Fashionista

Chapter 25

Grrrrr, Grrrr, Grrrr...

I reached over to my lamp stand and muted the alarm blaring from my phone. Stretching, I walked over to the bathroom and began preparing for work.

At 8.30am I was ready, of course, in my work outfit. I would have loved to add a few embellishments, but I wasn't going to outdo myself on the first day.

I quickly slung my bag over my shoulder and walked out, locking my door and walking towards Jason who was already waiting for me at the front of the apartment complex.

"Hey Amelia." He looked me up and down, suddenly bursting into a fit of giggles.

Confused, I asked, "What's wrong? Do I look funny?"

Clutching his stomach he responded, "I'm sorry, it's just that you don't need to wear your work clothes from home, especially this one. You can change there instead, you know."

I quickly nodded and ran upstairs to change into a casual outfit: A yellow V-neck blouse with black skinny jeans and black flats. I stuffed my work uniform into a bigger duffel bag than the previous one and headed out to meet Jason for the second time.

"Now you look good. Sorry about laughing earlier." He muttered, looking conflicted.

"It's okay, you were looking out for me. Let's go, I have twenty minutes to spare." I said, waving my hands dismissively and walking towards the store.

Walking briskly, we crossed the street and made our way to the store. I immediately went to the nearest restroom and changed into my uniform, before putting my voluminous chestnut brown hair up in a tie. I headed to the Manager's office where the guy from yesterday was already waiting for me to show me around.

We got out together and I smiled at Jason and gave him the thumbs up after which he nodded and started shopping with a cart.

Jason was there to support me and get a few things, before heading off to the art school on the next street. Yesterday at the mini excursion, he told me more about his artistic self and his life in Italy. What he skipped was the bitchy Lily.

"Jason, Jason." A voice called from behind us.

Both of us turned to see a girl looking at Jason like she wanted to eat him, and at me she threw daggers with her eyes.

She smiled and clutched his arm, "Jason honey, I haven't heard from you in a while. Where have you been?"

"I've been here and there, you know. Doing work." He said, tight-lipped as he tried to remove his hands from her grip with no success. Either he wasn't strong enough or she had an iron grip.

Frowning, she turned to me, "Amelia, lovely surprise. It must be fate how we always meet, especially when it's concerning something of mine." She said as Jason winced, she must have gripped him tighter at that last word.

Before I could reply, she continued, "I suppose Jason honey didn't tell you we're in a relationship...did you, love?" Jason went mute and she smiled at me, daring both of us to object.

"Well, congrats to you both. I'll be heading on my own, have fun with Jason and don't kill him, alright? You don't have to hold him so hard if you're together." I smiled before glancing at my map and walking down a bend, but not before seeing the anger on her face and relief on Jason's as she released him.

"Hey, are you listening?" Marcus said, lightly tapping my arm.

"Oh, yes I am. I was a bit distracted, I'm so sorry." I said, wringing my hands hoping he didn't tell the manager about this.

"Alright, but focus. As I was saying..." He continued, as he waved his well manicured hands around the store. After that, he introduced me to the other four workers there: a guy with spiky hair and a number of tattoos called Mike, the eccentric girl with headphones I had seen in the bus stop was Jade, another girl with a mix of skater and preppy look was Cami and a quiet guy named Matt who just waved briefly at me before moving on, he was the cashier. They all welcomed me quite nicely before moving back to their respective stations.

Soon after, Marcus left me to my own, after assuring me he would be checking up to see how I was faring. Luckily, there were no issues as most of the shoppers I met were nice tourists who spoke English or those who didn't need my help as they already knew the store in and out.

The day ran quite fast, and soon it was closing hours. After changing back to my casual outfit, I headed out to see that the others were still around.

Surprised I said while unpacking my hair, "You guys didn't have to wait up for me."

"It's something we're used to, everyone leaves at the same time, except Clark." Cami said, as they all stood up while Marcus ushered us out and locked the doors.

"Clark?"

Jade looked quizzically at me, "Manager Clark."

"So that's his name.", I said and they all nodded.

Outside, we all separated: Everyone but Jade and I entered the bus heading towards Milabayo, which was a few minutes away from Ilana. Turning away, Jade and I walked quietly until we got to the apartment complex, and when Jade headed in after me I raised my brows in question.

"What? I live here too. Third floor, room twenty-four." She shrugged, adjusting the unplugged headphones around her neck and mimicking my brow raise

I smiled, happy at another familiar face. "I stay on the fourth floor, room thirty-two. That's nice, guess we'll be seeing more of each other then." She nodded slightly as we entered the elevator.

***********

Soon, my first week of work was over. In that week, I had encountered only one customer who refused to be attended to by me since 'I didn't belong'. When Marcus came, she relaxed a bit after which she gestured to me and said a curse word under her breath: culo, which meant ass. Immediately, Marcus told her that wasn't acceptable and if she couldn't restrain from curse words, she could leave.

I was furious, but also very determined. That very night, I downloaded the Duolingo app and started learning Italian every night for twenty minutes. At the end of the second week, I called Leo and Daisy to give me a test based on what I had learnt. I passed it, and Leo immediately ordered pizza. We talked through the night about everything especially our projects, until we all dozed off.

"I just proposed, Mia." My dad sang into the phone, while my scream woke all three of us.

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