supermarket soapbox...tvd

a new day everyday

everything at the supermarket was normal, regular, controlled. every day was extremely close to the same and atolia liked it that way. normal was good.

at 7 am, natalie martin showed up for her shift, usually in paint stained jeans and a graphic t-shirt containing some reference atolia couldn't be bothered to ask about. she had tried once but between natalie's rants about some crazy doctor and a flower and her inability to get work done while talking, atolia had decided to never ask again.

at 8 am, the regulars tended to flood the store, perusing carefully for the ripest fruits and vegetables. mr. canterbury usually got into a fight with ms. masters over the best way to cook eggplant or carrots or whatever vegetable they were getting that day. natalie had said something about putting them in a boat and then asked to bring popcorn to work once specifically for that. atolia, as much as she liked the idea, had to refuse.

at 9 am, atolia ate a snack, a granola bar being her favorite choice, and helped mrs. hargreeves find the cough drops she seemed to run out of every single day. sometimes she contemplated murder. it helped cool the impulse to tell the old woman, "the cough drops are always in the same fucking aisle, dolores."

at 10, she went on her twenty minute break, by now having lost all her usual deer-like grace. that time was well-spent, what with consuming as much caffeine as possible and wondering on the legalities of cannibalism.

at 11 o'clock, jacob green arrived, all awkward smiles and gangly limbs, ready to start his day of work off right. the college student was honestly the only reason atolia hadn't committed a felony yet.

at 12, atolia retreated to the backroom, set to spend the next sixty minutes eating all the chocolate she could find and reading random trashy novels on her tablet. sometimes she thought about returning to the before. and then jake came tripping in, apologizing with every other step, and she was suddenly reminded of why she had left.

at 1 pm, natalie clocked off, usually carrying some form of produce she managed to convince atolia into letting her take. at this point, our lovely leading lady had decided that these were her adopted adult college-kids, damnit, and if she wanted to make sure they didn't starve, then by hell or high water, she would stuff food into them if it was the last thing she did.

at 2 pm, the store was empty, jake and atolia deigning it their "clean up and dance" time. brooms would often be sent flying completely by accident and one person or the other would get smacked in the face due to incoordination and such. natalie, the few times she witnessed the chaos, called it stupid. jake and atolia decided she was just jealous of their sick dance moves.

at 3, the last coworker, benni laskaris ambled through the door, hellbent on getting atolia to agree to a date (spoiler alert, she never did). benni was a 6'2 biology major and used all of her scientific knowledge for pick-up lines and puns. atolia was generally impressed by the younger woman's creativity, but largely felt it to be too much like dating her own kid the one time she agreed to go.

at 4 o'clock, jake, the supermarket team's impulse control, clocked out, leaving a rather sexually frustrated femme and millenia old woman to dream up whatever chaos their hearts desired. regulars had learned pretty quickly 4 o'clock was the witching hour and those who came unprepared paid the price. (at least twice mrs. lockwood had left the store covered in bubbles. miraculously, benni and atolia managed to keep their jobs.)

at 5 pm, the last customers for the day filtered in, each looking more tired than the last. atolia had contemplated petitioning to sell coffee and tea more than once due to this.

at 6, they closed, atolia heading to her loft just above the store, ready to cuddle with diana, her snake, and enora, her kitten. life was good. she had a routine and everything went to plan. nothing was out of the ordinary. finally she had peace.

thanks for clicking on this story! i hope you enjoy reading this as much as i enjoy writing it!