I woke up very early the next morning because I was too excited. I knew that getting up earlier didn’t mean meeting Alexander any earlier, but that didn’t stop me from waking up.
My guess was Damien was already at Wal-mart, so he didn’t give me a ride. I walked.
I barely even realized how much longer it took without a car because the walk was almost like a night’s sleep where you only remember when you woke up, or in this case, when you arrived at the store.
“Good morning, Paige!” David greeted me.
“Hello, David,” I said, smiling. “Is Damien here?”
“Yep, he’s already in the department. You can go on down there if you’d like.”
“Sure. Thanks.”
I went over to my department and started searching for Damien until I finally found him locking up the video games.
“Hey,” he said once he noticed I was watching him.
“Hi.”
“I almost thought you’d forget to come,” he said, doing his Mona-Lisa smile.
“Why would I forget?”
“Aren’t you, like, a little too over excited about meeting the Great?”
“Yes. Your point is?”
He smirked at me and shook his head. “Never mind. Go do something useful.”
I narrowed my eyes. “Fine.”
So I went and did something useful. It was tiring, but hey, it was my job. And I liked it. It was nice being accepted somewhere. I couldn’t even keep track of time, but after a little while Damien said to take my break.
So I went back and walked in on a conversation Angela and Katie were having.
“HEY, PAIGE!” Katie screamed.
I laughed. “Hi.”
“Paige, take note,” Angela told me. “Do NOT, and I repeat, DO NOT ever give Katie coffee in the morning.”
Katie started laughing like she was crazy, and I had to laugh, too.
“Don’t forget the M&M’s, ANGELA!” Katie screamed.
“Right,” Angela said. “How could I forget the M&M’s?”
I sat down and enjoyed watching Katie spaz out. She almost broke one of the little lamps on the table. And when she tried to stay still, she’d start drumming her fingers, then bouncing her leg, and then she got up and danced even though there was no music.
“You’re insane,” Angela said, laughing along with Katie.
“What’s going on in here?” someone said, opening the door.
“HEY, CHARLIE!” Katie screamed.
I started laughing so hard I almost fell out of my chair.
“Whoa,” Charlie said, closing the door behind him. He looked over at Angela and me. “What is up with her?”
“Coffee,” Angela answered.
“YOU KEEP FORGETTING THE M&M’S!” Katie screamed.
“You shush!” Charlie told Katie, and she stopped jumping up and down. “Damien and I could hear you from the other side of the store!”
Katie pouted, and I have to say, she looked like a little puppy.
“Don’t give me that,” he said, scolding her like she was a little girl. And she acted like a little girl.
“Charlie!” she sniveled.
“Katie!” Charlie mocked her in a fake childish voice.
“Charlie, what is this nonsense? Shouldn’t you be working?”
“I am on my break, Katie dear. Shouldn’t you stop being high?”
“No.”
Charlie raised his eyebrow at her, and she pouted again.
“Let’s go do something useful, Katie,” Charlie said, his voice much quieter.
“No, Charlie!” she said, childish voice still intact.
“Katie.”
“Charlie.”
He glared at her, and held her arms together so that they were right up to her body making her as stiff as a board.
“Katie, my love,” he said, voice quiet. “Let’s get to work. There are things to be done, and I am on my break now. I would appreciate it, dear, if you would go out and do something other than act crazy. My sweet, I am begging you.”
“Okay, Charlie,” Katie answered, even more quietly.
He smiled down at her, and the look in his eyes made it look like he had never loved anyone more than he did Katie. It almost seemed like he was going to kiss her before he said, “Very good, Katie.” And then he let go of her.
“I’ll take her out,” Angela said. “Just to make sure she’s all right.”
Charlie nodded at her, stuffed his hands in his pockets, and the two girls left the break room.
“Are you, like, going out with Katie or something?” I asked Charlie.
He chuckled, and sat down. “Nah. I just act like that with her. It’s like she’s a little kid sometimes.”
“I haven’t noticed.”
He smiled. “Yeah, I don’t like her. There’s kinda someone else I like right now.”
“Really?” I asked. “Can you tell me?”
“Um, I’m kinda keeping it to myself,” he said, laughing nervously. “Usually I’ll tell Angela and Katie if I ever have a crush on a girl, but I didn’t this time because last time I did, they kept trying to give me advice, and she ended up going off with someone else.”
I gave him a sad smile. “I’m sorry.”
“Yeah. You know Jessica Grace?”
I nodded.
“Her. I liked her. It was stupid, but I did. A while ago, too. But then she started going out with Damien, and I moved on.”
“Oh,” was all I could manage out.
“Yeah.”
Silence. But it was the kind of silence that was usually between Damien and me: always a tad bit awkward.
“I should get back to work,” I finally said, breaking the silence.
“Oh. All right. See you, I guess.”
I smiled at him, and left the break room.
Soon, I caught up with Damien. We didn’t talk as much, but more worked. He made carrying heavy things look a lot easier than it was. At first he laughed at my weakness, but then helped me.
“You’d think if you could carry a ton of books you could carry a box of electronics,” he kept teasing me.
But after a bit, he went on his own break and I had to continue on my own. I loved work and all, but I would much rather be going to the library and meeting Alexander.
“Hey, Paige,” David called. Damien was standing next to him.
“Yes?”
“Damien here says you’ve got some project to work on today. You want to head on out early?”
I looked at Damien. He winked at me, and then I looked back at David and smiled. “That would be great, thanks.”
“No problem,” David said, smiling back at me.
Damien still had to stay back and work. I felt bad because I knew David was going to make him do work that I wasn’t going to do. I tried to shrug off the guilty feeling, and sped-walked to the library.
I checked my cell phone, and I was a bit early. I decided to read a book while waiting. What else could I do in the library?
The first book that caught my eye was The Catcher In the Rye, a classic book that I totally loved. Everyone at my old school in Sacramento never liked it, but I didn’t see why. It was a wonderful book. I sat down, and started to read.
“Hey, I really like that book,” a voice said. I looked up.
The Great. Standing above me, looking down. The light came from behind him, so it gave him a sort of angelic glow. I didn’t even notice he had the poster board we were supposed to be working on.
“Really?” I asked. “Usually people don’t like this book.”
“No, I love it. Salinger is a genius,” he said, smiling his perfect smile.
I smiled back. “Yeah, I know.”
“D’you have the notes?” he asked.
“Hm?” I had almost forgotten about the project. “Oh! Right.” I pulled out a bunch of slightly crumpled pieces of paper from in my jacket. It wasn’t the most efficient storage, but it was something.
“Cool.” He laid the blank poster board on the floor, and sat down next to it. I got down from my chair and sat down next to him.
I only just noticed he had a pencil behind his ear. I didn’t notice it before because usually his hair was there, and the only reason I noticed he had it there was when he removed it, and pointed at the poster.
“We’ll just do a quick outline and put the information on it, and then we can use pen or marker or whatever on it later.”
“Sounds good.”
He looked at my notes and did all the writing. His handwriting was like a type of font that you would find on Microsoft Word or something. But I wasn’t paying too much attention to the words or the poster or the work or any of that stuff. I just couldn’t stop paying attention to him. I just noticed today how much humor he had. Every opportunity he got he cracked some sort of joke, and I couldn’t stop laughing. He was so sweet and charming and funny and cute and amazing and so many other adjectives that understated how he truly was.
“All right,” he said, finishing up a sentence on the poster. “I think that’s enough work for now. We can finish it up and decorate it or whatever some other time. Maybe in class, I’ll bring some sharpies or something.”
“Okay,” I said, not really listening to what he said.
He rolled up the poster board. “You want to keep it, or should I?”
“Uh, whatever’s fine.”
“All right. I’ll just keep it, then.” He tucked the rolled up poster under his arm. “I’m actually kind of glad you’re my partner for this,” he said.
I looked at him, a hopeful glisten in my eye. “How come?”
He shrugged. “Well, if Chrissy was my partner I’d end up having to do all the work. It’s nice to share it with someone.”
I wanted to say “define ‘nice’” since it isn’t my favorite adjective ever, but I let it slide for Alexander.
“So I guess I’ll see you later,” he said.
“Okay. See you.”
“Bye.” He waved, and started to exit the library.
I picked up The Catcher In the Rye, which was still on the floor. I kept reading it to myself until it started to get dark.
Walking home in the dark was usually not the best idea, so I went a bit early and beat the darkness as soon as I got home.
I logged onto my computer, and didn’t take a second glance on it because I had to start my other homework. But as soon as I got my papers out, Damien IMed me.
And we didn’t talk after that. He was doing his homework, and I was doing mine. When I finished, and looked back at the computer, he had signed off. Without even saying “bye.” I was a bit bitter, but got over it quickly, and read a book until not even the single lamp could light my room in the night.
0 comments:
Post a Comment