Weekend

I bounced the tennis ball lightly off the dirty storefront window. Only 7:52, I thought to myself as I caught the ball coming back towards me. Still over an hour before we shut this shithole place down. Who shops for dog toys and fish food on Friday night anyway? I was getting anxious about going out already but I still had to run home and change out of this stupid uniform before I met Leslie at her house. I had been to the house this party was at once before with her but she had driven and I couldn’t remember exactly how to get there.

The two of us only recently started going out drinking alone together after her fiancé and my girlfriend both went back to college. Her fiancé Mark is studying in Italy for the whole semester and I sort of told him I’d look out for her. I know how it feels now that I’m finished with college and my girlfriend Shelley has to go back for another semester. Needless to say, Leslie and I keep each other company in the meantime with our mutual love of drinking.

That’s why I had to get out of this place. Every customer I cashed out must have seen the look of resentment plastered all over my face. Why are you here? Don’t you have anything better to do tonight? Don’t ask me when I get off and try and seem sympathetic. It’s people like you that is the reason we are open until nine pm. I decided to walk over to the fish department to get my mind off the anguish of retail for a little while. After all, the cute red head was working again and flirting with her was a necessary distraction sometimes.
“Hey, Ginger,” I said jokingly as I approached the tank she was scrubbing.
“I told you a thousand times my name isn’t Ginger!” she pouted and put her arms against her sides in pretend anger.

“Yeah, yeah, but it’s so much more fitting than Jen.”
“What do you want anyway?” she asked. “I’ve still got fifteen tanks to scrub before close.”
“I can’t be up at the register anymore. I haven’t had anyone in so long,” I complained.
“Are you trying to tell me something there?” Jen winked at me.
I laugh to myself, bouncing the tennis ball from my left hand to the floor to my right hand. My pocket vibrates, startling me and causing me to drop the ball.
“Back to work, kid,” I said, drifting my way back towards the registers. I hold my arm on the side of the register to make sure Mallory couldn’t see and do a quick scan for where in the store she was. She may be a good manager in other aspects but don’t let her catch you with your phone out. Good, she’s still in the office, I thought.
Three new messages, I guarantee at least two of them were from Brendan asking what the plan was tonight.