For the next several days, Elian frequented the pharmacy. Each time, he only wanted one or two items.
The first day, Elian entered, giving me heart palpitations and sweaty palms. My face felt too hot, reminding of the first time I tried vodka. It felt like the beginnings of a heat stroke. My cheeks must have been cherry red. One annoying thing about being paler than milk was that my skin became flushed with only the slightest bit of provocation. I could never hide my crushes. Thankfully, I lived in a desert so I could often blame being overheated.
"Hey, Steven."
"Hi."
He walked up to the counter, drumming his fingers on the faux-wood laminate. "Bandaids?"
"Aisle one."
He turned and looked at the aisles, all clearly marked with huge numbers. There were even small signs on each that listed the most popular items. He looked back at me with puckered lips. "Can you show me?"
I bit my lip and nodded.
He folded his arms behind his back, standing by until I rounded the counter, leading the way.
"So, what do you do for fun around here?" Elian asked.
"Not much," I mumbled, scanning the shelves, although I knew exactly where everything was, since I put it there. Somehow, my only other coworker—besides Mr. Meeks—always found an excuse to be unavailable on the days we were due for new shipments. I didn't mind it, to be honest. Our low customer volume dragged minutes into hours some days. Doing inventory helped me ignore the monotony, making the time pass faster.
"Come on, Steven." He tapped the back of his hand against my chest. "There's nothing you like doing?" He sounded skeptical.
"Um, I, uh—" I paused, my eyes going unfocused on the first aid kits as I rummaged through my mind to remember what I enjoyed doing. I blinked a few times to refocus my sight. I looked at him with such sharp clarity. He had such long eyelashes and a cute freckle on his chin. It threw me off for a second. He was so close. And so attractive.
Something finally hit my mind. "The desert."
"What about it?" he asked.
"I go there."
"Why?"
"The stars." I gulped, trying to regain my composure. "If you go out far enough, where there's no light, it's like you can see the whole universe."
"Sounds beautiful." His hazel eyes peered right into mine, hypnotizing me.
I nodded.
"Maybe you could take me sometime. I'd love to see that."
I nodded again, apparently having lost the ability to form words.
He grinned, stepping much closer. I could smell him, his sweet woody cologne with a hint of fresh sweat. I almost had a heart attack when he leaned toward me. Was he going to kiss me?
Of course not, stupid. I really hated my inexperience. I could handle myself pretty well in every other area of my life, but with this, I was utterly incompetent.
Elian leaned past me, his chest brushing against mine as he grabbed something off the shelf. He backed away from me and held up the box of bandaids. "Thanks."
I nodded. My mouth had gone bone dry, all my saliva evaporated. I was glad he didn't try to kiss me. A dry mouth didn't seem like the ideal situation for a first kiss.
He remained silent as we headed back to the register. When I handed him his bag, he said, "Bye, Steven."
Having regained enough composure to speak, I simply said, "Bye."
"I was right by the way," he said, headed for the door.
"About what?"
"Silver looks good on you."
I glanced down at my nails, which I'd repainted silver. Partly because I got bored, but mostly because of what he said. I felt the heat growing in my cheeks.
Thankfully, he left before my blushing got out of control.
The second day, he came in seeking shampoo. Again, he asked for help to find it.
"You don't have the kind I use," he said, mildly disappointed.
He went around picking up each bottle, sniffing each in turn, making a range of faces to indicate his pleasure or distaste at the scent. He looked at me. "What kind do you use?"
I shrugged. "I don't know. It's something in a blue bottle. My mom buys it."
"Does it make your hair soft?"
"Um." I pulled a lock of hair through my fingers to study the feel. I'd never given much thought to the functionality of my shampoo. I just grabbed whatever was at hand. "I-I don't know. I guess."
"Do you mind if I feel it?"
My heart nearly burst out of my chest at the thought of him touching me. "You wanna feel my hair?"
This had to be a dream. Maybe I'd nodded off due to sheer boredom. It had happened before. I slumped over on the checkout counter and fell hard and fast asleep for half an hour once, only waking when the doorbell chimed. Anyone could have come in and stolen anything. I'd have been none the wiser.
"The thing is, I like having soft hair," Elian explained. "I'd prefer to know if it works before I buy it."
"Oh-kay?" I leaned forward a few inches.
I expected him to do as I had and test a single lock, but he was much more thorough, brushing his hand over my hair, his fingers running all through it.
Oh my God!
I wanted to faint. My eyes drifted shut. I breathed slowly, deeply, enjoying the feel of his fingers twisting through my hair.
Then he did it again on the other side. "Nice," he said, making my eyes pop open. "You have fantastic hair, Steven."
"Thanks." Heat filled my face. That was becoming a regular occurrence around him.
He started fussing with my hair, pushing my bangs to the side. "You should consider wearing your hair like this more. It shows off your face better. And it's a very good face."
A smile stretched across my face so big it made my cheeks sore.
After he left, I went over to the sunglasses kiosk to look in the mirror. I hadn't worn my hair pushed back like that since about the fifth grade. As a stupid form of rebellion, I started wearing it haphazardly hanging over my forehead. I never really grew out of that. Maybe it was time for a change.
The third day, he returned with a request for batteries. "It seems like every remote in the whole damn house was just hanging on by a thread before I got here. Now they're all as dead as Gramps."
He said that so offhandedly. He could've been talking about a stranger he'd heard about in the news. He really had no connection with his grandpa whatsoever. I could kind of relate. I'd never known my dad's parents, though death was not the reason. Much like him, they'd been absent since my birth by choice. I had no emotional ties to them. They were abstract ideas, not actual people. They could all be dead for all I knew, or cared.
On the opposite end, I'd been very close to my mom's dad, until he got into a car accident when I was nine. His death devastated me. I cried for days.
I didn't bother waiting for Elian to ask me to show him the way this time. I walked out to join him, meandering at his side, letting my shoulder brush against his. "You know you could buy more than one item when you come in, right?"
"Do you work on commission or something?" he asked with a small chuckle. "If that's the case, I totally will." He nudged my arm.
"No." I shook my head. "It's just you wouldn't have to make so many trips."
He walked ahead of me and flipped around to walk backwards so we were face to face. "But then I wouldn't get to see you every day." He moved his hands up and down, miming weighing the choice on a scale, grinning at me. "My way is better."
I was too flustered to talk much after that. Once I found his batteries, he left.
I didn't have work the next day, so I didn't see him. But when I returned he came in, looking crestfallen, his eyes staring at the ugly blue and white checkerboard floor tiles, hands stuffed in his pockets.
His expression shifted when he looked up and met my eyes, seeming pleased to see me. "You're back!"
"Yep."
"You weren't here yesterday."
"I don't work on Fridays."
"Yeah," he said, crossing his arms. "That's what the kid who was wearing your name tag told me; after I finally got him to drop the act that he was you."
I shook my head and grunted. "I told him to stop that. He does it so he can be rude to customers and get them to blame it on 'Steven.'" I raised my hands to put air quotes around my name.
Elian laughed. "That's actually kinda genius."
"It's annoying as hell. But my boss has caught on. Though he never says anything to Carl about it."
I inhaled deep, releasing my irritation as I breathed out. "So, what'll it be today, sir?"
He shook his head. "I got nothing. Just wanted to say hi."
"Well, hi." I said.
He smiled, showing off his perfect teeth. "Hi."