All The Things You Said (gxg)

Summer Before Senior Year

The first week of July, I walked into the break room at work to put my bag in my locker. It was my third week at Chopped, and I was still being trained, but the job was quite easy- I was literally just making salads.

I was in my "uniform"- my blue t-shirt that said "Chopped"- and black yoga pants, along with an apron. I had my blonde hair back in a ponytail, and minimal makeup.

I then noticed someone at the wooden table in the break room as I walked in.

She had on the same shirt as me, and a pair of black jeans. She also had on a black baseball hat, over her messy, slight wavy black hair that was a bit past her ears. I could see that she had on heavy eyeliner under her hat, but I couldn't see much else of her face. She was looking down at her phone that had a cracked screen.

Who is this?

She looked up, startled as I walked in.

"Sorry to scare you." I said, looking at her, "I'm Bella."

"Max. Nice to meet you."'

Ah, so this was Max. Thankfully they were okay.

I studied Max for a moment. She looked a bit disheveled- but was actually very pretty when I looked at her face. Underneath the eyeliner she had blue eyes, a small, narrow nose, and round cheeks.

There was something about her...I couldn't quite put my finger on it. But I felt myself not wanting to look away from her.

"I'm assuming you started here within the three weeks I was gone."

I was snapped out of my trance by Max's voice.

"Oh, yes. This is my third week." I nodded.

"Gotcha." Max simply nodded as well, and then stood up. She was very slim, and I could see she was around the same height as me, about 5'4. "See you out there." she mumbled, as she walked past me.

I stood there for a moment, holding my bag, not sure what to do.

As a couple of weeks went by, it realized that Max was a tough nut to crack. She didn't say much at work- even to the customers, she was pretty apathetic when talking to them. But she was a hard worker- always did what she was told, and was always moving. I was almost too shy to make conversation with her- because I didn't want her to think I was weird.

Why do I care so much about what she thinks?

I found myself wanting to work the same shifts as her- and feeling disappointed when she wasn't there.

One Saturday night in the middle of July, it was just Christy, me, and my co-workers Jason and Shantelle scheduled.

Shantelle wound up calling out- so, Christy went to the break room and started calling some of my other co workers frantically.

She came back 10 minutes later to the front and said, "Max is coming- she will be here in about 35 minutes or so, depending on if there is traffic from her house."

"Thank god for our lord and savior Maxine Redman." Jason said, jokingly.

"Maxine?" I looked at him.

"That's her real name." Jason said, "But don't call her that- she doesn't like it."

"Bella, you and Max will be closing together." Christy looked at me, "I think you're ready for it. Plus, Max can help you with anything you need."

"How long has Max been working here?" I asked.

"A year. She started last summer, she's also going into her senior year of high school, same as you, Bella." Christy explained to me.