Roles Reversed

Ordinary Day

April 8th, 2024

It felt like a normal day, I got up and brushed my teeth, took a shower, ate a bowl of cereal, and got ready for work. I worked at a Grocery Store just down the road from me which I'm thankful for considering I can leave my home and walk down to work to not only save gas, but I can also leave for work only 5 minutes before my shift starts.

I put on my work shirt and my jeans and tied my hair up in a ponytail as it's the most comfortable way to wear my hair when working otherwise it gets in my face a lot. I grabbed my small backpack along with my keys, and I left my home to head to work.

I pretty much kept to myself other than a select few, I just went to work and came home most days and every few months I would do something with my family or hang out with my group of friends that I have made through high school. I looked up at the sky and remembered that there was going to be an eclipse today which I find cool. My boss said that we could all take turns going outside to look at it today or just view it on our breaks.

I brought some solar eclipse glasses to make it much safer to look at, plus I feel like it would top the experience off for me. I walked into the store, and I headed to the back of the Grocery store to the Office area to clock in, I walked by a few of my coworkers some I smiled at, some I waved at, and some I said Hello to. There are always new hires coming in and out of the job considering how big of a store it is, but I do have my good friends here that I may not hang out with outside of work but at work, we have a blast.

I set my backpack in a locker and suddenly I felt some hands on my shoulders and kind of jumped a little bit but then I realized it was Blaize and I smiled.

"Good morning, blue," Blaize said.

"Good morning, red," I said with a smile. We always called each other these two colors for one simple reason, I have blue eyes which is a rarity considering I am black so you can imagine the looks I get whether they are in confusion or awe, and Blaize doesn't naturally have red eyes, but his contacts make his eyes look red and I have never seen him without them in.

"So, you know the eclipse is later on yeah? I'm planning on taking my break at the same time as you are so maybe we could go out back and watch it together?" Blaize said with a smile that turned into a grin.

"Why are you making that face? I mean yes, I will watch it with you, but that face makes me think you have ill intent behind that grin. Do we at least get to sit in my car and eat food too? Food is a must for things like this" I said as I grabbed my work lanyard and put it around my neck.

"Well duh we can go get food, food makes everything better," Blaize said as he walked to the other side of the room to the computer to clock in. "By the way, you look really cute today," he said with a sly grin I could see from the side of his face at the computer.

"This is the way that I look every day but thank you, what do you want from me? You only compliment when you want something so you might as well just spit it out." "I said as I leaned against the wall with my arms crossed.

Blaize finished clocking in and he leaned back up and walked over to me and he leaned over me against the wall, in my head the first thing that came to mind was the book lean trend on TikTok and for some reason, I started to feel very nervous, I'm never nervous around anyone and normally don't feel anxious on a daily basis but for some reason something was happening in my stomach and possibly in the land down under and I knew now was not the time to start fantasizing about something so insane.

"I want to take you out to dinner Blue; you know just casual nothing too fancy. I feel like the eclipse is something cool and I mean you're the only person that truly gets me and we are both the longest-employed employees here, so I mean why not celebrate that too" He looked down at me and smiled genuinely, he was probably like 6'2, 6'3 I'm not sure, I'm really bad at guessing heights. His brown hair went down to his shoulders and was always pretty wavy, in a majestic way. He was a stocky man but in a fit way since he was pretty toned in the arms and mentioned how after work he hits the gym almost every day. No facial hair whatsoever either.

I looked up at him and pulled myself together mentally and physically "Well that was kind of unexpected but yeah sure I will go to dinner with you" I said with a smile. Blaize leaned off the wall and clapped once saying "Yes" before looking back at me and clearing his throat "Uh I mean bet, cool, well I'm clocked in so I should probably get to work before I get yelled at, Bill is the manager on duty today and you know how he is" He chuckled and grabbed his work vest and put it on

"Oh yeah, I know. I got to work electronics today so I'm not sure how much I'll see you, but I'll see you for a break during the eclipse?" I said as I slipped on my work vest as well.

"You got it Blue, see you later," he said smiling and winking before walking off. I kind of froze because he had never winked at me before. What did he have on his mind? I guess I'll find out eventually. I grab one of my Air Pods out of my backpack to put in one of my ears to get me through the day and head out to get to work.