Down But Not Out

Chapter 25

Today was unfortunately a slow day- since Tuesday's usually are, although so are Wednesday's for some reason. I was bored, because I'd stupidly forgotten to bring my sketchpad with me today to give myself something to do, so I was trying to keep myself busy by sweeping out the shop. I think this was the fifth time that I'd done this in the last thirty minutes, because Josh was in the employee's room.

After yesterday we'd gone back to avoiding each other, although I don't understand why Josh was since he was all for trying to talk to me yesterday. I didn't mind though, because it was still weird seeing the real him this morning, since he didn't cover himself up when it was just us, although he did when we opened up the shop for customers. I suppose he was hiding in the back room so that he could just sit around without his beanie and glasses on. I'm sure it must be annoying for him having to wear those all of the time, although he wouldn't have to if he wasn't working here. But of course I liked him working here because he was fun to be around, except for the last few days of course as things were strained between us.

I sighed and put the broom back in its place just as a song came on that wasn't a rock song, but one that I tended to dance to at home as a way to exercise. I grinned because Summer and I had made up a really awesome routine to this song. It was 'Blah Blah Blah' by Kesha and had a really awesome beat to dance to.

I positioned myself in the area between the counter and the rails for the Unisex rails before I started dancing along to the song. This routine mostly consisted of lots of complicated arm and leg movements as well as lots of hip shaking. Usually this would embarrass me, but Summer and I had made it up in the comfort of our apartment, plus no one was watching me because Josh was in the back room and I was alone here in the shop. I continued dancing around and struck a random pose at the end, because I couldn't remember what I'd done for the ending. I breathed heavily at the sudden moving around since I hadn't done much exercise for the past week and it was showing in terms of my dancing. I huffed and continued bouncing around the room as Paramore's song 'Fences' started playing while I sang along to the lyrics. I was a little bit pitchy in places but then again I was out of breath from dancing around so I didn't take in enough breath.

I was standing in front of the men's clothes with my back to the rest of the shop while I swung my hair around as I sang along, impressing myself at the fact that I was still able to sing okay even though I badly needed to breathe. Finally the song ended and I was able to gasp in breaths as I heard someone clapping behind me. I jumped, making a noise of surprise as I turned to face Josh who was leaning against the counter. I felt myself blush and I shook my head at him, a blush appearing on my face.

"Not bad" he stated, shrugging and I smiled a little bit as a woman wandered into the shop. I stayed where I was though, so that the woman could approach me if she wanted help. Turns out she was only looking, but she sent me a smile- which I returned- before she disappeared back out through the shop doors.

The silence between Josh and I stretched on, and while it was weighing me down because usually we would fill the silences with mindless chatter, I couldn't push myself to say anything to him. I'm sure he felt the same though, but as much as I enjoyed his company, I still felt awkward around him. We both sighed at the same time and looked up at each other before smiling slightly. Usually we'd joke about that, but today the uncomfortable silence stretched on.

A few more people wandered into the shop just as my favourite Paramore song from their debut played through the speakers. I grinned to myself before a few of our regulars walked into the shop, the three of them grinned at the song and I skipped over to them, singing along to 'Here We Go Again' causing them to laugh. They were three girls, so it wasn't too bad as I took their hands and started jumping up and down while singing along.