Oh Boy! (BL)

12 - Comradery (3/3)

!! Trigger Warning: Homophobia, Implied Violence !!

"Tell me, kiddo." Matt leaned against the cashier next to me. "The guy over there, are the two of you...?" He put his fingers together and wiggled his eyebrows.

Ignoring his nonsense, I received a pile of two books from the girl standing in front of the cashier. Her mother was watching her proudly. Smiling, I handed the girl her bag and took the twenty-dollar bill in return. "Keep the change," she giggled before basically running from the store.

I chuckled and called after her: "Thank you very much. Have a nice day!"

"Now spill it," Matt didn't let it go.

I followed Matt's gaze to a tall guy leaning against the first shelf in the Computer section. He wore his base cap low in his face that was hidden behind a novel. I didn't think I'd ever seen him before. Still...I shot Matt a dark look. "Don't be ridiculous."

With his obviously muscular build and the expensive set of clothes on his body, he was the last guy who'd ask me out.

Matt held on to his heart in an overly dramatic manner. "You're hurting me, kiddo. He's non-stop staring at you. And you, little help worker, keep on mumbling about some kinda love story."

Oh.

No wonder. Ever since Cooper had brought that up, I couldn't think of anything else. As if Cooper's words were stuck inside my head. A feature with Holland and Clay — as love birds.

A horrible thought.

And I was a horrible person for even considering it.

Ever since he came up with his plan, Cooper had proven that he was working efficiently not only in WizQ. Within a matter of minutes, he had arranged a meeting with Holland in which he'd not only talked her into doing the feature but also made her agree to any date he would suggest.

So, everything was up to Clay now.

And up to me.

Though, I had no idea how to bring the feature up if Clay kept avoiding me.

"No, honestly," Matt went on. "I ship it. It's good if he keeps coming over. A guy like that is a girl's magnet. More girls, more customers," he winked at me. "More money."

I shot him a side glance. "Guess you're not a feminist, are you?"

Though, he did have a point there. The stranger was surrounded by a bunch of young women who stared at him with obvious attraction. Only when the stranger lifted his eyes from the novel in his hands, did they look down at their own novels.

"I don't know him."

"Huh..." Matt narrowed his eyes. "Then I better keep an eye on him."

And that was that for now.

At least for me who froze just like the customer who'd just entered the store. Clay stopped in the entrance as if to decide whether he was coming in or wanted to turn around and leave. The look on his face clearly told me that he had no idea what I was doing at work on a Tuesday evening when my usual schedule was limited to Wednesdays and the Weekends.

Excusing myself at the cashier, I approached him, not exactly sure what I would do.

"H...hey."

He nodded. "What are you doing here?"

He didn't sound happy. "I'm filling in for a colleague. Her daughter's got a fever."

"Oh."

"Yeah."