𝔅𝔞𝔟𝔶, 𝔬𝔫𝔢 𝔪𝔬𝔯𝔢 𝔱𝔦𝔪𝔢 || 𝔨. 𝔥𝔞𝔪𝔪𝔢𝔱𝔱

.01.

My shift was almost over and what's my fucking boss doing? Giving me Lola's shift because she has an urgent appointment.

Either my boss is stupid or I missed something important. But I think it's more the first option.

I loved my job at the music store. The constant sorting of the cassettes, the records. To advise the customers which new album they should rather buy. I enjoyed working in the music field.

Nevertheless, I had planned something myself and now I have to postpone it until tomorrow. A nice thank you to my boss for that. Not.

"Is it really okay for you to take my shift? I can also cancel the appointment.", Lola asked me for about the hundredth time.

She was by nature a very insecure person. She questioned everything she did. In my opinion, this woman just thought too much. And I was right about that. I mean, she even thinks about which coffee she wants to drink for a full ten minutes. Lola is a tough person. Not that I don't already know that.

"It's alright. Have a nice evening and I'll take care of everything. Don't always think so much. Also think about what you want.", I said to her.

I gently pushed her towards the door so she could finally get ready for her date. Yes, you heard me right. Lola, the woman who really thinks everything over a thousand times, has a date today. It surprised me as much as it surprised our colleague Sam. Sam was a nice guy. I liked his sense of dark humor. Just as dark and insulting as my own.

"Thanks. I'd be happy to cover your shift tomorrow. That's fair."

"Now leave. This is a waste of time, my love.", I told her and pointed to the wall clock.

With a brief wave and a short smile, Lola said goodbye to me and left the shop. Other than me, also our boss, Mr. Willow, was there but he hardly ever left his office. So I had the place to myself.

Since the cassettes and the records were already sorted, I decided to fill up the strings. In addition to cassettes and records, this shop also sold instruments. Guitars, bass guitars, a drum kit or two and a bunch of other stuff like a triangle or something. I don't know that well because it's not my department.

Since it was already eight in the evening, the shop wasn't too crowded. Most customers stood at the checkout to pay. Unfortunately, they had to wait because, as I said, I was the only employee. As already mentioned, I was in the process of sorting the strings.

If there was one thing I hated more than life, it was impatient customers. There was always that one customer who said they were in a hurry and pushed ahead just to finish faster. They also thought I was blind.

"Doesn't anyone work here anymore?! I want to pay damn it!", exclaimed someone from across the store.

With an extra dose of politeness and a look that could kill on my face, I dropped the strings and headed to the cash register. Like I said, these customers are everywhere. And I just can't stand them.

When I got to the checkout, I put on an exaggeratedly nice smile and looked the customer in the face. It was him who yelled from across the store, based on the way he was staring at me. Without really noticing that there were other customers standing behind him, I just stared back.

The guy really was really pissing me off.

"I'm sorry you had to wait but I'm alone here at the moment so it may take longer.", I tried to tell him kindly.

It sounded more like I was about to throw a brick at him. To be honest, I wanted to do that too. Unfortunately I couldn't see any brick lying around so I had to put that thought aside.

"I have to work in case you haven't noticed.", I said just to annoy him.

The guy was a regular customer. That meant no matter how many times I insulted him or kicked him out, he always came back. This guy has a healthy dose of confidence. I would like to have that too. But sadly I don't.

So without really waiting for an answer, I cashed in on his small collection of cassettes. I had to give that asshole one thing. He has good taste in music.

After several more hours of boredom and sorting, my shift was finally over. Since I didn't want to cause any problems for Sam tomorrow morning, I cleaned the store and locked it. Lola, Sam, two other colleagues and I all got a key. Whatever the reason was but who knows what Mr. Willow was thinking.

My little apartment, which I shared with my brother was not far from the music store. Because of that I always walk to work.

"Why do I always have to do everything? Why not Sam? He has so much time.", I asked myself.

I liked Sam but I hated that Mr. Willow always made me fill in. Even if Sam offered to do the shift for me. I've been working in this store for three years.

But there's no point in getting upset about it. Nothing will change as a result.

When I got home, I threw my backpack into a corner and flopped down on my couch like a sack of potatoes. It sure looked funny.

Since it was relatively quiet, I could tell that Noah, my brother, who was three years older, wasn't at home. He was older than me and yet I was far more mature than him. Not that it rrally bothered me.

Shit. I almost forgot to call Stacy.

Stacy McKenzie has been my best friend for as long as I can remember. We met in kindergarten and have been through a lot since then. Actually I wanted to meet her today but since I had to take over Lola's shift I couldn't. Since I couldn't call her at work, I did it now.

The receiver was in my ear. The whole time I only heard a beeping, which was slowly but surely driving me crazy.

"Get on your fucking phone. I know you're home.", I said to myself but at the same time somehow into the receiver.

And as if that was Stacy's cue, seconds later I heard a female voice on the other end of the line.

"Here's Stacy?", she said that every time.

She didn't care if it was a stranger or not. She always greeted her callers with these two words. When she told me that, I officially declared her the dumbest person in the world. But I wasn't necessarily better either.

"It's me, you idiot. Why didn't you answer your phone four hours ago?", I asked her.

I knew very well that she stayed at home. If I can't go out like today, she always stays at home and spends her time differently. That was one thing I didn't understand but also didn't question anymore.

"You have called? I was busy but that's not important. Since we couldn't go to the bar today, are we going tomorrow?", Stacy got straight to the point.

She was the type of woman who always got straight to the point. She didn't beat around the bush and rewrote everything to make it easier to present. She was a very direct person. Not like me.

"Yeah yeah, I'm fine too, thanks for asking.", I said sarcastically.

We both knew I was just kidding. Since Lola wants to take over my morning shift tomorrow, I have the whole day off. That means I can hang out with Stacy all day. Well, not all day because I still had to clean the apartment. Noah won't do it for the life of him.

"Anyways yes we can. Let's say at eight in front of the bar?"

"Sounds good Bro.", she said and I could almost see her big grin.

I don't know where that came from but after a while Stacy started to calling me Bro. It didn't bother me but I'd like to know how she came up with the idea of ​​calling me that. I'll just leave it like that.

"See you tomorrow, then. Love you.", I said to her.

"See you tomorrow and love you too.", she replied and hung up a moment later.

I put the phone back on the small table by the couch. Spontaneously as I was I decided to sleep on the couch. I was just too unmotivated to walk into my room now. So I closed my eyes and felt myself slowly but surely drifting into dreamland.