Down But Not Out

Chapter 7

I followed Josh over to the counter before sitting on the stool behind the till next to his. He seemed to like the till nearest the door since he was always behind it.

I swivelled in my seat- smiling because it was one of those stools with a tiny back that actually swivelled- to see that just behind me was another door which was slightly open.

"It's the employee room and storeroom" Josh said from behind me and I swivelled around to see that he had been watching me again. I smiled and nodded. He motioned with his hand for me to follow him inside so I did.

The room was quite small. There was a two-seater white leather couch opposite me with a matching chair sitting to its left. There was a wooden table to the right of the couch, propped in the little space there between the back wall and another door, which I was assuming led to the storeroom. I turned to look behind me and saw that there was a television stand right behind me, with an old television mounted on, showing the inside of the store. That's strange, I hadn't noticed any cameras in the store, which was good I suppose since they would catch everything that happened. Right next to the television, filling in the remaining space on this wall, was a cupboard just a few inches taller than me. I walked over and opened it to see that there was a jacket hung up inside.

"You can place your stuff in there. I usually do" Josh said from behind me and I nodded before shrugging out of my denim jacket and hanging it up next to Josh's, which I saw was an exact replica of mine except the male version.

Josh led me back out into the shop where I sat down on the stool again. I was just about to open my mouth to make conversation with Josh- who was once again flicking through a magazine- just as two people walked into the shop. I smiled at them when they looked at me and found that my eyes followed the younger woman, with the dyed bright purple hair which had been pulled back into a knot on her head.

I got to my feet before I knew what I was doing and made my way over to her to see if she would like any help or advice, just as she picked up a top. It happened to be the top that I was wearing a few days ago and I thought that it would suit her well. I quickly glanced at her body and winced slightly before digging around on the rack and pulling out a larger size.

"Here try this size instead" I suggested. The woman looked at me before frowning at the fact that I'd handed her a larger size. I smiled shyly.

"Don't take it personally because that top would look great on you, it's just that sometimes these sizes may come out a little smaller. I myself usually have to buy a size larger than what I am so that I can be sure it will cover my chest. Just from looking at you I guessed you may have a similar problem to me. Trust me I found that out the hard way" I said and offered her a small smile. The woman grinned at me.

"Well thanks for that" she said in a strong Geordie accent, "-I tend to have that problem myself" I grinned at her.

"The pains of having large chests I suppose" I said, causing her to laugh as we made our way back to the counter.

I noticed that Josh was watching me carefully and I sent a cheeky wink his way before making my way around the counter and sitting back on my stool, though I moved it closer to Josh so that I could watch what he did with the till. He smiled at me before turning to the woman who had placed the top on the counter and fished out her purse with an image of the union jack on it. I smiled at the fact that I'd brought a purse similar to that as a Christmas present for a friend a few years ago.

"You know, it's a good thing that you hired a woman to work in here" she said as Josh scanned the tag hanging from the neckline.

"Oh he hasn't hired me, I'm just working here to help out" I said at the same time that Josh also corrected her. The woman eyed us carefully before taking the bag off Josh.