rocky road || muke

one

i pulled open the glass door that was just closed by the red haired boy whose name was michael.

as soon as i opened the door, a bell at the top jingled. i saw michael behind the counter, his back turned, cleaning the slushie machines as if he didn't hear me walk in. he might not have, considering the music was pretty loud. green day.

"uh, excuse me?" i mumbled, walking over to stand in front of the tubs of ice cream and admire them. i always wanted to work here as a little boy. i imagined sneakily eating ice cream all day.

"how can i help you?" he asked before he turned around. "oh, it's you." he slightly laughed. the first thing i noticed when he turned was a black eyebrow piercing.

i found it quite funny that a guy who looked all punk rock like him would be working at this fun ice cream place. it reminded me of those pictures i'd always see of guys with a million tattoos cuddling their little dogs like chihuahuas.

"yeah, uh, i saw the sign in the front window? about hiring?" i asked, praying that he wouldn't look me up and down and say that it was meant to be taken down a while ago. i was used to that.

"ugh, god, finally. i was starting to think i accidentally printed that out in another language." he groaned, running his hand through his hair and prepping it before placing the blue visor on his head. i smirked to myself. red, white, and blue.

"so, could i give you my resume? or is there a form i have to fill out?" i asked, tapping my fingers on the new looking white counter to the beat of the familiar song that started playing.

"what's your name?" he asked.

"luke. uh, hemmings. luke hemmings." i stuttered, and he nodded.

"okay, luke, uh, hemmings, are you always running into people because you're distracted by your phone?" he asked, leaning his elbows on the counter and looking up at me, a smirk on his lips. i noticed a few tattoos on his arms: a couple bands and some words on his other arm that i couldn't make out.

"um... no?" i lied. i was always running into people, but he didn't have to know that.

"then you're hired." he blurted out, straightening up and rubbing his hands together.

"what?" i choked out, expecting him to laugh and pat me on the shoulder and say that he was just messing around with me. 

maybe i was just easy to tease because everyone always found it funny to pull little pranks on me like that.

"i'm like, the only person that actually does work around here." he complained. i was surprised... it looked so clean and nice. i would've thought he would be that kind of worker who slacked off.

"can you really just hire me like that?" i questioned, fiddling with my hands.

"of course i can. my dad owns this place and i'm the manager." he shrugged. i still wasn't 100% sure about his sincerity, but then again, why would he lie to me about something like this?

"i-uh, okay..." i stated slowly.

"can you start... tomorrow? i know it's short notice but it would be better to take a whole day to start training." he said, looking at a calendar that was set up next to the register.

it was a friday after school that day, which meant he would want me to start working on a saturday.

"i don't know.." i began, tilting my head as if i was looking at the calendar. i had nothing going on over the weekend, but i was kind of looking forward to catching up on sleep.

what was i saying? i've been searching for a job forever and now that one was dangling in front of my face, i was going to refuse it because i'm lazy?