THERE WERE MANY perks to having a free class period. One of them was the obvious — not having to sit in class for an hour — maybe more — cramming new information into an average brain. Alexander enjoyed that particularly because he got the opportunity to complete a few credits back in middle school. Currently, he's ahead in his credits, so ideally, he can sit back, relax, and enjoy his time in the school's media center.
But the thing was, he couldn't.
It wasn't because it was a grueling Tuesday morning or because he had to hurriedly catch up on class assignments. It wasn't because he couldn't sleep the night prior, either. It was because of yesterday, and all the shit that went down in it. It upset him more than ever for some odd reason. From his viewpoint, the drama between them was nothing more than unnecessary. Even more, he was baffled at how so much drama and tension can be created just by a party game. To Alexander, it was disturbing how things would've been so much different if someone else was picked to spin the bottle. It would be even better if they played some other shitty game.
Deep down, if Alexander had some kind of opportunity to dictate what happened at the party, he wouldn't even decide for Spin the Bottle to be played. Seven Minutes in Heaven would've been a better choice, considering that Inez and Alexander could just sit in silence surrounded by darkness and heat in such a small closet. But that wasn't the point. Alexander was just baffled at how things ended up the way it did.
He tried not to pay much mind to it, though. He sat at a small, rectangular table at the heart of the library with his earbuds jammed in and his textbooks open. Alexander attempted to ignore the situation by studying for upcoming exams and working on current homework assignments. But as his mind evolved, he realized that it really wasn't working. Not even the popular slow R&B music blasting from his earbuds were helping take his mind off of the situation. Nothing was, for that matter.
That's when Alexander realized that he couldn't run away from his problems. He couldn't hide from them, either.
That was just part of the cycle of life. Maybe he could run for a bit, but he certainly couldn't hide. Problems always have their way of haunting people, whether they like it or not. Alexander, in particular, didn't like it one bit.
To worsen his somewhat embarrassing situation, he could see Inez from a distance in front of a bookshelf, picking and choosing between the media center's wide selection of science information books. The girl pulled a narrow book from a nearly scarce shelf and skimmed through the pages. Then, she hugged the book in her arms before sauntering away from that specific section.
At this point, she was getting closer and closer to Alexander. Knowing her, she'd probably stop by to talk to him, which was the polar opposite of what he wanted. He'd rather not waste his precious free time, which was ticking against his will, so he foiled a spiral notebook out of his backpack, opened it, and placed it over his face as if he was reading it. This was to shield his face from the view of everyone else, including Inez, who was wandering her way to the circulation desk to check out her book.
A nervous sweat broke out on his forehead as he waited for Inez to pass. He'd for sure see her walk pass by the side of his eye since the notebook didn't cover his entire face. Alexander believed that it was nothing but a genius plan. That's what he hoped, at least.
But the thing was, Inez never passed by.
Instead, his ears tingled as he heard the light sound of a chair from across him slide against the carpeted ground. He lowered his notebook to take a peek just to make sure he wasn't hallucinating. Oddly, he wasn't. Inez Archer sat directly in front of him. His genius plan wasn't so genius anymore.
"Looks like you found my hiding place during this time of day," Alexander muttered as he set down his notebook on the wooden, tan table. He popped his earbuds out of his ears to correctly hear the girl out, despite wanting to run away from it all. "What brings you here, Inez?"
"I originally came here to check out a book for Physics since I have to write a whole paper on Newton's Laws. But I saw you here, and I've been needing to talk to you, so I'm sparing my time to do that now," Inez explained briefly as she gestured to her book
"My notebook wasn't a good enough barrier for you to not even notice me here?" Alexander said, an eyebrow cocked.
"Alexander, it literally has your name across the front and back cover in big letters. Chiseled permanent marker, too," Inez reasoned before the boy frowned at her statement. Her lips formed into a grimace before pointing to the boy's cozy black and blue hoodie. "Plus, I saw your sleeves — you've worn that hoodie a lot lately."
Alexander frowned again. "You sound like a stalker right now."
"No, I don't," Inez retorted defensively as her arms folded against her chest. "Anyway, that's not what I'm here for. I want to talk about yesterday . . ." The girl's voice trailed off. "I fucked up. When I was talking to you, I could've said something different. Something that wouldn't trigger this — whatever this is. So, I'm taking full accountability for it now."
"Well, I guess I should come clean as well," Alexander murmured as his head sank down. "Since it happened, I've just been ignoring what's really going on, so thanks for reaching out. It makes me feel better, but I'm sorry too," he continued. "I should've been more open to the conversation. Because I wasn't, it's why we are where we are now. I can't just let you take all of the accountability without taking some of it myself."
"Well, okay. It's good to hear your side of this," Inez acknowledged before picking up her book. She stood up from her chair before pushing it back under the table. "Look, I have to check this out to get back to class."
"Bye, then," Alexander muttered as he popped his earbuds back in. On his cell phone, he browsed through his Spotify playlist and played the remaining two seconds of his song. As it transitioned to the next, it played an advertisement. He let out an exaggerated groan as he flipped the page of his Economics textbook. Instead of taking his notebook to take notes, he rested his right elbow on the table to lean his head down.
What the fuck just happened; the boy questioned in his mind.
It was a simple question with a simple answer. Really, Inez and he resolved the feud they had from the day prior. But instead of feeling any better on the inside, Alexander felt numb. He didn't feel happy, mad, sad, or anything, for that matter. All he felt was emptiness. The same emptiness someone would feel if pizza was ordered, but by the time someone got to the box, there were no slices left. That's exactly how Alexander felt on the inside, but maybe a tad bit emptier than that.
Is there even an emotion for this? He questioned internally.
That's when he started thinking about how Inez checked out a Physics book for Newton's Laws of Motion. He wondered if there was a chance that the school library had the exact same copy of the book, but for emotions. His current situation was way too confusing for him to figure out all on his own. It was like he was having a brain fart, except this one lasted for a longer period of time.
To him, a book of Newton's Laws of Emotion sounded ideal at the moment.
Working at a local Dollar General wasn't always a pleasure, especially as a store clerk. Stocking up shelves with products was already tedious enough, but that wasn't the worst part. Assisting customers would usually somewhat be a pain in the ass to Alexander in one way or another.
Sometimes, it wouldn't be too much. Some customers just politely wanted Alexander to escort them to a specific section. Frankly, he appreciated customers like those who wouldn't give him a hard time, but not all customers are like that. Some customers have given the poor boy such a hard time to the point where he wanted to curse them out. But that would be completely harmful to his career, putting him at risk of getting.
All in all, it was a lose-lose situation.
It was always difficult to resist those urges. Unfortunately, those were the same urges Alexander was feeling at the moment.
All he was doing was minding his business while stocking up art supplies on a shelf before a white woman approached him. She had short strawberry blonde hair with numerous grey hairs, which was swept into a bob cut, a baby blue blouse with a light coat on top, and dark blue jeans. A bulky brown purse hung from one of her shoulders.
Alexander noticed that the woman had been there for several moments, so he cleared his throat. "Uh, ma'am, can I help you?"
"Yes, do you work here?" The woman questioned as she squinted her eyes. "You look a little young. Are you even old enough to work here?"
"Yes, ma'am, I'm old enough to work here. I've been here for a while," Alexander answered with calmness as he pointed to his black and yellow lanyard, which his job badge hung from. "Can I assist you?"
"Yes, you can. Do you have any sewing thread?" The woman asked as her eyes darted to the shelves.
The boy skimmed through all the art shelves, only to find that there was not a pack of thread to be found. He then looked through his crates, where the remainder of his supplies he hadn't stocked yet laid. After moments of digging, nothing turned up. "I'm sorry, we don't have any in stock," he apologized with a shrug. "There should be a shipment coming soon, maybe in a few days."
"Are you sure? Because you're literally stocking these shelves right now. There's ought to be some sewing thread somewhere in this store," the woman sneered. "Let me speak to your manager. I'm sure there's some in stock in the back or something."
"Ma'am, this is all the art supplies we have. None are in the back because I'm stocking them all right now," Alexander reasoned calmly, trying to keep his cool. It was the most valid explanation he could think of, considering he wanted to curse this lady out already.
Right at that moment, Fritz into the particular aisle with one eyebrow raised, his hands on his hips. "Hey, hey, what's all the commotion?"
The customer's head tilted. "And you are?"
"The manager of this store," Fritz filled in the blank. "Can I provide some assistance?"
"Your employee here — who looks way too young to work — keeps telling me that there's no sewing thread in stock. Is that true?" The woman questioned; her arms crossed against her hips.
"I haven't checked the back for art supplies, but I can assure you that all that my employee here is stocking right now is all we have. I'm sorry for the inconvenience," Fritz apologized with a light shrug.
"This is outrageous. Now I won't make it to bingo today because I don't have thread," the customer ranted before storming away.
As soon as she was gone, a huge weight was lifted from off his shoulders. He nodded at his boss as a "thank you" for handing the woman before he sauntered away. He hated dealing with customers like those who had no respect. First, the lady judged him by his age, then didn't even believe a word he said. Truth to be told, as a store clerk, he'd have to deal with a lot of other customers who acted the exact same way — if not worse — than this specific customer. It was tiring to imagine, but luckily, this didn't happen on a daily basis.
To lighten up his mood, a familiar, friendly voice perked his ears from behind him. It was Jayden, who had an awfully bad habit of visiting Alexander during work to sneak some time to chat.
"Jayden, how many times do I have to tell you not to make these unexpected visits during work? What if my boss catches us?" Alexander said, his lips forming into a grimace. "He's literally making rounds throughout the store right now."
"I'm willing to take risks, doofus," Jayden shrugged. "Are you stocking these shelves?"
"Yeah, but now, it's just giving me bad flashbacks," Alexander informed as he placed a small bottle of paint on a shelf. "I just finished dealing with an angry customer who seems to always have her way around things. She was acting like a bitch the whole time, I'm not gonna lie."
"Sounds like a Karen," Jayden chuckled. "I've seen so many of them on social media, but never right in front of me. It must've been quite an experience, huh?"
"Definitely. Consider yourself lucky because they're so fucking annoying," Alexander laughed with a playful eyeroll.
It was crazy how emotions could drive someone to be so utterly rude and disrespectful. It caused to think back at what happened earlier that day when he thought about a book of Newton's Laws, but with emotions. Based on everything he's experienced that day, he'd certainly need a copy.
a/n: hi loves! just like Alexander, i'ma need me a book of Newton's Laws of Emotion because i can never understand feelings. but all jokes aside, it looks like Alex is a little confused about the whole Inez situation. personally, if i were him, i would be too. it sounds really complicated like rocket science rn 😬
like usual, thanks for reading 💗