Bump

5

5:10 p.m.

"I'm so glad we have Friday's off." Luke grunts, jumping down from the ladder after rearranging the thanksgiving sale banner. "Especially when I can spend an afternoon with you instead of fixing banners and scanning groceries."

"But you're spending time with me doing just that." I say more as a question than a statement.

"Well, yeah, but I just wanna hang out with you more often. Like watch movies and-and stuff." He says as we walk back to the isle to start stocking the shelves with new cans.

"And stuff?" I say repeating his words, acknowledging that he was probably going to say something else, rather than censoring his thoughts with the word 'stuff'.

"Nothing. It-it's nothing. Forget it." He shakes his head slightly and waves his hand side to side to signal a no.

"Oh, come on, Luke. You can tell me." I encourage him.

"No, Zia, it's not important. Really." He says while fiddling with with the cans before putting them on the shelves.

"What are you so afraid to tell me? Honestly, what are you hiding and why wont you tell me?" I ask. I already knew Luke is head over heels for me, but he's never admitted it and every time he's about to admit it, he always chickens out and changes the subject.

"I've never tried these before." Yeah, like now. "Do you think they'd taste alright?" Referring to a can of beets he was holding in his hand, nonchalantly inspecting it and reading the label.

"Luke, seriously." I say, giving him the 'the look'.

"Do you think they'd make my farts stink?"

I rolled my eyes and walked back over to my section of the isle and continued to place items on the shelf while Luke snickered behind me about his dumb question.

After about 45 more minutes of mindless conversation with Luke and restocking shelves and turning labels to face the isle, it was closing time.

"But really, Z, think about it. How is it even possible that she could've even made a perfect A in that class the entire school year, but every time Mr. Longely handed back the tests, she always would have a 50% or lower?" Luke continues on with our conversation about a girl named Stacey in our chemistry class as we walk to the back of the store towards the employee lounge.

"I don't know, Luke. Maybe she went in to retake the tests and got a 69." I say smirking at him as we walk through the doors of the employee lounge.

Luke let out a hearty laugh as we parted ways and I went into the lady's locker room.

As I was putting on my sweater, I heard Emily call out for me. I turned my head in the direction of her voice and she was jogging over towards me. Her voice didn't match her face. In fact, she seemed like she was in some sort of panic.

"Hey, what's up?"

"Were you at the bakery earlier?" She asks breathlessly.

"Yeah."

"Did you decorate a cake for a woman with blonde hair?"

"Yeah, it was for her son's birthday. Why are you asking me these questions?" I ask chuckling in confusion.

"That was Michael's mom." She took a deep breath and continued on. "When I was talking to Michael on the phone before work, he told me his mom had saw a girl at work who decorated the cake for her and she said she was really pretty and that he would really like her and could maybe even take her on a date or two because they would make a great couple and that girl was you and not me and now I'm afraid that when Michael introduces me to his parents, she's gonna be expecting you and not me and-"