Oh Boy! (BL)

1 - The Introvert and the Cheerleader (1/3)

August 2010

"Sh*t, sh*t, sh*t," I cursed while running through the busy morning streets of Seattle. It was supposed to be mid-summer, yet, eighteen days before the end of our summer vacation, Washington State had, once again, decided to grace us with moody autumn vibes and rain. But I guess I was in no position to complain. I mean, I was the strange guy wearing a darker than black hoodie that wavered loosely around my slim figure of five foot five while most of the people I ran past on the pavement were dressed in t-shirts and shorts. Then again, I used to wear hoodies all the time; except when I had to put on the outdated white and green striped polo shirt for work. And work was where I was heading right now – ten minutes late.

I rushed past honking cars and daydreaming pedestrians and pushed open the white-painted door of Book Den's back entrance. Cursing under my breath, I threw my backpack on one of the three plastic chairs surrounding the tiny breakfast table in the staff room, dragged my drenched hoodie over my head, and exchanged it for my polo shirt and name tag. One glance into the tiny mirror on the wall next to a gigantic Harry Potter-themed calendar, I ran a restless hand through my chin-long black hair, careful to drape my bangs so that they covered the right side of my face. When I opened the door to the store, an apology was already at the tip of my tongue but never left my lips.

I halted right outside the staff room at the end of the den-like bookstore that seemed to never have left the eighties. "What the..." On a Wednesday morning, the only things I was supposed to see from this angle were tall bookshelves, dark carpets, and the occasional layer of dust; instead, there was an endless line of customers waiting to pay for their books. Double sh*t. Avoiding eye contact, I rushed past the long queue until I reached the cashier.

"Kiddo! Thank goodness!" My boss grabbed my wrist and pulled me behind the counter.

"Sorry, I..."

"Never mind," Matt waved my apology away with a swift move of his hand and tended to his next customer while I entered my seller code into cashier number two. Smirking to myself when the queue began to slowly split up in front of both cashiers, I took my first customer's novel. It was big and heavy, and the burgundy cover...

"Oh my God!" I exclaimed and blushed immediately when all eyes turned to me.

Matt chuckled. "The advantage of a bad memory is that one enjoys several times the same good things for the first time."

I snorted and scanned the novel's barcode. "Quoting Nietzsche now, are we?"

Matt uttered a burst of dark and rumbling laughter. "If it fits? Why not?" Years and years of selling books had turned him into a walking encyclopedia full of quotes which sometimes caused customers to lift their brows in surprise. Not many people would expect Nietzsche's words coming from a tattooed mountain of a man in his mid-forties.

We spent the next eighty minutes selling copies of one and the same novel: New York Times-No.1-bestselling-author C. C. Starling's latest release Genesis X. My favorite genre, my favorite author, I had even marked this day in crimson red in my calendar...and had still forgotten about it! Nervously, I let my gaze wander to the end of the queue. Hopefully, I could grab a copy of Genesis X before it was sold out.

But again: I had the best boss in the world. Next to me, I could hear Matt's snort before he tapped me on my shoulder. "Hell, watching you wiggle like that is making me nervous." He nodded towards the compartment below the counter when I shot him a clueless look. I narrowed my eyes until I could lay eyes on the heavy novel waiting in the dark. I squeaked: "Is that...?"

"A copy waiting for you." He put both hands on my shoulders and turned my body until I was facing the queue again. "Something to look forward to during lunch break."