Down But Not Out

Chapter 17

I had to wake up earlier this morning to get here on time and while I was overjoyed that Josh trusted me enough to open up today, I couldn't help but feel annoyed at the fact that I'd had less sleep. On the bright side I would be on my own for a while, well until Marie came in, so I had enough time to do whatever I wanted until I opened up.

Usually it felt like a few minutes for the shutters to rise, but this morning it felt like it took hours, although consulting the clock above the door told me it had only taken about ten minutes for me to open the shutters and walk into the shop.

Today, the first thing I did was to plug my iPod into the speakers before I walked into the employee's room to hang up my jacket and remove my purse, before stashing my bag on the shelf beneath my jacket.

After I skipped back into the shop I sang along to Tonight Alive as I wandered around, looking at the clothes. I picked up the top I had wore yesterday, along with the one that Summer had chosen, as well as the vest top that I saw when I first opened the box containing the new stock. I glanced longingly at this season's denim jackets, which were in two different colours. The black denim jacket had sleeves that were rolled up to the elbows, with the usual logo on the back, while the blue denim jacket also had short sleeves, except these couldn't be rolled down. I sighed before walking over to the till that I used before scanning the tags and putting the money into the till, and counting out my change. Once those were bagged up and put next to my bag in the cupboard I set about my usual task of checking to make sure there was a generous amount of each size in each design.

Glancing at the plain white clock above the wall I saw that it was time to open up, so I sighed before propping open the door and switching on all of the lights before sitting down at the counter to wait for Marie. It was her day off and she'd agreed to come down and keep me company since I would probably be on my own for a while. I tapped my foot along to the song playing from my iPod before I sung along to it. The song was 'Exits and Entrances' by We Are The In Crowd.

It wasn't long until Marie hurried in through the shop door, holding two cups, which were obviously for me and her. She grinned at me and skipped behind the counter, before dragging Josh's usual stool over to me and sitting down, where she placed the ice-cream milkshake in front of me.

"Marie you are a life saver" I said, since I hadn't gone to her shop this morning, choosing instead to wait until she came since I badly needed to check that everything was okay for when I opened up. She smiled and me and gulped her coffee.

"So I never asked you about your shop" I said and she frowned at me. I smiled at her confusion, "-has it always been called Marie's?" I asked and she nodded, a small smile appearing on her face.

"Yeah, my mum opened it when she was a little older than me-" I found out yesterday that Marie was twenty years old, "-and she'd never been able to think up a really good name. Then when she had me she changed it to Marie's. I took it over when she died last year" she shrugged but I saw how it upset her.

"I'm sorry" I sighed, pulling her in to me to give her a fierce hug. She responded by wrapping her arms over mine and leaning into my body.

"I'm guessing that you lost someone as well?" she asked, wiping her eyes when we pulled away. I nodded, already deciding that I was going to tell her since I liked Marie, plus I wanted to keep my sister's memory as alive as possible, even though I was telling people who had never known her.

"Yeah, my sister Louise. She died in a car accident nearly two years ago" I replied, sighing as I realised she would've been Marie's age, and Marie hugged me as well before we pulled back laughing slightly.

"So you never actually told me, who is your favourite band member?" she asked me and I grinned.

"Not letting that go are you?" I asked and she shook her head, "-well I like them all. But I'd have to say that Josh is my favourite" I shrugged and she gasped.