VERA’S POVMartha, Beth and I exchanged a look. "That would be me, sir —" Martha said before we could talk, but we both interrupted her. "No. That would be me sir, and I'm sorry," Beth and I said at the same time. We looked at each other and had to bite back a smile. Martha was already in a lot of trouble with the manager and he might fire her. The manager looked at the three of us in confusion. "Who?" he asked. "Me," all three of us replied again. His face clouded over. "Are you playing with me?" he growled. Then he turned to Freya. "Which of them, baby?" he asked her. Freya pointed at me. The manager turned to me, and I could see he was conflicted. We were not really on bad terms, and I was one of his best employees. "You?" he asked me. "Seems like a week off has made you forget how to treat customers. No days off for you till I'm satisfied," he said. By the side, Martha rolled her eyes, which was a feat of its own, but Freya looked very dissat
VERA'S POV They went at it for a few seconds more before realizing they had company. Both their faces turned to me and while the lady's face heated up in embarrassment, Nathan's face hardened in irritation. "Um…sorry?" I said, my own face heating up as well. I hurriedly backed out of the door, slamming it in my haste. Gosh, is there some bleach for the brains? If you don't have that, I could make do with that memory eraser from men in black. I waited till I was sure they must be dressed, then knocked on the door just to be extra sure. "You can come in now!" Nathan's voice called from inside, a little gruffy. I walked back in cautiously because…just in case. The girl was nowhere to be found, but Nathan was sitting on the couch, still half naked. He had on his shorts, but nothing else. I couldn't help taking in the nice view. I had seen him half dressed before, but that was way back when he was still in high school and I in middle school. He hadn't devel
VERA We both watched her walk out the door, then Nathan turned to me. His face was set, and I recognized the angry protector look he gets on him sometimes. "Now, you, don't even try to feed me that bullshit. What's between you and her?" I opened my mouth for some smart retort but none came to mind. This was just like Nathan. Any other person would have known what the problem was, but not Nathan. To him, all women were the same and for the same purpose. Hell, I wasn't even sure he remembered she was the same lady he had made walk out of his party topless just the night before. I sighed in frustration. "Just another lady your attention to me is making jealous," I replied. "Poor her, then," he replied dismissively. "Please, could you stop calling me your kitten in front of your female friends?" "Acquaintances," he corrected. Then he smiled brightly. "You know that's not happening, baby. So, what's it you need?" I gulped. Could we go back to discus
VERA I had just returned from Amelia's birthday party and was full of the party spirit. It had been very fun, and Amelia had called me her best friend, much to Thalia's displeasure. That alone had made the part worth it. I had rushed back home, eager to share everything that happened at the party with my mother. But now, I stood at the door knocking, and she didn't answer. I continued knocking, the excitement from the party replaced by a growing sense of unease. Each unanswered rap on the door echoed through the silent house. "Mom?" I called, my voice trembling. No response. I twisted the doorknob, my heart pounding, and the door creaked open. The darkness inside seemed thicker than usual, swallowing the familiar contours of our home. As I stepped in, an ominous chill hung in the air. The living room was shrouded in shadows, and an eerie silence clung to the walls. "Mom?" I called again, my voice now barely a whisper. The only reply was the echo of my own fe
VERAThe car pulled up before the store. The ride had been pleasant, not like yesterday when he drove me back to my apartment. We were back to teasing and joking with each other now and I was somewhat sorry when the car stopped moving. But, hey. I had not seen Martha and Beth for almost two weeks now, and yesterday had been spoiled by Freya. So, I got the door open, got out of the car and turned to wave him goodbye. I froze when I saw he was out of the car too and a bad sense of foreboding came over me. "You're not thinking of following me into the store, are you?" I asked, narrowing my eyes at him. "The door is just four feet away, for Christ's sake! And you promised," the last sentence came out more as a sulky pout than I would have liked. "To stop my assholeness?" he asked, smirking annoyingly. "I will, trust me. But only when you have got yourself a boyfriend to look after you," My eyes widened, and I felt a little childish at the anticipation I felt. It shouldn't b
VERA Alex glanced at Martha and smiled. "Oh, she was all over me this morning, but I've already figured her out for that kind, so no chance of that ever happening," Beth chuckled, but Martha merely pouted. "Okay guys," Beth said. "We better get to work before the manager comes out here and sees us talking and laughing," "I wouldn't survive that," Martha whispered in mock horror, rushing behind her counter. Right on cue, the door opened and a customer walked in. Beth went off to attend to the customer. And I was left standing with Alex. He was looking at me expectantly, but the truth was that I was kinda lost. What the hell did the manager mean by showing him the ropes? "Um…" I wracked my head. "Okay…I guess we better start by showing you where everything is so you know to pick them out for a customer who doesn't," The idea lit up in my head like a lightbulb, and I knew the instant I said it that it was the right thing to do at that moment. We walked t
NATHAN "Hey, Nathan, please!" The voice on the other end of the line was pleading, and had it been a lesser man, they would have conceded just because of the amount of desperation in the voice. But of all the vices, sympathy has never been one of mine. "Could you just say something, please?" the voice at the other end pleaded again when I remained silent. I yawned audibly. "I need to pee. I've been holding it since you were on the phone. That's quite a long time," I said. We both knew that was a lie. He just came on the phone about ten seconds ago. "Nathan, I've got people depending on me. The mortgage on my new family house is about due and my new wife is expecting —" I yawned again. I have little patience with people who don't understand that business is eat or be eaten. The corporate world was a jungle where the rules of the jungle ruled, and the underground world is even more so. There was no room for emotions. At this moment, if I didn't reco
VERA I laughed out loud, the quickly covered my mouth and looked around furtively. Luckily, no one was looking at us. When I looked back to him, Alex was smiling with a raised eyebrow. "What was that for?" he asked. "Uh…nothing?" I replied. "It's just —" "You have such a nice laughter, why do you like keeping it all to yourself?" I knew he was teasing, but still, I felt heat rise on my cheeks. That was one of the best things anyone had ever said to me in a long while. "Not my fault," I replied, fighting the blush hard. "I was just…nervous. I've never gone on a date before," I finally said. He winked. "Yeah, I sorta got that from Martha - not a reason to be that nervous though," We had just entered the restaurant about twenty minutes ago and placed our orders. We had an awkward silence for a few minutes just staring at everywhere but ourselves before Alex tried to break the ice with a few jokes. I had to admit the jokes were good, but I just felt too s