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Maddie hated working closing shifts at the mall. Barely anyone was buying flowers at eight-thirty aside from the odd deadbeat husband or the far less frequent good husband. She had plenty to do to occupy herself for the next hour she had to be there, but cutting thorns off of roses didn't really appeal to her at that moment in time. Instead, she was slumped behind the counter, staring at the ceiling and thanking the poorly designed layout so potential customers couldn't see her slacking off before she heard them enter.
"Hi, welcome to-" she dropped her smile when she saw who it was. "Oh, hey. Didn't think you guys were stopping in tonight. We normally do this Wednesdays,"
"I'm working a double tomorrow night." Simon fell onto the spare swivel chair for when there was more than one person working, making a propeller noise as he spun around slowly. "This is where you work, Maddie?"
"No, I just hang out here," Maddie said, Simon sticking his tongue out at her response. "Did you bring my hoodie, Kate?"
Kate nodded and unzipped her backpack, pulling out a maroon hoodie scrunched into a ball she tossed to her friend. She put it on and shoved her hands in the pockets. "That's mine!" Simon said, "That's my hoodie, I've been looking for this for ages,"
Maddie looked over her shoulder at him smugly, and Simon softened, a smile making its way onto her face. She was so pretty, he couldn't help himself. Kate scoffed, head in her backpack as she furrowed around in her bag for something for Simon. She saw the way those two looked at each other. She didn't know about the hookups, but she could tell there was something there. Since Summer had finished, Sam and Deena had been off alone a lot. Simon's free time was split between parties, shifts at the Grab 'N' Bag, and helping out his mom, so Kate and Maddie had spent a lot of time together alone.
Maddie felt around in the pockets, the left one containing a handful of small little plastic bags and a container. The right one had a thicker bag and Maddie knew it was stuffed with notes. It was a more covert way of exchanging drugs and money, and bonus, now she got to smell like Simon.
"Do you have the book?" Kate asked, and Maddie nodded. Kate reached into Maddie's bag and pulled out a composition book with metallic stickers (she'd found them in Simon's bedroom, not that he'd ever admit it) that Maddie had been using to keep a log of their sales. The three of them had established a pretty solid system since starting their little operation, and they huddled around the counter and made plans for a while. Simon leaned over nonchalantly under the guise of looking at the notebook, placing his hand on her knee, squeezing gently. It wasn't sexual, Simon just wanted an excuse to touch her. Maddie cleared her throat, pausing in the middle of her sentence. Her brain short-circuited at the feeling of his skin on hers.
She continued talking to Kate about a few potential meet-ups they had over the next month, making sure she knew just how much she needed to get. The three of them didn't realize how long they'd been there until they heard a voice. "Hey! Maddie!"
