Placebo Effect: [Zane X Reader]

One- Once Upon a Time is Bologna

I grumbled and huffed, placing my chin into my palm which rested on the cool counter. The surfboards stacked precariously against the wall taunted me with their pristine condition and shiny new colors. Though I wore a bathing suit under my usual sundress cover-up, I was confined to the shop per usual. Every other day, except Saturdays and Thursdays, I worked at my dad's dumb surf shop, consulting tourists on what board is the best, what aloe to get for their sunburn, or which postcard their boyfriend would like best. In case you were wondering, its always the one with the sunset. Or the turtles.

Salem jumped up on the counter beside me, yowling for attention as he worked to push off anything he could reach the counter. I was quick to reach forward and pull things away from him before they would plunge to their untimely death on the sandy hard wood floor. The shop was packed to the brim with anything and everything you could imagine in a surf shop. Bikinis, trunks, paddle boards, surf boards, boogie boards, heck, even skate boards. Sand toys and buckets, fake sea shells and real sand dollars, hermit crabs in the back. A really ugly sea shell lamp next to the giant display of post cards. Of course, due to my working here, I had to be a master of each and everything stocked in the store. Not just where things went, mind you, but the master of "do these bottoms bring out my eyes?" or "what color boogie board?" or heaven forbid, "mommy, I want a hermit crab!"

Suckers. They fell for it every single time.

Beside me, Salem flopped down on his side, exposing his fluffy stomach as prime real estate for rubbing. Salem was the only cat I had ever met that wouldn't chew your face off for touching his stomach. Or him in general. The poor little guy had shown up one day, out back rifling through out massive dumpster we shared with our next door neighbor, The Tortuga. Tortuga was a highly coveted restaurant with locals and tourists alike flooding in weeks ahead for a spot to sit just for some decent food. Their main attraction was in the name itself: they had turtles in a giant tank which covered almost half of the restaurant's walls. Timmy was the biggest turtle they had, the largest in our side of Ninjago actually. The crazy environmentalists love it. Eat it up. I had been throwing out the trash bag from my dad's office and from the rooms above the shops which just so happened to be where we all resided. A scuffling had caught my attention and my eyes found a scrawny black cat with a giant piece of what had been jerk chicken. Poor sap had been lugging it across the alley, away from a hoard of ants that threatened his sweet catch. I had run upstairs to grab our soggy deli ham and offered it as a sacrifice to the little cat. He ate it up. Literally.

Ever since then, Salem doesn't go anywhere. He roams around the shop and shoppers get a kick out of the little guy. Now on the other hand, we have Mavis. A smug old man cat with a little too much attitude. He usually just lounges by the door to swipe at people's feet as they come in. It's very entertaining, actually.

I snapped back to the present as those stupid bells chimed, announcing the arrival of customers. Wonderful. Only 9 am and I was already on the clock. I was quick to slap on a fake facade for the group of rowdy teenage boys and their single lady friend. One meandered over to ogle Salem, cooing wide eyed at the black cat. His actions made me laugh, and from the expressions of his friends, this was something that he pulled often.

"If you are wondering, hes not for sale." I muttered, crossing my arms over my chest and raising my eyebrows. "Though I'm sure with a little ham, you could get him to do anything."

Blue eyes met mine and his smile fell. "Told you guys we should have brought the ham!" He whined and poked his bottom lip out like a child. Chuckles from the rest of the group ensued and I recognized a long bond between the boys and their lady friend.

"Need help with anything?" I questioned, moving over to the side and around the counter and into the main floor of the shop. "We got a killer sale on our boards."