Samson

Seven

The usual soundtrack of JojaMart on a Friday afternoon surrounded me, the electric hum of the lights and freezers, the occasional sound of Shane swearing as he kicked his toe on a box, and of course my high little voice, growing wearier and wearier, "thanks for shopping with Joja." Never any actual music though. The expansive Joja handbook says that music is bad for work ethic, a potential distraction from the job at hand. Sam is lucky Morris allows him to wear headphones.

Sam.

I couldn't shake the feeling of Sam. I finally understood what having a crush was, I used to think it was something exaggerated or made up, when my classmates in school would giggle and whisper about the person they liked, write their name over and over, have posters of the celebrity they were obsessed with all over their bedroom walls, I thought they were hamming it up, like it was a type of hobby. But now I couldn't stop myself from thinking about Sam, and I really was trying. 

Every time I see the colour blue, impossible to avoid for someone who works for Joja, I think about the kindness in Sam's eyes, and how easy it was to tease and talk and laugh with him. I have to remind myself constantly to keep my expectations in check. The redhead at the bridge... She was pretty. It makes sense Sam would already have someone.

When we're getting ready to leave at the end of the day, my eyes dart back and forth between Shane and the door. He notices me staring at him and doesn't snarl at me, which I guess gives me a little confidence, because when he asks if I'm okay I just ask "I was just wondering if you knew if Sam had a girlfriend?" 

"Oh," he shrugs. "No idea." He pauses in the doorway, turns back around. "Maybe, actually. I dunno." He raises his eyebrows, almost slyly. "Why do you wanna know?" 

"No reason," my tone is maybe a little too defensive. I try and take it down a notch. "Like I said, just wondering. It's normal to be curious about your coworkers lives." 

"Is it? I've never experienced that." This is the most relaxed and normal I've ever seen Shane. If I didn't know any better, I'd think he was enjoying himself. "Why aren't you asking if I have a girlfriend then?"

"Do you have a girlfriend?" I ask.

"No." I think Shane is blushing.

"Do you have a boyfriend?" 

"Also no." He's definitely blushing. 

We walk out into the fresh evening air and it's my turn to blush. Sam's doing laps of his two friends on his skateboard while they talk. The purple haired girl is sitting cross-legged in a JojaMart trolley and the boy is leaning on it, smoking. She has one of those folded fortune teller things you make in school, I think they're called a chatterbox? 

"Sam, pick a colour," she calls out as he laps them again. 

"Blue." 

"B-L-U-E. Pick a number." 

"One hundred and forty-two." 

"Sam, pick a reasonable number," she says, rolling her eyes at him. 

"Seven." 

She counts it out and then holds the chatterbox out to him. "Now pick one." 

His finger lands on part of the paper as he glides past and she lifts the section up and reads it out to him. "You will be lucky in love but unlucky in absolutely everything else." 

The boy exhales a stream of smoke in Sams direction. "Doesn't sound like you'll be winning pool tonight then, Sammy. What does that make it, the hundred and forty-second week in a row?" 

The girl laughs. "Shut up Sebastian," Sam scoffs. "Pool is actually the love of my life, so that's good news for me." He sees me standing in the JojaMart doorway, hits a rock, and stumbles forwards. "Oh, hey Lily," he says, catching himself. The boy and girl are both laughing and I fidget with the hem of my shirt self-consciously.