Adore

Chapter 21

It was a crisp and slightly grey Friday morning. I hopped out of bed, making my way to the small bathroom to shower and get ready for work.

After my quick shower I applied simple makeup and headed downstairs for breakfast. Archie was very excited to see me and I poured him some food.

I had a simple breakfast this morning and took my coffee to go. I was out the door in a hurry, not wanting to be late for work.

I unlocked the double white doors with glass panels of the shop and began the usual routine of opening up the store for business. I had relocked the doors behind myself so customers weren't coming in yet.

The store was good to go and at 9am I was ready to start my day at work.

•••

The clock struck 5pm and I worked my way through the check list to shut up shop for the day. It was crazy busy for some reason today. Mary and I were flat out serving customers, ordering stock, filling shelves, cleaning and doing other admin work.

It was a relief that my shift was over, today had felt like it had gone on forever. I grabbed my bag from the small staff kitchen / break room and left the shop.

"Bye Mary, see you Monday" I said with a wave.

I put my headphones on and fished through my bag for my phone. I had a few messages and stuff which I went through after picking some music.

There was two texts from Tom.

I hope you have a good day
10:09am

Me, Haz, Sam & Harry are going out for dinner & drinks at the pub tonight, wanna join? x
4:49pm

I quickly text Tom back saying I'd love to go and where should I meet them. A few minutes later he had replied with an address saying they were meeting at 6:30pm

My walk home had only taken me 15 minutes. I threw the ball around the backyard for Archie for awhile before giving him his dinner a bit early so I could go get ready.

I sat down in front of my mirror and began applying a more full faced look. I added a bit of extra bronzer to my face, highlighted my cheek bones more but kept the blush subtle. Dusting over different shades of warm brown, I created a sort of smokey eye with the same highlighter shade I used on my cheeks, on the inner corner of my eye.

I finished my makeup with a swipe of red lipstick and pulled open my closet looking for a new outfit.

Truth was, I had absolutely fuck all idea what to wear.. The times I had hung out with Tom and his friends we'd be dressed pretty nicely, and I think Tom had good fashion sense. But we were just going to a pub tonight.

I pulled out a long sleeve black dress. The under layer was just a plain jersey slip, the outer layer a fine mesh/ netted type material that had some white daisies on it. The sleeve were wide and open, that tapered at one edge.

I grabbed a pair of black suede heeled boots and my small black backpack. I also grabbed a plain hat and shoved it on my head noticing the time on my watch.

Checking myself over in the mirror, I was wearing a lot of black but you could never really go wrong with it.

I dashed downstairs, grabbing my coat and giving Archie a big cuddle as I headed out for the night.

•••

The pub was humming with a crowd of people. There were groups sat at picnic style benches outside, heaters keeping them warm.

I couldn't see anyone I recognised outside as I walked up to the pub so I headed inside, hoping I didn't look totally lost.

The inside of the pub was all dark, rich wood, emerald green velvet arm chairs with small tables. Along the far wall were several booth tables lined with high-backed burgundy couches.