HEART FOR HIRE ✓

Two

When I come to work the next day, my workmates are staring at me more than usual, muttering things here and there. In addition, Jeanette's stare screams something along the lines of  "you should confess."

"Okay, that's it," I bang my hands on the supplies table and my workmates pause to look at me, both watching me with wide eyes. "What is going on?"

The two glance at each other in turns, the kind people do when they can't decide who should speak first. Finally, Jeanette clears her throat and changes her facial expression to match that of an angry hen robbed of her chicks.
"Why don't you tell us?"

"What?"

"Don't act so clueless and innocent because you are not," Jeanette scoffs, her arms folded right on her chest. "Who was the man from last night?"

"Come on," I let out a long breath, "is that what you guys have been whispering about? It's no big deal."

"It's a big deal," Jeanette says, earning a nod of agreement from Alex who hasn't said a word yet. "We tell each other everything, you know? When I started going out with Brandon last year, you are the first people I told. When Alex had a date last night, he didn't hide it. So, why did you hide your date from us?"

"That's because there was no date!" I shake my head with a soft chuckle. These people believe that anyone would willingly take me on a date with no strings - like money in this case - involved?

What a joke!

"What do you mean?" Alex finally asks. "We saw you with the man after selling the tickets. Wasn't he your date? You even bought him snacks for heaven's sake, you never share food!"

It takes me approximately ten minutes to explain the situation to them, making sure to add that I was as surprised about the man's offer as they are.

"He just paid you hundreds of dollars to sit and watch a movie with him?" Jeanette shakes her head.

"That's exactly what happened."

"Did you at least get his number?"

I slap Jeanette's shoulder making her flinch away in pain.
"Why would I need his number? It was just a one time thing."

"Well, this man seems to be too rich with money to waste," she adds earning disapproving looks from Alex and I. "Come on, don't look at me like that. I'm just saying."

"We don't know if this man will come back," Alex says after a minute of silence

"Exactly," I add, "and even though he returns, nothing will happen. I know you believe in coincidences and fate but don't you think it's too early to assume big things out of absolutely nothing?"

Jeanette walks out of the break room with dropped shoulders and a sigh.
Alex and I follow her a few minutes later and we start doing our duties for the day.

Alex and Jeanette focus on cleaning and setting up the stage for the play being shown tonight by Church Hill drama club.
I help the crew and cast behind the scenes to make sure that everything turns out great.

"Excuse me miss," a member of the crew comes running towards me. "A member of the main cast has a tear on her dress. Will you help us fix it?"

"Of course," I nod with a smile, "help me arrange the jewelry while I'm at it."

The woman sits down on the mat I was sitting on earlier to sort the jewelry as I search for needles, thread and pieces of cloth I can use to mend the dress.

In the dressing room, the girl with a torn dress is sitting down, leaning against the wall and letting out not so loud sniffles.

"Hey there," I kneel in front of her and pass my fingers through her long brown hair. "I would like to fix your dress, will you let me?"

The girl looks up at me with wet brown eyes and slowly nods her head.

"You will have to change into this dress as I  fix yours," I hand her a spare dress which she takes hesitantly but later changes into it and hands over her torn dress.

After minutes of trying to figure out something, I finally decide to cover the tear with a cloth complementary to that of the dress. Looking at it from far, it's hard to tell that the dress has had a tear or been fixed with an amateur like me.

But the girl is so happy that she lets out a happy giggle and resumes playing with her cast mates.

The play goes on so well that they get a standing ovation after it. The cast, plot, lighting, director and everything was extraordinary and I stood in the corner smiling in pride.
The more the people love the theater, the more they are likely to come back and the more they buy tickets, the more we get paid.

Everyone wins at the end of the day.

"Thank you, thank you," the girl from earlier throws herself at me and hugs my legs. She catches me off guard and I end up almost tripping from the impact.

I lift her up in my arms. She is so cute and adorable with freckles all over her face and the way her eyes light up when she smiles.
"What's your name pretty girl?"

"I am Rosalia, but my friends call me Rose," she answers excitedly, "what about you nice woman?"

"Me? I am not nice, I eat souls at night," I say, rubbing my nose with hers at which she giggles. "Call me Natalia the vampire."

"Do you have sharp teeth too?" she asks and I nod. "Show me, show me!"

"Why don't we do this next time?" I say, putting her down and leading her to the director who is calling the cast members to board the bus and head home.

"Can I bring my dresses and you fix them for me next time?"

"Of course pretty girl," I get a temporary marker from my overall and draw a small heart in her left palm. "Good night Rosalia, see you next time."

She waves at me as she gets into the bus and I smile as the bus disappears from the driveway.

If my sister Naomie was here, they'd get along really well.

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