I am greeted by Roxy as I enter the lingerie section of Myer.
“Morning Harmony.” She beams leading me towards the employee’s bag room.
“Morning Roxy.” I smile as I place all my things down.
“Today I would like you to work with Lea. She’s another employee which works in this section.” She smiles beckoning me to follow her towards the counter.
“Oh, okay.” I smile. I rather work with Roxy because I am familiar with her but it will be nice to meet another person.
I follow behind Roxy until we reach the counter where a girl around my age stands. She is absolutely beautiful. Her long dark curly hair falls down her chest and a small black headband rests in her hair. Her makeup is done to perfection and seems to look a lot like mine. She is wearing a cute white lace dress and black heals.
“This is Lea.” Roxy points towards the gorgeous girl and a smile grows across her face.
“Hi, I’m Harmony.” I smile fiddling with my fingers.
“Hey Harmony, I’m lea.” She smiles back sticking her hand out. Another handshake. I stick my hand out to shake her hand and she has a very strong handshake.
“Nice to meet you.” I beam before pulling my hand away from her well-manicured hand.
“Well I will be off, I have some work do to.” Roxy smiles before leaving Lea and I alone.
“We will just be working at the counter and re-stacking some shelves today.” Lea tells me and I nod my head while she talks.
“It’s not that busy today.” I comment looking around the store. Only one or two people are walking around shopping which is a change for this busy store.
“Less work for us.” She says and I smile over at her. She seems like a really nice girl and relaxed just like me.
“So tell me about yourself.” She smiles as she leans her back against the counter crossing her arms over her chest. I follow her actions and do the same against the bench opposite her.
“Umm, well there's not much to tell.” I laugh nervously. “I’m 20 years old, I live in my own apartment by myself. I only just moved there a month ago so I practically know no one around here. My mum and dad live just under an hour away and yeah that’s pretty much it.” I say trying not to give all of my personal information away. I don’t usually like to open up to people unless I truly know them.
“Oh girl, I’m going to have to show you around this beautiful city!” She laughs.
“I will take you up on that offer.” I smile. It would be nice to go out with someone and see all around this area.
“Definitely! I will give you my number before we finish work alright?” She smiles and I nod my head.
“Alright, tell me about yourself.” I tell her wanting to know about the girl I just told about my life.
“Well I’m 21, I live in my own apartment as well with my boyfriend Jack. I have lived in Melbourne my whole life so I pretty much know everyone around here. I have 2 older brothers who are super protective and my mum and dad live just out of the city.” She confesses and I smile.
“That’s cool as.” I smile not really knowing what to reply. I can sometimes get awkward in situations like these.
“Yeah, I guess it is.” She smiles and a cough is heard behind her.
“Oh, sorry Miss. How may I help you?” She smiles and her professional voice kicks in instantly.
“Can I please get these?” She asks placing a pair of matching underwear onto the counter.
“Of course you can.” Lea smiles while scanning the items. I decide to be useful and fold the items neatly and place them in the bag while Lea collects the money off the woman in front of us.
“Have a nice day.” We say in sync as I hand over the bag to the lady.
We both laugh at each other as we re-take our original position leaning against the counter. I lean against the bench next to her so our backs are facing where the customers stand. No one was walking around shopping so we won’t have to serve people for a while.
“You seem to catch on pretty quickly. Didn’t you just start work here yesterday?” She asks and a smile finds its way to my lips. Everyone seems to be telling me that.
“Yeah I did.” I laugh and I don’t know why I’m laughing. Lea just makes me smile, she seems like a really sweet girl. Lea laughs with me until our fun is interrupted.
A deep cough is heard behind us and we both turn instantly greeted by bright green eyes and a mop of curls.
“What do you want Harry?” Lea groans rolling her eyes. So that’s his name Harry. She clearly looks annoyed by his appearance. Maybe he’s just as rude to her as he was to me. What is he doing here anyway?
“Got nothing better to do.” He smirks and looks over to me. I feel uncomfortable under his gaze as he looks me up and down. Did he not get the message yesterday that I do not like him?
“There is plenty to do over in your section.” She growls and I can tell she’s getting sick of him. He pulls his attention back to Lea and rolls his eyes at her.
“Yeah but I rather be here talking to two beautiful ladies.” He smirks looking back over to me. So now he’s being nice. I knew he was a flirt.
I look over to him staring at his prominent tattoos through his white shirt. He’s wearing exactly the same clothes as yesterday. One tattoo catches my eye on his forearm. I think it’s a ship? My eyes travel up to his face. A black lip ring sits at the side of his smirking lips.
“Go flirt with your boss, not us.” She bites and I hold back a laugh. At least she stands up to him as well.
“Well that’s not fair is it?” He pouts. “What do you think I should do Harmony?” he asks staring directly at me catching my gaze. Lea looks over to me giving me the ‘tell him to go away look.’ But I fumble on my words.
“I think you should leave.” I blurt out and Lea laughs at Harry.
“Feisty, I like that.” He says leaning closer over the counter. His face is way too close for my liking.
“Alright Harry, go now before I get Roxy.” Lea growls pushing at his chest.
“Alright chill out, I wouldn’t want to be with you two grumpy pants anyway.” He mocks before turning around and leaving us alone.
I watch as his lean body disappears into the isles of clothes. He has some serious mood swings I have noticed. One minute he’s calling us beautiful then he’s calling us grumpy pants. I turn around to lea and catch her mid eye roll.
“Sorry about him.” She scoffs looking down at her hands.
“It’s not your fault. What’s his deal anyway?” I ask suddenly interested in his weird mysterious behaviour.
“He’s just a jerk and a flirt.” She mumbles and looks up to meet my eyes.
“Yeah I gathered that, I met him yesterday. But I didn’t know his name.” I admit to her. I now know his name though. Harry.
“What happened yesterday?” She asks interested for some gossip. I laugh at her eagerness as she steps closer to me to make me talk.
“He just talked to me and then called me a bitch. Then he tugged me back because I made some smart comment about him being a flirt. Then I told him if he touches me again I will call security.” I smile proud for standing up for myself.
“He’s such a dick. Good on you for standing up for yourself though. Most girls just flirt back with him or let him talk shit to them.” She tells me and my eyes widen.
“As if they let him talk to them like that.” I say in surprise. I would never let a boy talk to me bad and get away with it.
“It’s because he’s hot and is quite charming when he wants to be.” She admits and I laugh at her. He seems anything but charming.
“Charming?”
“Yeah I know, crazy right” She joins in my laughter. I can’t even remember the last time I laughed this much with someone. Lea and I just seem to connect and I’m glad because I really need a friend around here.
“Alright, let’s go stack some shelves.” She smiles before instructing me to follow her.
We spend most of the afternoon stacking shelves with new products until Roxy tells us to go take our lunch break.
“Where do you go for lunch?” Lea asks as we collect our handbags out of the employee’s items room.
“Ah, well yesterday I went to a nice little Italian café in the Royal Arcade.” I smile as we walk together towards the Myer exit.
“Ooo! I love that place, they are so kind there! Do you want to go there today as well?” She asks as we both put our sun glasses on when the beaming sun shines on our eyes.
“Sounds good.” I smile as we cross the street over into the Royal arcade.
We mostly walk in silence occasionally Lea will point out her favourite shops for me too look at. I smile and nod taking in all the information she’s giving me. Most of the shops she pointed out look really nice. I will have to come here on a weekend just to have a look around.
“Bonjourno bella’s!” The Italian man yells over the desk as Lea and I walk into the cute café.
“Morning!” Lea smiles walking over to the counter with me trailing along.
“Table for 2?’ The man asks and Lea and I both nod our heads saying yes.
“Follow me.” He smiles. He sits us in the corner of the café near a window so we can look out into the busy street. I’m thankful for him putting us in the corner because it’s less crowded and noisy.
He hands us over 2 little black menus and tells us our waiter will be over soon. Lea and I scan through the menus in silence trying to pick out what to eat for lunch today.
“I think I might get the Caesar salad.” Lea smiles as she folds her menu and places it back down on the polished table.
“Same.” I agree placing my little black menu on top of hers.
Lea goes to ask me a question but she is interrupted as the familiar waiter comes over to out table.
“Bonjourno ladies.” He smiles looking over to Lea first. When he looks over to me a smile grows on his face.
“Oh Hey Harmony.” He says, he’s Italian language fading into normal Australian words.
“Hey Giovanni.” I beam as I look up to him. He looks just as good as he did yesterday. But he probably thinks I’m weird for coming here 2 days in a row.
“Call me G remember?” He laughs and I bright smile plasters across his face.
“Sorry, hey G.” I laugh with him. “This is Lea.” I say feeling rude just letting her sit there in silence while we have our own conversation.
“Hello Lea.” He smiles. Lea gives him a quick hello before he takes our order.
We both order the Caesar salad like we told each other and both went with a glass of water for the drink. The more I spend time with Lea the more I realise she is sort of like me.
“Care to explain? I thought you knew no one around here.” She laughs signalling to Giovanni who is now walking away with our order.
“I met him yesterday. I don’t know anyone around here.” I smile back.
“Oh I understand, well he seems pretty interested in you.” She quietly tells me leaning in closer like she’s telling me a secret.
“Uh, I don’t think so.” I laugh heat rising to my cheeks. “We just met yesterday when he took my order. He hardly knows me.” I admit and Lea rolls her eyes at me.
“He doesn’t have to know you to be interested. Look at you, you’re gorgeous Harmony.” She smiles leaning back into her seat crossing her arms over her lap.
“Thanks Lea, but I really don’t think he is.” I laugh leaning back in my chair getting comfortable.
“Whatever you say.” She smiles and rolls her eyes at me again. She seems to have a habit of doing that. I chuckle at her when she rolls her eyes at me and look around the cute café.
It’s quite busy, most of the small tables around the room are full. The café is just really nice. All the tables are wooden with metal chairs and little grey cushions. The counter is a bright red and red lights hang over it. There’s one wall in the café that is just full of writing and I wonder what it is. It seems people have just written little messages all over the wall and I like that idea. People get to mark that they have been here and you get to see who has enjoyed this place just like you.
About five minutes pass before Giovanni brings out our Caesar salad and two glasses of cold water with ice. We both thank him at the same time and laugh at ourselves for the second time today for speaking in sync. We both dig into our salad and make small talk while eating. The salad was delicious and I think Lea agrees with me because she ate hers pretty quickly as well.
Once we have both finished we talk a bit about random topics and I got to listen to some of Lea’s views on some topics about the world. She has some pretty strong views about things and I seem to agree with them most of the time. After having our small talk we go up to pay for our meals and Lea demands she pays for mine, a second day at work gift she called it. It didn’t really make sense but after 5 minutes of bickering I finally gave in. She has been so nice to me today and I’m so happy I found someone to hang out with at work.
Once we reach the Myer entrance Lea remembers she needs to go to the bank quickly and organise some stuff with her account. I offered myself to come along but she told me not to be silly and go relax before our break is over. I accepted her offer and made my way back into the Myer building with 20 minutes of spare time.
I decided to do what I did yesterday and just stroll around the floor saying Hi to some employees. I probably seem crazy walking around here for the second time but I have nothing better to do.
I start by walking through the shoes section and taking a look at the heals they have on sale. I love my heals, I think I own way to many pairs though. But I can’t help it they are just so pretty.
“Hey Miss, can I help you with anything?” I deep voice speaks behind me and I turn around to be greeted by an employee.
“Oh, no I’m just looking thanks.” I say while scanning the person before me.
His name tag reads Zayn. He has dark black hair which is perfectly moulded into a messy quiff and a rugged beard is spread across his face. It’s not like one of those ugly beards though, it’s one of those ones where it makes them look more mature and attractive. He is wearing a white long sleeve shirt but rolled up at the edges and black dress pants. He is wearing a black tie and suspenders which just makes his outfit look even better. My eyes scan over his arms where tattoos are visible under is shirt, I can also see them over his chest as well.
“Sorry, I didn’t realise you were an employee.” He smiles breaking me out my stare.
“Just started yesterday.” I smile looking over into his Hazel brown eyes.
“You must be Harmony.” He says and I raise my eyebrow.
“How did you know that?” I ask knowing he hasn’t once looked down at my name tag.
“Word travels quickly on this floor when a new employee starts.” He laughs filling the area with his deep sound.
“Ah okay…” I say, confused that people even know about me.
“I’m Zayn.” He smiles holding his laughter.
“I’m-.. Oh wait you already know that.” I laugh embarrassed for starting to introduce myself.
“Do you work here in the shoe section?” I ask looking around for other employees. He does not look the type to be working in a shoe section. Let alone a retail store.
“Yeah I do actually.” He surprises me. “Lingerie?” He says asking me where I work.
“Yeah.” I smile. “Well I better go, my lunch is nearly over.” I say trying to end the awkward conversation.
“Alright, I will see you around Harmony.” He waves as I turn around and walk away. I give him a small wave back as I make my way through the shop to my section. I avoid walking past the men’s clothes, not wanting to bump into the Harry kid again.
I place my bad down in the employee’s room thing and wait for Lea to get back from the bank. I don’t really know what to do without someone around me and Roxy looks pretty busy serving people at the counter.
I sit quietly for another 5 minutes waiting for Lea to get back but she doesn’t. I hope she’s not late back because there's only 5 minutes left of lunch break. I look over to Roxy who’s still serving at the busy counter and she spots me sitting down. She gives me a small wave beckoning me over to her so I get up quickly and meet her at the counter.
“Can you open the counter behind me and serve some customers?” She asks pointing to the other checkout behind us. It’s good because when shopping at myer one counter has two checkouts, so people can buy their items quicker.
“Uh, yeah I guess so.” I hesitate. I only just started I don’t know how I will do serving by myself.
“I’m right here if you need me, you will be fine” She smiles nudging me to start serving.
I nod my head in reply and Roxy scans her card through the machine so I can start serving people.
“Can I help anyone?” I say turning around to the busy line in front of Roxy’s counter.
A few people make their way over to my side of the counter and line up. I begin to serve the first customer and ask her about how her day is going. Once I have finished scanning all her items I place them in the bag and she pays quickly. I place her receipt in the bag and pass it over to her. With a quick thankyou the first customer is done and on comes the second one.
“Hi miss how are you today?” I smile as the next lady in line steps up to the counter and dumps her items on the bench.
“I’m alright thanks.” She bites quite rudely and I push her angry tone to the side. If there is one thing I have learnt it is the customer is always right. Plus you can’t be rude back to them either.
I scan her items in silence as she taps her finger impatiently on the desk.
“Could you hurry up?” she growls and I look up to see a scowl on her face.
“Sorry miss, I’m only new here.” I comment scanning the rest of her items quickly.
“Well why are you serving then?” She hisses and I accidently roll my eyes at her rude tone.
“Because I work here miss.” I comment back trying to keep calm.
She loudly sighs and groans as I pack all her items away in a carry bag.
“That’s $72.30 please.” I smile as I place all the rest of her items in the bag.
“That can’t be right.” She says and I raise my eyebrow.
“What do you mean miss?” I ask confused.
“Read the prices out to me.” She bites and I read what she has bought and the prices off the small screen.
“That blue bra was only supposed to be $15 not $30.” She bites and I shake my head.
“Sorry miss, you must’ve got the price wrong.” I say trying to calm her down.
“Let me speak to your manager now.” She growls and I quickly turn around to Roxy.
I tap her shoulder lightly apologizing to the customer she is serving and tell her that the lady demands to speak to her. She sighs loudly and rolls her eyes before telling me to take over her customer. I nod my head and begin to scan the last of the ladies items.
“I see you had a bit of an annoying customer there?” The middle ages lady laughs and I’m glad someone sees something fun in it.
“Yeah, she just got the price wrong that’s all.” I say trying not to gossip about the crazy customer.
The lady nods her head in response and pays for all of her items. I place the receipt in the bag and tell her thank you before she walks out of the store.
The next lady comes up to the counter and I see the crazy customer glare me off as she walks out of the store. I turn around to Roxy who nods her head for me to continue serving here. There’s no point of swapping again.
I scan all the new customers’ items and I see Lea walk into the shop. She waves over to me and I give her a smile back unable to wave because I am scanning.
I serve at least 3 more customers before the line ends. It was like a crazy rush of people just decided to all buy things at the same time.
“We sometimes get customers like that.” Roxy smiles talking about the painful lady I served earlier.
“Yeah doesn’t every shop.” I laugh and she joins in.
The rest of the day goes by quick. Lea and I just serve some customers and stack shelves just like we did this morning. Most of the time we were talking to each other but not once did we not act professional. Before Lea left work she gave me her number telling me to call her anytime if I wanted to catch up. I stayed back 5 minutes later than usual because Roxy needed a little help putting some clothes on the rack. She thanks me a million times for staying back a little later and I tell her its fine. It was only 5 minutes it’s not like she kept me back for an hour. I grab all of my stuff out of the employee’s room making my way out of the store.
“Hey Harmony.” I hear a voice behind me as I walk out of the store in the chilly air. I turn around to see Zayn running behind me to catch up.
“Oh, hey Zayn.” I smile as I continue to walk with him by my side.
“Where are you parked?” he asks as I turn right down the street and he follows.
“Just down there.” I say pointing to the small car park at the end of the street.
“Same, I will walk with you.” He smiles not really giving me a choice. It’s not like I mind though. I smile and nod my head as we continue the short walk to our cars.
“Sooo…” He says filling the awkward silence as we walk.
“Tell me about yourself.” I say trying to make conversation. I can get really awkward sometimes and I’m trying to avoid that lately. I need to make new friends not be socially awkward.
“Uh, I’m 24 years old and I live in an apartment by myself.” He says and I nod my head as he continues to talk.
“My mum and 2 sisters live not too far away which is good so I still see them all the time. Uh, I have a dog called Hachi, I like tattoos as you can tell. And yeah there’s not much to tell really.” He laughs as we turn the corner into the parking lot.
His life sounds pretty much like everyone’s life who I have talked to so far. I can’t judge though because that’s the pretty much same for me as well.
“What about you?” He says turning to meet my gaze.
“Uh, well I’m 20 years old and I live in an apartment by myself as well. I only just moved here so I don’t really know everyone. My mum and dad live not too far away. Yeah, I don’t have much to tell either.” I admit turning away from his gaze he nods his head as I finish my confession.
“This is my car.” I tell him as we stop next to a small red car.
“Alright, I’m parked just over there. I will see you around Harmony!” He smiles and waves goodbye as he makes his way over to his black fancy car.
I climb into my car quickly and watch as Zayn’s polished car zooms out of the parking lot. How does he afford such a nice car?
I drive out of the car park carefully making sure I didn’t hit any pedestrians and make my way to the supermarket. All I want to do is go home early and relax on the couch, but I have no food in and really need more groceries. So supermarket it is.
(A/N: Thank you for reading! I hope you are enjoying this book xxxx)