Salmonella

Chapter 24

🫧Twenty-Four🫧

Back at Paints, I bustle quickly inside to find that Asslas isn't even here yet and I rushed like a madwoman for nothing. Don't tell me he has another injury...

I set my bag down, finding Teal seated at the table with some documents laid out in front of him, Zig floating behind him and holding his shoulders. They look serious, so I don't want to interrupt the conversation, but then Zig spots me.

"Oh, Ella. It's good you're here." He rushes over. "We just wanted to apologize. We've thought it over, and we're sorry for always leaving you to cover our shifts alone for us. It wasn't considerate or responsible of us. We won't do that anymore. And if one of us has an actual emergency, we'll either cover for each other, or we'll just be honest and tell Atlas we left early. You never have to cover for us again. Promise." 

Zig and Teal. Apologizing to me. What has the world become?

"Who are you and what have you done with Zig-Zag?" I poke at their face.

They rear back, pointing a finger at me warningly. "Hey, I apologized, okay? Don't push it."

Teal comes up behind them, taking them by the shoulders and smiling at me. "Come on Zig, what was that half-assed apology? We're sorry, Ella," he says genuinely. "You're the youngest here, and it's not fair for you to work the store by yourself. If Atlas wanted you to, he wouldn't have hired all three of us. From now on, if you need anything, work-related or not, you can always come to us. We may just be coworkers, but it doesn't have to be that way."

"Paints was never very professional, anyway," Zig says half-jokingly.

"Yeah." Teal gives Zig's arm a squeeze. "This is a casual space. Just because it's work doesn't mean we have to be all stiff and uncomfortable with each other. So why don't we start over?"

I head home in a daze, wondering if this is some sort of illusion. Asslas must have forced them to apologize, because there's no way they'd be that nice for no reason. I don't know which is harder to believe—that they had it in them to apologize, or that Asslas had it in him to make them apologize.

He must really like me.

But it's not just the guys being weird lately. Back at home, my sisters have been suspiciously nice these days too. They don't barge into my room, they don't yell at me over random things, they don't force me to wear clothes I don't like, and they give me space. It's quiet.

Too quiet. Like the calm before a storm.

𓆟 𓆟 𓆟

At least uni is still normal, for the most part. Still boring, still a lot of work, still not much happening. The only thing out of the ordinary is whatever's going on with Gene. He's more irritable, if that's even possible, and doesn't seem as excited to learn even his typical nerd things. He won't even answer questions or volunteer in class. Not that it's any of my business, but I've tried to ask him about it a couple times, and he just yaps at me to focus on my work instead of him. Or sometimes leaves class before I have a chance to talk to him.

Bloom doesn't have any classes today, and Gene and I never hang out without her, but I decide to go to the library anyway. I can just kill some time working on sketches before I leave for my shift.

There aren't many classes in session on this side of the building, so it's nice and quiet and tranquil in the hall. Then I hear a familiar voice carried in by the tide and stop by a set of lockers to listen.

"I hate guys like you," storms Gene, shocking me. He is seething. I've seen him irritated a lot, but never mad. He's usually pretending to be more annoyed than he really is—it's not like he'll actually kill me over handling fish organs the wrong way.