A/N: Hey, guys! I finished my nano on June 10th! Yes, wrote 50K words in ten days. LET'S HEAR SOME NOISE (in amazing comments and votes, ooooooh)!
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{ Chapter Five: They Were a Far Call From Trouble }
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JANICE DECIDES TO USE THE PAY-PHONE ON THE SECOND FLOOR once she walks out of the store she's now an employee of. It didn't seem like she had much of an alternative when James ended up giving her his number on a slip of paper (strictly work related, of course), and she got outside only to realize there wasn't a lick of battery juice left in her phone.
"Stupid Nokia," she sighs to herself, catching the nearest escalator. "I bet the reasons dinosaurs became extinct was because some random person dropped the first ever Nokia on their civilization or something."
She's fingering the extra change in the pocket of her sweater, stroking the roundness of the coins absentmindedly as she contemplates over everything that's happened.
She'd gotten a job.
At a lingerie store.
Her mind just hurt thinking about all of it. She cringes once she envisages her brothers hearing about it. Would they be outraged? Protective? Ready to get a kidney transplant from laughing too hard? So many questions, so little answers. Sighing for about the millionth time that day, she finds herself on the second floor of the place, waiting in line behind a couple people to get the phone.
Once it get's to her, she pushes in a couple quarters and dials her brother. It rings for a couple seconds before she hears his voice ring through the phone. "Hello?"
"Hey, Karlo, it's Janice. I was wondering if you could pick me up around now?"
"Janice? Your caller ID didn't appear on my ph--" there was a pregnant pause as Janice hangs her head. "You're calling from a pay-phone, aren't you?"
"Are you going to pick me up or not?"
"You are!" his laugh almost makes her hang up on him. She would've if she wasn't so dependent on his transportation. "Oh, my god, this is gold. Why doesn't dad let you get a new phone, anyways?"
"The day I get through a month without one detention he said he would," she said, "so in other words, possibly until I pay for it myself, never."
"Sweet. Wait, did you get a job?"
"I did."
"Really? Didn't think you could've pulled that off!" then he asks the dreaded, "where is it?"
"A shop," Janice deadpans. "Listen, there aren't enough minutes on this thing, can you come pick me up now?"
"Tell me where you're working, than maybe."
"A clothing store, you won't know it," Janice doesn't think a little white lie would hurt him for now. Even if his disbelief would. "I know, out of character, blah, blah, blah. Are you coming or not? This is the twentieth time I've asked."
"Fourth, actually." Janice let's her shoulder droop from his smart-aleck comments. "And, yeah, meet me at the--"
"Wait, where? Karlo. Hello? Hello?"
"If you would like to continue this phone call, please give--"
With a growl, Janice slams the phone on it's header. Even pay-phones found pleasure in hanging up on her.
There were seven entrances inside the mall, and she'd been to every single one, on every single level, and every single crap she gave was slowly flying out of her every single miss. (For those who're mathematically challenged, just so you know, it's seven misses).
Janice was just really hoping that her brother felt patient today, since she was running around like a chicken with its head cut off, looking from exit to exit. Finally, she saw a familiar blue civic gradually driving into the busy parking space, and she ran in an awkward type of jog (where you're trying not to look in too much of a hurry but you goddamn need to) to the car.
The driver's door opened just as Janice begins with an, "Oh, my god, finall--" Janice cuts herself off when she realizes that the driver in front of her isn't her brother, even though the car's are identical.
The driver just so happens to be James.
Janice internally groans, as if her good luck for the day had been spited in some form. It is humiliating enough when she's accidentally been giving sarcastic replies to everything he said, a habit of where she acted before she thought and which resulted in her biting her tongue until she felt a sliver of blood, the tangy taste still not enough for the maelstrom of thoughts blurting through closed lips.
"Janice, right?" he asks her, and it hits her that she's standing right in front of his car still. "Hey, anything wrong?"
Instead, she finds her nervousness turning to a distant air of offhand comments. It was kind of like her mask; the face to hide her real vulnerability. "I feel like every time we end up holding a conversation I'm saying sorry for something."
James closes the door to his car and steps out, and Janice is still struck by how tall this guy is. How a giraffe fit into this small car, she'll never understand. He waves a hand, as if to dismiss the notion of her apology. "You're forgiven. It's fine. But did you need anything?"
She shakes her head, somehow still making herself not dislocate her jaw because of how Abercrombie delicious this guy is. "It's my fault; your car looks like my brother's and I've been looking for him. He was supposed to pick me up around," she checks the watch on her wrist, since punctuality is kind of her admiration, "fifteen minutes ago. I guess I got the wrong address."
"Why don't you call him?" James suggests, and Janice lets the ghost of a smile show before it disappears.
"My phone's dead and I've called him again using the pay-phone, but he's been busy. Don't know how, since his friend circle's usually got a life, unlike him. Now I don't have any quarters left to use."
"Ah," James said. "I could give you a lift, if you want?"
Janice instantly declines, though her heart's screaming at her 'brother? we had a brother? I don't see him! accept request!' and while she'd love to follow her heart, her mind's taking the logical route for once. Took her 17 years and a couple months, but it's happening. "Thanks, but I'd hate if he came and ended up waiting on me."
James nods, and he can't help but cross his arms against his torso, a little disappointed. What did you think was going to happen? he asked himself sarcastically. Her to jump you in gratitude? Okay, so maybe his fantasy kind of involved something along those lines, but reality always seemed to be a dream killer. "Do you want me to help you find him?"
"As nice as that would be, I really don't want to bother you," Janice said.
James nods, even though his disappointment seemed to grow. "Cool. Tell me how it goes, then. My shifts over, so if you need to call me, get two quarters ready." His eyes sparkle with amusement, but Janice's sparkle with an idea.
"Actually," Janice said slowly. "There's one way you can help."
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JAMES HAS AN ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL PHONE, is the first thought that goes through Janice's mind as she holds the aforementioned mobile, which she'd asked if she could borrow. She restrains herself from caressing the gorgeous smoothness of the screen, and punching into the keypad Karlo's number. As the phone began ringing, she brought it to her ear, almost moaning over how clear the audio was, opposed to her own phone's scratchy quality.
"Your phone is literally going to send me to heaven," she told James as the ringing continued.
James shrugs, a smug grin etched onto his mouth. "I'd say it's alright, but I have a feeling you'd defend it by physically throwing me into the trunk of my car."
"Something tells me you need to listen to your instincts," Janice said.
James doesn't stop smiling, opening his mouth to speak before he see's that whomever she was calling had picked up.
"Karlo! Do you know how many times I've tried calling you? No, this isn't a pay-phone, I don't have any quarters left, thanks to you."
Pause, and a rolling of eyes. "I did not mug someone! Thanks for the confidence, my dear brother."
Another pause. "James is my manager, he offered me the phone once he noticed your particular absence. No!" Janice's blushes and James can't help but notice the rosiness her cheeks do once it spreads across. "Dude, seriously, though, where are you? I'm at entrance 7."
A longer pause. Janice's voice gets flat this time, and James feels his smile slip away once he hears it. "So you can't pick me up? Thanks for the information. Yeah, you win brother of the year." James notices that she gives him a look, but she quickly turns her gaze to the ground. "No, there isn't anyone else. See you."
With a huff, Janice hangs up on him, bubbling with anger. Karlo has just gotten a last minute appointment to help out the car job their dad had offered him at his dealership (she didn't want the job because working with both her father and brother at home was enough).
Great, now I have to wait another three hours before he's free, she clenches her fists and eyes shut.
"Everything okay?"
Janice snaps her eyes open. She'd forgotten about James, and his curious look made her feel out of place. "Yeah, just my brother's going to be a little late coming here."
"How late?" he questions.
She winces, "three hours, minimum."
James frowns, something Janice hadn't seen before and wishes she could remove. She hated when people worried over or were distraught because of her. "What does he expect you do the next three hours, then?"
Janice looked up at James. She mustered the most genuine voice she could and said, "I don't know."
"I do."
She looks at him again, but this time with a look of surprise. "What?"
"Get in the car," he was already getting in. "We're driving you home."
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MAYBE IT WAS THE STUNNED SUGGESTION OR MAYBE THE DETERMINATION in James's voice that made her get to the side of the car where the passenger seat was, and maybe it was because the idea that she was about to get in her manager's car because he wanted her to get home, it made her actions were mechanical and robotic as she stood beside the car, still hesitant.
James caught her quiet disposition and almost kicked himself. "Hey, Janice. If you don't want to come, it's up to you. I didn't mean to sound like you had no choice."
His perturbed manner was so courteous and polite, that Janice laughed, the severity of the situation finally hitting her. "I was actually going to tell you that." At his confused look, she continued. "I don't want you to feel obligated that you need to drive me home just because I'm your employee. Plus, as kind as your actions are, I don't know you and you don't know me well enough for me to just randomly get in your car. I hope you understand."
James would've gaped if he wasn't feeling the disappointment he felt earlier. Thankfully, it was crushed by a sense of pride he felt, especially once he realized how he must've came off to her. "I understand your point. Kind of proud that I hired you after all."
Janice feels lighter with her decision. As much as she'd love to get in (not get it on, where the choice of words make a difference here) with this hot God, she didn't want to be that air-head which goes missing after a day. So she nods her head and realizes that these three hours were going to be kind of boring without James to keep her company.
"So, I'll be going then," she said, pushing herself from the window. "It was really nice of everything, and thank you so much for the offer and job, James."
But since James was an enigma that Janice had so many intentions of figuring out, he got out, and from the less than reproachful look thrown his way from Janice, he raises an eyebrow. "What?"
"You don't have to wait on me," she said to him. "I'll just spend my time in the bookstore, anyways, so it's fine if you want to go. I really don't want to be a burden."
James's quick to shake his head, thinking, why do I feel like a clingy chick from Gossip Girl? He steps around his car, but still facing the entrance rather than Janice's profile. "Trust me, what type of boss would I be if I left my employee's bored and bothered?"
"A normal one?" Janice guessed, but there's a crooked grin she can't stop from forming, before she shakes her head, her strawberry hair cluttering around her ears and probably still full of knots form the day before, but she can't help but not care. "Well, dude, what are you waiting for? You're buying me lunch."
"Wait, why me?"
"Why not?" she counters, already strolling ahead of him. "Why are you standing around? That ice cream sundae isn't going to buy itself."
James sighs, as if there was no way out of the circumstances including his wallet, before jogging to follow Janice, who hadn't stopped her stride until she was standing by the doors. She even held the door open, and James raised an eyebrow, smirked and walked through. "Thanks, m'lady."
"Whatever gets me to the ice cream faster."
They both had a feeling those three hours might not be so bad.
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