Boss & Associate are Gay and Will Definitely be Lemony

A Confession

I was a little nervous to talk to Marcus at first. Prior nights I would fantasize about him and me and me and him and I would get all worked up, and text him with adreniline coursing through me. 3am texts are not what we want.
I'll say something stupid or start random conversation, then IMMEDIATELY wish I could bring it back. Untext it. Throw my phone into the pits of oblivion. Scream. Cry. Then he texts back... Like it's normal? To be texting anyone, let alone your boss, at 3am?
So even if it goes fine, I notice he talks to me less and less often at work. I freak out, get all worked up, think about me and him and him and me and then text. And he texts back. And I cry and say how sorry I am and say all this shit about how he's talking less at work, like he has some obligation to talk to me.
He wasn't mad or anything. But coming into work, with just him and me, well it was scary.

While I was clocking in he made some conversation. Stood next to me and just talked. It was refreshing. The feeling you get when you drink fresh, ice cold water, right after waking up from a fever dream.
He carried a box of shippment out for me to do, which was nice. We didn't get a lot of customers, but when we did he kind of just ignored them. He would welcome them breifly, ask what they were looking for, then quickly walk back to me and just talk.
He was supposed to be doing paperwork, but I know he didn't get any done.
I got done with putting out shippment pretty quickly. There were no customers. There wasn't anything to do.
We just kept talking. I would slowly walk around the store refolding t-shirts, and he would follow continuing our conversation on the MLP fandom.
He would have to do whatever he does and I would follow telling him about my passions and the little things I love.
As time passed we got a lot more customers in. And since it was just me and him, we kinda had to work.
I was sad to go on seperate paths but that's just how life is.
I walked around the store, reprganizzing loose shirts and hanging up angsty jeans. He helped some Karen do a return and rung up some teens.
Occassionally we'd pass by and he'd say under his breath, "uhgg... customers" and have a chuckle. I made it my goal to pass him as many times as I could in that hour.
First it was little times like taking a weird route around the jewelry to get to the shirts, then I picked up the pace by lingering around the counter when I'm not busy.
I couldn't really see Marc's facial expression. Like ever. He wore sunglasses everywhere and masks don't help. But I felt like if I could see his face he'd be smiling at me. He had that warmth to him.
Mary came in for a couple minutes to switch out money from the register. she taught us kinda how to pack online orders and then left. The store was soon empty again.
I leaned against the wall while Marcus packed some backpack someone ordered. He struggled with the packing tape as we stood in silence, in eachother's presence. I helped him a couple times with the tape dispenser before carrying the box to the opposite end of the store.
"Heyyy Pat," he said, a little nervously.
Oh god what did I do wrong haha. "What's up?" He stood in silence for a bit, stuttering the usual 'oh, well, uh, uh' when a person is flustered.
I blushed a whole lot, thankful my mask covered my face. I walked closer, "I just, uh, wanted to tell you that-"
A customer walks in and quickly paces near him, "Welcome to Hot Topic!" he says, glancing at me and motioning an awkwardness shrug towards me.
"Hey, I need help finding this anime thing for my daughter, I've looked everywhere and I just can't seem to find it-"
She talks on and on and he reluctantly follows. "I'll tell you later, okay!" he jogs off to catch up with her.
Although I was a bit disappointed, I was chucking about the situation. Such bad timing. Especially since my shift was near over. Maybe he knew that. I like to think that he wanted to tell me something like how he's secretly liked me this whole time or something- and out of fear that it would've made things awkward he purposefully planned to tell me at the end of my shift.
But as I was leaving he stepped away from the customer and said, "Hey, have a good day Patrick. Thanks so much for your help today," And then I was gone. On my way back to my mom's car somewhere in the mall parking lot.
I couldn't help but to think if that was what he wanted to say. He just wanted to thank me for all my hard work. Which was weird considering we weren't doing jack shit until the last half hour of my shift.