Superhero

Chapter 38

Addison gulped and slowly went towards the convenience store. She looked at the time and realised that she was just in time, not too late, not too early.
"Good afternoon, Sir," Addison greeted as soon as she stepped in, her voice only slightly louder than the welcome tune.
Crawford grunted in reply. "You're late."
"I'm afraid I'm not, Sir," Addison meekly, but proudly, stated as she made her way to the back room. "I'll be out in less than a minute."
She closed the door behind her and quickly changed into the convenience store's polo shirt before coming out.
"Well, I guess I'm done here, then," Crawford shrugged, getting out of the counter. "There's still a few minutes left, but it won't hurt you to work a few extra minutes, am I right?"
Addison nodded and clocked in, replacing him as the cashier. She didn't even dare to sit down as he went to the backroom to change before making a beeline for the fridge. It wasn't even a surprise when all he took were four bottles of beer before coming back to the counter to pay for them.
Addison scanned them and took the money he paid. She put the fifty-dollar note in the cash register and returned his change.
"Huh?!" Crawford exclaimed in surprise. "I paid fifty and you only give me ten dollars as change?!"
"The beer is ten dollars each, Mr. Crawford," Addison explained. "Since you took the most expensive one."
"So, no discount for your boss?" Crawford raised an eyebrow.
Addison smiled politely, pushing the ten-dollar note forward on the counter. "No, sir. No discount for you."
"Addie, I work here and so do you," Crawford narrowed his eyes. "And we both know that employees receive discounts when making purchases from the company they work for."
Addison gulped. "Of course we do, I was just messing around."
"So how much am I supposed to receive?" Crawford asked again.
Addison took out an extra four dollars and handed it to Crawford.
"No stealing my change, you hear that, young lady?" Crawford exclaimed, much to her dismay.
"I'm sorry, sir," Addison bowed slightly and smiled, opening the cash register. "Maybe you should take another one-dollar note. It's on me."
Crawford took it and left the shop, the plastic bag of beers clinking as he swung it around. Addison heaved a sigh of relief and took out a one-dollar note from her purse and put it in the cash register.
But she decided to grab herself a bar of chocolate for that price.
She grinned and ate it as she waited for the next customer.

Fiolina barged into the shop, scaring Addison with a loud exclamation.
"Seriously, why do you always have to come in like this?!" Addison spat, exasperated. "Why do you always have to scare me?"
Fiolina smirked and shrugged, turning it into a little dance. Addison sighed and shook her head.
"Anyway, how was your date with Jeff?" Fiolina grinned mischievously. "Are you two in love?"
"No." Addison frowned. "Fio, for the hundredth time, we're just friends! He's just treating me out for helping him with his assignment!"
Fiolina sighed. "Fine... then what did you two do?"
"We went to the arcade, to the movies, had breakfast, lunch, then we went to the peak of Spinner's Hill to see the magnificent view up there."
"That's all?" Fiolina asked in surprise. "You guys didn't even hold hands?"
"Fio, we aren't even in a relationship," Addison rolled her eyes. She grinned when she got an idea to divert her. "Also, how's it going with Jordan?"
Fiolina lit up. "It's going good! We even went out last night."
Addison smirked as Fiolina went on and on, telling her how amazing of a boyfriend Jordan was. Fiolina could never stop once she's started and Addison knew this very well, even using it to her advantage when she was too lazy to answer her irritatingly prying questions.
What made it funnier was the fact that she wasn't even listening to whatever she had to say, just nodding from time to time as she played on her phone.
"And yeah, we then grabbed coffee before he dropped me home," Fiolina ended. "Yesterday was fun."
Addison smirked. "Did he give you his coat because you forgot to bring yours?"
Fiolina frowned and shook her head. "No. Because I'm not forgetting my coat until he washes his."
"Okay, I'll ask him about it so that you can have it," Addison snorted. "I'm pretty sure he actually washes it from time to time. Surely, he would feel the smell following him around at some point, right?"
Fiolina shrugged. "Who knows? Maybe he's developed nose blindness towards his B.O?"
"Okay, then do you smell anything funny around him?"
"No..."
"Because there isn't any smell. I've never noticed too, just see stains on his hoodie sometimes."
"Maybe you're right..." Fiolina sighed, making her way towards the snack aisle. "By the way, Jordan was super modest about the time he helped rescue that dude from falling off the building."
Addison just nodded.
"He told me that he was actually about to jump in and help him first, but the Dean jumped first," Fiolina went on. "He said he was the only one who actually tried. The rest were filming instead."
Addison grimaced. As far as she knew, Jordan was one of 'the rest' since he was filming too. He was also one of the ones that made no move to help the boy as he was clinging for life. Giuseppe was the only one who actually took the risk of climbing the railing and pulling the boy up.
"Really? Sorry, I wasn't there to see," Addison shrugged. "I was one of the only ones who didn't know and ended up being the only one who showed up in the Academic Writing hall. Even our lecturer, the Dean, didn't know until someone gave him a phone call about it. We both rushed to the scene to see the boy clinging for life."
"Then you must've seen Jordan helping out," Fiolina grinned. "Oh! How I wish I went to Alford too!"
Addison didn't think so. She waited for her shift to end and left the convenience store after buying herself something light for dinner, making her way down the main road.
To her surprise, Jake's car was parked near the bus stop with the signal light on.
"Jake?" Addison said in surprise.
She wanted to walk past the car, but Jake got out and smiled at her.
"Hey, Addie," Jake greeted.
"Oh, hi, Jake," Addison smiled back. "What are you doing here?"
"Well... I thought maybe I could give you a ride home?" Jake hesitantly stated. "Mom sent me here to buy a few things from Speedmart, then I decided to wait for you here since it was near the end of your shift, right?"
"How did you know?" Addison asked, tilting her head in surprise.
Jake shrugged. "Oh, I just figured as much since you were walking home the night that creep decided to follow you."
"Oh..." Addison's shoulders relaxed. "Well, thanks! I need a lift, actually. I think I missed the bus."
"Yeah, it just left," Jake nodded his head towards the main road. "Anyway, shall we?"
Addison nodded and got into the front passenger seat of the black Kia Optima. Soft music played on the radio as Jake grinned and slipped behind the wheel next to Addison.
"Thanks, Jake," Addison smiled.
Jake just gave her a grin. Under the light of a lamppost, Addison saw the dimples that formed at the corners of his mouth. This was the first time she saw him smile that much.
They rode home, with remixed City Pop music being the only thing that broke the silence in the car. Addison found it mildly comforting, admiring the sequin-lined city as they cruised in the night.