Stories from Other Writers

The Great IKEA Game - Chapter 10

"Is something the matter here?"

Oh, great someone new!

"Oh my gosh yes, finally!" exclaimed the woman. "Are you a manager?"

"No," replied the new man's voice. "But I can go get one if there's a problem here," he remarked, hesitant, unsure of the situation, and now very uncomfortable he stuck himself in the middle.

'Good,' thought Marinette. 'Be afraid, be very afraid.'

"Yes, there's a problem here. What kind of place hires unhelpful, incompetent workers? I tried asking him to help me find my items, but he completely ignored me!"

"Listen, ma'am-" Dick tried to calm her, using a good approximation of a customer service voice; one Marinette knew all too well after using it for years to help out her parents at the bakery and dealing with nosy reporters as LAdybug.

"No! You. Listen. To. Me."

Oh boy.

Marinette raised herself to her tiptoes placing her hands on Damian's (broad) shoulders and whispered softly. "This is about to get ugly."

Damian's hands on her waist tightened. "It wasn't already?" he whispered back.

She rested her head on his chest; smiling, biting her lips to hold back the guilty laugh threatening to escape.

"You've been unhelpful, rude, sarcastic, so you know what? Yes, yes, I would like to speak to a manager. Let's go!" There's a scuffle outside the door and a light grunt.

"Ma'am, ma'am please don't do that," the other man cried out. "You don't need to drag-"

"Lady get your hands off me!" exclaimed Dick.

"I'm making sure you don't run off or something," she sniped back.

"Well, I won't, so hands-off." Another scuffle, this time louder, and then an irritating shriek. Marinette held back a wince; how this scene hadn't caught a crowd's attention defied all odds. With Jason not too far off, she hoped he wouldn't notice, because otherwise they would end up even more screwed.

"You hit me!" the lady screeched

"I did nothing of the sort!" Dick sounded caught between incredulous and pissed. He may not have hit her, but it sounded like he was not far off from trying.

"Ma'am he didn't hit you," reassured the other man.

"Are you both serious?" she yelled. "Yes, he did! Oh, not only will I get you fired for your incompetence now, but I'm also going to sue. My husband's a lawyer. We're going to a manager right now, or I swear-!"

"Ma'am please, please calm down. We can head this way..." the voices fade into the store's greater din and distraction, leaving the showroom and cabinet behind.

Marinette held her breath, she didn't dare trust the fragile and charged silence.

"What in the world?" Damian muttered, utterly befuddled.

And that was what broke her.

Marinette huffed out a laugh, bringing a hand to her face. She found once she started, the laughter wouldn't stop. Leaning hard against the cabinet's back, she desperately tried to make sure her glee wasn't too loud.

"Oh, mon Dieu!" She managed to exclaim through a chuckle. "I've- I have met entitled customers before, but that- she just- she took the cake."

"It surprises me Grayson controlled the urge not to hit her," Damian muttered darkly. "If she acted like that against my person, I would not extend her the same courtesy."