Shop Floor | Luke Hemmings

00: A Constant Nag

[i wrote this 2 years ago and it has been collecting dust ever since so here it is; a teaser/prologue]

CAST:
young winona ryder as frankie
luke hemmimgs as luke

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My mum always told me about the opportunities working for her would bring, telling me if I worked my "little socks off" I could become her secretary in no time. The thing is, I really didn't want to work at all but knew if I didn't have a job in a months time my mum would make me work for her. 

She owns a company called Sews & Bows that sell elegant ball gowns to rival those designer ones celebrities wear to The Oscars and all the other fancy awards show. That isn't the bad thing about the job; it's that I'd have to be on her beck and call. Her 'right-hand man'. I'd have to do a lot of filing. I see the stack on her desk—I don't even want to imagine how long that would take me to sort out. 

Every time there would be an important event she needed to show her face at she'd always drag me and my father along, making him wear a tuxedo instead of his fraying blue jeans and making me wear whatever I want to out of her new collection. This season is Autumn, which means I'm only looking forward to the rusty orange dress she'd promised me would be making an appearance. Apparently, it was going to have hand-embroidered woodland animals on it—she knew bunnies were my weakness. 

I still remember the night of my prom, which was possibly the night I was most thankful for having a dressmaker as a mum. I mean, it can have its upsides. She had hand-stitched, sewed and bejewelled this stunning forest green dress—I hadn't even mentioned what I wanted, she just sort-of read my mind. What is it, a maternal instinct? Or a superpower? 

It had half of the school talking about it for weeks, making me ever-so-slightly uncomfortable. I preferred to hide away at the back of groups and, there I was, pushed to the forefront of the school gossip with no way out. At least it wasn't for something terrible. 

The beauty of the dress was intensifying, it made me feel well and truly like a princess instead of an average teenager who hated dresses (I'd been surrounded by them a good portion of my life so you can only imagine how I felt about them). The boys wanted to dance with me (they remembered my name, too!) and the girls wanted to be me. 

Of course, when anybody asked me where I had bought my dress, I simply told them I had bought it from somewhere like Dior because super pricy designers were out of anyone sane person's limit. Not even the richest person in school could afford designers like Fendi, Prada or Gucci. They could only dream of the silky fabric and the hefty price tag that came with it. So I became the talk of the town until one girl found out that my mum had made it for me and that I'd told a little fib. After all, it was just a dress, and my lie was a little one. 

The point is, I don't want to work for my mother's company, especially since she starts work incredibly early every morning and usually doesn't return till late in the evening. The main reason she wants to employ me is that she knows I'll never be able to take a sick day or slack off and I already get on with her (not to mention the fact that we live under the same roof). But I can't be taking somebody else's job who could really do with it to boost their career.

And as I logged onto FindAJob I realised that this wouldn't be easy. If I didn't at least acquire an interview soon, I was destined to work for my mother for the rest of my life—once she sucked me in, there will never be a way out. 

All I wanted was a retail job, it was as simple as that. It shouldn't be too hard to get a job at a little coffee shop, earning the bare minimum for pouring continuous coffees and listening to customers complaining about having to work nine to fives. At this point, I'd even take an office job staring at a computer screen all day. As long as I wasn't being bossed around by my mother I'd be happy doing anything. 

So I continued to apply for a range of different stores that sold clothes, chocolate, shoes, candles—you name it, I was sending my resume off and hoping they would ignore my lack of experience. Once I was content that I'd applied for enough, I shut my laptop with a sly smile on my face. Hopefully, I'd be getting my first job very, very soon. Either way, I'd be working very soon, whether I liked it or not. And the idea of working for my mother just doesn't appeal to me, no matter how fat of a paycheck she swung in my face. 

The visual in my head of her making me stay till late, so late in fact that I wasn't allowed a social life, made me want to work anywhere else within a heartbeat. Heck, I'd flip pancakes for a living if I got desperate. That would be a cakewalk in comparison to being my mum's assistant. 

But no, I wasn't going to get desperate. I was going to become employed and, most of all, I was going to have fun. As long as it didn't involve my mother, I'd be fine. Just a simple part-time job is all I needed, enough to escape her wrath for long enough. 

[a/n: hope u enjoyed that lil sneak peek! x]