A Selfie to Die For

19)Rotten to the core

A/N Chapter song: "Don't you forget about me" by Leelou
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Emily was barely listening to Kayla speak later that night. Her mind was too focused on stalkerish behavior to focus on her boss explaining that only she and Emily would be working tonight. One coworker was now on maternity leave while someone else just quit for a new job opportunity at Old Navy.
It was as Kayla continued to speak did Emily realize she should probably start truly listening to what her boss was saying.

"I'll be clocking out early tonight, do you think you can close up by yourself? The most we get on Monday's are maybe three or four customers if even" Kayla yawned, packing her purse up. Her long fingers reached into her purse to brandish her pink-coated iPhone.

"You want me to stay here alone??" Emily asked, suddenly rejoining the land of listening. She nervously tucked a stray piece of hair behind her ear as she bit her lip. There was no way she wanted to stay alone in this large store. She could name at least a hundred things she would rather do besides that.

"Is there a problem with closing up?" Kayla yawned, throwing her bag over her shoulder while pulling out her tube of lipstick. The middle aged woman started to smear it on in place, causing Emily to mentally note that Kayla should really look in a mirror while applying such deep colored lipstick. Smudging any part of the deep brick red was not attractive. Still, she wasn't going to be rude and point that out to her own boss.

"No" Emily said quietly. There wasn't really a normal way to express how Emily was feeling. Paranoid? Fearful? Both?
As much as all the strange events as of late might be all horrible coincidences, there was no way Emily wanted to stay at the store alone. The memory of the night she was mopping after hours came back to her, causing her to become even more alarmed than she already was. Emily knew she couldn't handle if she heard the bell ringing that someone entered the store only for no one to be there.

Still, she didn't argue even as Kayla called someone up and told them she'd be there shortly.

Emily only started to loath being alone by the time it was growing dark outside. Only five customers had come in with only three leaving with purchases. As soon as the fifth one left after a lengthy process of deciding what floral top to go with, Emily decided to call Jake. Vinessa and her family were going to visit her brother at college, otherwise Emily would've invited her as well. She didn't want to be alone today after the encounter in the bathroom with Declan.

Even though it was recommended that no employee spends work hours fraternizing, Emily was still happy to see Jake arrive a half hour later after being dropped off by his dad. Mr. Moseley beeped his truck horn as he spared Emily a wave before he drove off. Jake explained that his dad was fine with Jake spending the night at Emily's house due to him having a date that night that he was bringing home.
Emily found herself immensely grateful that Mr. Moseley had a new girlfriend - she liked having more people filling up her old farmhouse. Having Jake around since her dad was currently out of town made her feel better.

Nothing strange happened the rest of Emily's shift. She organized a shelf as well as exchanged some of the pricey clothes over to the discount section per Kayla's previous orders.
Jake mindlessly walked around the store and kept Emily occupied with his random comments about the somewhat strange articles of clothing along with explaining the newspaper story about Coach Cartwright.

"I think he's guilty" Jake said, stifling a yawn as he watched a pair overall shorts in confusion. "The  problem is, the guy's wicked smart. He doesn't do anything totally obvious that would show he was predator...."  he said, suddenly looking between Emily and the overalls, his brow furrowing. "Since when is slutty farmer a new look?"