THE SUMMER I LOVED HER, Conrad Fisher

FIVE, First Day.

CHAPTER FIVE. First Day.

• CONRAD FISHER'S POV •
• 13 MONTHS BEFORE •

TODAY WAS the first day I'd be an official employee for the Bardot's and I was dreading it. The image of working with and for Daisy Bardot made me sick to my stomach. I barely knew the girl, and I already had an entire list on all of her cons, and none on her pros. Did she even have any pros? I didn't think so.

    It had been a week since I had last saw Daisy at my parents house, when she had wrecked my mother's dinner and insulted my girlfriend, and I was still furious. I didn't know how a girl like her could walk around with such pride when she was able to treat people that way. The amount of compliments and praise she receives shocks me. I am still baffled to this day on how much my mother loves her. I would never understand the appeal of Daisy.

    I wanted the drive to the Rosemary Tide to last forever. I was tempted to run my car straight into a tree, and use the excuse of trying to avoid hitting an animal as my reasoning behind 'accidentally' running my car into a log. I'd do all of that just to get out of seeing Daisy. But unfortunately, my mother was beyond excited for me to go. I didn't want to disappoint her.

    I had to give Daisy some respect after she willingly went into my house to apologize to my mother. But then again, I had to chase her out into the rain for her to do so.

    The town was busy with tourists, all browsing throughout the shops. This worried me in a way, as I had begun to wonder what my first day will be like. I was never good when under chaotic situations. Though, Daisy was able to run the place perfectly fine on her own during the busiest times of the year, so maybe it won't be so bad. Unless she becomes a raging dog, barking at me any chance she gets — pointing out all my flaws and wrong doings when it comes to working for her.

Jeremiah was lucky enough to be able to skip out today, due to him twisting his ankle last night at a party. Idiot. Although I thought what he had done was pitiful, I was jealous that he had an actual excuse to escape this torture. I, on the other day, was obligated to make an appearance.

    The moment my red jeep wrangler pulled into the 'employees only' parking lot behind the Rosemary Tide, my heart raced, the sweat in my palms building up, making them slick. I was absolutely horrified. Not of Daisy, but the fact that I had to deal and be with Daisy for hours. It was currently 8 am, the Rosemary Tide opened at 9, then closes at 7 pm, meaning I'd be stuck with Daisy for the next 11 hours.

    I hated my life.

    My eyes clenched shut, my hands pressed against my black leather steering wheel, causing my body to be forced against the cushioned seats. I wish this was a nightmare I could wake up from, but I knew I wasn't that lucky. I also knew that if I didn't get in there sooner, Daisy would have my head, and I just wasn't in the mood to deal with her awful attitude.

    I finally gained the confidence to enter into my own personal hell, my head held high as I entered through the back door. My car beeped as I locked it, my hand shoving the dangling keys into my green cargo shorts to secure them.

    I was immediately hit with the smell of sandalwood and a type of comforting pumpkin scent. I actually quite enjoyed it. It even sort of put me at ease, placing a soothed smile onto my lips. The store was mostly quite, besides the lowly playing music that was heard in the background. As I walked down the dark corridor more and more, the sound of shuffling came into play, my ears listening carefully. I then peaked my head around the corner to get a full view of the store. Glancing around for a moment, my eyes then landed on the devil herself, arranging a set of clothing that sported the Cousins name — something the tourists go absolutely insane over.

    Hesitantly, my throat cleared, announcing to Daisy she wasn't alone without a word being spilled. Her head slowly turned towards me, her hair following her movements.

    "What's up, Fisher." She murmurs, just loud enough for me to hear. I could tell she was just as uncomfortable as I was, making the tension in the room rise higher and higher by the minute.

    "Hey." Was all I could say. What else was there to say? Nothing. Nothing at all.

    "Um, so," She wipes her hands off onto her blue denim jeans, fully facing towards me. "It'll probably be busy today, but I'll go easy on you and handle most of it while you figure everything out. I was thinkin' I could teach you the register before opening so you could deal with that today, while I make sure everything's clean around here and stuff." She shrugs, her words not vicious or snarky in anyway.

    "Okay." I nod, beginning to walk towards the counter after she had done the same. The two of us stepped behind the counter, standing in front of the white iPad designed register.

    "It's pretty simple. Registers down here," she points to a decently sized, black money compartment, her hand tapping against it. "You just press a button to open it when a customer hands you cash, mainly they'll use credit cards. If they do that, you or them will swipe or insert the card through this," She picks up a small card reader, showing it off to me. "They'll get the option to tip or not, sign, choose if they want a receipt or anything and then they're good. It's pretty easy, honestly. It gets a little overwhelming at times, but that's only because of the amount of people in the shop. The registers an easy job for the first day. But if you need anything, just come get me and I'll help you out."

    "Will do." I mutter, running a hand through my hair.

    "Hey, um" My head turns to her, quirking an eyebrow. "I just wanted to apologize about what I had said at the dinner. It was really rude and uncalled for, so, I'm sorry, and I hope we can put it behind us." She acted as if she was reading off a script. Her parents probably put her up to this, but I didn't want to cause a scene, and call her out. So, I kept my mouth shut and just nodded, dishonestly accepting her apology.

    "All good." I press my lips into a thin line, watching her expression fade into a  sort of relief, a breath exhaling from her mouth. She formed a faint smile, barely curving her lips up.

    "Cool. Well, you can just chill here for now. I'm going to go finish sanding a board for a client before we open, so just come get me if you need anything. I'll be in the back." Her thumb points over her shoulder towards a vibrant pink door that shouted 'employees only.' I just nodded, giving her a small wave before turning towards the plastic glass counter top, my palms pressing against it to hold myself up. I released a built up sigh as I heard the door click shut, letting me know I was alone.

    "Thank God." I shake my head, silently praying that I'd get out of this hell soon.