Cattie Get Your Gun

Chapter 3

“Landon’s will be closing in ten minutes!” a voice announced over the speaker to the already emptied out department store in the mall where I worked.

“This could be cute?” my Aunt Nora said, picking up a lace shirt and showing it to me as she tossed some of her wavy red hair off her shoulder. “Wait, don’t you already have this?”

“Perks of an employee discount,” I told her. “Why are you even here again?”

“Luke and his buddy are installing the new stove. Oh! That reminds me!” Aunt Nora glanced down at her fingers that had a couple strings wrapped around them. She pulled one off and tossed it in her purse. “You’ll have to pick something up on the way home, the fridge is empty.”

“You just had to redo the kitchen and get a microwave on back order and a new stove. That’s the fifth time this week we’ve eaten out.”

“Well, then, this time it will be just you. I should probably get going, can’t be late for work again. Is Luke picking you up from work or are you riding your bike home?”

“Biking it. Mr. Smithers probably has a lot of grading to work on. You know,” I grinned at Aunt Nora, “after he’s done installing his wife’s stove.”

“Wife?” Aunt Nora asked with a nervous laugh, checking her watch. “We’re you’re co-guardians and friends, not married. I have to go.” She grabbed my head and gave me a kiss on my forehead before beginning to briskly walk away. “He’s not my husband!”

“He might as well be!” I called after her.

            After I finished folding a few more items and clocked out, I walked over to the makeup counter where my friend Anya was just gathering her things from behind the counter. The security guards were just about to close the gate in front of the opening to the mall from the store when a teenage boy with an over-sized blue polo shirt and a hat with a plastic slice of pizza on top of it walked in. “Crap,” I muttered when I realized it was Francisco Vega, a sort of friend of mine that was extremely good at making me blush by just breathing within a mile radius of me. Anya looked between Francisco and me as he walked closer, but she did not say anything.

“Hello, ladies,” he said, pulling off his hat to stuff it in his backpack. “What’s up?”

“Leaving,” Anya replied. “Well, I am. Nolan’s here to pick me up before he goes to work. I think Cattie needs a ride, though.”

“Yeah, I saw your bike outside,” Francisco said to me. “Oh, shoot, that sounds stalkerish. I just meant I thought it was yours and I mean, it’s pretty late, I don’t want you riding home alone.”

“I’ll manage,” I reassured him with a smile.

“As a friend concerned about your safety, Cattie,” Anya insisted, “I think you should accept the ride from Francisco. He’s respectable enough.”

“I know he’s respectable, I just don’t want to be a hassle.”

“You’re never a hassle, Cattie,” Francisco said, chuckling. I could have killed him; he was making me blush like a crazy person now.

“Okay, fine, I’ll take the ride,” I told the both of them, sticking my tongue out at Anya when Francisco turned around. “You owe me,” I hissed at her quietly.

“Remember me when you’re choosing godparents,” Anya teased before I jogged to catch up with Francisco.

“Oh, um, by the way, could we maybe stop at a convenience store or something on the way home?” I asked him once we had gotten out to the parking lot. “I need to get something to eat.”