ELECTRIC FEEL ↝ Schmidt

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

AS ALWAYS, ELISE was happy to go to work once Monday arrived again, especially when she was planning on interviewing some people she could potentially hire to do some of the work she was now handling all by herself. She enjoyed running her own business, but it was exhausting and often impossible to get everything done, more than ever  after Nick had helped her with advertising the place. Comic Planet was doing good, and since Elise had the money, she had figured it was only smart to get someone to sit behind the counter or at least somehow relieve the pile of work she had to deal with all alone at the moment.

Elise wasn't the only one with plans — after thoroughly thinking about his big surprise for days, Schmidt had arranged some things and was quite certain his proposal was going to be epic. And he was planning on doing it soon too, as in, today. He had informed his roommates as well in order to earn their assistance and as long as Nick would stay away from Elise and not reveal the secret, everything would go just well. The plan was simple, though evidently Schmidt was concerned that something would go wrong, or that Elise would reject him for some reason he still hadn't completely figured out. But in the end, Schmidt was feeling rather confident, partly because it wasn't just a plain old proposal, but something amazing.

They parted their ways in the morning and as Elise left for work, Schmidt stayed behind in 4D and started to plot with their friends, going through the plan very profoundly and making sure everything would go just as he had imagined. Whilst the residents of apartment 4D schemed the perfect proposal, Elise indeed headed for Comic Planet, where she instantly put on her rock playlist before sitting by her laptop and waiting for the first applicant to arrive.

To be honest, Elise was nervous about talking to other people, even though it should have been the other way around. She tried to remind herself of that, how she was the boss and in total control, and therefore she had nothing to worry about. Except if she gave the proper vibe, if her hair looked good, if she would be able to hold herself together. Elise wasn't sure how, but she was trying to maintain a calm appearance and it seemed she succeeded, even if she was nervous as hell when the first person walked in and stated she was there for the job at the store.

It was just how Elise had expected it to go, though with a little less awkwardness and a bit more confidence, but the questions she asked were rather basic but essential, and the woman seemed to have the right answers to each and every one of them. However, Elise couldn't help her nature and therefore started to grow skeptical due to the first applicant's flawless answers and attitude — would she steal money from the register, be disrespectful, screw everything up? Nevertheless, Elise promised to give her call by the end of the week and tell her if she got the job or not, before proceeding to interview more people.

With time, Elise found her favorite questions to ask, her preferred answers and from somewhere, she even discovered the ability to smile at the people she was, surprisingly, talking quite bravely to. It was a whole new side of Elise, it was the literal boss side coming out of her and so far, she was liking it. She was reasonable but firm, somehow confident but not too proud or smug for being in a higher position. In her opinion, to be honest, she was doing one hell of a job with the simple task of the day.

Once the interviews were over and Elise had made notes, she opened the store for the day and customers began flooding in with excitement. The realization of still being alone for the couple of days before any official hiring made Elise sigh, but she had managed well so far and therefore she put on a smile and got to work like she was used to — helping people with whatever they needed, smiling and waving as they came in and walked out, offering service by the counter. And in a way, it was actually quite lovely.

Eventually the day came to an end, though closing the shop didn't mean Elise was free to leave. With a sigh, Elise lowered the volume of the music as she usually did in the evening to bring a calmer atmosphere around, and then walked around the store to pick up fallen comics, clean up the few spilled drinks and make sure everything was in place and looking good. She had barely made it back to the counter, tapping her finger against the desk along the Muse song playing quietly from the speakers and glancing down at her slowly filling notebook, when suddenly she heard a strange sound from behind her and quickly faced the direction of the unidentified noise.