Who Knew // Christian Akridge

1

Christian

She was small, with the skinniest legs I had ever seen. Her ambient click-clacking of her four inch high heels was like an electronic music symphony with no persistent beat, and an unpredictable rhythm. It was annoying. So annoying that when she started over in my direction, I tried my best to hide behind a hall dresser that was to my left. But of course it was obvious that I was attempting to hide. Which, I'm guessing, only made her even more suspicious of what I was up to. I tried to make it look only as if I was only admiring the tall wardrobe, which was actually one of the most beautiful wardrobes I've seen in a long time. It was made of a gorgeous oak with many chiseled features. So that I thought my eyes would get lost in all it's glory. So of course I forgot all about trying to 'hide' and she caught up to me.

"Excuse me, son?" She, as the stores manager, said puzzled and still suspicious of what I was doing. She sort of scared me. I was so detracted with the beauty of the dresser that when she spoke I was alarmed.

"Huh? What? Who?" I sputtered. I could only imagine how stupid I looked and sounded.

"May I ask if you need help with anything?" She ended up saying with a confused and annoyed face.

"Oh, I just was looking around for a... a... well I was just looking around." I sounded less convincing then a little boy telling his mother he didn't steal anything at a candy store.

"Well, you've been in this furniture shop for over an hour now and if you're not planning on buying anything then I'm going to have to ask you to leave." She managed to say, she seemed to be pretending to have a thick layer of confidence but you could tell that beneath it all, she had no idea what to do with me.

"Um I didn't do anything wrong. I don't see why I so desperately and urgently 'have' to go," I said cockily, getting a little closer to her. I saw that she was put back by that response.

"Son, I am --"

"My name Christian, not son." I interrupted. She was even more put back by that, so she put on another thick coat of 'fake confidence' to hide behind.

"I'm sorry. Christian," she paused, "I am the manager of this facility and I instruct you to leave." I decided to give her a break so all I said, still with my cocky twisted smirk, was - "Where's Michael? I'm here to get him from his shift that ends at 4:15, which as you can tell (I showed her my watch) is right about now."

"Michaels shift-" She was barely given a chance to speak when my friend Michael burst through the door that was behind the main counter. She continued.

"Michaels shift does indeed end now, but that still doesn't explain why you were here so early and have been here for so long. That is what I'd like to know." She sassily crossed her arms.

"Is it a crime to look at furniture?" I said not even looking at her, my attention was on Michael, he was headed over my way.

"Its not a crime but-"

"Listen, as much as I'd love to sit and argue, I have places to be, later." I said as Michael checked out and we both left. The truth is I just like to admire furniture, I like to get lost in stores like that. Most days I have an idea of where I'm going and what to do, and Michael's off work. But today I didn't have a plan and he was on duty, so intern, I just chill at his place of work. It's not what you think. I don't distract him from getting his work done, believe me. I mean it would be awesome to do that, but I can't even if I wanted to because Michael never works the floor, he works with the paper, sales, shipments, and all the boring stuff in the back room. Which you can't get into without being an employe. So most the time he doesn't even know I'm there that early but he wouldn't care either way. And yes that means I do this often. Michael is my best friend. So on days after school when he doesn't have to work for that hour between 3:15-4:15, we're normally hanging out or doing something stupid. But on the other hand when he does work, I just bike to his place of employment right after school and look at all the amazing furniture. Don't judge me. I know its weird. But The Furniture Valley is two stores tall with a basement, all completely filled with staple furniture pieces. It might even be the largest store in our town. A town called Wichita Falls.

A/N: HI! This is my first story and I know like no one is gonna read or see this but I've been wanting to post/write a story for a really long time so here I am. If there is someone reading this then please let me know what you think so far by commenting/voting it'd mean the world :) Love you!