"So what do you think you'll do?" Mesha asks me, flipping through the magazine stand by the counter.
"This." I motion out to the liquor store floor. It's been a couple days since I got rejected for the escort job at that strip club. At first I was really upset that Seven thought I wasn't pretty enough to work for him, but then I was more upset that I really had no back up plan to make the money I needed for classes. I had been so confident in getting a job like Mesha's that I hadn't thought of a plan B and had gotten use to not feeling that overwhelming helpless feeling that made my stomach sick. And now it was back. I had to get use to the idea that my university education was over all over again.
"Ugh, you're wasted in a place like this." Mesha complains.
"You're not the first to say that." I laugh.
"And that uniform." Mesha eyes the green apron in disgust.
"At least it pays my rent so I'm not homeless." I try look on the brighter side of things and make my way from round the counter to start stacking beer crates.
"Have you heard anything back from any of the other jobs you've applied for?" She asks following me across the shop floor.
Mesh has been stopping by every now and then while I'm at work. She stops by before she goes to her own job, or should I say before she goes out for a dinner date and makes more than what I make in a week in one hour. The envy is real, but Mesha has been very apologetic about the whole meeting situation. I think she feels responsible for getting my hopes up but it's my own fault for thinking I could do it.
"Haven't heard back from any of them." I whine and begin to start unloading the beer crates from the trolly and stack them neatly on the floor.
"I'm sure something will pop up soon." Mesha offers some hope.
"I'll probably be stuck here till you become my sugar mumma." I joke and Mesh cackles.
"Oh I like the idea of being a sugar mumma." She smiles. She looks stunning, more so then usual on the nights she works. Half of her dark hair is styled up high at the top of her head and left to flow down her back. She's dressed in a camo green leather jumpsuit and I just know it's expensive. She looks expensive.
"Just let me know whenever you need the company babe." I joke winking at her and she giggles again.
"Speaking of, I better get a move on. There's a Zimmer frame waiting at a bar for me." She jokes back and I chuckle.
"Alright. I'll see you tomorrow yeah?" I ask her.
"Yeah I'll swing by yours and we can head to lunch. My treat." Mesha says giving me a hug goodbye.
"Ooh she feeds me too. Maybe you're already my sugar mumma." I hug her back. She rolls her eyes playfully.
"Be safe." I tell her as she pulls away and walks towards the door.
"Always am." Mesha smiles before leaving the store. The bell rings from the door opening and closing behind her.
I continue to stack the beer crates, it's kind of physical work but I manage to empty the trolly in twenty minutes. Stacking a tidy pile of seventy beer crates.
It's almost ten o'clock so Jeremy will be on his way soon to take over my shift. I make my way round to the back, adjusting some of the display shelves when the door bell rings signalling a customers entrance. I keep fixing the shelves quickly before turning to head to the counter. I spin around a little too fast and slam right into the customer walking past behind me.
"I—gosh, I'm so sorry!" I gush, stepping back and tuck my hair behind my ears. Looking at the curly haired man in front of me and my stomach drops, recognising him immediately.
Although his green eyes are hidden behind black sunglasses I still know his handsome face. Meeting him once in a dark club was enough to have it burned into my memory.
"Lilianna?" He questions, clearly surprised to see me. I'm just as surprised that he remembered my name. Why is my heart beginning to thud? I can feel the pink wash my cheeks as my blood starts to rush.
"Hi." I run my hands over my apron, trying to rid the moisture beginning to form on my palms just from looking at him for a few seconds.
I watch Seven's head flick down as his eyes wander my body behind his dark glasses.
"You work here?" He asks looking at my ugly green apron.
"Obviously." I reply a little bluntly. My arms jut out from my sides to emphasise my words before they fall back against my body.
It may be the fact that I'm not in his club being judged on my looks for a job, that's allowing me to be a little more confident in conversing with him. He's in my territory now so I don't have to be so polite and he doesn't seem as intimidating under the bright lights of the liquor store.
He's wearing a white dress shirt again that I can see his many tattoos under, black tight jeans and a black suit jacket. I can't deny it, even with the sun glasses he looks incredibly attractive. But he's a rude prick who made me turn around in a circle for him to ogle at me only to reject me and how I look.
He looks a little taken aback by my rude answer. His pink lips pulling to the side slightly in a small smirk. I never noticed the small freckles by his mouth when I first saw him in the club. It must have been too dark to pick them up but they stand out now and I can't help but admire them. They make him look kind of cute in a boyish childlike way.
I snap my eyes away from his mouth when I realise I'm staring. And his smirk grows a little more till a dimple on his cheek forms. God, does he really have to be so attractive? If only his personality didn't let him down.
"Glad to see you got a job." He remarks.
"Mmm. They don't discriminate on looks here. Lucky for me." I quip back and step around him to make my way to the counter. I hear his boots against the floor walking behind me as he follows.
"You think you didn't get the job cause of your looks?" Seven asks as he follows me.
"Am I wrong?" I turn to look at him over my shoulder.
"Very." He looks down at my bum as I walk and I snap my head forward as my heart races yet again.
Is he seriously checking me out? Does this guy have no shame? Also did he just say my looks weren't the reason I didn't get the job with him?
"So what was it then? Did I fail your little questionnaire?" I prod, making my way around to the till as he comes to stand at the counter.
"You're a lot more chatty than you were at the club." He states, sliding his glasses up to rest in his hair. Those brilliant green eyes regard me, they're even more bright under the lights in here it's like they're almost fluorescent.
"I was nervous." I admit with a shrug.
"Of me?" He questions, eyes looking between my own trying to search them for his own answers.
"Of the whole experience." I clarify. I won't give him the satisfaction and admit that he made me very nervous indeed. That he still does.
"That's why you didn't get the job." Seven reveals.
"You were too timid, didn't think you'd be able to handle yourself with clients." He continues.
"Mmm well..." I can't deny it's nice to know it wasn't my looks that didn't get me the job and was simply because I seemed so fucking nervous when I was.
"Are you going to buy anything or were you stalking me?" I change the subject in an attempt to get him to leave. There's something about him that puts me on edge and I can't deal with my heart thudding like it is from his presence.
"Trust me, I didn't know you worked here." He assures me.
"I wouldn't. Trust you that is." I say folding my arms and his little smirk appears again. Seven reaches up to pluck his bottom lip between his thumb and index finger. Tugging on it gently as he looks at me boldly. My stomach swims with butterflies at the motion and the way his eyes watch over my face. I can't tell the look behind his eye but if I could guess he seems slightly amused.
"You're not what I thought, are you Lilianna?" He questions me like I would know his mind and how he judged me. He always uses my birth name when everyone else just calls me Lily. Only my grandmother called me Lilianna.
"It's Lily." I correct him.
"And like I said, are you actually going to buy anything?" I repeat staring blankly at him. If only he knew how hard my heart is beating against my chest right now. My palms are proper slick with nerves and I wipe them against the apron once again.
Why do I feel so flustered on the inside? I'm thankful the outside me is keeping shit together right now.
"Uh yeah." He pauses looking at me but I can't figure out the odd expression on his face. He steps to the side and grabs a bottle of whiskey and then moves to another shelf to grab something else. Before returning to the counter and placing his items for me to scan.
A bottle of whiskey and a packet of condoms. Classy. He watches me scan the whiskey first and then the condoms. I turn the box over in my hand.
"Extra large. Good for you." I remark before pushing the items over the bench towards him. His mouth opens slightly at my comment, like he wants to say something but just doesn't know what, before he closes it again.
"That'll be thirty eight dollars." I tell him. And he places a fifty dollar note on the counter.
"Keep the change." He says grabbing his items.
"Gee, thanks." I sarcastically reply and he stops moving to look at me again and it seems like he wants to say something but decides against it and instead just shakes his head before leaving the store, ringing the bell as he leaves.
When he's gone I let out a heavy breath. Why do I feel like I hadn't been breathing properly while he was in here. I hold my sweaty palms against the counter and lean on them feeling the weird static energy buzzing through me from my interaction with him. I can't believe I was so rude to him. The thought makes me chuckle to myself. I got to be just as rude to him and he was to me in his club a few days ago and that just about makes up for feeling so shitty about the whole situation.
"Good for you." I repeat and snicker again.
"Oh my god." I sigh to myself with a big grin I can't wipe off my face and lift off the counter.
I can't wait to tell Mesha about this. When the bell rings again I look up to see Seven returned back to the store, his arms now empty. Stalking right up to the counter and I swallow the nervous lump in my throat.
"Get the wrong size in the end?" My mouth blurts out and he shakes his head.
"No actually, they'll fit just nicely." He answers.
"Come by the club again this weekend. I'll have a job there for you to start if you're still interested." He says sharply.
"Really?" I'm honestly shocked.
"Yeah. So you'll come by Saturday?" He asks.
"Y-Yeah. What time?" I stutter. Holy heck I was not expecting this.
"Eight. Don't be late." He warns me.
"I won't." I promise him.
Seven's eyes regard me again for a second longer than considered normal. Sliding his glasses back down on his face. Before he nods and leaves the store again. I watch out the window as he leaves, getting into a big black car parked outside.
Holy shit, I think to myself.
"Holy shit." I breathe out loud. Did that just happen? Did he really just say he has a job for me all because I was rude to him?!
Oh my god. A shock delayed smile begins to creep over my lips and I let out a little excited squeal. Oh my god!
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