Not A Temporary Love | Finley & Harlyn #1

Chapter 8

Harlyn

"Evans!" Bobbi's shrill voice cuts through the din of people.

I call out "Order 1124!" before turning to find her weaving through the other employees, wisps of brown hair coming out of her hat at odd angles. A customer comes to claim the bag I place on the counter. "Thank you. Have a nice day."

"Evans," Bobbi says again, stopping next to me.

"What?" I turn and look at the monitor for the next order.

"Well, that's what I wanted to talk to you about," she says, helping me gather the sandwiches in front of us into a bag. "Collins just called."

"Bobbi," I sigh

"He can't come in for the night shift. You're not scheduled tomorrow. Please." She grabs a cup and sets the bag and cup on the counter. "Order 1125!" She smiles at the customer that comes forward.

"Bobbi, I'm not scheduled tomorrow because I have plans," I say. "Also, I asked for less hours this term."

"I know."

"I've worked almost every day this week."

"I know."

I place a burger in the bottom of a bag and take a deep breath. "I can't. Call Marty. He's always wanting more hours."

"But he's hardly trained on the register at all. I'll be babysitting him all night," Bobbi whines.

I shrug her off. She scoffs and moves over to a register where Hannah is calling her over for a manager code.

"Order 1126!" The customer that comes forward catches my eye. He takes the bag and thanks me with a smile. And then he goes back toward the front door, looping his arm around another guy's shoulders and kissing him on the side of the head. I watch as they wander outside and disappear up High Street. They look happy.

I'm snapped back to reality by Daniel, who's barking at me that the fryer is going off. But I think about the couple for the rest of my shift. And Finley. I've wanted to ask him about...well, about being gay, but I'm not sure if that's weird or not. So, I haven't.

I clock out at the end of my shift, ignoring the daggers that Bobbi's eyes throw at me, and start toward home. My phone chimes in my pocket, and I pull it out to find a text from Finley.

Finley:
Q Victoria's full name is Alexandrina Victoria?? Are you kidding me?? No wonder she went with Victoria. Can you imagine fitting Alexandrina Regina on coins? Teaching 5 year olds who the queen is?

I laugh and pause before the roundabout to answer.

Me:
Didn't you learn her full name when you were at Kensington Palace??

Finley:
Um. Probably? But my brain doesn't always process everything at first.

He's been on a Queen Victoria kick since his trip to London with Max on Saturday. He keeps sending me random things as he learns them. And they're hilariously out of context and out of chronology. I scroll through some of his other exclamations.

Finley:
I want a romance like she and Albert had.

Finley:
Ok. The sodomy laws aren't great. Neither is the possibility that she was going to support the south during the Civil War. Not cool.

Finley:
This chick is a badass. Took over at 18. Reinvented the monarchy. Told everyone who wanted to control her to suck it. Wish I was brave enough to do that.

I think about that last one as I walk home. I'm curious what he means by that. I didn't ask. Just added it to my ever-growing list of Finley questions and wholeheartedly agreed that Queen Victoria was indeed a badass - a complicated one, hence the sodomy laws and civil war thing. But we all have complexities.