Perks of the Job

Chapter Thirteen

I didn't end up seeing Nick until about a week later. It was the day before New Year's Eve when I'd finally worked a shift with him.

Since the holidays were over, the store was significantly less busy than it had been since I'd started working there. There were less people shopping, but of those who were, many came to try on clothes, making me busier than normal.

My return racks were filling up more quickly and putting all the clothes back by herself was getting to be too much for just Delia to handle. I would have helped her if it weren't for my stupid 'never leave the fitting room unattended' rule. So she got help from someone else.

Nick had come by with Delia so they could each pick up a rack. I didn't really say anything to him since I was helping a customer and I didn't really have anything to say. I simply acknowledged his presence with a smile and let him do what he'd come over for.

We had started to build a rather comfortable routine. We'd say hello when we saw each other at the beginning of our shifts and goodbye to each other when we left for the day. There really wasn't much other conversation going on between us besides the occasional, 'how are you?' Though our previously enthralling method of conversing through the medium of a common interest was used up, we still talked to each other just as much. The only difference now, the conversations were much more boring, generally just being about work.

About half-way through the night, the snow had picked up and people had stopped coming in. After the last customer left, Maxine decided that there was no point in staying open.

"You know what guys," she said from the front of the empty store. Since it was quiet from a lack of people, it wasn't difficult to hear her. "Let's just close up early today. Finish whatever you were doing and go punch out."

Generally one would think that closing early would disappoint us because we weren't going to make as much money, but in reality, the rare occasions that the store was locked before actual closing time was welcomed. We'd only lost about two hours, and most of us being teenagers, working at minimum wage, the difference was insignificant.

I was just finishing my walk through the fitting room to check for stray hangers and lost items when I saw Nick out by the entrance. I met him just as he was putting back the rack he'd been using to return clothes that day.

"Hey," I said to him. "Thanks for bringing that back."

He looked at me as he straightened it against the wall. "Ah, no problem," he said in a cool, nonchalant tone.

"How was your night?" I asked seeing as he made no effort to leave me just yet.

"It was alright, the racks kept me busy."

"I wish I could have helped," I responded, feeling genuinely bad that Nick and Delia had been left with all the work. "If I wasn't stuck in this . . . prison all night, I would have put the clothes back with Delia."

"It's okay," he said, an almost compassionate tone to his voice. "If not for this, I would have had nothing else to do." I smiled in response, not really knowing what else to say until he chimed in again. "I couldn't do it."

I looked up at him as if to ask, do what? He read my expression and went on to elaborate on his previous sentence. "Be the fitting room girl, or, boy rather."

"Why not?"

"Well, for one, I'd figure you'd need to have ridiculous amounts of patience if you're just standing in one spot all day. I probably wouldn't know when it was okay to step out versus tag the clothes versus check the rooms; I'd be a mess. And furthermore, I'd feel like all the girls would think I'm an ass if they ask me something and I don't tell them what they want to hear, either that or they'll think I'm flirting."

I believe that was the most I'd ever heard Nick say at once. Not to say that he wasn't generally a talker or anything, it's just that he usually kept his responses much shorter.

"Oh stop," I replied to his 'dissertation' in a teasing tone. The only way I could have made it more obvious that I was trying to flirt would be if I playfully hit his arm or something, so I kept my hands to myself. "I'm sure you'd do a wonderful job as the fitting room girl." My attempts at joking, I'd like to say, worked because I got a laugh out of Nick, which I took as a good thing.

"Well I'm not so sure. You seem like you do a much better job, so hopefully I'll never be put here." In all honesty, Nick was a mover. He was quick, and even squirrelly, at times. I couldn't see him having to stand in one spot for more than ten minutes let alone four hours. "Maybe you're right. I'll just stick to my boring, prison of a fitting room."

Nick chuckled at this and smiled to the ground. I'd never really thought of him as a shy person, but his behavior lately could have had me convinced otherwise. He avoided eye contact, he found his feet much more fascinating than he had previously, and he suddenly found everything to be 'nervous chuckle'-worthy. I began to wonder what had happened to the old, confident Nick. Who took him and what had they done to him?

The store was soon put back in order and after all the employees had punched out, Maxine let us go. My dad had come to pick me up considering the snow was getting worse and he didn't want me to slip and fall on the way home, which I was sure I was capable of pulling off.

My dad pulled up and I waved goodbye to Nick. "Happy New Year," he said as I slipped into the passenger seat. "You too," I replied before closing the door and heading off on my way home.

"Who was that?" my dad asked without so much as a 'hello' first. He wasn't overly protective of me around boys, but he definitely liked to know who he was up against. I hadn't had many boyfriends in the past, but the ones I did have were sweet and friendly and one-hundred-percent dad-approved just as I assumed Nick would be. The only difference: Nick wasn't my boyfriend and probably never would be.

"No one," I answered. It wasn't all false. Nick and I were barely anything more than, "just someone I work with." My dad nodded his head and let out an understanding hum before pulling away and taking me back home.

I wouldn't see Nick until the following year; good thing that was only six days away.