Tales Untold

Fireworks

The day was too hot for Cinder's liking and she wished she could go inside of the grocery store that her outdoor booth was next to. It was the fourth of July and Cinder had been selling fireworks for the past two weeks in weather that was well into the nineties.

Her family did the same stand every year, and every year, Cinder was the one left to do it all by herself. It was ridiculous and unfair, but at least her best friend Iko had volunteered to work with her.

The day had been slow, seeing as most people had already bought their fireworks, with the exception of a few frantic people who had procrastinated. Cinder was bored out of her mind and Iko had just left to get some soda's for the two of them.

Cinder was messing around with some of the silly decorations that sat on the desk, when she accidentally dropped one under the front counter. She ducked down and began searching for it but couldn't seem to find it.

Suddenly, someone drummed on the desk, and Cinder startled. She hit her head on the bottom of the table and got up to tell Iko off, when her furious gaze was met by someone else.

Her scowl, instead, landed on a boy had an apologetic look in his copper brown eyes. He had messy black hair and wore a gray hooded sweatshirt. How could he wear that in July? She wondered to herself. She was wearing a tank top and shorts and was dying, but, to each his own.

"I'm sorry," He said, bringing her back to reality. "I didn't realize that anyone was back here." He smiled and Cinder's heart skipped a beat. Stars, he was pretty good looking.

Cinder looked down at the counter. "It's fine," She said, "What can I do for you today" The boy smiled but Cinder continued to look down. He lowered himself down, making Cinder look at him, and he grinned.

"I was just coming to see if I could get some fireworks," He said, "and I hear that you guys sell the best fireworks." He laughed and continued to looked at Cinder. "My friends forgot, you see, and they sent me to come and get some." His eyes still captured hers and Cinder looked back down.

"What kind of fireworks do you need?" Cinder turned away from him to face her stock of different fireworks. "I have aerials, ground spinners, fountains..." Cinder trailed off and turned back around to see the boy staring, not at the fireworks, but at her. He blushed and looked at her display.

"I'll just take one of all of them, I guess." He said sheepishly. "I don't really know the difference and they didn't specify, so..." He looked back at her and then looked down at the desk. He picked up one of the holiday decorations and started messing with it.

Cinder grabbed one of everything and turned back to the boy and told him the cost. He payed, but didn't pick up his things. Instead, he looked at her like he was about to ask a very sincere question. "What's your name?" He questioned. That was not what she had been expecting.

"Cinder." She replied before she could even think. The boy smiled.

"Cinder," He rolled the name over his tongue and his grin became bigger, like he experienced joy in saying her name. "It's nice to meet you Cinder. My name is Kai." He said. He gathered up his things and looked into Cinder's eyes. Cinder looked down. "I guess I'll see you around, Cinder." He threw her one last heart stopping grin and walked away before Cinder could utter a single word.