~ Later That Day ~
Omniscient POV:
So should I have a dressy, going- out dinner for the last night, or a stay-in game night? Aria thought to herself. Or maybe do the game night the night we get there. Or what about the dinner the night we get there?! Damn, I should probably just ask Hunter. She began to pull out her phone before an older white woman walked up to her,
"Excuse me ma'am, do you work here?"
"Yes I do," she gave the lady a blank stare. Aria wasn't dressed in a regular person's attire. She works at Bath & Body Works where a blue apron is a part of the dress code. "What can I help you with?" she said with utmost enthusiasm.
"Oh I was just wondering if you sold this one perfume I'd seen a few months back."
"Well did you see it here during the summer?"
"Yes I believe so."
"Oh, well then no. A lot of our scents are seasonal, so whatever you're seeing in the store now are our most popular and winter scents only."
"Okay thank you. Oh sweetheart you're hair-" The elder woman reached a hand to Aria's 'fro, provoking her head to jerk back,
"Ma'am, please don't."
"Oh I'm sorry, I didn't realize-"
"It's alright, you have a good day." Without another word, the young girl walked away to another section of the store.
Not that she had any reason to be, situations like that left Aria feeling embarrassed and inferior. All of her life, she's always had this bubbly adorable persona and people always considered her 'cute.' Sometimes it's nice, but when people feel too comfortable because of your seemingly inviting character and they take advantage of it, it's not so nice. She had no problem standing up for herself, but having to do so instead of people having a sense of respect and manners was annoying at times.
Feeling a need to take a minute to herself, Aria decided to go on break early. Usually she was a pretty patient person, but in some situations like the one that just occurred, she'd get bothered. All she needed was a good 10 minute reset and her friendly work attitude would be sure to return.
Taking the escalator downstairs to the food court, Aria pulled out her phone to text Hunter like she'd intended before.
Me to FavWhiteGirl🤍
okay so tell me what you think: dressy dinner on the first night and game night on the last OR game night on the first night and a dressy dinner out on the last??
Standing next in line of a smoothie cafe, she awaited Hunter's response.
"Heyy miss thingg! What can I get for you?" Aria's friend, Tyra greeted her. They'd become close during the time Aria's been working at the mall which was close to a year now.
"Hey hun! And same old same old, you already know," she shook her head while flapping a hand.
Tyra turned her lips up after smacking her teeth, "Aria bruh, when you gonna try something new for a change. I promise we got other stuff on the menu!" she laughed.
"When pigs fly, now come on, chop chop," she clapped her hands.
"You're a mess, I swear."
Headed back up the escalator after eating her lunch in her car, Aria went back inside, feeling refreshed enough to carry on with the shift. It's about 3 in the afternoon now, and she'd been at work since 1:30. The school allowed seniors to leave early for work so she'd gotten out earlier than the other kids. With two hours left of her shift, Aria relaxed and waited for the clock to do its thing. Her phone buzzed,
