The Bikini Syndrome | WATTYS2019

» four: the start of something

Holly's shift was over at six. It had been a rather slow day, but she was more bored out of my mind than anything else. Oliver had holed himself in the back room for most of the day, and though it was a relief to her, at the same time, she craved conversation.

Her friends were all out-of-state or out doing some wildly fun thing called Not A Job, and they rarely texted back. If they did, it was at least three hours later, and only to tell her:

u shuld have come with us :( xoxoxox

It wasn't very encouraging since "shuld" was not "could".

Around five, Oliver would finally come out of the back room. He'd tell her that she could go, and he would take over, but she would linger around for an extra hour. In silence. It wasn't much better than the rest of the day.

Then she would just call her mom and ask for a ride home. But since it would take her mom at least half an hour to get to the beach from their home, or even longer, if she coming home from work, there was another long stretch of awkward silence.

On the days she'd driven herself there, she would leave as soon as the clock struck six. Oliver smiled at her on her way out - once again in a friendly matter. Then he'd say, "See you tomorrow!"

Those were probably the only words they were exchanged, except she didn't really say anything back, so it couldn't exactly be called an exchange.

Sometimes, there would be another girl or another guy, and they would watch the store with her, or come in just as she left. But they rarely talked either.

By the second week, Holly really couldn't take it anymore. This was not what she wanted when she was looking for a job. She wasn't expecting a rose garden, exactly, but she thought it would be something like in the books, where the coworkers complained about their mean boss or about some asshole that hadn't tipped, or maybe she could even listen in on the whispers of girls giggling over the hunk at booth number nine.

When Oliver came out of the back room one day, rubbing his eyes tiredly, she blurted out, encouraged by a combination of boredom and curiosity and just plain being fed up, "What do you do back there?"

He didn't hesitate in his answer. "I do some homework, look over some things, read, that sort of thing."

"Homework?"

"Just some summer stuff," he said shrugging. "You know, reading assignments." He almost seemed embarrassed, but Holly couldn't really tell. She hadn't been around him long enough to read him. More accurately, she hadn't even talked to him enough to know him at all.

"What's it for?"

He scratched his nose, looking a little uncomfortable. She filed that away to remember later, that this was one of his little mannerisms.

"Well, we actually just moved to this neighborhood, and I was enrolled into J.F Lakely High?" The way that he was uncertain was adorable. It was the first show of emotion besides positivity and friendliness and I-will-bake-you-cookies-and-feed-you-hot-chocolate-if-you're-having-a-bad-day from him.

"That's the same school I go to," Holly said, secretly pleased. She tried to tamp down her excitement. He was probably a senior this year, while she was going into junior.

"Oh, then maybe you could show me around when the school year starts?"

"Yea, I'd lo - I mean, yea, I could totally do that. There's not much to see though."

"Great, then I won't get lost."

Holly thought of Lakely's labyrinth-like structure and the four different buildings that separated each grade from each other, as well as the (did it need to said) sprawling campus. It didn't cater to the wealthy, exactly, but it still managed to attract a few well-off families who didn't know how to spend their money other than to splurge it on a school so they could sleep well at night instead of worrying over what animal the skin covering them had come from.

"Don't speak too soon."

Oliver's smile faltered. "What?"

Holly wanted to lift her hands and slap herself - or bite her nails. Either worked.

Oliver was like a big human golden retriever, minus the panting and the fur. He was equally cute, if not cuter and he was friendly and no doubt loyal. He was probably also intelligent. Not even probably. Really intelligent. She didn't know how to act around him.

The male population she'd known for most of her life consisted of cynics, Neatherdals, future Bill Gates, surfers, Abercrombie & Fitch models who were also professional jerks, and so on and so forth. Even if she could date, with the great selection she had to choose from, she would have held off even without her mom's birds-and-bees and guys-are-stupid-so-get-good-grades-go-to-college-and-meet-a-nice-guy-there speech.

"Um, I just meant that it's not a very interesting school, but it is a big school. So yea, I'll show you around on the first day. Do you know which building you'll be in?"

"Building?" A smile - a relieved one, but a glorious smile nonetheless - came back to his face. If they'd packaged up his smile into some edible or smokable form, she would probably have been addicted to it.

I have officially affirmed myself as the creepiest girl to have a crush to ever exist, she thought to herself a moment later. My God.

"Are you going to be a senior this year?"

"No, I'm a junior. It just worked out that way. But I'm sort of relieved it did, since I got to meet you."

Holly's heart stopped beating.

"If I didn't, I wouldn't have anyone to show me around school."

It resumed beating, if only to sort of fall a few feet from disappointment.

"Oh, okay."

"That's not the only reason," he said a moment later after silence had lapsed over them.

"Huh?" she said, berating herself for it a moment. Couldn't she have said something more intelligent like, maybe, What? or What?! or Hmm?

"I mean, I'm glad to meet you just for you."

"Oh."

Her heart stopped for the second time in five minutes. Probably not very healthy. But then again, who said boys were ever healthy? It was like chocolate or donuts or, or ice cream, gifts that had obviously fallen right from heaven, but were the stuff of evil that every medical pamphlet was "advising" you to stay away from. Well, not chocolate. Someone powerful must have decided to let the commoners have something good for themselves.

"It's been a lot less stressful lately, having you here to watch over the cafe in the morning."

She shrugged. "Well, it provides me a paycheck, so you know," she said, cracking a smile.

"Right," he smiled back.

It was sort of a magical moment. Except they were standing behind a counter in a store that smelled faintly of sweat, ocean, and hot dog. And they had a strictly platonic (if even that) relationship. But beggars couldn't really be choosers, and Holly honestly wouldn't have given the moment away for anything else.

"Help yourself to an ice cream on your way out," he said half an hour later, when she announced that she had to go, as the hour turned toward the fateful six-oh-oh.

He tossed her the keys, and she did as he said, because really, free ice cream? She'd be crazy to refuse. Also, it came from a boy that she now had to admit she had a hardcore crush on.

Life wasn't getting any easier.

She tossed him a popsicle along with the keys when she walked out.