Pocket Full of Posies

Chapter Seven

I woke up missing school. That never happened; not really. Winter break had only started two weeks ago and already I was missing something to do besides work. Now that I was free all hours of the day, there was nowhere to hide away from Carl, my manager. Even Jimmy wasn’t as dweeby as our manager—and, to be fair, Jimmy wasn’t really dweeby.

  Anyone who has ever seen Chuck will look at Carl and immediately think of Emmett from season two. He didn’t look like Emmett at all—his fair hair contrasted greatly to Emmett’s brown and Carl’s eyes were blue instead of beady brown; and he wasn’t as old as Emmett. Carl was maybe in his early thirties. Regardless, Carl insisted on wearing these “stylish” rectangle glasses that made his more feminine features stand out. By feminine features, I mean small and dainty nose, short forehead, and high cheekbones. It was just his face, but it looked like the man wore blush. He walked around like an arrogant rooster and none of us were sure if it was because he was manager or he really thought he was attractive.

  Let me be the spokeswoman for the entire female population: Carl was not attractive. He was snobby, annoying, and just plain mean at times. Lulu told me that, once upon a time, he’d been quite enjoyable to be around back when he was just a waiter. I hadn’t worked at Shoney’s long enough to have anyone as my manager but Carl, and I seriously doubted Lulu’s memory. I just couldn’t see how Carl could be enjoyable.

  But today I had the day off. I woke up early, showered, and leisurely walked aimlessly about the house. Later, Lissie and I were going to drive up to Franklin to visit the Cool Springs Galleria and catch up on our Christmas shopping. Brady, the adorable saint that he was, offered to stay at the house with my aunt and uncle so Lissie and I could catch up. She’d really outdone herself picking her first serious boyfriend.

  “Oh, is that what you’re wearing?” Liss asked me as I walked into the kitchen. She was eating a bowl of Special K cereal at the island, looking cozy and very…thin. Lissie was one of those girls who’d always had her own sense of style and living in California had only improved her wardrobe. Today she looked like she’d just stepped out of a magazine, wearing dark blue skinny jeans, a trendy and complicated top, knee high brown boots, and one of those weird knitted hats. Oh, and her beautiful copper locks were curled to a wavy perfection.

  I looked down at myself. I was wearing skinny jeans with a blowout in each knee—although all my jeans had a hole in the left knee since my surgery—one of those baggy shirts that were 80’s style but apparently stylish, and my worn out dark brown cowboy boots. Not exactly Franklin material, I supposed.

  “Um….I guess,” I finally said. “I mean, I’m gonna wear my pea coat instead of the Carhart.”

  Liss smiled. “No, you look great! I just feel too dressy now….”

  “Well….I mean, you could….help me out?” There was nothing Lissie loved better than to dress me up like a doll. I always looked beautiful after she was done, but totally not me. I was the kinda girl comfortable in simple jeans and a T-shirt. Sometimes I liked to wear skirts or sundresses, but that was in the summer. Winter time I just wanted to wear the most comfortable and simplest things.

  My cousin’s face lit up at the very idea. “Really? Cause I have this makeup trick that I’ve been wanting to try out forever, but my eyes aren’t big enough and the colors would look just gorgeous on brown eyes.”