Four: Drama queens

I sat by the selling counter, waiting for another customer to approach me. Well, since it was Monday, I didn't expect many customers to come to this store. This place was usually boring, so it was the exact reason I preferred to work at the club. But, well, I couldn't work at the club always. I was only a part-time bartender there. 

I took my phone to check what time it was. Seeing it was eight already, I dropped my forehead on the counter. I had an hour left before leaving here, and I had hardly gotten five customers. That meant I wouldn't get so much commission for today's work. So annoying. 

"Hey?" Hearing that thick voice, I raised my head immediately, glad that I had another customer. But, seeing this dude who had been disturbing me for a couple of days, I hissed. Seriously?

"Oh. You." There was a bit of disappointment in my tone. 

He smiled, the blue color of his eyes glinting more. Raking his fingers into his neatly styled brown hair, he propped his elbow on the counter. 

What did he want? This was getting too confusing for me. I had met him at that club, and ever since then, I had been seeing him almost everyday!

"How're you, Renee?" 

I sighed. "I'm fine. And please, you can't stand there. That's where the customers stand."

"I'm a customer." He shrugged. "And besides, for the past thirty minutes, no one's come in here."

"Wh-What?" I folded my arms across my chest, narrowed my eyes at him. "Are you seriously stalking me? What the heck? Do you want me to call the police on you?"

He just chuckled, not seeming bothered in any way. "Whatever. Will you leave soon?"

"Why do you care?" 

He winked. Why did he like to wink? "Well, I wanna leave here with you. I'd like to talk to you about something?"

Talk to me? This guy was seriously getting on my nerves. 

Okay. Fine. There was no big deal in wanting to talk to me, but I truly couldn't trust a person like him. He was famous, every girl liked him, he was a woman magnet. So, obviously, a guy like him would only want to get close to me for his own benefits. And after he got what he wanted, he'd just dump me like every other girl in his life. 

That was definitely not gonna happen. 

"I don't like this," I stated. 

He gave me a questioning look, but I ignored that. 

I leaned closer, wore a stern look. "People like you tend to feel like every girl is the same. I know what you want. And, I want you to know you won't get it. So, just back off now."

He kept staring, saying nothing. All I could say was that his cheerful facial expression turned dull. Oops, did I say anything wrong?

"I think you shouldn't be quick to judge. Just—"

"You've got a lot of friends out there. Why are you interested in being friends with me? It's weird," I denoted. 

He sighed hard, swallowed. "I'll wait for you outside. See you soon."

With that, he walked away, leaving me to gape like a person who got electrocuted. I had expected him to be angry or something, but he had just walked away. And, he was still gonna wait for me? Seriously?

***

"Here's fifty bucks." Mrs. Lionel, the owner of this store, smiled as she gave me my commission for tonight's work. "Things are tight these days, so just manage that, okay?"

"Okay." I tried to return her smile.

Definitely, this pay was so bad. I had to get five thousand dollars in order to complete my tution fee for the next session, but I hardly got enough money from working. On the other hand, I had to cater for my mom, aunt and little cousin. What was I gonna do?

"See you next week, ma'am," I added before walking out of her small office. 

Shutting the door behind me, I flinched on seeing Virginia. She smiled softly as she walked to me. What was she doing here?

Virginia was definitely the cutest nerd I had ever seen. Although she always had a natural look on, she was very pretty. Honey brown eyes like mine, long curly hair, fresh brown skin, pointed nose. Even with scanty eyebrows, she looked way prettier than people like Amy who was always on makeup. 

As well, Virg was good at wearing nice clothes. She was nerdy, but her dress sense was absolutely nice. Right now, she was in a dark jean, grey sweater, white sneakers. Standing in front of me, she adjusted her glasses as usual. 

"What're you doing here?" I was so surprised. Walking to the counter with her, I took my backpack, flung it over my shoulder. 

"Well, since you're the sensible one in our dorm, I came to tell you I'd be home by eleven," she stated. 

I turned to her with widened eyes. "What? That's not okay. What'll you be doing?"

"Um…" She raised an eyebrow at me, pursing her small pink lips. "I'll be smoking weed, I think."

I giggled, and slapped her arm. "Shut up, nerd. You'd be at the library."

"Then why ask a question whose answer you already know?" She shrugged. 

"You could have said that over the phone. Why did you have to come here?" I asked. 

"I was close by, so I decided to come over."

"Oh. Ok."

Walking out of the store, the first thing my eyes caught was Roy. He was leaning against the wall close to the door, his eyes on his phone. As soon the door sounded, he turned to me. 

Oh, gosh, what did he want? Why was he confusing me this much?

"You're ready?" He hopped in front of us, put his phone into the pocket of his dark sweatpants, smiled as usual. 

I bit my lip. I didn't want any of my roomies to know he had been following me for a couple of days. But, damn, Virg had to see him.

I slowly turned to her, worried. To my surprise, she was already staring at me. 

"He's your friend?" She smiled, almost teasingly. 

Was I supposed to say yes or no? I knew nothing about him, so he obviously wasn't my friend. Also, if I said no, she'd think he was my boyfriend instead. 

"Yeah." I nodded, chuckled nervously. Leaning closer to her ear, I whispered, "But please, Barb and Bella should know nothing about this."

She giggled silently, and nodded. "Sure."

I sighed in relief. This was why I'd say Virg was the mature and sensible one amongst my best friends. 

"Renee!" 

I swallowed. I knew that voice. It sounded like Barb's. 

Slowly twirling around, I bit my lip harder. And, seeing Bella and Barb, I just rolled my eyes. Why did they have to come here today?

"Hey, girl." As usual, Barb sounded excited. She smiled from ear to ear, chewed hard on her bubble gum. "We planned a surprise visit. And you know—"

Surprise visit? For goodness sake, this was my workplace, not my house! 

For some reason, her eyes flared open. And, I noticed she wasn't looking at me anymore. She was staring at something else. 

"Bel? You're seeing what I'm seeing?" Her mouth dropped, and she blinked continuously. 

Bella stepped closed, and also, she dropped her eyes and mouth. These ladies were drama queens. Was this because of Roy?

Just about to say something, they both cut into me by squealing. 

"Ah!" They tapped each other's arms, jumped like excited teenagers, and poked each other as well. 

"Renee's got a boyfriend!" Barb whined. Shit! Why would she say that in front of him? 

Helpless, I hit my palm against my forehead, sighed hard. Maybe I just had to watch a little drama.