My head was pounding. The previous night still didn't seem real, but here I was walking into work with a killer hangover. Whoever said hot showers were the cure was wrong.
"Selena, you're early!" Lulu, my new boss, chimed as I walked into the little hole in the wall boutique.
"Yeah, sorry about that. My dad always said if you were 10 minutes early you were late, I guess it's a habit." I shrugged giving her a faint smile.
"It's not a problem at all, I'm the same way. I'm just so excited to have you on board!" Her eagerness was nauseating, or maybe this is what alcohol poisoning feels like. "You can go ahead and clock in, we've got a lot to get done before we open!"
I shook my head slightly. It was way too early to be in such a good mood. Despite my head feeling like it was going to explode, I made my way to the break room and pressed my finger against the scanner.
Once it beeped that I was clocked in, I took a deep breath. Lord knows I need all the help I can get to get through the day.
"All set?" Lulu beamed.
"Ready and able." I let out a small laugh.
Minutes later I was taking short sleeves out of bags to be out on the floor. How exciting.
When Sam said this was going to be an easy job, I guess I was expecting a bit more than the typical retail store.
"I've got to get my daughter to the dentist, are you going to be okay here?" Lulu seemed worried.
"I'll be fine, this isn't anything new to me don't worry." I smiled. Hopefully she believes me.
"Wonderful. I'll be back later. Toodles!" She called, half way out the door already.
On the bright side, she was chill.
Just then the door chimed, the annoying little bell never seemed stop.
"How's your first day going?" A familiar voice said.
I looked up from the shirts I was hanging to see Sam walking around with his hands shoved in his pockets.
"I feel like shit." I laughed.
"You went pretty hard last night, how'd you get home last night? I tried finding you but I couldn't. Dom said you took off." He shrugged.
"Oh um," the truth would hurt Sam, but could I lie to him? "I uh, don't remember actually. My memory blanks out after Andrea got ahold of the liquor."
"Yeah, you two were on another level." Sam chuckled. "I was worried, that's kind of why I'm here."
"Well thank you for checking up on me, but I'm okay. I just never want to repeat last night." If that wasn't the truth I don't know what is.
"What time do you get off?" He grinned.
"6, so a few more hours." I sighed. I just wanted to be home in bed.
"Well, would you want to grab dinner with me?" Oh boy.
"Well, food does sound good." Was this a good idea? "I'd love to."
"Great, I'll be back at closing then." He beamed.
Oh Sammy.
****
Just as he had promised, Sam was waiting outside as I locked the doors. Which wasn't surprising, I could always count on him.
"Hey you." I hugged him. That was exactly what I needed after the day, a nice warm Sammy hug.
"How was it?" He grinned, opening his car door for me.
"Oh my god don't even get me started." I laughed. "It wasn't too bad, I just hate people even more now."
"That's retail for you." He chuckled. "She really likes you though."
"How do you even know Lulu anyway? She's really nice." I relaxed. As annoying as my job already was at least I liked my boss.
"When we moved here, O2L wasn't doing as great as we had hoped it would and I needed to work for a little bit. Her husband was kind enough to take me in and let me work with him. I helped build her store, they grew to be like family." He shrugged. Oh so humble Sammy.
"How's the channel now?" I asked. I knew better than to bring up business, but I couldn't help my curiosity.
"Skyrocketing." He beamed. "Our numbers have never been better. Living with the guys has just been great too."
"Yeah, great." I sighed.
"What's wrong?" He had picked up my mood change. Dammit Selena.
"Nothing." I tried to shrug it off. "I'm good."
"I'm going to eat all of your food if you don't tell me." As comical as it was, Sam was stern and serious.
"Where are we going any way? In starving." As if on cue my stomach let out a faint growl.
"Olive Garden, I want bread." he said as we pulled into the parking lot. I hadn't even paid attention to where we were going.
Sam stayed silent until we had already been seated and had ordered. The silence wasn't uncomfortable, but I knew there was tension.
"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to." He finally spoke up.
"Nothing's wrong. I'm just tired Sam." I shrugged. What more could I tell him? Yeah hey Sam I slept with Jc and don't remember it. That's definitely blow over well.
"Nope, now you have to tell me. I see it in your eyes that it's something." He huffed. "I'm sorry if I'm being pushy, I just want to know what's going on. I care about you and I hate seeing you hurt."
"Alright alright." I folded my hands on top on my table. I wasn't prepared for this at all. "So as you know, last night things got out of hand."
"Yeah, it was crazy for everybody. Dom went too hard on the jungle juice." He smirked.
"Well on top of that, and whatever it was I had, I guess I found Jc in the middle of it." I could feel my throat start to swell. "I woke up in his room, I didn't know what happened."
"Selena." Sam stuttered out. "Did you?"
"I think so."
"I'm going to kill him."
