More Doing. More Saving.
By DxLilith
Iâd been working three months, eight days, and three hours when Emmanuel, the only male head cashier in the whole of store 0959, asked if I could help move patio sets with him.
It was a Tuesday. June 4th? 5th? Rainy.
I was at returns and business was not so much booming as it was silently fizzling out. So when he asked me I said, âyeah okayâ.
âDid you hear about Shantel?â is the first thing he says when I walk the ten point three feet it takes from the returns register to the patio section.
âShe got fired?â
âNopeâ He begins picking up a box labeled âEnxer Bronze Patio Chair set 2 of 3â.
âWhat then?â I grab 3 of 3 with a little more difficulty than he because I have much smaller hands equaling a smaller grip.
âThey caught herâŠâ he grunts, lifting a box marked TABLE and swings it on top of the previous two boxes. âwith Mike.â
âMike from Lumber or Mike from Electrical?â
âMike from Garden.â
I almost dropped the set of chairs I just folded. âIsnât he likeâŠeighty years old?â
âHey, Iâm just telling you what I heardâ but he smiles, like itâs the greatest thing heâs ever imparted on me. A known gossip, Emmanuel was quite pleased to have found someone to share something SO juicy with.
âHEAD CASHIER TO REGISTER ONE FOR APPROVALâ
âUghâ Emmanuelâs smile falters and he stares at me, willing me to somehow exchange positions wherein he could stay here, non-responsive to the loudspeaker and not have to walk to the other end of the store for what was probably a markdown just under 55 dollars. âIâll be backâ
He wipes the sweat from his brow and waddles away, (I mean it in the best way possible as he is over two hundred pounds and only five foot six) leaving me to stare at the boxes.
âArrgh you doinâ therr ninja buddy?â
Matt. Matt from garden (not from Lumber because he was short and blonde and just a bit of an asshole). Matt from Garden is a pirate & I am a ninja, two impossibilities in this day and age but it made flirting a lot sillier.
âDoinâ well enough that if I had mind magic I could organize these boxes all on my own and feel accomplished. Mayhap partake in a yoo-hoo or two.â
âCan I be of any service?â
This is the part where normally, as an independent woman Iâd say âno thanks, I can handle thisâ but heâs smiling and I canât stop staring.
I think itâs his face, his beautiful, boyish face with chocolate brown eyes ducking behind thick square frames of black or maybe that thicket of great hair or even his five oâclock shadow.
âThink youâre up to the task, I know how ya peg leg likes to act up.â
He laughs that short little laugh when he finds things amusing and heads over to the nearest box.
We work quietly, awkwardly bumping hips and hands as we reach for sets, piling them higher and higher until we move on to a different section. Itâs bliss. Until we hear the rattling above.
âFUCK!â I feel a hand yank at mine and I feel my feet lose touch with the ground and my knees take their place. Thereâs an earth-shattering clatter behind me of metal fixtures and unbuilt patio furniture but Iâm too afraid to even look until itâs quiet again.
âMan, that was fucking close!â Mattâs out of breath. Heâs sitting inches away from me, his hand still holding mine. Itâs quite nice actually. I know I must be smiling and possibly googley eying him but I donât care.
âAre youâŠoh God Lynn are you okay!?â His grip on my hand tightens as heâs now leaning in closer to me. His face inches from mine and I think to every romantic scene in every film I have ever seen and think, the floor of a Home Depot must be the WORST place for a first kiss.
â Yeah why wouldnât I?â Iâm still smiling. I wish I could stop, I must seem insane but what was he so panicked about?
âYou mean you donât feel that?â
Heâs pointing to my stomach. Somewhere, very far back in my head, where I keep all my childhood nightmares and fears locked away, is a voice screaming. DONâT LOOK DONâT LOOK IF YOU LOOK ITâS GOING TO HURT.
But who ever listens eh?
Three feet long and four inches thick and just underneath the my ribcage. There it is. Just sticking out of me. A strip of metal, probably from one of the fucking chairs I just finished putting away. Iâm bleeding, very slowly and let me tell you, red does not look good on an orange apron.
âI thinkâŠmy bodyâs in shockâŠâ
A million walkie-talkies and firstphones go off.
âGet me paramedics here nowâ
âOh my god is she okay?!â
âStand back!!â
âLynn!? oh my god!â
âLynn are youâŠâ
âClose this area offâ
âIs she going to beâŠâ
âGoddamnit Lynn, we were 360 days into accident free and now youâve gone andâŠâ
âTim!?â
âOh for Christâs sake, sheâs bleeding someone get a first aid kit!â
Many voices and footsteps and bustling but all I do is look at was Mattâs beautiful face. His beautiful panicked face.
His beautiful panicked face and lips pale as Behr primer number four.
âYou know what sucks the most about all this right now?â
He looks away from the impaled object through my abdomen and at me.
âI have this huge crush on you and Iâm actually gay.â
He looks at me like maybe we should be having this conversation when I wasnât at risk of tetanus and exsanguination.
The paramedics should be here soon and then Iâll be wheeled away and probably fired before I can sue or even file for workers comp.
Matt bites his lips and leans into me, knees touching mine and whispers into my ear.
âSo am I. ButâŠâ
His lips graze the skin right by my earlobe.
âI may have just fallen in love with you.â