The New Neighbors

chapter two (Needs edited)

Work was slow, as usual. I sat behind the counter, drawing in my art pad waiting for someone to come into the store.

I wore my jacket over my work clothes. Not working policy but who cares.

I sigh and brush my hair back.  The sunlight starts fading from the sky and I let out a soft groan and lean back.

'ding-a-ling-'

The bell to the door rang.

'yes!' I mentally cheer, I sat back up and look over the counter. It was the same skeleton from earlier. He walked past the counter into the rest of the store while clacking away on his phone.

He wore his blue jacket from earlier, jeans, and untied converse. He turned off the screen and put it into his back pocket, he lazily grabbed a basket and slowly walked around the store. I roll my eyes and pull out my sketchbook again, adding details to my recent picture. It was a heart with a rose behind it, the heart was covered in thorns that pierced it, making the heart bleed and crack.

"art you supposed to help the customers when they need it?" I look up at an amused and confused Skeleton, he had the red basket in the crook of his arm with random ingredients strewn about.

I tap my picture before standing up fully. "I'll take a crack at it. What do you need I'll point you in the right direction."

"ketchup. Nah, you can lead the way."

My smile widens and I walk around the counter to stand by him and lead him to the aisle with the condiments.

"You know, lead and lead sound completely different." I say as I swanter down the aisle.

"i will ignore that for the sake of a perfect joke"

I laugh and look back at him before turning the corner and sweeping my arm across.

"Just over there."

He walks across and throws a couple condiments into the basket and looks back to me.

"Need anything else?"

He thinks for a sec then breaks into a huge grin but shakes his head.

"uh nah, got all I need here."

I nod toward the path we came.

"Alright, let's get you checked out." He winks and me and I just roll my eyes Leading him back to the register. I walked behind the counter as he started putting the items onto the conveyor belt type thing.

For the next few minutes the only sound in the general store was the beeps of the  items as I rang them up.

I told him his total and waited for him to count out his money.

I hear him mumble something but couldn't make out what it was.

"Huh?"

He looks up with the proper amount of money, sets it down and grins slyly.

"you got a name?" He pauses for a second, I open my mouth to reply but he continued. "or can i call you mine."

I hold back a snicker and it comes out as a short, that's definitely not what I was expecting. I face palmed and accepted the money, putting it into the register and turning to him. He was waiting for something.

"Jackie." I answered with a smile. He had a moment of surprise flash across his face but it went as quickly as it came. "You?"

He gave a smile different from the others, I couldn't place this one. Skeleton smiles are difficult to decipher.