Chelsea - Saturday Morning
It's 7am and crowds are already beginning to form outside the shop. Her heart begins to pound as the realisation starts to hit her that she'll be meeting the man of her dreams in a few hours time.
"How am I going to introduce myself, Becks? Hi, I'm Chelsea. The loser who asked you for a drink afterwards? How bloody awkward have I just made this?"
Becky yawns dramatically down the other end of the phone. "For starters, you do realise you have just woken me up at 7 on a Saturday morning, don't you?!"
"Yeah, I know but it's fine because you said you needed to be up early to travel to your old uni town today."
"When I said early, I mean around 9. Not this early. Let's make this quick so I can attempt to go back to sleep."
"Sorry." Chelsea replies as she waves towards Brad who is opening the electronic metal shutters to the shop.
"You'll be fine. I'm sure he'll just be as nervous as you. Admittedly, it is a little strange what you've done but it's too late to backtrack now. Just be confident, don't even mention the drink until he is ready to leave. Just make him aware that you haven't forgotten and then the ball is back in his court." Another yawn down the phone, not as dramatic this time.
"Yeah, you're right. Thanks Becks, and sorry again for waking you up so early. Hope you can get back to sleep."
"Me too. Now get to work. Text me later and let me know if he turned up. Good luck."
"Will do. Sweet dreams. Love you."
"Love you too, Chels and sorry for being grumpy."
The phone cuts off and she slips it into her back pocket as Brad turns around greeting her.
"Looks like we'll be busy today." Brad looks down the queue of predominately female customers. "I wonder how long they've been here for?"
Chelsea shakes her head. "I thought I was his biggest fan-girl but I would never camp out like that."
"No, of course not." Brad smirks and rolls his eyes. "You just cut to the chase and ask them out for a drink."
"I know." The realisation kicks in that she hasn't spoken to Brad about the drink with Noah this afternoon. "How do you know about that?" She asks.
Brad chuckles as they reach the backroom readying themselves to roll the clothing rails out on to the shop floor.
"You can't hide on social media, Chelsea. You should know that by now."
"I'm still confused. I've only told my friend about this." Her eyes still searching him for an explanation as she takes the other end of the rail.
"I was curious to who this Noah was. So found him on Instagram and followed him. No doubt I'll unfollow him after today but I was just being nosey. To see what the big deal was."
"Right. But that still doesn't answer my question."
"He posted last night?"
"Yeah, that topless shot with the coffee." Chelsea responds.
"For starters, why does he need to be topless to try and sell some cheap coffee?"
Chelsea shrugs her shoulders begin to become impatient.
Is Brad stalking her?
"And you commented, Chelsea. Your comment came up at the top as we are friends on there."
"Of course." Chelsea put her face in her hands.
"Maybe, comment into his DMs next time. It looks a little desperate."
"Rude!" Chelsea exclaims.
"Can't wait for our date after your appearance tomorrow." Brad puts on a mock female voice to interpret Chelsea. "Look at you, begging people to notice that you might actually know him. I didn't think you'd stoop if I'm honest. Thought you had a bit more respect about yourself."
That cut Chelsea deep. Maybe it was because she couldn't believe that she had stooped to this. Maybe the comment on the post was unnecessary? Or maybe it was the fact that Brad just went in on her, hard.
"That's a bit harsh." She pushed the rail hard into Brads stomach.
"Ouch!" He places a hand on his stomach and winces. "Harsh but fair. I'm just looking out for you Chelsea. You're heading into unknown territory with this. You'll need to get used to much worse if you two end up together."
"What do you mean?"
"You think those girls out there are going to be so nice, should you two end up as a couple?"
"To be honest Brad, I haven't thought that far ahead."
"Well I'm just warning you that girls can be nasty. If you two do hit it off, you're going to be public enemy number one to these girls. They will troll you to death."
"Trolling is just words, Brad. I can deal with some harsh comments thrown my way."
"Really? Because you didn't just take too kindly to me just saying I thought you had some self respect." He raised his brows. "I didn't mean that comment, I was testing you for what could potentially be coming your way."
Chelsea knew he made a fair point although not sure that the comment was a test she was pretty sure that he meant it. Then she realised she was already second guessing herself at one hurtful comment. Perhaps he was just being a friend and looking out for her.
~~~
The crowd gathered outside the shop grew much larger over the next three hours. So much so, they had to phone in for extra security guards.
"I was only expecting about 10 people today. There's hundreds here. Hopefully they are here to buy and not just wet their underwear over this pretty boy. That reminds me, did you bring a change of underwear, Chels?"
Chelsea marched over and slapped Brad hard around his head. "Fuck off." She watched as he grimaced and rubbed the back of his head.
"You'd love to know what underwear I was wearing. Wouldn't you? You bloody perv!"
She moved in closer to Brads ear and whispered. "Maybe I'm not wearing any." Before smirking and walking away towards the front of the shop.
One last final check in one of the shop floor mirrors to make sure her make up was on point, her brown hair perfectly straight and falling down past her shoulders. She just wished she wasn't dressed in her work uniform. Black skinny jeans, black slip on pumps and a black t shirt with the stores logo emblazoned across the front.
A final deep breath as she walked over and unlocked the doors to the shop. Allowing the big double automatic doors to open. Stepping back expecting a rush of girls to come swarming in. Nothing.
They all stood in line waiting, refusing to budge.
She walked back over to the tills where Brad was stood behind. "Looks like we'll be quiet until he gets here. Those lot out there are not here to shop."
"To be expected, I guess. Let's just hope they get their money out whilst he is here."
"He's due here at midday right?" Chelsea asked as she looked back to see if any customers were making their way into the shop yet.
"Yeah. Midday until half 1. And I guarantee he's getting paid more for that 90 minutes than we do in a month of working here."
Chelsea found it hard to argue with that point. She felt her phone vibrate against her ass, she looked around once more to see the shop floor empty and decided to check the message.
A huge smile appeared on her face as she read the message from Noah.
'Hope you made it into work. Looking forward to meeting you. Noah x'
She decided it best not to reply. Brad was right about one thing, desperation didn't look good on her. It was time to leave Noah hanging for a change.
Shipping her phone back into her pocket, she turned back towards Brad not quite catching what he said while she was busy on her phone.
"Sorry, Brad. What did you say?" Her eyes looking back up to meet his.
"Are you really not wearing any underwear?"
***
So it's getting closer to Noah and Chelsea's first meeting! Who's excited?!
Do you think Chelsea is wearing any underwear???
Please vote and comment ❤️