ELECTRIFIED

CHAPTER 4

TRIGGER WARNING:  if you have not read the trigger warning, please look at chapter 1!  this story has potentially triggering content!!

"No, and that's what I don't get," Joey bellowed into his phone, "they gave Risa a raise, and I've been doing the exact same fucking work as her. Have they given me any sort of acknowledgment? No! None at all, in fact. I feel like I'm working for a brick wall, you know?" His anger showed in his body. Tense muscles, violent arm movements, and furrowed brows. A dead giveaway if you couldn't hear him talking. "Like, I've had an ex-coworker say they're homophobic or whatnot, but... I'm not gay? Like, would they really pin the stereotype of being 'feminine' on me like that? I mean, obviously, gay people should be paid the exact same as straight people, as trans people should be paid equally to cis people, like... But... I don't... I don't get my work. Nobody makes any fucking sense."

There was a long pause as he heard his sister speak back to him on the phone. He stared at the selections of shoes on sale at the store he was standing in front of. "Yeah. It drives me up the fucking walls. I wish I could get into my manager's mind and figure out what I'm doing wrong. Do I need to start 'manning up'? Am I being too sensitive about this?" Joey listened to the other end of the conversation, scratching his head. "You think? Okay. I don't know. I just hope this isn't as deep as I think it is. Yeah." Joey looked around the mall. It was cloudy outside, but the clouds were light and fluffy, which let a lot of light out onto the town, and through the ceiling windows of the mall. There were loads of people walking around the building. A woman walked past, her heels clicking on the lit-up white floor. Joey watched her walk by, then resumed staring at the stores. He could spot American Eagle's logo from quite far away.

"Huh?" Joey asked, realizing he'd completely zoned out to what his sister was saying. He began walking a bit, finding a Dairy Queen. He got himself basic-ass fries, sat down at a table and kept talking. It was always nice to talk to his sister, he missed her often as she lived pretty far away. He laughed suddenly at a joke, quickly finished his fries and threw out the small, greasy cardboard box. He strutted through the store, through each white, hospital-esque corridor. A smile was more than often on his face, the conversation had turned for the better.

"Oh my god, yeah," he giggled, "Yeah! Oh my god you remember that!" He kept laughing louder and louder. It was ridiculous how much she could make him laugh.

He hadn't turned up to the mall for any particular reason. He just felt like walking somewhere, somewhere with people and with personality. Each person he passed didn't seem to have a particular expression on their face, but it was better than nothing.

"Oh, don't remind me of that. That was so... So embarrassing? No, no! Absolutely not, no! Ew, STOP!" was all you could hear coming from his mouth as he walked at this point. He stopped by a store, began looking through clothes, then found a cute shirt. He felt weird about the colour. It made him anxious, but he decided to look for another shirt. He decided to tell his sister.

"I just found the cutest shirt, but it made me so anxious. That was really weird." His sister on the other side of the line told him to trust his gut. "Yeah, definitely. Not going out in that if it makes me nervous. However, this shirt I found here is so cute. A simple lemon yellow t-shirt... I don't mind it. I can't afford much, but..." He stared at it for a long moment. "Nah, I'll wait. Might find something better."

He placed the shirt down, not even glancing at the shirt that made him uncomfortable. He walked back to a more populated area, hearing loud chuckling from girls in front of him. He paid zero attention and kept walking, not even looking towards them. That is, until they came close to him. One loudly called, "I know you'd gladly let him slap you!" and giggled. It was a weird sentence out of context, so Joey looked up. There was a curly blonde smiling with a group. It was weird, because the girl looked familiar.