Eternal Longing ✓

4. Quaint

JAYA

Quaint lives up to its name quite perfectly.

The store is a picturesque little place that, despite its size, gets as much more traffic as one would expect. I've been on my feet for the last hour, moving around the space while cleaning up aisles and ringing up orders.

We sell everything from custom paintings to antique items, our customers ranging from quirky art students to haggard professors, and even random art snobs from around town.

"Jaya, honey, could you help me raise this to that shelf?" Mrs. Lowery smiles sweetly at me, her frail arms shaking as she attempts to place the heavy vase on the top shelf.

I rush toward her, abandoning my spot behind the cash register before the vase falls off her hands and breaks into a million pieces. "Let me get that for you, Mrs. Lowery." I gently ease the expensive object from her and adjust it on the wooden shelf.

"Thank you, darling." She pats my shoulder in a motherly fashion. "I did good hiring you."

I smile sheepishly at her as she makes her way to the back. I know what she means by her statement, I've been running up and down the store since I got here, picking up the slack from the one other employee here.

Tim, a lanky teenager with a persistent frown, works mostly at the back, doing a poor job of cleaning up dirty items.

The boy is more focused on sexting than actual work, but given the fact that he's Mrs. Lowery's grandson, he gets an automatic pass.

Honestly, my restlessness is the main reason for how active I am. Finley is out there somewhere, not in Texas where he should be, but closer to me than I like.

I'm still debating whether I'm being paranoid since the guy hasn't even said one word to me, but something tells me that Fin is up to no good.

Still, there's no point in being worked up due to his presence. He's just another person. Just another human being. I repeat those words to myself. I mean, what can he really do to me?

"Jaya!" someone calls my name from the other side of the store, so I lean back to see who it is. Behind the shelves, standing in front of a statue stands my new roommate.

I clean my hands on my pants and inch closer to her. "Hannah? What are you doing here, girl?" I take in her hair and grin widely. "Okay, buss down middle part!"

She laughs at my comment and twirls in place, showing off the lengthy new hairdo. As I make my way closer to her, her laid edges bring tears to my eyes. I fan myself dramatically and gape at her.

"You're too good for my ego, Jaya." We meet in a quick side embrace as I keep fussing over her shiny new hair.

My infatuation with her beautiful frontal wig is probably scaring her a bit because she backs off and slaps my wandering hands away. "Okay, okay! We get it, I look good. Now. Focus."

She grabs my shoulders and turns me so we're huddled away from the public eye. Not that there are any customers right now since it's late, but given Hannah's affinity for dramatics, I don't question most of what she does.

"Remember when I was telling you about how every guy I've seen on campus is kind of disappointing?"

I give her a dry look. "You mean when you called them all, and I quote, ugly as fuck excuses of men? That's what you're referring to?"

"Well," she starts, rolling her eyes at me as if she didn't say that the very first day we stepped on campus, "I may have been mistaken."

"Oh really? What makes you say so?"