You ignored the whispering of customers as you steadily stocked one of the shelves in Merrin's Bookstore.
Merrin, an older, hunchbacked lady serpent monster, had a certain attachment to books, and had decided to open her dream bookstore. She had passed away, unfortunately, leaving the bookstore in her granddaughters care.
That granddaughter would be Everlee.
Everlee was a Emerald Tree Boa headed girl with a strong like for money, and an even stronger dislike for books.
It didn't matter. She was the one paying you, anyway.
So instead of complaining about the lack of employee benefits, or weak elevators, or horrible electricity, you decided to focus on the good things, like your weekly paycheck and no background checks.
Not that you had anything to hide.
Your eyes drifted from book to book as you carefully ran your fingertips over their spines. Your coworker, who was a scrawny spider boy, stood at the counter and eyed your movements.
You caught his eyes lingering, but instead of making a fuss, you simply waved at him and pushed your book cart to the next isle. You lifted a thick paperback book and smiled.
Even though your tiny shop was far from a Barnes and Noble on a comparison chart, you still had a nice lounge area and very nice books. Your eyes drifted to an elderly couple sitting in one of the leather chairs.
How cute!
Your 19 year old mind loved the idea of having someone to spend the rest of your life with, and every couple you saw made you even more excited for your future spouse to show up.
If you had to admit, you were a very big 'love enthusiast'.
A shadow swept up beside you and grabbed one of the books from the cart. You gasped and covered your mouth at the realization of it being your harmless coworker.
"Don't do that, Jasper." You sighed out.
Jasper was a freakishly tall, skinny, 6 armed 20 year old with bleach blond hair and black eyes. His skin was a dark inky color, and light brown freckles dotted his arms and face. He grinned at you, showing off his monstrously sharp teeth.
"Sorry, (Y/N)." He shifted his weight between his feet nervously, waiting for your scolding to begin.
You didn't scold him, though; you never did. Instead, you always accepted his apology and moved on with the day. He was very insecure already, and you feared that any negativity thrown at him would absolutely shatter him.
"It's alright, Jas. Is there anyone else at the front?" You hummed, gently taking the book from his hand and putting it on the shelf. He shook his head no.
"There's a group of girls that constantly look in, though. I-I think they want to come in."
You smiled. "I hope they do. This place is full of cobwebs and old people."
Jasper stifled a giggle at your remark and, turning away from the elderly couple behind you, began helping you to stock the shelves.
You chuckled at his quick movements. "You have all those hands and now you want to help? I could've been done ages ago!"
He frowned and shrunk back. Then, as if realizing your joke, brought a smile to his face.
"Sorry, again. I say sorry a lot.."
"It's okay. No need to apologize."
"...I'm sorry."
You giggled at him and playfully slapped his arm. "Come on, as soon as these people leave we can go take a break!"
🧡🧡🧡Howleen P.O.V🧡🧡🧡
I frowned at Twyla as she peered into the bookstore. My foot tapped impatiently on the sidewalk, urging her to hurry up.
"Look, we can go in there tomorrow! I wanna go home." I complained.
She giggled. "No, look inside! It's so cute!"
I scrunched up my nose. We have VERY different ideas of 'cute', then.
"It is not." I whined. "It's an old, rotting shack filled with mites and printed paper. Now come on!"
I linked my arm with hers and pulled her away. She cried out and made a grab for the handle of the door, but I had already pulled her too far from it for her to touch the handle.
She gave me a deep frown and released herself from my grip. "You're so rude." She whined.
"I'm not rude. You were just taking forever!"
"Was not!"
"Was too!"
She crossed her arms and stepped into an alleyway. I groaned. "Don't go disappearing on me, now!"
"I am! I'm gonna disappear until you apologize!"
Her voice echoed from all corners of the alley, not giving me a chance to find her. It were as if she had become the shadow instead of moving in it. I frowned and crossed my arms before leaning against the walls corner.
"Are you done with your tantrum?" I asked.
"You're the one with a tantrum!"
I scoffed and looked to the side. An elderly couple shuffled past me, not sparing me a glance. I heard muffled complaining about wolves, indicating that they were vampires.
"Fucking blood-suckers." I coughed out.
They shuffled faster.
"Stop harassing people!" Twyla's voice came again.
"I'm not harassing them! They were talking shit first!"
I pressed my back deeper into the corner of the wall. The pain of it eased my aggression, and I slowly lessened my force. A sweet giggle came from behind me, and I turned my head in time to watch a spider manster and a human girl walk out from the bookshop. She locked the door quickly, brushed her (H/C) hair from her face, and walked beside the spider manster.
Her giggles brought a blush to my cheeks, but I ignored the blood flow and flipped my hood on.
"C'mon, Twyla. Let's go."
She appeared from a shadow and walked beside me.
"What's wrong?" She asked.
"Nothing." I hummed, and I led her from the alleyway.