The Outsider

16. Crush Or Lust? (Part Two)

16. Crush Or Lust? (Part Two)

I had no idea how I managed it, but somehow, I got to work in time and even managed to slip through the delivery door without being seen.

Of course, the downside of running to work in an attempt to not be late, I was sweating like a teenager in a horror film that had recently hit puberty. No doubt I smelt like it too. I wasn't tempted to check, though. Instead, I headed straight for the hygiene aisle and 'tested' some deodorant.

Lavender.

"Why does it look like you were chased here?" Reggie's voice came from beside me, and I turned to look at him.

"Because I was. I was chased by looming financial instability," I replied with a smile, slowly putting the deodorant back on the shelf.

"I need you on the register," Reggie stated, ignoring my comment, and I felt my stomach do a weird flip.

"I don't do checkouts."

"You're doing them today. Connor called in sick and Kass is... I have no idea. The point is, we're short and I need you on the register."

"I don't get a say in this, do I?" I asked, putting slightly and doing my best puppy eye impression.

"No. Go."

With that, Reggie walked passed me and left me alone in the aisle.

"Damn it," I mumbled, before heading to the front of the store toward the registers.

It was painful, to say the least. Working as a cashier was my least favourite thing to do, and the hours dragged on. Plastering a smile on my face as someone complained about some product or other was not my idea of a good time. Not to mention the fact that it was now night time, and the weirdest people came into our store at night.

Generally, our cheap store would house regular, down to earth people, but when the darkness slipped in, those down to earth people morphed into beings that came up from underneath the Earth. Like demons that yodelled for no reason, and I was stuck with serving them.

Right up until midnight when we finally closed.

"Why are we even open this late?" I asked Vanessa, one of my co-workers. "It makes no sense."

"We just had a group of high teens come in and wipe out the majority of our snacks," Vanessa replied, locking the entrance. "Plus, it's a rich neighbourhood. Big bucks to be earned."

"Yeah, for the company, maybe. Don't see any big bucks coming my way."

Feeling more hot, sweaty, and dirty than ever, I walked with Vanessa to the back of the store, where she grabbed the things she brought in, and I grabbed the nothing I did because I was in a rush.

"Good to go?" She asked, and I nodded.

"God, yes. I need a shower. Why doesn't Reggie stay and do this?"

"Reggie has two kids and can't afford a babysitter."

"Capitalism," I muttered as we both headed out the back door, and Vanessa locked it.

"You right to get home?"

"Yeah," I said, shivering in the cold and catching a hint of what I smelt like. It wasn't good. "It's only little bit of a walk."

"Suit yourself." Vanessa shrugged and began heading the opposite direction to what I was going to go. "See you next time!"

"See ya!" I called back, turning on my heel and beginning my walk home.