Alone Together {1}

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                I looked over at the outside world. It was uncomfortably humid outside, and the only thing saving me from heat stroke was the blast of air conditioning near the exit.

                The sky had a thick blanket of gray clouds hanging over, but they, to my relief, didn’t look dark enough to be holding a full out storm. Still, I was hoping the rain would hold out until I got home. My shift was almost over.

                I was snapped back into attention as a can of soup slid down and hit my wrist. I grabbed it and stuck it into the plastic bags in front of me, adding more food items as they were slid down to me.

                I watched as the customer handed over cash to the cashier, Riley. Riley handed her the change and she turned to me.

                “Have a nice day,” I said with a smile, handing her the bags containing her groceries.

                “Thank you,” she said, hastily grabbing them and hurrying out of the store, probably hoping to beat the rain.

                “Alexis,” Riley said, turning to me as the next customer began to load their items onto the belt.

                “Yea?” I asked, looking up at him.

                “What time are you getting off?” he asked, scanning the customer’s items and sliding them down to me.

                I grabbed them and began to bag them. “In a less than an hour.”

                He sighed. “Lucky. I’m working until later. I’ll probably get stuck in the rain.”

                “I’m sorry,” I said, turning my attention back to the items I was bagging. I really couldn’t have too much sympathy for Riley. He was driving himself home. I had to ride a bike.

                Riley dismissed our weak conversation as he tried to help the customer swipe her credit card. I handed her the bags when she was done, offering her a smile as I did so.

                I looked over as my supervisor walked over to us. He stopped in front of us and Riley gave him a small wave in greeting.

                “Hey Matt,” he said.

                “Hi Riley, hi Alexis! Alexis, I’m relieving you of your bag boy duties for today. There are a couple boxes in the back, and I want you to restock the shelves before you leave,” Matt said.

                I nodded. “Alright,” I said, stepping away from where I had been.

                “Abandoning me,” Riley said with a sigh.

                “I think you can man the fort,” Matt said, laughing. “You abandoned Alexis the other night, anyways.”

                “True,” Riley said thoughtfully. “Well, have fun stocking shelves.”

                I left him and Matt, making my way to the back of the store. I pushed open the door and stepped in, looking over at the boxes in the corner. There were only three of them, and after checking their contents, I realized that they were all in the same aisle. Hopefully this would kill time and then I could leave and get home before the rain started up.

                I gathered the boxes into my arms and left the back. I made my way to the aisle and set the boxes down, opening one and beginning to stock the shelves with its contents.

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