Down But Not Out

Chapter 23

I have no idea why I was waiting outside the shop, with two coffees in my hand, all I could remember was that I needed this job to help Summer pay the bills. There was no way I was going to throw it away when I loved working here so much, well unless Josh got rid of me of course.

Sighing I looked at my watch, to see that Josh was due to arrive any minute. I glanced down at my feet to see my blood red toenails peeping back at me through my sandals.

Summer had come to the shop on Saturday- as she usually does- to pick me up so that we could travel home together. Josh had told her that I'd rushed home after we'd had a disagreement. Honestly, I'd forgotten to text my best friend to tell her to just come straight home, and because of this I'd had to endure her constant questions. I'd told her that Josh and I had disagreed over a few things, but I wouldn't tell her what we had disagreed over, which of course had made her even more interested, and more determined to find out what had made us argue. It wasn't a secret to anyone who knew us, or our regular customers, that Josh and I worked really well together, and of course Summer knew how I felt about him. The only problem now was that even though I'd tried to squish my feelings for him, I found that it was impossible. Whether I knew who he was now or not, didn't change the fact that I was still attracted to him.

Footsteps approaching made me look up, and I regretted my decision to come back to work as soon as I saw Josh's steps falter when he saw me standing there. He inserted the key into the locks and the shutters rose before we stepped into the shop.

"Lizzie I-" he started but I handed him his coffee and walked away. I so did not want to talk to him at the moment. I still didn't know how I felt about everything but I knew that I would have to be a little more calmer where the band were concerned.

Sighing, I sipped my coffee before hurrying into the employee's room to discard my things. I glanced at the zip pocket on my bag before walking back out and wandering around the shop to check that there was enough stock out. At one point I realised that Josh was sitting at his usual place, but he wasn't wearing his glasses and beanie. He must think that because I now knew, that I would be perfectly fine with it. I had to admit that while it was very unnerving and taking everything I had to not at like a fan girl and start screaming, it was also nice to be able to his face properly. I couldn't help but sneak the occasional glance at him, as I wandered in and out of the employee's room to stock up on things in the shop. I also couldn't help but mull over the observation I'd made about his eyes on Saturday, because his eyes definitely were beautiful.

Just to keep myself busy I swept the shop, even though it didn't need sweeping before standing against the counter, with my back to Josh, sipping my drink.

"Are you not putting your iPod on?" he asked and I bit my lip. I didn't want to respond to that but I knew that it would help a little. Some of the customers had a habit of singing along to some of the bands who popped up on my iPod- but of course I had an eclectic taste and some of the customers had actually argued with some of the songs that were on my iPod, when they found out that it was mine. I didn't care of course, and just let my shuffle play whatever it wanted, but Josh did have a point since it had become a habit now where I would plug my iPod in.

I quickly gathered it before plugging the cord for the shop speakers into it, crossing my fingers in the hope that today would be a rare day where no You Me At Six songs would play. Although I knew that hope would be pointless, since there hadn't been a day so far where one of their songs hadn't been played. I pressed the play button and sat down on my stool, taking small sips of my coffee to make it last until we opened. Business had been picking up a little bit and there were the odd days where it would be hard for Josh and I to talk so I was hoping today would be one of the odd days.