My Love is Like a Red, Red Rose

Chapter Thirteen

Come to think of it, the tattoo parlour had a similar effect.

When the bus went past and Lauren could no longer see the two shops, she let out a sigh of relief. That was definitely not getting easier.

The ride to the mall was boring and the scenery certainly wasn't much entertainment. There were buildings. Some fields. Oh look, more buildings.

Thrilling.

When the bus ground to a noisy halt, Lauren strolled off, giving a quick 'thanks' to the driver. She stared at the ugly architecture of the daily reminder that she was bound to a capitalist and materialistic society.

"Show time," she mumbled, before walking in to start the day.

The Disney Store sucked.

Lauren had hated customer service enough when it was in Florist Gump, but at least that florist's never had more than two people in it at a time, and they were hardly ever under the age of thirty five.

In her new job, she had to deal with children.

Not that Lauren actually minded little kids when they were on their own. They reminded her of Chris from a few years ago, back before everything had gone wrong.

But when you get twenty of them in a small enclosed space, and added a bunch of toys into the mix... eurgh.

"No, honey, that toy is for girls. How about a Buzz Lightyear?"

Lauren looked around for the source of that complete bullshit. Her eyes fell on a young boy clutching an Elsa doll. His bottom lip was wobbling as his mother tried to pull the toy from his grasp.

"But I don't want Buzz Lightyear. Elsa is cool."

"Elsa is for girls. You're a boy, honey. So we could get you some cars, or an Iron Man..."

Lauren rolled her eyes, stepping out from behind the counter and approaching the lady.

"Uh, hi," she plastered on her best 'Disney-grin', "You know these toys have no gender. Your son can play with whatever he-"

"Don't tell me how to raise my kid," she snapped, before snatching the plastic Elsa away from the boy, who burst into tears. Lauren felt rage bubble up inside her, but she pushed it down. She couldn't yell at customer like she could in her old job. She was expected to be perpetually cheery.

Lauren would have doubted all that happiness was possible had she not known a certain ball of 24/7 sunshine. Who was probably still happy, what with how successful Colour Me Cute seemed to be doing and all. Not that Lauren was paying attention or anything.

Picturing Camila's goofy smiled helped Lauren to calm down, and she flashed the woman a smile.

"My apologies. If you want I could show you our Avengers toys..."

A few minutes later, when the woman swept out of the shop, leaving her gloomy son to carry a Captain America toy, Lauren leaned down and slipped an Elsa sticker into his hand.

"Sssh," she put a finger to her lips, "Don't tell your mom, okay?"
He grinned wide and nodded, before running off behind his mother.

Lauren smiled. Of course that sticker would come out of her pay check, but she was sure she could manage to spare two dollars if it made the kid so damn happy.

the lafon-brain: DUDE i have something important to tell you!

broody mc-grump pants: I'm at work.

the lafon-brain: well when do you get off? because you will NOT believe this!

Lauren hated malls. They reminded her of how tiny and insignificant they all were, and not in the good way. People running around, arguing over arbitrary items of clothing as if it would change the fact that they're all gonna die eventually.