Bruised Knuckles and Late Night Shifts

Part One

Finnegan

In Östskimmer, everybody kept to themselves. People were work driven and independent. Our town was quite literally the definition of casual. I loved it.

When I was 11 years old I was diagnosed with Generalized Anxiety Disorder and Panic Disorder. Luckily I didn't have it too bad, and a calm collected routine kept me in check. But of course that didn't mean the anxiety went away.

The guys at my school sometimes did spontaneous things, and were pretty careless, so I didn't find myself gravitating towards that crowd. That's why my best friend was actually a girl.

I grew up with Carline. She's a kind and funny girl who didn't get out of the house too much. I cared about who my friends were a lot, I made sure to stay away from racists, homophobes, bullies etc.

I just kept my little circle and everything was fine. Was fine.

That was until this idiot named Elias moved here. Honestly I was a bit dramatic, he's not that bad but I didn't like him. He was basically the opposite of me. And for some reason wherever I went, he was already there.

Socializing was a big issue I had, so when I found out I could get a night shift job at the grocery store everything came together. Of course it was hard to do that on school nights so I was also aloud to work in the meat department, and bakery sometimes. But I never worked at the cashier. Never.

My job positions didn't require much socialization, considering my coworkers didn't talk much either.

But Elias had a big fucking mouth and for some reason I was always his damn victim.

About 3 weeks after he moved here, he got a position at the grocery store. I guess I'm "lucky" because that so happened to be the same place I worked.

The quiet shifts soon turned into constant pestering. He didn't just pester me, it was my coworkers too, even the customers. Dude was a social butterfly.

I had worked here for at-least a year or two and I did a pretty damn good job. But my boss seemed to just immediately favourite Elias over me, saying "his charm brings in customers!" bull fucking shit.

It was a random Saturday, and I was working night shift as well as Elias. I set my bag down in the break room and he hopped off the desk and spoke.

"So sir what can I do for you, this is my first time stocking."  He said in his stupid accent while trying to get under my skin.

"Don't call me sir it's weird. And if you're genuinely asking you can manage the inventory, like check for expiration dates, damaged goods and all that. Then we can clean and actually stock the shelves." I said avoiding eye contact since it made me nervous.

"Sounds good sir." He said once again before trailing off to the stockroom.

I followed him and he started checking the products, we needed to see if they were expired. I took the safe items and lifted them onto the cart. Box by box my arms got sore but this shouldn't take too long.

Elias tripped over an open box, spilling out a bunch of packaged foods. I sighed and ran a hand through my hair. I had to be patient it was simply a mistake. I just couldn't get over the fact that I've managed to do this alone all this time and do it perfectly too.

Now I had to babysit Elias and also make sure he didn't fucking put cereal in the fridge or some crap.

He glanced back at me and awkwardly put the items back into the box.

"Can you hurry up so I can fill up the cart or do you need help with that too."

"What's your issue with me dude?" I ignored him and just stepped beside him and started checking boxes and angrily shoving them onto the cart.

He spoke again. "Hello dumbass I asked you a question?"

"Yeah and I don't have an answer! I-I just like doing this neat and quick and it's frustrating having to wait up for you."

"You don't need to wait for me."  He scoffed and put the last bag into the box.

"Yes I quite literally do, I can't stock the shelves without any boxes." I say trying to tone down my attitude.

"Right. I see." He picked up the pace a bit and my heart beat slowed a bit. The whole arguing thing spiked my anxiety sometimes so tried to mange it.

Once we filled the whole cart I pushed it with a lot of strength. Despite being very skinny. My height and weight helped me carry more weight then you'd think.

"You can come with me and stock the shelves or you can fill the next cart. It's up to you." Please don't come with me. Please don't come with me. I silently prayed.

"I'll come with you." He said trying to act all innocent. I could tell he just wanted my attention, he probably thrived off others validation, so now he wasn't gonna leave me alone.

I took a deep breath and pushed the cart out into the store. Once he couldn't see my face I sighed and my brows furrowed. I liked the way I did things. My heart started to beat a bit faster, and my tummy started to ache. I tried to ignore it.

I took a box of apples and walked to the opposite side of the grocery store. Once I placed the box on the floor I started to tap my thumb against each finger over and over while taking deep breaths. That's what they taught me in therapy, it worked most of the time to calm me down, but only in minor situations.

I hunched over the produce display and fidgeted with my necklace. My head felt light and all I could hear was my breathing. Slowly it went away.

Once I turned around he was standing right down the aisle carrying an apple box.

I rolled my eyes. "I'll handle the fruit. You can get started on the other stuff."

For some reason he felt my anxiety was funny or something because he was just smirking. "Did you just get off to the apples? Man that's fucking wei-"

I snapped quickly to cut him off, while storming over to take the box from him. "Fuck you, I didn't- no that's not what I was doing!"

"What was it then."

I imagined myself telling him I had anxiety. But another part me knew I didn't owe him an explanation and that it would only be used against me. I decided to not respond.

"Rövhål" I muttered knowing he couldn't understand anyway. (Asshole)

Elias clearly thought this was a game so he muttered something back in Greek. "Fovisméni skýla." (Scared bitch)

I took the box of apples from him and started stacking them in the produce bins.

"Go be useful for once." I said and glanced back at him.

It then hit me. I was going to see this guy, every single day. I wanted to rip my hair out. I don't think I'd be able to handle seeing anybody, every single day. Let alone someone I hate.

A plan formed in my head. I could avoid him at school, he was busy with this friends anyway. Then I could only hope he'd get a cashier job, and from there on I could try and take opposite shifts from him.

I let out a big breath and decided to actually get to work now.

After clearing one box of apples I just heard a bunch of things start falling and Elias groaning then cursing something in Greek. I couldn't help but giggle.