[4] Breakeven

9 - Bumping

9 - Bumping

“Hey, Missy, someone spilled some coffee down that aisle,” Edna announced and I gazed at her. Why did she tell me? I was not going to clean it up. She was not doing anything; she could perfectly clean it up on her own. That was so like Edna, trying to get me to do something she could do on her own. It was just because I was the new girl and I had no idea of if I had to or not. Other times, Lassie was around to let me know if I really had to or not, but today, Lassie had left early for an appointment to the doctor for her baby boy, who was not feeling okay.

What that meant, was disaster for me. I could see it in the mischievous grin Edna has plastered on her face as soon as Lassie announced her early departure and left the boutique.

“Yeah, so?” I inquired, trying to stand my ground. It was ridiculous to think I could stand up against Edna, but the shot was worth trying. She would respect me and my boundaries for at least trying. She would probably go soft on me for it. Or so I prayed.

“Clean it,” she commanded and walked away without waiting for a response. She did not fail to let me see her condescending look, which she accompanied with a sly grin. Ugh, Edna.

I just stood there, gaping at her with my arms already trembling under the weight of the heavy woolen sweaters I was currently taking to where the other ones where to restock.

I had decided after all to stick with restocking and occasionally helping with clients. I was not good with dealing with people, so I left that part to Edna. She did not fail to mock me over it for several days, though. It was just another thing she added to the list of things I was crappy at. She found it hilarious, meanwhile I found it annoying. But I knew better than arguing with her. I tried to once, and she sat on me. I almost die due to lack of air. I am not even kidding with that one.

“You’re a bitch,” I called out, wishing my arms were empty so I could accompany the insult with placing my hands to my hips to look a bit more intimidating.

“At least I don’t go around wailing!” she shouted back and laughed out loud mockingly, knowing I would not think of a good comeback. Those were the times when I hated that she knew me so well. I had to convince Mary to spend less time with her, because if Mary did, I obviously did as well because I was always with Mary. She was my best friend no matter what, in the end.

I grunted in response, not having a proper comeback, and then turned around almost bumping into someone. “Oh god, I am so sorry,” I apologized right away.

Some customers were not every fond of people bumping into them and were not patient enough to just nod and walk away. I embraced myself, getting ready for the yelling and even a possible rude shove that would leave a slight bruise, but nothing came from the person I had bumped into. It was only then, that I allowed myself to look at the person. I made eye contact and my breath hitched up in my throat. Now, those were some really pretty eyes.

“It’s okay,” the young lad told me and in that moment I could not look away so I have no idea if he smiled at me. His brown eyes bore deeply into my blue ones and I had to gulp, hoping he had not seen the reaction he had just caused on me. Only after almost a minute could I look away from his eyes. Only to focus on the other features of his face, that is. His fair skin complemented his small puffy lips and he had a scar across his neck and right cheek that gave him the bad boy look, even though just by seeing him intently you could tell he was a sweetheart.

He was not incredibly and unbelievably handsome, but man, did he have some sex appeal. That was personally what I liked the most on blokes. That was what attracted me to Niall, when I first met him. He was not far away from Niall; I could see they were similar in personalities just by taking a quick first look at them. And it was good, because Niall and I did not work mostly because he was already taken when I met him. With this lad, though, things could go around differently. Just that they could not because I was not searching for a bloke at the moment. I just had to remind myself of that when gazing at him.

Nervously, I looked down to the sweaters I had on my arms, pretending to check they were in order because I was afraid I would stare for too long at the sexy lad in front of me. I looked up to him to see him smiling sweetly at me. I felt my heart do a flip flop only cheerleaders could but forced it to calm down. I had to control my emotions, it was not necessary for me to make such fuzz over a lad. It was not as if he was the first I had ever seen.

“So…what were you wailing about?” he asked and I sighed right away, embarrassed that he had heard the bickering between Edna and me. In my defense, she was really rude and treated me quite poorly. On the other hand, though, he was trying to make conversation. That was a good sign, right?

“Edna is quite rude,” I explained with a little shrug, voicing my thoughts.

“Oh, I see…” he replied and held back a laugh, earning a frown from me.

“Is there something I don’t know?” I inquired as I adjusted the sweaters on my arms. My arms had already gone numb but somehow I did not care anymore. I refused to believe it had something to do with him, though.

“Uh, she is-” he started, but soon enough he was interrupted.

“Kenneth, there you are!” a blonde girl called out, getting both of our heads to snap in her direction. She walked up to us and I was glad I finally knew his name. It was a pretty name, Kenneth. But my face fell down at the sight of her, she was probably his girlfriend. Not that I cared. Blokes were not my priority at the moment. I was still getting myself together. Come on, Missy, get that into your head!

“Hey, sis,” he greeted with an acknowledging nod, then turning to see me with a small grin that made me smile. A smile I quickly disguised, that is. Just as I disguised my happiness because she was his sister and he had tried to make me see that.

“I have been looking everywhere for you!” she continued to ramble on, her blonde curls moving around with her bumpy and full of energy self. She seemed a lot like Lassie. “Aunt Lassie has been looking everywhere for you as well!” she added with a disapproving nod, as if he had wandered off. Only then she noticed me and I already knew without even knowing them that his name was Kenneth, that she was his sister and that they were the niece and nephew of Lassie. Now that was an open girl. She seemed quite approachable as well. “Hi, I’m Florence. But you can call me Flo,” she greeted and extended her hand for me to shake. She was definitely like an open book, and I liked that. She sort of reminded me of Lydia.

And because she reminded me of my beloved sister, was it that I already liked her, even if I had just met her.

On other news, I was glad that I had heard Lassie was around, that meant she was back. Edna would not have any more excuses or opportunities to mess with me. Praise the lord for that.

“My hands are occupied, sorry. I’m Missy,” I said with an apologetic smile.

“Oh, it’s okay. Do you work here?”

“Yeah,” I replied, pointing with a nod of my head to the pile of sweaters on my arms. “So, you are Lassie’s family?” I inquired next as I shifted the weight from one arm to the other. I had to place them where they belonged soon, I still had a lot of things to restock.

“Yes, we came to visit. It has been a while since we come to the boutique,” she explained with a giddy smile.

“We live here. Do you?” Kenneth inquired, getting my attention back to him and I had to bite the inside of my cheek to keep the blush from coming across. He looked just as eager as his sister, the only difference was that she was like that all the time and he only let it come across from time to time. Something I could not help but adore.

“Yeah, I do,” I replied, trying to keep my voice from sounding whiney or anything. I was just desperate to give him a good version or myself, I wanted him to like me.

“That’s great.”

After that, his sister, Florence, started ranting on and on about the new trends that her aunt had in the boutique and how she loved this one and that one but would never wear a third one. She also said she loved the sweaters I had in my arms and even came closer to me to touch them, making them wait some more, but I disguised it.

Kenneth seemed to notice though, because he offered to take them for me, which I took as my cue to leave.

“Well, it was nice meeting you but I have to place this somewhere,” I excused myself from Flo, who had kept on talking all this while, after a while of just politely smiling at her. I bid my goodbyes and avoided Kenneth’s intense gaze, not liking the fluttering my heart was making. It was quite obnoxious.