"Good morning." A man walks into the store and places a pile of shirts on the counter top.
"Good morning. How are you today?." I smile at him. Be polite, I remind myself.
"The last name is Morrison. M-O-R-R-I-S-O-N. I need these by Monday. Sunday, tomorrow, if possible. Thanks." The man turns to leave and I stand there for a second, looking after him.
Just breathe, I say to myself. Just breathe. I begin taking the shirts apart, one by one, and counting how many there are, checking to see if any of them are French cuffs or tuxedo shirts. The prices vary depending on the extra design or the different shirt styles.
I keep counting in my head, and end up with 17 shirts. There can only be eight shirts per ticket, so I split it up as eight and seven. The song playing above makes me move a little bit and I find myself singing along to it.
Give me the beat boys and free my soul
I wanna get lost in your rock and roll
And drift away
I hear someone clear their throat and I freeze for a second. I was so lost in the song that I forgot I'm at work. I turn back to the desk and see a man who seems to be enjoying the uncomfortable situation.
"Hi, hi I'm sorry about that." I awkwardly laugh, as I throw the shirts into a basket and tuck my hair behind my ears.
He laughs and shakes his head. "It's okay. I'm the same way when music's playing." He gives me a reassuring smile. I feel a little better knowing that he understands.
I smile back at him. "How can I help you today?"
"Okay so," he puts a suit jacket on the counter, and leans in so that he's closer to me. I lean in too, thinking that, well since it's a cleaners, he wants to show me the awful stain or whatever problem he has. "The problem here...er....uhm...what's your name?" He suddenly asks and locks eyes with me. He's so close, I suddenly forget to breathe.
"Rocio." I smile and he returns it too.
"Rocio." He whispers to himself and almost looks nostalgic. "That's beautiful." He grins.
"Thank you." I laugh.
"I'm Mark but that's beside the point." He shakes it off. "So I have this dinner tonight and this is my lucky suit. I'm closing a business deal and I really really want to wear this suit but the thing is that it has a rip right here." He points to where the arm and shoulder meet. "I feel so pathetic for saying it but I'm so superstitious and I really really have to wear this tonight."
I nod, thinking that not only has he a beautiful voice but he looks extremely familiar. And of course I'm thinking about how it could get done before tonight.
"Do you think it's possible to have it done, say, before 5 in the afternoon?" He looks at me with worrisome eyes and I can't bring myself to tell him no.
I think for a second before I say something else. You're not supposed to give your opinion or input when it's not asked of you. He's only asking if it's able to be done, he doesn't need reassuring that he'll do fine without it. But I went and spoke anyway.
"Yes, we should be able to get it done. It would have to go in as a rush. The charge for it being rushed is only two dollars. Do you need it to be cleaned too? Or just pressed?"
He lets out a sigh of relief and smiles, "just needs to be tailored and pressed."
"Okay." I smile. He wouldn't break eye contact.
"Okay." He smiles back.
I fumble with the keyboard and instead turn to the computer screen to write his order but then realize that I don't know his last name.
"Uh, I'm sorry, could I have your last name?" My fingers are ready to type.
"You could but only if you marry me."
I feel the blood rush to my ears, and then hear him laugh.
"Sorry, it was just the perfect set up." He apologizes and I can't help but smile. "It's Schmidt. S-C-H-M-I-D-T."
"You have no idea how many times I say that a day and no one ever responds with that answer. You're the first." I laugh as I scroll down through the Sch's until his name catches my attention. "81st Hollow Drive?"
"Yes, that's right - 81st Hollow Drive. And there's a first for everything." Mark winks and a cheeky grin spreads over his lips.
I laugh again and when I mark in his jacket, I print the ticket. "Would you like to keep your copy?"
"Honestly, I'll probably forget that I took it with me so no, I'll keep it here."
I laugh again, "okay then that'll be it."
"That's it? No measuring me? No saying it's impossible to do it on such short notice? No phone number?" He laughs.
"Nope, we're magic like that." I assure him and feel puzzled at his last question. I laugh when his face goes a bit serious, but there's something about his smirk that makes him seem flirty and holy-like.
"Good." He grins and stares at me and the world stops for a second.
"Yeah." I smile and hand him his ticket. "Oh no wait-"
"It's okay. I have to start being more responsible anyway." I'm pretty sure that now he's laughing at me rather than with me.
"I can just staple the tickets together and we'll keep them here."
"Hey, it's fine. Honestly. From the bottom of my heart." Mark places a hand on top of mine, and softens his voice, "it's fine." He smiles again.
Why is his smile doing things to me? Why are his eyes making me feel things? Why did the sudden touch of his make me yelp inside? What the hell?
I'm tongue-tied for two seconds too long because I can feel the customer next to us looking at us like we're weird. "I, uh, have a nice day Mr. Schmidt." I smile as I slowly pull away from his touch.
He snaps back into his flirty persona and grins, "call me Mark."
"Have a great rest of the day Mark. And good luck on that deal." My smile is genuine.
"Thank you, Rocio. I'll keep that in mind." He winks and then begins to walk. "Oh-" he turns back around. "Coffee sometime?"
"I don't think that would be appropriate." I kindly decline. That gets him back to where he was, right in front of me.
"I don't really care whether it's appropriate or not. I like going against the rules." His baby blues suddenly are showered in mystery but I'm lost in them like I would the sea.
"I'm really sorry, but I have work to get back to." I awkwardly say, "but really, you'll do great tonight." I quickly add.
His eyes go back to a pale blue and he laughs as shakes his head. "Have a good night."
"Thank you." I nod.
He winks one last time and then turns to walk out the double doors.
My heart suddenly starts beating again, my muscles unclench, my breathing settles, and my head has stopped spinning. I let out the breath I didn't realize I was holding.
"Love...what a wonderful thing." The customer who had been staring at us, who happened to be an old woman, says.
I laugh and feel my ears turning red again. "He's just a customer. He's very nice and flirty."
"That's how it starts sweetheart." She grabs her bag of folded sweaters, and comes over to my counter top. "But I will tell you one thing - be careful, that boy is nothing but trouble."
I look at the lady in confusion. Why is she saying such thing? Does she know him? Is he family of hers?
"Broken hearts never learn to walk sweetheart." The old woman gently laughs and pats my hand. "Have a good day."
"Thank you." It's almost inaudible that she didn't say anything else and walked out. I turn back to his jacket to turn it into the tailor.
I can't help but wonder why he's bad news.
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Hi guys !!! I'd love it if I could get feedback on this first chapter !!! Thank you so much :))
