"Where did you go?" Luke asked as Ashton and I finally entered the store, him standing by the albums. "You guys disappeared for, like, twenty minutes."
"Oh... we were just having a conversation," I answered, keeping it as unspecific as possible. Ashton nodded along with me.
"About what?" Luke continued to question.
Ashton rolled his eyes. "You sure are nosy today, aren't you?"
Luke smirked. "You guys were making out, weren't you?"
"What's this about someone making out?" Michael reappeared by Luke's side, holding a Green Day album. He glanced between Ashton and I, and frowned. "You guys were making out?!"
"No," I said. "We were just talking and realized that we still weren't inside the store."
It didn't seem to convince them, but Luke shrugged and walked away as Michael rolled his eyes.
"Where's Calum?" Ashton asked and Michael's eyes lit up.
"Checking out this wicked bass, you need to see it, Ash," Michael said enthusiastically, as if he didn't seem to be in a grumpy mood just before.
We followed him to the instrument section, where Calum was admiring a pretty nice bass on the rack.
"It's so cool," Calum muttered.
"It also looks expensive," I say. "Check the price tag."
"$4,432," Calum sputtered out, eyes widening as he backed away from the bass. "Shit. You know what, I don't need a new one. I love the one I already have."
"Wow," Ashton whistled, staring down at the price tag.
"You guys should get jobs," I suggested. "Your host families probably aren't planning on spoiling you, right?"
"Actually," Luke grumbled, "mine are treating me like a little boy, since they only know how to care for little children. But I guess it's okay, except for the fact that they bought me ninja turtle underwear..."
"Too much information," Ashton said to him, shaking his head.
"My host parents are treating me like I'm their own son," Calum said, smiling. "Considering they have one teenage girl and another girl in university... the one in university keeps flirting with me, have I mentioned that?"
"Yes," Ashton huffed. "About a million times."
"You guys are lucky," Michael pouted. "My host parents are actually expecting me to get a job - by next week too, or I'm on my own."
I felt worried for Michael - would his host parents actually kick him out or ignore him if he doesn't get a job? I felt grateful to have my mom, she never encourages me to get one since she seems to pay the bills and put food on the table just fine. I mean, I wish I could help out, but nowadays jobs wouldn't hire a girl with blue dyed hair unless you applied for somewhere like Hot Topic.
I glanced at the wall, noticing a flyer taped to it, the poster being a little ripped at the edges. I walked closer to it and realized that it was a help wanted sign. What a coincidence.
"Michael," I said. "This store is hiring."
"What?" he asked, appearing confused.
I rolled my eyes. "You should apply here. I'm sure the manager is around somewhere."
"That's a good idea," Luke agreed.
"It is," Michael said, smiling at me. "It involves something I love and I get paid for it. Thanks, Lina."
