The Girl In The Candy Dress

Chapter 10~ Acts of Kindness

Luke and I separated ways when we walked into the staff room. I went to the female's change room and slipped on the most uncomfortable uniform anyone could ever imagine. The vibrant stripes never failed to tint my cheeks in embarrassment. I am sometimes called 'Popsicle' or 'Alice in Wonderland', such kind customers I serve.

I walked out of the change room; Luke was nowhere to be found. I just left the staff room and power walked to the office as I had only 2 minutes until my shift started. I stepped inside and clocked on with one minute to go. Phew.

Then out emerged the last person I was bothered to deal with today- my manager.

"You're late" he states.

"I'm not late, I arrived one minute before my shift starts" I fire back.

"No, you obviously haven't been keeping up to date with the management reports" he turns to the massive notice board on the wall and rips of a piece a paper which was pinned to the cork board. "See here, it says you must arrive at least five minutes before your shift begins" he points to a list with many other stupid rules.

I furrow my eyebrows and argue, "How was I supposed to know that?"

"Read" he says sarcastically. He shoves the rules and a moneybox in my arms. "Now go do your job".

I turn around and roll my eyes, I honestly was not in the mood for his bullcrap. On top of that it was our discount night for students, meaning we were going to be crowded with teenagers.

"Oh and one more thing you need to do tonight..." he began.

My jaw tightened at the command, "And what is that?"

"Well, now that you've finished training Vanessa, I need you to train Luke on the registers" he says while looking down at his clipboard.

This time, my jaw fell to the ground. "Are you kidding?"

"No, now you're dismissed" he casually shoos me away. Rude.

Well my night couldn't have gone any worse.

With an annoyed sigh I leave the office and enter the candy bar, and guess who was chilling by the registers...

You got that right, it was Luke. As I entered the register section, he turns around and a cheeky smirk emerged onto his face. "I was awaiting your presence" he says sarcastically.

"Hilarious, now turn on your register so we can get this over and done with" I sigh.

"Oh, so you like it quick and easy" he says casually.

"Excuse me?!" I ask in shock and disgust.

Luke's eyebrows rose and the smirk deepened. "Nothing" he shrugs it off as if it were no big deal.

Half an hour later Luke had figured out the different screens and prices pretty smoothly and was already serving his first customer.

"Hi, how can I help you?" he asks kindly to the elderly couple.

After he served them, I heard the elderly lady whisper "what a lovely young gentlemen". I snorted at the ridiculous comment and mentally rolled my eyes...yeah he is such a gentlemen.

As the night passed, I started getting a headache from the numerous annoying voices from fourteen year old girls whom were here to watch some teen love story. As we were tidying up from the busy session, I quickly made Luke and I a coffee from the café and handed it to him.

"Thanks" he slightly smiles.

I shrug in response, "All good, it gets pretty wild around here"

He nods in agreement whilst sipping his coffee.

We had one more session for the night, the line gradually got longer and I see the benches that I just cleaned, get spilled on by soft drink. That's the working life for you.

I served this group of teenagers, two boys and three girls. I served them their popcorn, drinks and tickets. Then, one of the guy's comment, "That dress looks way too small on you" and then the rest of the group laughs. Another girl adds, "Yeah and it makes you look like a lollipop or something" and then they all laugh again.

I just ignored their snarky remarks, however Luke didn't...

"Before you leave, I think you owe her an apology" that stopped them in their tracks, "you two boys should know better than to put down a lady for the way she looks- show some respect. And you girls should know better than to shame another girl. Aren't you supposed to be supporting one another?" he strongly states.

"Whatever bro, the customer is always right" one of the boys sarcastically says.

Luke didn't stop there he was pretty pissed off, "Not in this case, you're bullying her. And don't call me bro".

"Whatever...sorry" they say to me with no meaning, then they just walk away. Witnessing what Luke just did made me realise that maybe he is a bit of a gentlemen and I'm just really harsh.

I turn to Luke whom had his jaw clenched and his hands were in fists with the veins visible. Not going to lie...he looked quite attractive. "You didn't have to do that...thanks" I could feel my cheeks starting to warm up. Oh no, not right now.

He gave me one of his signature smiles, "No worries Zoe 101"

I jokingly rolled my eyes at the familiar nickname. "Harrison and Jack?"

"Yeah!"

We closed the candy bar and clocked off after shift. We both then realised something.

It was 10:30pm and really dark, just one slight problem...

One car. Two of us. No petrol.

I turn to Luke, "You used all the petrol in my car?!"

"Well there is a little left..." he says to try and make me feel better.

"Not enough to take us both home! There are no more regular bus routes this late at night, so public transport is out of the picture. What are we going to do?" I ask furiously stressed out.

There was only one way we could both get home.

I guess it's time to meet the parents.

~~~~~~~

Good times...

As per usual,

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-G