Roommates

Chapter 12

Aurora paced the linoleum tiles within the bull-pen, practically leaving an indentation in her path. She crossed over the greyed lines once, twice, one hundred times. She stepped meticulously to trace the fake grout lines.

Evangeline was right, self-check was mind-numbing, for better or worse. Without the constant hum-drum of customer service, Aurora was allowed to roam her dreary mind.

The Christmas music she hated began to quiet as she lost her focus on the world around her. She escaped into a maze within her mind. Millions of questions circled her in this vision, threatening to consume her. Not a single question came with an answer; none were coherent enough to commit to memory.

Thoughts of bills, budgets, and paying for Christmas gifts circled her mind. Christmas... She had forgotten about Christmas!

She wondered if she would call her family for Christmas, or if they even want to hear from her. Last year, she went to their house for dinner and was promptly thrown out. She spent last Christmas crying in the backseat of her Camry. She prayed this year was better, but the situation was looking grim.

Aurora grew tired of going around and around her racecar track up and down the self-check aisles, so she broke the pattern to go toward guest services to chat with Evangeline.

Evangeline busied herself with guests looking for products, returning damaged goods, and squawking about the bad weather making the floors slippery. How dare the employees not have rugs covering the entire tile floor! Evangeline apologized to an irate guest, "I am so sorry that you were hurt from that slip. I will get a bagger to dry the floors immediately. With the rain coming down as hard as it is, it's hard to keep up with the puddles."

Even though she came from a desert that never got rain, even Aurora knew that rain was wet. It made the floors wet, thus slippery. There were dozens of "wet floor" signs scattered near the entrance, but of course, there were still countless slips and falls throughout the day.

"It takes all kinds to make the world run," Aurora commented on the brazenness of that guest once she had stormed off.

Evangeline stifled a laugh, bustling around the service desk, gathering papers and whatnot. "Yes, it does."

Aurora tried to look at the blonde girl, but her quick steps made her hard to follow. "Do you ever get tired of working here?"

With only a moment of thought, Evangeline replied honestly. "I think I get tired of the customers and the mental toll of the job, but I wouldn't trade our staff for anything. Jeff and Trey, at least— the rest of them can fuck right off."

"That makes me wonder; how did you and Trey get so close?" Aurora asked. It unsettled her stomach that Evangeline wouldn't include her name among Jeff and Trey's. It made sense, though, they weren't really friends. Evangeline just pitied Aurora, just like everyone else did. After begging to stay at her house the way she did, how could Evangeline not feel bad for her? She felt pathetic.

"He makes it hard not to love him," Evangeline said. She checked a piece of paper on the desk with her back turned to Aurora and she spun a pen between her fingers. "I don't know why he gravitated to me on his first day, but he did. He became my little shadow, and by the time we had worked a few shifts together, he was basically my best friend around here." She turned to face Aurora with a relieving grin. "By the way, you have a break. Go get some food and enjoy a minute of peace. Fifteen minutes."

The story seemingly knocked her off balance. Too winded to speak, Aurora nodded and left the sales floor. Inside the break room, she collapsed into a foldable chair and stared blankly at the table.

Aurora still couldn't piece together how Trey and Evangeline got so close. Trey obviously had some magic spell on Evangeline to make her like him so much. Maybe they were dating and that's why they got along so well. There was no way a guy could be just friends with a girl like Evangeline. She was the kind of girl anyone would have a crush on! Trey knew her like the back of his hand, so, of course, they had to be dating! There was no other explanation. Guys and girls can't be "just friends." And that just means Aurora can't be friends with any girls because she's a lesbian.