Started as His Girlfriend (Sequel to "Started as His Tutor")

Captain

I watched in horror as the ball of chocolate ice cream I just took so long to meticulously shape plops on the floor, little rays of it ejecting from the core and spreading across the floor.

"I'm so sorry," I apologize to the couple in front of me, who have been waiting patiently for a while now.

"I've got this." Ms. Ann takes the ice cream scoops from me and finishes off the cone before ringing them up at the register. After she finishes, she looks back down at me while I clean up the mess I made.

"I'm sorry. I've been pretty out of it lately."

"Hell yes, missy. Just a few days ago I asked you to melt some chocolate and you gave me a pot of burnt, wet sprinkles."

"Sorry about that again."

"Are you alright, sweetheart?"

"I'll be alright once you hire another employee."

"No way. I only need one and that's you," Ms. Ann stubbornly shoots down the idea again.

"You're completely swamped when I'm not here. And we're still pretty hectic when I'm around. All I'm saying is one more paycheck isn't going to hurt your profits."

"I know what'll make you feel better. Seeing that hot hunk of yours."

"Vincent?"

"Yeah! Go on and take a break. Stalk him like you always do."

"I don't stalk him," I defend, tending to another customer.

"I think hiding behind a shelf of things and quietly watching someone without their knowledge is stalking."

"I just want to see him working naturally. Wouldn't want to distract him or anything." After sandwiching a pat of ice cream between two cookies, I hand it to the customer and ring them up.

"Stalking or not, you should go see him. That always puts you in a good mood."

"I guess," I shrug.

"Business is slowing, so I've got this. Go on girly," Ms. Ann nudges me from behind the counter.

I zip through the crowds of customers and make my way to the sporting goods store. Checking for the baseball caps the employees wear, I quickly slip in and cower behind a self of tennis balls once I spot no hats. Taking a few pauses and scans in between, I slip from one shelf to another until I locate Vincent. Beside him is another employee, who has a neat, blonde ponytail poking from the back of her cap. Maddy.

"So, you should always line them up like this, or the manager goes nuts," Vincent explains to Maddy.

"Thanks for helping me get this job by the way," Maddy smiles, stacking the water bottles exactly the way Vincent instructed.

"No problem."

"Now we can hang out even at work."

She managed to creep into every portion of Vincent's life so easily. She lives right next to him. She goes to school with him. She has most classes with him. She carpools with him. Now she even works with him.

I felt that work was the only place I could finally have Vincent to myself. But I don't even have that anymore. She has fully infiltrated Vincent Miller's life.