"Things" Of The Past

Chapter 8: First Job

It was mid October, fall, or autumn. Whatever you wanna call it. I was really bored in that school year honestly, the difficulty wasn't as hard as I expected. At this point in my life, I needed a challenge or something to just keep my life interesting. So, I looked for a job and it was just my luck, no one wanted to hire the 17 year old, so I just moved on with my life and attended my classes. Danica and me had a lot more in common than I expected, ever since that day. Me and Lewis usually hangout and cycle around the city for fun, but it got old for awhile. Let's just say my life hasn't been the same. I usually visit the places we loved to go, the park, library, the CD store. Speaking of CD store, every time I visit the store, me and David just talk about how our day is always going. Overtime I enjoyed being with David... It was October 17th 2004, Sunday. It was really a boring day for me, besides going to church off course. After that, I was just really laying in my bed and thought off what can I possibly do. It was 9am the day was still young and I have nothing to do, so I quickly just went out, brought my Discman and went to the CD store. When I got there as usual there's David and greeted me a good morning and said, "you're here early, what's the matter? Bored?"  I replied with, "Yeah, how'd you know?".  he replied with, "Come on, what person goes to the CD store this early in the morning." I then replied, "yeah, right"  he probably must have saw how bored, I was and said to me, "Want to help me out here in the store?" I suddenly snapped out and said, "You mean like a job?"  He replied, "Basically, yes."  I was happy that I can assist him. I said to him, "Sweet, what am I gonna do?"  He giggled and replied to me, " It's 9:02, we wait for a customer and when that customer arrives, we help him or her out. Got it?" I was happy that I finally got something interesting to do, so I said, "Sure why not." He then looked at my clothes and said to me, "Come with me"  I was confused why he wanted me to follow him, but I just went with it. He took me to the back and there were uniforms. It was a blue polo shirt and name tags. He said, "Alright, change into one of these polos this will be your uniform for the day." I cooperated and picked a polo my size, grabbed a name tag and wrote my name on it. When I got out of the dressing room. He looked at me and said "Huh, I never thought it would suit you, guess I was wrong." I then looked at his uniform and I saw he has no name tag, so I asked him "How bout you? You don't wear your name tag?" He answered me, "I, personally don't want anyone calling me by my name." I just went with it. A couple of customers came and David asked me to help and assist them out, so like any other employee, I helped the customers out by recommending tracks, show them the latest releases, and helping them check out. I was doing great the whole morning session... It was lunch time. David bought food for the both of us and we both ate. I was still wondering why he didn't want to be called by his name so I asked him "So, why don't you like anyone calling you by your name."  he replied, "Cause, I don't like it"  I then said, "Come on, there's got to be an actual reason. Come on you can tell me." He sighed, looked into my eyes, and started talking. He said to me "I grew up in a not so family oriented, family. When I was four my dad left us, for another woman. As I was growing up, my mom was problematic and kept drinking and treated me and my mom like dirt, my mom was no different as well, she's a chain smoker, I remembered one time, I took a peak outside my room, I'd see her smoking and sometimes with another man. One day, when I was 10, I decided to run away from home and find a new life. I was such a dumb kid at the time that, I thought it was easy for someone to just get a new job or home. While walking around in the city, I fainted and suddenly, I woke up to a nice bedroom and two people were cleaning my wounds and healing them. Little did I know they were going to adopt me. I'm very thankful that I decided to leave home, that day, I guess it was really meant to happen. I just wonder now if my mom is still around. And to answer your question, I don't like being called David, cause when I was 8, I heard my parents arguing and my mom said 'maybe if you didn't get me pregnant, we wouldn't be in debt right now.' right then and their, I knew to myself that I was a mistake, a mistake no one wanted." I felt bad hearing his whole childhood being miserable. After hearing that I asked him, "Did you try going back to your old house?"  He replied, "I did, the new folks said it was sold 7 years ago by a woman, who originally lived there. So wherever my parents are, I hope they're safe and got back on their feet." After hearing his story, I understood why he acts so chill and kind to other people, he just doesn't want anyone to experience what he's been through as a child... After that conversation we carried on doing our duties for the rest of the day. Then someone familiar came into the shop. It was Danica. She probably didn't notice I was in the store. She went to the cassette tapes section, so I followed her and surprise her. I suddenly grabbed her shoulder and before I can even say anything she immediately tackled me to the ground, I immediately said, "Hey! It's me, Daniel remember!" She immediately realized and helped me get up. As I was getting up, she immediately said sorry and quickly cleaned my shirt for me. "I'm sorry, my reflexes are really like that sometimes." she said, I just said it's alright and asked what was she doing in the store. She replied to me "Oh I'm just looking for a new headset, my old ones, fell down so hard that it didn't work anymore, and that's why I'm here right now. How bout you? What are your doing here?"  I replied, "Oh I work here, or at least I think I do." She giggled a bit and asked me "Since you work here, what headset would you recommend?"  I quickly suggested, some Sony headphones, instead of headsets. I immediately said to her, "I bet this won't break when it drops."  She smiled, grabbed it, and we both went to the counter. While checking out David saw us and of course David would joke around and say to me "So, who's the new girl?" I immediately replied, "she's a friend- I mean customer" David replied, "Oh! Alright then" he winked at me after saying that. When she was done checking out, she waved goodbye to me and left. David caught me smiling a bit and immediately said to me, "So, is she your girlfriend?" He said sarcastically. I replied, "Nope, she's just a customer, buying headphones." He just shrugged and said, "Alright then, whatever you say man." It was 7pm, no more customers, and we're just cleaning the store. I put back my uniform and name tag back in the closet and wore the clothes, I originally had. I was about to leave, so I said goodbye to David and said "See you tomorrow!" He waved goodbye and said the same thing. I hopped on to the nearest bus and went home. That was honestly one of the most interesting days of my life.