Unhinged

Part 3- Brandon

Stay cool Brandon, you've got this.

Today is my first day working with Lauren. The first time I saw her it was also the first time that Dinah was hospitalized, and that was years ago but it has been impossible for me to forget how she looked that day. She is so overwhelmingly beautiful but at the hospital, after her best friends suicide attempt is never an okay time to hit on a girl. So after all these years now is the first time where I might actually get to spend some time with her. 

But the closer it gets to my shift, the more my confidence shrinks.  

She's just a girl, I think as I shuffle the things in my locker mindlessly. I don't really need to be in this break room anymore but we all have to stop here before our shifts, it's the only place I know I'll get to bump into her. 

"Hey, stranger" I hear as I'm putting my things in my locker. I smile and slowly turn around to see Ally taking a seat beside the vending machine.

"Oh, hey Ally," I say with a lazy wave.

She chuckled "Please try to contain your excitement," she said sarcastically.

She was right, there was clear disappointment in my tone of voice so I quickly try to fix it.

"Sorry, it's great to see you," I say "I was just expecting someone else."

She smiled, not a normal smile. She was smiling like she knew something I didn't.  "Oh yeah," she said with a smirk. "The new girl did mention she knew you"

I couldn't help but perk up at the sound of that, and I'd be lying if I said it didn't bump up that confidence just a bit. 

"Lauren mentioned me?" I asked a bit too eagerly.

Ally nodded "She did, she said you always take very good care of her friend. Dare I say you just might just have a chance here, Glasses"

Glasses, it's not a nickname I love. You'd think people would be more creative, but I gotta say I can't imagine anything bringing me down right now, I think, turning back to my locker. 

"Oh look at the time" I hear Ally say, just a few seconds later, "I think I should be..." she trails off "Um, somewhere else".

I turn around just in time to see Ally wink at me as she exits the room. Lauren has wandered into our break room and is focused on getting her things in her locker.

"Hi there," I say but she doesn't answer, still facing her locker.

What kind of greeting is "hi there"? Dumbass. I wouldn't have answered you either with such a stupid greeting.

She turns around and instinctively I offer an awkward wave while internally cringing. 

Why am I like this?

She jumped slightly, clearly caught off guard by my presence, but immediately breathed a sigh of relief before removing her headphones from her ears.

"Hi there," she said, with a warm smile.

Suddenly, I feel much better about myself.

"Hey, how are you? Second day?" I ask.

Too many questions Brandon, calm down. 

"Third day actually," she corrects me before taking a seat at one of the round tables surrounding us. I decide to take a seat in front of her since we still have a few more minutes before we begin our first shift together. 

"And you're still here," I say happily "Congratulations, we've had a lot of people quit before the end of their first day and you've made it all the way to day three, how does it feel?"