Beauty Is A Virtue

Chapter 2

Chapter 2

“What are you looking at?” I said as I sat next to him, he slowly approached onto my lap.
Then the fucking nuke bomb farter blasts metal at full volume (Damn Carl). It’s already 9:00PM and it you’re just blasting music. Could’ve AT LEAST played SZA. (Now, it might seem a little out of the ordinary. But the last one practically created my music taste. She said, and I quote “This can be used for sex.” Q: Why? A: I have no idea.)
I pulled the trash bandit up onto my shoulder, going to turn off the lights. Finally ready to head to bed.
Until. A knock came at the front door, I stood up, putting Gerald aside and getting this nuisance away from my door. After I opened the door, it was Carl’s friend. He’s actually cooler than Carl, so it was a surprise to see him.
“Yo big man! How are you my bro?” He hollered, pulling me into a ‘bro hug’. He patted my back, then finally released.
I’m not much of a people person, or actually, an extroverted person. I just want to be around my nice circle of friends, nothing too wild. But Jake is an exception.
“I’m good, but uhm. Carl is out in his room.” I say stupidly. Jake brushed aside me and headed toward his room.
Now, I don’t know how… close. Jake and Carl are. I heard they’ve been friends since sixth grade. But that’s fine, it’s not any of my business. Because Lilly is my business, and from what I’ve learned, she’s 22 (4 years younger), loves traveling, and has only six friends. She’s a very easy woman to please. From what I know, her most desired country to go to is Germany, why? Because she wants to eat at their restaurants. Very basic, but the woman has needs.
Ex #1, Luke, and Ex #3 who couldn’t ever give her what she wanted, but I think Ex #1 is down in Ohio somewhere. Which is too close for comfort.
We have a lot more problems than them however. Lilly’s friends are moving down here, which makes it harder to get closer to her.
I walked back into my room, Gerald was sound asleep barely leaving room for me on the bed. Fat ass trash bandit. I sighed, cozying up next to him, finally falling asleep.
I finally woke up, my alarm with it’s non-stop buzzing. Only 5:16AM, I turned off the alarm, Gerald was already at the door, waiting patiently for me. And your cat. Why at the park, 8:00PM, me and you, raccoon and tabby cat? No idea.
As I sat up, Carl walked in to wake me. “Wake up, loser. Don’t you have a job?” Shouldn’t he have a job? Lilly, this guy doesn’t have a job, isn’t doing anything productive, and can’t even afford rent with me.
I can barely afford it as is. But soon I’ll move in with you and Carl’s friend can stay here and help him out.
I got out of my bed, looking at him “Yeah, I do. Maybe you should too.” Carl obviously felt a bit of frustration.
I walked past him, heading towards the closet. “Hey, you know I’m trying! Every interview just disrespects me!” Carl barked, he’s a lot to handle, you’ll learn that soon enough, Lilly.
“Well try harder, shouldn’t you?” Carl just leaned against the wall and sighed.
Not only did I not have the time, it was already time for work. So I had to get on my way—I feel like it’s great that the gas station is barely a five minute walk from my house.
“So you’re going?” Carl whined.
“Yeah, I have work to do.” I replied, walking over for my jacket.
I slid on my jacket and walked down the apartment building, the outside being a little bit dark and light, contrasting the sky above me. It was pink on the bright side and a dark blue on the dark side. The darkness slowly covered it.

So, I put the letter in your mailroom, did that last night. You will wonder why ‘Luke’ is sending you notes, maybe he accidentally died. Let's hope not.
As I approached the gas station, I felt giddy, like how I feel when I see you.
“Ah, Alan! You actually came by early!” Richard definitely was in a good mood.
“Hey! You seem to be in a good mood.” I joked, Richard chuckled, he has that rich kind of laugh, maybe even a Santa laugh.
“Well, the reason is that I’ve been wanting to do something special, and that has happened. I have a new car!” He was actually happy, he’s usually that boss who is always grumpy but tries to not get in the way of others' lives.
I smiled, “Well that’s great! What kind of car?” I asked, he turned around and started to rummage through something.
“A Porsche, I’ve been saving up since I got to America. You really have to be determined.” He pulled out a pen and paper, starting to write stuff down.
“A Porsche? Seems like you’ve been saving up for a while.” I was surprised, Lilly. Maybe one day he’ll lend me it for a bit so we can have some fun.
“Here, I wrote down a to-do list. Some supplies for the shop, cleaning, just stuff you’re gonna need for today.” He handed me the list, it had nine things on it.
Get chips, only Lays are needed
Get Mountain Dew, Dr. Pepper, and Fanta
Get cinnamon rolls, danishes, mini donuts, and muffins
Get Sour Patch Kids, Haribo, Skittles, Jolly Ranchers
Get cleaning supplies, wipes, Clorox, and paper towels
Sweep the floors and dust the shelves/counters
Spray the Clorox and use paper towels
Resupply the shelfs
Get ready for the inspector
“Well, looks like I’m gonna be in for hell of a day.” Richard nodded and chuckled. But now I have a duty to finish.
I waved the good old Richard goodbye and set on forth for the quest ahead. Walking over to the Stop & Shop.
It was casual there, people minding their own business. Except for this one girl, she kept looking at me while on the phone. She was a little dodgy towards me, like she didn’t want me to notice her. Guess she never can realize when I did look.
She moved on into my direction, was this a friend of yours, Lilly? “Excuse me,” She stuttered, “Are you Alan?” Now this had to be your friend, Lilly.
“Who’s asking…?” I questioned, now she was smiling.
“I’m Alice. Lilly’s friend. Say hi Lilly!” A sweet hi came from her phone, it was you. I felt awkward because your friend already knew how I looked, what did you tell her?
Alice handed me her phone, I looked stumped. It was you, a big grin on your face, I chuckled a little.
“How are you, Raccoon Boy?” nicknames already? Were you just lying about not looking for a boyfriend?
But I had to think fast, so I came up with a quick nickname. “I’m good, how are you, Coffee Girl?” now it might have sucked, but you giggled. So it was a win.
“I’m great! Looking forward to Friday!” I had to ask about how this’ll work.
“So we’re just meeting up with the pets at the park and hanging out?” You looked stumped, “Uhm… we can meet at the park, you bring your raccoon, then we walk to my place after a little. And hang out there.” you seemed excited, like you really wanted this to happen.
“I heard it’s snowing on friday!” I added, we both knew this could be perfect.
“Then I guess I’ll be ready!” You returned my energy, you are mine.

I handed Alice her phone and went on my way, grabbing everything on the to-do list. I didn’t see Alice anywhere after that, she didn’t even have a shopping cart or basket.
Stalkers, am I right?
I forgot! He also gave me $2000! So I had to take everything off the shelves, Richard will be proud, Lilly!
It was 6:49AM, 1, 2, 3, and 4 were finished, now I needed cleaning supplies.
The aisles were very organized, I had to keep walking, until the cleaning supplies finally showed up. Shopping here is like hell, Lilly. You have to keep on searching, looking over at the boards hanging above the shelves. It’s such a process. But how would you do it? You stand at 5’4. That’s so much worse.
Now I grabbed a couple of different things, wipes, Clorox, those sorts. Until I got a call from Richard, this couldn’t be good, Lilly.
“Hey, what’s up?” I asked, Richard then spoke: “How long does it take for fucking food and cleaning supplies?” It was a relief.
“Oh my fucking god. The more you rush me, the longer I’ll take, because now I’m on this damn call.” Richard paused for a second, then hung up.
This is why you don’t want a manager from London, Lilly.
But I finished shopping, so it was time to come back to the shop. It was a twenty minute walk, it doesn’t bother me, I love walks.

A woman saw me, Lilly. Can you guess who it was? Alice. Tell her to stop following me, because I have work to do. I don’t want to be near a woman that knows you, anything I say wrong, they’ll instantly tell you.
I just want us to be happy, live life in Germany, sitting in a penthouse, and have a nice and soft kiss. Our little infant baby whines and we make sure he’s alright, we have so much ahead of us. And I don’t want it ruined by an outsider.
“You’re back! Finally, it’s been two hours.” Richard congratulated, putting his hands on the counter.
“Well, don’t rush me next time.” I muttered, setting everything down on the counter.
“Well, we have someone coming by, and they don’t play around.”
I finally realized who that someone was.
Matthew Hill
He is scary, in Richard’s eyes, it’s life or death. So I have to roll with it, even though it can also affect my job.
I dusted the shelves, swept the floors, wiped the counters, shelves, and doors down. While Richard leaned outside waiting for him.
I checked my phone, downloading Instagram for the first time. Making a random fake account that you’ll probably never follow back.
Now it took a while to find you:
@Serany_Lilly
Your posts are casual, just selfies and photos with your friends. You obviously knew why you wore these clothes, so your future boyfriend could drool over these—I am drooling—I could smell the salt water in your beach selfies, I could smell the air freshener in your friend's house, I could smell the new clothes you bought.