But Who Would You Live For?

Ponder Of Something Great

Joshua:

The only thing worse than working in retail, was working in retail on only three hours of sleep. Even my two cups of coffee this morning weren't doing the best job at keeping me awake.

There was an older woman talking to me. Well, more to herself than to me. She was debating on whether or not she should buy the half off, low riding jeans in her hands. She shouldn't. It didn't have anything to do with her age or how she'd look in them. It was the jeans themselves. They were on clearance because they were terrible jeans. The material had too little stretch and the fabric was easy to tear. She'd get two good wears out of them before she was tossing them in the trash.

But I wasn't allowed to say that. At least not without getting fired. Instead I continued staring off into space as she spoke. Hearing nothing more than the buzzing noise of her voice. I hope she wasn't saying anything important. The fact that I wasn't really listening was rude, but my brain was having a hard time focusing on really anything.

My thigh vibrated from the phone in my pocket. I glanced around to make sure none of my managers were on the floor with me before I slipped my phone from my pocket. It was a text from Tyler. I should have guessed that much.

Tyler ❤: Hey, call me when you get the chance.

I slipped the phone back into my pocket.

"Hey, you know what?" My interruption halted he woman's stream of words.

"What?"

"I think you'd look way more awesome in a skirt."

"Really?" She rubbed the back of her neck. Looking down at herself self-consciously. "Me?"

"Totally." I nodded slowly for the dramatic effect. As if I were picturing her in it. "We have a huge selection of them too. I'm sure you'll find one of your liking."

"I'm much too old for the kind of skirts you sell."

"Nonsense. You'd look great."

She blushed. "Really?"

"One hundred percent." Gently, I slipped the jeans from her hands. "Go check."

"Well, if you really think I should..."

"I do." I smiled.

"Josh." She read my name tag. "You are a sweet young man."

"Thank you." I bowed slightly.

"No, thank you for your kind words. I'm going to go look for a skirt."

I gave her a thumbs up as she turned away. Sitting the jeans back on the shelf, I rushed towards the dressing rooms. Staring at the bottom of the stalls to find an empty one. When I did, I rushed in and locked the door. Taking my phone from my pocket again to call Tyler.

It rung once. "Josh." The relief in his voice was clear to spot.

"Hey, Tyler. What's up?"

"I need you to do something for me."

"Alright. I'll do it."

"Aren't you going to ask what it is?"

"I forgot." I admitted and he laughed. I liked hearing Tyler laugh. "What is it?"

"We're supposed to play a gig in like fifteen minutes and Chris still hasn't shown up."

"Is he okay?"

"I don't know. He texted me when he missed practice and told me he'd be here."

"I hope nothing bad happened to him."