna pay.

I grab a basket and head for the jewelry aisle. Wow. Lauren had just fixed it this morning and it looked like it's been a week since it was organized. It was a clutter mess. Some of the pieces were either damaged or missing. Seriously, people? This isn't Walmart.

I reorganized everything according to color, while setting aside the damaged ones for discount. Just, then, some stupid brats ran by, hitting against the rack, which knocks some of the jewelry off.

Are you freakin' serious?!

I bent down to pick it up when another hand grabs them before me.

"I got it," they said.

"Oh, thank you."

I looked up to see it was a guy. Un guapo (handsome), I might add. He looked to be in his late twenties; messy, black hair that was partially slicked back, with green eyes and beige skin. He was dressed casual: denim jeans with a linen V-neck shirt. On his left wrist was a skeleton, steampunk watch. On his right wrist, a multi-strand chip-stone bracelet.

Despite his features, he didn't look a hundred percent Caucasian. He was either mixed or probably those whitish-looking Mestizos.

"You need help?" He asks.

"Not from you." I realized a second later how wrong that sounded. "I'm so sorry that came out wrong. That's not what I meant. I mean, this is part of my job. I can't have a customer help me."

"I don't mind."

"Well, my boss minds, but thank you for offering."

We both rise to our feet. I expected him to leave, but he remained where he was. So I put on my best customer service smile.